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From bully beat-downs to personal affairs playing out within the confines of an MMA gym—the wild and unpredictable sport of MMA never ceases to amaze us.
It's rather startling when one looks at the insane face-offs between commoners on the one hand, and trained combat sportspersons on the other. It’s all too normal for an average Joe to walk into a gym, and size up his MMA counterpart and pick up a fight.
Additionally, the same can be said for a few MMA blokes who tend to look past reasoning and verbally settling their differences, and instead duking it out in the ring. Here, let's take a look at a few infamous gym altercations featuring well-known UFC combatants.
#5 Josh Neer beats down a giant bully
Well, this was a rather infamous scuffle between a UFC veteran and an internet bully who threatened him for a considerable amount of time, eventually garnering a response from ‘The Dentist’.
It was about a couple of years ago, when Josh Neer a career 170-pounder, accepted a challenge to fight by an online troll by the name of Patrick Martin—a man who weighed 270+ pounds and stands at 6’6” tall. The cyberbully heckled Neer, threatening him on multiple occasions on Facebook.
Although Neer chose to ignore the troll, the constant jabbing and stalking got to the UFC veteran, who invited Martin to a gym in order to settle the score. The ‘fight’ ended with Neer on top of the bully, raining down Ground-&-Pound on Martin, rendering him unconscious before a couple of gym staff intervened to stop the beat-down.
#4 Charlie Zelenoff gets beat up… again!
Now this tale isn’t about a UFC fighter, but equally intriguing nonetheless…’Why?’ one would say? Well because it features the self-proclaimed G.O.A.T.! Charlie Zelenoff has been trolling professional combat sportspersons for years.
The American man of Russian descent, accompanied by his father who claims to be a former Russian military personnel, trick unsuspecting people in boxing/MMA gyms into ‘light’ sparring with Charlie Z.
With his father recording the videos, that are later posted on YouTube, Charlie Z engages in what he calls ‘friendly sparring’ with his targets. These targets are completely unaware of the father-son duo’s intentions of legitimately hurting them.
Nevertheless, now that the Zelenoff family has gained worldwide notoriety, particularly in the martial arts community, several professional fighters, as well as common people, have wised up to their trickery.
This video shows infamous bully Charlie Z, try to sucker punch a relatively unknown MMA fighter, only for the fighter to turn the tables and trap him in a nasty Guillotine Choke.
#3 Thiago Silva BJJ centre commotion
Thiago Silva went from a highly-regarded UFC prospect to getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida, following which he hit a terrible downward spiral both on the personal as well as professional front.
Silva had famously threatened his ex-wife Thaysa’s then-suitor Pablo Popovitch outside the latter’s BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) Center back in 2014. Although cooler heads prevailed and Silva retreated from the altercation, the former UFC fighter was then caught on tape threatening the aforementioned woman with a gun.
Furthermore, Silva is notorious for going all-out on his sparring partners—irrespective of whether they are trained professionals or downright novices—injuring them in the process.
#2 Anthony Johnson vs the Yoga Mat
Remember when ‘Rumble’ threw a woman’s yoga mat from one side of the gym to another? The biggest problem with the incident wasn’t as much that former UFC slugger Anthony Johnson threw the yoga mat, but with the fact that he indeed ripped the mat while the woman was standing on it, causing her to allegedly fall.
Well, Johnson went on a lengthy rant against the aforementioned lady on Facebook explaining his version of the incident whilst unleashing a verbal tirade against the woman. Nevertheless, Johnson eventually issued a public apology to her and ask the MMA community for their forgiveness on the same.
What’s crazy is that his gym altercation with the yoga lady, is yet another in a long list of domestic violence allegations—many of which have been proved, and he’s been convicted of—in the past few years. In fact, most of the crimes against women he’s been convicted of have indeed been perpetrated by Rumble against the mother of his own children.
#1 Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping seems to have gotten himself into trouble with a couple of hecklers yet again!
As per TMZ, UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping is being sued by a teenager, for an incident which transpired between the two at a gym in Anaheim, California. Additionally, several details regarding the entire incident have emerged after the 19-year-old went public with his grievances against Bisping.
The UFC’s 185-pound kingpin has a high-profile super-fight against former UFC 170-pound Champion Georges St-Pierre next month.
Regardless, per the police complaint filed this Monday with the California Superior Court in Orange County, the teen named Antonio Georgakopoulos narrated that on July 31st, 2017 he’d been working out at the 24-Hour fitness gym in Anaheim, with a friend.
Apparently, Georgakopoulos picked up a few weights that were being used by Bisping, following which Bisping unleashed a verbal tirade at him calling him an ‘idiot’ and a ‘little punk’. The UFC Champion then allegedly proceeded to strangulate the teenager for about 2-3 seconds, before a larger man broke up the fight.
Furthermore, Bisping is said to have challenged the teenager to take the fight outside, however, the gym staff got involved and the situation gradually diffused. Georgakopoulos has reportedly accused Bisping of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
The Anaheim Police Department has released a statement which said that they’ve refrained from making an arrest in this case, due to lack of evidence against Michael Bisping. Besides, Bisping has fully cooperated with the Anaheim PD in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Georgakopoulos has revealed that he visited a doctor for his injuries and experienced intense throat-pain, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and anxiety.
