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Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport filled with colorful characters and storylines that’ll give European cinema a run for its money. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s premier MMA organization, features martial arts bouts between the world’s top fighters, which in turn results in the creation of several exciting stylistic matchups and compelling narratives.
The savage science is a sport of one too many myths and unique back-stories behind said myths. Some of these stories are deserving of serious consideration, being a hotbed of debates for years together, in the MMA community.
However, a few other mysterious happenings are simply outlandish and absurd. Serious or comical, let’s take a look at some of the UFC’s unsolved mysteries.
#5 Jon Jones’ mysterious hacker
Jon ‘Bones’ Jones (22-1) is a former UFC Light-heavyweight (LHW) champion and former interim-LHW champion, with an MMA base of wrestling and Muay Thai. Alexander ‘The Mauler’ Gustafson (17-4) is a Swedish kick-boxer and MMA fighter with a base of boxing, kick-boxing and shootfighting.
Jones faced Gustafson at UFC 165 in 2013, a fight in which the build-up was as crazy as the fight. Jones got into an online argument with a Swedish MMA fan proceeding to unleash a tirade of homophobic slurs at him.
The fan went on to accuse Jones of blocking him on Twitter and posted screenshots of his online conversations with ‘Bones’.
Jones and his manager Malki Kawa denied responsibility of any wrongdoing on their part, claiming that Jones’ mobile phone was stolen and his online accounts were hacked. They stated that the homophobic online rants posted against the Swedish fan via Jones’ accounts were posted by the phone-thief and hacker, and that Jones was innocent.
What’s more hilarious is that Jones had posted a selfie of himself after the homophobic posts were updated on his online accounts, hence the question arose- How did Jon Jones post his selfie after his phone was, as he had alleged, stolen?
This left Jones and Kawa red-faced, with the situation being hushed up eventually.
Jon Jones’ hacking-saga is a mystery that no one has been able to solve. Almost :p
#4 Canada's conspiracy against Nick Diaz
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Nick Diaz (26-9-2) is a former Strikeforce Welterweight (WW) champion with an MMA base of boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre (25-2) is a former 2-time UFC WW champion and former interim-WW champion, with an MMA base of kyokushin karate, wrestling and boxing.
GSP defended his UFC WW strap against Diaz at UFC 158 in 2013, in St Pierre’s backyard of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The build-up to the fight was in equal parts- tense as well as hilarious. With GSP being MMA’s White Knight and charming gentleman, whilst Diaz playing the familiar role of a Stockton bad boy; the trash-talk between the two was comedy gold.
On the day of the weigh-ins, an official from the Quebec State Athletic Commission (QSAC) informed Diaz and his team (off-record) that both, St-Pierre and Diaz, are being allotted a 1 pound weight-allowance for their 170-pound title-matchup.
This sent Diaz and his team off the rails; with Nick, Nate, Shields and the rest of the ‘Skrap pack’ accusing GSP of missing weight. Nevertheless, the weigh-ins took place and GSP did make weight, proceeding to win a dominant unanimous-decision over Diaz.
But that wasn’t all, Diaz went on to accuse GSP of using steroids for their UFC 158 fight, and also claimed that GSP’s cornerman Phil Nurse had drugged him before he faced off with the Canadian champion inside the Octagon.
Over the course of 4 years from 2013-17, Diaz has continually levied accusations against GSP, even going to the extent of hiring a legal team in an attempt to prosecute St-Pierre and the QSAC.
Whether it’s suspicious weigh-ins or spiked eatables; GSP on steroids or discriminatory athletic commissions; Nick Diaz’s conspiracy theories never get old!
#3 Anderson Silva's unknown pill-suppliers
Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva (34-8-1) is a former UFC Middleweight (MW) champion with a record 10 title defenses to his name. Silva’s MMA base is BJJ, Muay Thai, capoeira and taekwondo.
After suffering a horrific leg-break in his rematch against Chris Weidman, Silva returned to face Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in 2015, beating him by unanimous-decision. The UD got overturned to a No-Contest owing to Silva failing his pre-fight drug tests for Drostanolone and Androstane (anabolic steroids) as well as anti-anxiety drugs Oxazepam and Temazepam.
Now although Silva confessed to using the anti-anxiety medications, ‘Spider’ gave one of the most absurd excuses for the steroids found in his system.
At a Nevada State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) disciplinary hearing, Silva and his legal team stated that Silva’s steroid-test failure resulted from his usage of a sexual-performance enhancement drug that was given to him by a friend of his who bought it from Thailand.
The pill-trader from whom Silva’s friend procured the sex-pill was never revealed and the situation was resolved after the NSAC fined ‘Spider’ $380,000 and overturned his win to an NC. Following in his close friend’s footsteps Jon Jones most recently blamed his own failed drug test (for clomiphene and letrozole), on tainted erectile-dysfunction pills that he bought from a local store.
Anderson Silva’s sex-pill excuse is a running joke in the MMA community till date.
#2 GSP-Penn Grease-gate ft. Dana White, 'Mayhem', Hughes and many more.
GSP destroys BJ Penn
B.J. Penn (16-11-2) is a Hawaiian former UFC Welterweight (WW) and Lightweight (LW) champion, with an MMA base of BJJ and boxing. Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre (25-2) is a former 2-time UFC WW champion and former interim-WW champion, widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.
GSP faced Penn at UFC 58 in 2006, edging him in a close split-decision. The rematch took place at UFC 94 in 2009, with GSP’s UFC WW strap on the line. After a close 1st round, GSP’s corner was caught applying Vaseline all over his torso, covering his back and shoulders with grease, thereby making him a slippery target in grappling exchanges.
Round 2 began and GSP took over the fight, executing a beautiful chain-wrestling strategy whilst simultaneously peppering Penn with a constant dosage of jabs. St-Pierre dominated his opponent from bell-to-bell through rounds 2-4. Penn’s corner threw in the towel after the 4th round ended, making GSP the victor by way of TKO.
All hell broke loose after the fight, with Dana White screaming at the top of his lungs shouting profanities. Penn and his camp went on to pursue a legal case against GSP, in what is now infamous as ‘Grease-gate’ or the lesser used ‘Vaseline-gate’.
Several past GSP opponents, namely Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk and others rode Penn’s coattails, claiming that they found St-Pierre to be excessively slippery, during their respective bouts against the Canadian legend.
Nevertheless, the NSAC found St-Pierre to be not-guilty and shut down Penn and co’s greasing allegations. Despite GSP being rubbed down by his corner, before the commencement of the 2nd round; Penn and the other fighters made no bones about their accusations on the Canadian.
St-Pierre’s grease-gate controversy remains one of the more talked about incidents in MMA history.
Whether or not, St-Pierre and his corner’s actions were intentional, remains unknown.
#1 Mir and Overeem's steroid abusing Kangaroos and Horses
Mir stares down Overeem
Frank Mir (18-11) is a former UFC Heavyweight (HW) and former interim-HW champion, with an MMA base of BJJ, kenpo and boxing. Alistair ‘The Reem’ Overeem (41-15-1) is a Dutch kick-boxer and MMA fighter, former Strikeforce and DREAM HW champion and K-1 Grand Prix world champion. ‘Ubereem’ has an MMA base of kick-boxing, judo and BJJ.
Mir failed the fight-night drug-test before his 1st round KO loss to Mark Hunt in 2016, in Brisbane, Australia. He tested positive for oral turinabol metabolites, which he later blamed on tainted kangaroo meat in the land of the ‘Roos’ (seriously!).
He also went on to give a detailed explanation about how Kangaroo breeders in Australia inject the animals with steroids, in order to enable quick breeding and growth. When queried where he had eaten said ‘Kangaroo meat’, Mir stated that neither he nor his team remember which restaurant they had eaten at, the day before the fight.
On the other hand, Overeem Megareem who failed a pre-fight drug test in 2012 before his fight against then-champion Junior Dos Santos (ironically, JDS faced Overeem’s fellow meat-lover, Frank Mir), at UFC 146; had a whooping 14-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio.
Now with the permitted ratio for male fighters being a mere 4-1, it goes without saying that Overeem’s levels were not just abnormally high; they were otherworldly! Overeem and his team blamed this failed test on anti-inflammatory medication recommended by a doctor to him that was tainted with excessive testosterone.
Considering the fact that Overeem went from a skinny fighter getting knocked out by Mauricio Rua and Chuck Lidell, to a hulking 265+ pound behemoth, destroying the DREAM and Strikeforce roster.
He credited his incredible body transformation to ‘Horse meat’ and good genetics, claiming that he achieved his muscular frame owing to consuming horse-meat 8 times a day.
Although several boxers and kick-boxers have used the tainted-meat excuse in the past, Frank Mir has entrenched his name in the annals of MMA lore, as the infamous pioneer of the ‘Tainted-Kangaroo-Meat’ excuse.
Beware of Mir’s Tainted Kangaroos and Overeem’s mythical horses. All of them are on steroids!
From Jones’ mysterious hacker, to Nick Diaz’s multitude of conspiracy theories; Anderson Silva’s secret Thai sex-pill, to GSP’s Vaseline victory; only the mythical kangaroos and horses can top such a unique list. Keeping up with our combat tradition, I’d like you, the reader, to add your own set of UFC mysteries in the comments.
Till then, keep training and beware of all the hackers, commissions, grease, sex pills and of course, steer clear of the steroid-abusing Kangaroos. Like Amir Khan, the Roos kick ‘pretty hard’!
