#4 The invisible groin-shot
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Frank Trigg (21-9) is an MMA veteran of several notable organizations such as the UFC, Rumble on the Rock, BAMMA, World Fighting Alliance and Pride Fighting Championships (Pride FC) among others. Trigg’s MMA base is judo and wrestling.
He was criticized for his rudimentary striking and unsportsmanlike behavior during his run as a top contender particularly in the UFC. On the other hand, Matt Hughes (45-9) is a former 2-time UFC Welterweight (WW/170 pound) champion with multiple title-defenses to his name.
Hughes’ MMA foundation is wrestling characterized by his signature top-control and vaunted ground-and-pound and submission skills. As far as the Hughes-Trigg rivalry is concerned, with both fighters being primarily grapplers with rudimentary stand-up skills, the exchanges on the feet never promised to be pretty.
Hughes beat Trigg by way of a standing rear-naked choke at UFC 45 in November of 2003, defending his UFC WW title in the process. They would go on to meet at UFC 52 in April of 2005 with Hughes’ title on the line.
The stand-up exchanges were sloppy and the biggest strike of the fight was a blatant illegal-knee by Triggs to Hughes’ groin. The referee for the fight Mario Yamasaki had a clear view of the aforementioned groin-shot that Triggs landed whilst Hughes’ was up against the fence.
Yamasaki hesitated and Triggs went on to unleash non-stop volleys of strikes on his hurt opponent. Hughes even went to the extent of holding his hands to his groin thereby signaling the illegal strike to Yamasaki, but Yamasaki wasn’t having any of it.
Trigg being the gentleman that he is went on to unleash the best striking combinations of his career on Hughes; stunning him and getting the fight to the mat. Trigg took Hughes’ back and locked on the same submission that Hughes submitted him with in their previous meeting, albeit this time it was on the ground.
In spite of this comedy of errors, Hughes miraculously escaped the tight rear-naked choke. He then proceeded to lift Trigg, carry him all the way across the Octagon and slam him on to the mat. The fight ended with Hughes taking Trigg’s back and sinking in a rear-naked choke, submitting him once again.
From Triggs’ bad sportsmanship to Yamasaki’s hesitation and bad officiating, the entire fight felt like a comedic-sequence gone wrong.
To this date, Frank Triggs is mocked for his embarrassing showing in the aforementioned title-rematch. By his blatant disregard for the rules and cheap-tactics, Triggs not only hurt his own legacy but became a laughing stock in the MMA community.
What’s crazier is that despite employing the now infamous ‘Invisible Groin Shot’, Triggs still couldn’t get the job done against the UFC legend Hughes. Furthermore, Triggs showed no remorse for his actions and went on to outright deny any wrong-doings on his part.
The TV replays clearly showed that everyone involved in the title-matchup right from the referee to the fans to Frank Trigg himself, clearly knew that the knee was both illegal and obviously intentional. Nevertheless, Trigg staying true to his nature went on to make an even bigger mess of what was an already messy situation.
Trigg embarrassed himself in one of the biggest fights in UFC history against the man he hated the most. That must hurt!
