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MMA is a sport filled with deception, with fighters usually refraining from sharing details about their personal lives that could affect their careers.
From drug-testing scandals involving superstars like Jon Jones to Michael Bisping lying to state commissions about being blind in one eye on his way to a UFC title, fighters have lied for good and bad reasons for as long as the sport has existed.
Joel Bauman appears to be the exception to that rule, as he confessed to having two separate outbreaks of herpes live on UFC Fight Pass. Bauman defeated Reese Forest at Fury FC 61, and then proceeded to detail the tribulations he faced in preparation for the fight.
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He said this:
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"This fight I was tired, I was exhausted. I'm about to launch this NFT that's going to change the fight game, and I put in 30 all-nighters before this fight. I had herpes before that fight, two outbreaks in the span of a week. [But] I'm here, I'm healthy, let's go."
Watch the video below:
But Joel Bauman isn't the only MMA fighter that the public thinks had or has herpes following UFC star Jorge Masvidal's recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience.
Rogan asked 'Gamebred' to explain the fallout he had with Colby Covington. Masvidal detailed the beginning of their friendship, claiming that he let Covington stay on his couch after his girlfriend kicked him out for giving her herpes.
He said this:
"I was an established pro when he came to American Top Team... I had an apartment over there for like a year-and-change. [Colby] broke his hand, his girlfriend had f***ing kicked him out of [their] place 'cause he had given her f***ing herpes. I'm dead-ass serious."
Watch the video below:
Dan Hardy explains how the evolution of MMA has allowed for slap fighting to happen
Dan Hardy, a former UFC fighter, recently explained how the change in the public's perception of MMA has allowed for the growth of slap fighting.
Mixed martial arts officially began in the early 1990's, but it was condemned by many. Over the past 15 years, that perception has begun to change.
UFC president Dana White recently created the Power Slap League, a decision that has caused controversy among certain sections of the MMA fanbase. Hardy recently appeared on Triggernometry and discussed how the evolution of the sport has allowed the Power Slap League to be formed:
"I went through the years where mixed martial arts was not accepted, so I had a lot of people telling me that I shouldn't be doing what I was doing 'cause they didn't understand it... When I fought [Georges St-Pierre] it was 2010, not that long ago. Most of my questions were, 'MMA, why should it be a legitimate sport?' ... I guess in a way it reflects how strong the UFC brand it, that they can stick Power Slap on the side of it and [they] don't feel like they're doing damage to the sport. If they'd have done that in 2010, it would have invalidated the sport."
Watch the video below, with the quotes from 59:20:
