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Can you imagine a world without nicknames in combat sports? I honestly can't. They are as deeply ingrained into the fabric of combat sports as colour commentators, cutmen and controversy.
Imagine a world where we don't hear Bruce Buffer roaring out an obscure, intimidating or outright hilarious nickname while introducing a fighter. Frankly, that's not a world I want to be a part of.
I've put together a list of the eight Mixed Martial Artists I believe have the greatest nicknames in MMA history, some you'll be familiar with, others perhaps not, but I hope you'll agree that these eight fighters have all been blessed by the nickname gods.
Before anybody gets upset in the comments, I know there are a number of exceptional nicknames out there who didn't make it on to this list. Let's kick things off with honourable mentions to the following fighters who didn't make the list;
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell, Rick "The Horror" Story, "The Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba, Rick "The Ginger With Intent To Injure" Pfeifer (who really should be part of this list...), Joey "Mexicutioner" Beltran and John "The White Mike Tyson" Phillips.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get into the list of the greatest nicknames in MMA history.
"The Axe Murderer" Wanderlei Silva
MMA Record: 35-14-1
If we're talking about the greatest nicknames in Mixed Martial Arts, where better to begin than "The Axe Murderer"?
With a professional MMA career spanning more than two decades, Wanderlei Silva has experienced everything the sport has to offer and can legitimately be considered a certified Mixed Martial Arts legend.
In his prime, the nickname was one of the most appropriate monikers in MMA. Silva can boast a total of 22 wins in PRIDE FC (a record which will never be broken) with 15 of those coming via stoppage. While things may not have gone exactly to plan when he made his way back to the UFC after his spell in PRIDE, Silva remained an extremely dangerous man with 3 of his 4 UFC wins coming via stoppage, including a memorable finish in his final octagon appearance against Brian Stann, in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest UFC fights of all time.
Micky "Leave'em Snorin'" Doran
MMA Record: 5-1-0 (amateur)
IFS Belfast prospect Micky "Leave'em Snorin'" Doran is the proud owner of one of my personal favourite nicknames in all of Mixed Martial Arts.
You may not be familiar with the Irishman just yet but you'd do well to remember the name.
The 28-year-old holds an amateur MMA record of 5-1-0 with his lone loss coming via unanimous decision earlier this year as he challenged Caolan Loughran for his Clan Wars bantamweight title. More recently, Doran headed to Las Vegas on the eve of UFC 229 to make his Tuff'N'Uff debut, picking up a unanimous decision win of his own over Gianni Thomas.
A regular fixture at Clan Wars events, Doran is set to face European K1 champion Armand Herczeg for the Clan Wars superlightweight K1 title at Clan Wars 33 on November 15th.
Mark "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz
MMA Record: 14-6-0
If we're talking about fighters with great nicknames we have to talk about 2 time NCAA All-American wrestler and dangerous UFC middleweight, Mark "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz.
With half of his wins coming via KO/TKO, Munoz's reputation as a literal wrecking machine was well deserved. During his 15 fight UFC career, Munoz defeated Chris Leben, Demian Maia, Kendall Grove and Luke Barnatt to name just a few.
After a putting together an impressive 7-2 record to start to his UFC career, Munoz slipped to 1-4 in his final five fights, including stoppage losses to household names Chris Weidman, Gegard Mousasi and Lyoto Machida, before closing out his career with a unanimous decision win over Barnatt in 2015.
"Violent Bob Ross" Luis Pena
MMA Record: 5-0-0
While most of this list is made up of veterans of the sport, Luis Pena has arguably the greatest nickname of the new generation of MMA stars.
"Violent Bob Ross" is undefeated in all five of his professional appearances and quickly dispatched SBG's Ricky Smullen via guillotine choke in his UFC debut earlier this year. Training out of American Kickboxing Academy alongside the likes of Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov, the future certainly looks bright for this artist of violence.
Pena is looking to maintain the perfect start to his career against fellow undefeated TUF alumni Mike Trizano at UFC Denver next month. Win or lose, "Violent Bob Ross" looks set to have a long and successful professional MMA career.
"The Natural Born Killer" Carlos Condit
MMA Record: 30-12-0
As with many of the fighters in this list, Carlos Condit absolutely lived up to his nickname for the majority of his career. "The Natural Born Killer" made his UFC debut back in 2009 as the WEC welterweight champion and carrying an eight-fight win streak. Perhaps even more impressive was Condit's 22-4-0 record with every one of his 22 professional wins coming via KO/TKO/Submission.
After having his win streak snapped in his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann, Condit went on a tear, defeating Jake Ellenberger via split decision before going on to earn stoppage wins over three of the UFC's most exciting welterweights including handing future champion Rory MacDonald his first loss (3rd round KO), stopping Dan Hardy (1st round KO) and delivering a stunning flying knee TKO to Dong Hyun Kim (1st round). "Natural Born Killer" indeed.
Condit captured the interim UFC welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Nick Diaz at UFC 143 but went on to fall short in his attempt to snatch the undisputed title from reigning champion Georges St-Pierre one fight later at UFC 154.
"The Natural Born Killer" has been a part of several memorable wars over the course of his career, perhaps most notably his 2016 fight of the year battle with Robbie Lawler. While defeat to Lawler kickstarted Condit's current 4 fight losing streak, it will go down in history as one of the most entertaining fights of all time.
"The Housewives' Choice" Chris Fields
MMA Record: 12-8-1
I'll admit, this nickname doesn't really fit in with the majority of the names on this list but it is hands down one of my favourite nicknames in all of Mixed Martial Arts.
"The Housewives' Choice" Chris Fields is a pioneer of the Irish MMA scene and a veteran of the UK, Ireland and European circuit. Training out of the world-renowned Straight Blast Gym under coach John Kavanagh, Fields helped pave the way for the next generation of Irish stars like James Gallagher, Kiefer Crosbie and Blaine O'Driscoll.
As for the unusual nickname, Fields explained to Buzz.ie that it came about completely by accident during an interview with Severe MMA.
"It (the nickname) was given to me during an interview with one of the guys from SevereMMA, Andrew McGahon.
"He just said, 'I'm here with Chris 'The Housewives' Choice' Fields'.
"Since I got married and had a kid it's the way I'm going – I'm not the younger girls' choice anymore!"
"The Irish Hand Grenade" Marcus Davis
MMA Record: 22-11-0
A veteran of the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, "The Irish Hand Grenade" Marcus Davis is unquestionably the owner of one of the best nicknames in combat sports, let alone MMA.
Davis racked up nine wins in 15 UFC appearances following his TUF appearance, with seven of those victories coming via stoppage. Overall, 12 of "The Irish Hand Grenade's" 22 career wins came via first-round stoppage. Explosive right?
Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko
MMA Record: 38-5-0 (1 no contest)
No list of the greatest nicknames in MMA history would be complete without mentioning "The Last Emperor".
Fedor Emelianenko is something of a polarizing figure among MMA fans with many arguing his case for being the greatest of all time and an equal number claiming that simply can't be the case as he never fought in the UFC.
One thing which can't be disputed is Fedor's record (although people do love to try). "The Last Emperor" was undefeated for 28 straight fights, including winning all 14 of his fights under the PRIDE banner, defeating legends like Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman (twice), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice) and Mark Hunt to name just a few.
