As we saw just last week when the video below went viral across the internet, there are few things more entertaining in MMA than when a bit of showboating goes wrong.
Sure, it’s all good fun when a guy like Cody Garbrandt manages to taunt a great fighter like Dominick Cruz with some Ali-style shuffling, but in the clip above, taken from British Challenge MMA 18, it didn’t work out quite so well for Joe Harding, who is now known worldwide for being knocked out cold.
Fortunately for Joe, he’s not the first fighter to see his showboating go wildly wrong, and in fact, it’s happened before on much larger stages than British Challenge MMA 18.
Whether it’s due to a bit of dancing during the fight, or trash talk in the cage or during the weigh-in, one thing is for sure – it’s always entertaining to see showboating fail miserably in MMA. Here are five of my favourite examples.
#1 Mayhem Miller channels Shawn Michaels....and eats some Sweet Chin Music of his own
While this moment didn’t actually end the fight, it’s funny nonetheless and remains one of my favourite examples of showboating going a bit awry.
Back in 2005, the world outside of Hawaii hadn’t really heard of Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, despite him putting together a 16-3 record prior. He’d actually signed with the UFC midway through 2004, but a legal issue forced him to withdraw from his spot on UFC 48.
His opponent that night would’ve been rising Canadian prospect Georges St-Pierre, who had beaten Karo Parisyan in his own UFC debut that January.
When Mayhem cleared up his legal problems, the fight was rebooked for UFC 52 on April 15th, 2015 and was given the opening slot on the PPV card, largely due to GSP’s rise to fame following a good showing in a title fight against Matt Hughes.
The PPV was arguably the UFC’s biggest to that point, as it was headlined by Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, coming off their stint as coaches on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter. For two young prospects like GSP and Mayhem, this was a chance to make a mark in front of a huge audience.
Clearly recognising the opportunity, Mayhem came out looking to stand out from the crowd. He entered wearing a pro-wrestling mask, throwing dollar bills around into the air, and then danced to GSP’s entrance music rather than warm up.
When the fight began, despite Mayhem’s unorthodox style, it was clear that he was overmatched, as St-Pierre landed some impressive strikes– including an axe stomp to the body – and also took him down a few times.
It was off the back of one of those takedowns that our classic moment happened. Mayhem attempted a leglock and GSP pulled free, so Mayhem in his infinite wisdom decided to attempt the Shawn Michaels kip-up to get back to his feet.
Landing a clean kip-up is tricky enough but when you’re in an MMA fight with a dude as dangerous as GSP, it’s just not smart. Sure enough, as Mayhem landed on his feet, GSP met him square in the face with a kick and followed with some nasty shots on the ground.
While Mayhem was able to survive to the final bell, he took an absolute one-sided beating from GSP that really began following the kip-up. You’d think it would’ve taught him not to showboat, but incredibly in his very next fight, he was throwing the ‘Hang Loose’ sign while taking full mount on his opponent.
That’s Mayhem for you!
#2 Matt Wiman waves goodbye to his consciousness
2006 was a fun time to be a UFC fan, and one of the reasons was the re-introduction of the 155lbs (Lightweight) class, which had been on ice since 2004.
When the weight class was brought back, one of its burgeoning stars was Spencer ‘The King’ Fisher, an exciting fighter who could strike and grapple equally well. He’d lost his first foray at 155lbs to Sam Stout, but the fight had been high quality and so big things were expected from him.
Originally, he was set to face Leonard Garcia on the undercard of UFC 60, but when Garcia broke his leg in training, newcomer Matt Wiman took the fight on late notice. Wiman was an unknown to casual fans but hardcore fans might’ve remembered him from a classic three-round war with Roger Huerta on the regional scene late in 2005.
The fight caught the eye of Dana White and so Wiman was signed to a UFC deal.
The first round of the Fisher/Wiman fight suggested Fisher had perhaps overlooked his foe. Wiman, a jiu-jitsu expert, took Fisher down early and after a close guillotine attempt, took full back control. He spent the majority of the round in the position before Fisher escaped, and wound up on top with seconds to go.
That’s when things got personal. Fisher landed an elbow strike that opened a cut over Wiman’s left eye, and as the buzzer sounded to end the round, he mimicked a lap-dance as he stood.
Big John McCarthy threatened to disqualify Fisher, but evidently, he’d managed to get into Wiman’s head.
The two men came out to exchange in the second round and it was Fisher who struck first, landing a right hand that clearly staggered the debutant. Undeterred, Wiman decided to showboat a little and wagged his finger in the air at Fisher as if to tell him the right hand hadn’t hurt him.
Fisher responded by launching himself into the air, catching Wiman unawares with a brutal flying knee. Wiman went down and out, and Fisher didn’t even need to follow up the blow, simply walking away as McCarthy stepped in.
Moral of the story? Even when you’re showboating, never leave yourself open. You never know where a flying knee might come from!
#3 David Gardner says hello to Japan....and a rear naked choke
We travel over to the Land of the Rising Sun for our next example. In 2009, Shinya Aoki was widely recognised as one of the best Lightweights on the planet, a grappling whiz capable of catching seemingly anyone in a submission.
To end 2008, he’d tapped out Eddie Alvarez with a heel hook, and some fans wondered if he could even beat the UFC’s kingpin, BJ Penn.
Sadly for the fans, Aoki was signed with Japanese promotion DREAM, which meant fights with the UFC’s best – and for the most part, the best fighters outside the UFC too – were off the table. Instead, a great number of his fights came against journeymen like Todd Moore and Katsuhiko Nagata.
David Gardner was one such journeyman.
A pro fighter since 2002, Gardner had wins over the likes of Rich Clementi and Ryan Schultz but had usually lost to his better opponents and it didn’t seem like he’d ever make it to the top level. Desperate for warm bodies to feed Aoki though, DREAM signed him up in early 2009.
This was Gardner’s big opportunity. Beat Aoki, or even perform well against him, and a further DREAM contract or even a UFC stint could’ve been on the table. That’s why what he actually did is totally mystifying.
After an early exchange, Aoki shot for a takedown and pulled guard before snaking himself onto Gardner’s back. To his credit, Gardner initially defended Aoki’s attempts at a rear-naked choke quite well. Eventually, though, he ended up in a kneeling position with Aoki stuck to his back.
We’ll probably never know what went through Gardner’s head. Rather than continue to defend the choke, he looked out on the crowd and in a truly comedic moment, decided to wave to them and yell “Hello Japan!”
The word “Japan” had barely even left Gardner’s lips before Aoki sunk in a deep rear-naked choke, the opportunity opened wide due to Gardner’s ludicrous wave. Gardner was forced to tap out and Aoki easily picked up the victory.
Commentator Bas Rutten labelled Gardner’s behaviour, “so, so dumb!” and I’d have to agree. It makes for a hell of a funny video, though – perhaps even better than Joe Harding’s botched showboating!
#4 Ninja Rua shuts Tony Bonello’s filthy mouth
From DREAM to the defunct Elite XC promotion, and from showboating during the fight to showboating before the fight. This one’s a classic for all the wrong reasons.
Australian fighter Tony ‘The Gun’ Bonello probably isn’t a name you’ve heard of if you’re a casual MMA fan, but in the mid-2000’s, the BJJ black belt was actually the highest paid fighter in the history of the King of the Cage promotion.
Granted, it’s not like he was making Conor McGregor money, but for some reason, KOTC saw Bonello as a big star and pushed him as such. Rumours of worked fights abounded but by the end of 2007, he’d built a 15-0 record and decided it was time to step up in competition.
2007 was also the year Elite XC swallowed up a bunch of regional promotions – including KOTC – so it made sense that Bonello would migrate there. In his debut, he was matched with former PRIDE star Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua, who’d fallen on some hard times – he’d been knocked out by Robbie Lawler and lost the EXC Middleweight title in the process.
The word from KOTC was that Bonello liked to hand-pick his opponents, so whether that was the case here I don’t know. Maybe he figured Ninja was done and would be a great name for his record? Whatever the case, it turned out to be a mistake.
With his myriad tattoos and shaved head, Bonello looked intimidating and he decided to amp up the intimidation factor in this fight. When ref Mario Yamasaki called the fighters to the centre of the cage, the Australian got right into Ninja’s face, yelling “f**k you!” at him two or three times.
It was all the fuel that the Brazilian needed.
Bonello came out swinging and then pulled guard, evidently believing in the power of his ground game. It turned out that he’d horribly underestimated Ninja. The Brazilian sliced right through the guard of ‘The Gun’ and settled into side mount, where he began to drop thudding elbows onto the face of the Australian.
Bonello seemed unable to defend and Ninja smelled blood, moving into a knee-on-belly position before grabbing Bonello around the throat with his left hand, and from there he used his right to punch the Aussie into unconsciousness.
It was a devastating knockout and a devastating way for Bonello to lose his gaudy unbeaten record. He learned an important lesson here – don’t talk trash unless you can really back it up.
#5 Anderson Silva’s clowning finally catches up to him
And so we end with probably the most (in)famous example of showboating going wrong in MMA. The “clowning” that ended one of the most legendary title reigns in UFC history, and made the ‘ baddest’ man on the planet look human.
Of course, I’m talking about Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman.
Coming into UFC 162, it felt like all the pieces were in place for an upset. A large number of UFC fighters were taking the challenger, Weidman, to become the man to finally dethrone the Middleweight champion Silva – recognised by most as the best fighter in the sport.
Silva had been the titleholder since October 2006, when he ruthlessly took the belt from Rich Franklin. Since then, he’d defended the title ten times, and had also won four non-title fights. It was July 2013, almost seven years after Silva had captured the title, and he didn’t seem to be slowing down.
Weidman though was a different kind of opponent. Unbeaten in the UFC with five wins, Weidman had the great wrestling base that was often seen as Silva’s kryptonite, but he could also strike well – his last win had come via elbow knockout over top contender Mark Munoz – and his grappling was top-notch, too, training under former UFC champ and BJJ black belt Matt Serra.
Stylistically, this looked like Silva’s toughest fight since Chael Sonnen, perhaps even tougher than that. The likes of Georges St-Pierre and Rashad Evans picked Weidman to win. But for most fans – who’d seen the UFC sell challengers like Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Thales Leites as real threats to Anderson – it felt like just another fight for the greatest-of-all-time.
We’ll never know if Anderson himself took Weidman seriously. He seemed to be overconfident at the weigh-ins and the pre-fight staredowns, but then he always did seem that way. He even kissed Weidman after the weigh-in. For his part, Weidman never dropped his poker face. To him, this was deadly serious.
The fight began with a Weidman takedown and some ground strikes, but it didn’t matter, almost everyone took Anderson down anyway. A leglock attempt from Weidman went awry and the fighters stood back up.
From there, Anderson went into full clowning, taunting mode – he dropped his hands to his waist, waved Weidman on, allowed him to land some punches, even stood with his back to the cage, daring the challenger to hit him. When the buzzer sounded, Silva kissed Weidman again.
Weidman’s corner was undeterred. Serra and striking coach Ray Longo simply told him to ignore Silva’s taunting and punch him in the chest if he couldn’t hit him in the face. To his credit, Weidman too didn’t seem overawed by the taunting. So Silva took it up a notch.
A glancing right hand landed for Weidman and Anderson faked being on rubber legs, before jogging around, hands by his waist, and then landed some low kicks.
Again Weidman attacked, this time glancing on a left hook. Silva once again decided to pretend his legs were rubbery, and then swayed back to avoid a follow-up, as he’d done throughout his career.
Except, this time, he didn’t quite lean far enough. Weidman caught him flush with a left hook that knocked the champion silly, and a few punches on the ground stiffened him up. A near-seven year reign, and all of that dominance gone in the blink of an eye, seemingly all from a bit of showboating gone wrong.
So what exactly happened? Theories abounded – some claimed Silva threw the fight, others said he just got too cocky for his own good.
Personally, I think he knew exactly how dangerous Weidman was, and all of the showboating was a failed attempt to get into the challenger’s head. Unfortunately, I also think Anderson severely underestimated both Weidman’s reach and his punching power.
Regardless, it stands out by a mile as the most costly example in MMA history of showboating going wrong.
Any other examples you can think of? Let me know.
Until next time.....
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