5 of the wildest post-fight celebrations in UFC history
Winning a fight in the UFC, even if it’s in a preliminary bout, can be a huge deal for an MMA fighter. Naturally, the bigger the win, the bigger the celebration might be.
Over the years we’ve seen a number of truly wild celebrations from fighters inside the UFC. Often, these celebrations have been as memorable as the fights themselves.
During his post-fight celebrations, @KChimaev made sure he went over to acknowledge Hasbulla who appeared to be very impressed 👏
#UFC267 https://t.co/AaZ31BA0yl
On occasion, in fact, some of the wilder celebrations in octagon history have led to major controversy and have also set up some crazy fights in their own right.
With that in mind, here are five of the wildest post-fight celebrations in UFC history.
#5. Tito Ortiz vs. Guy Mezger – UFC 19
During his reign as light-heavyweight champion from 2000 to 2003, Tito Ortiz was widely known for a trademark celebration that would see him miming digging a grave to put his beaten opponents into.
Whether this was fun or disrespectful depends on your leanings on such theatrics in MMA, but the wildest celebration from ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ didn’t involve any grave digging at all. In fact, it led to one of the biggest feuds in the sport’s history.
At UFC 19, way back in 1999, Ortiz was faced with Guy Mezger in a rematch of an earlier fight that’d seen Mezger choke Ortiz out with a guillotine. This time around, though, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was better prepared and dominated his more experienced foe en route to a first-round TKO stoppage.
It was a hugely impressive showing from Ortiz, but it didn’t take long for him to live up to his bad-boy reputation when the fight was over.
After pulling on a t-shirt with a highly offensive slogan that stated "Gay Mezger is my b*tch," Ortiz then flipped off his opponent’s corner, which included UFC legend Ken Shamrock.
Mar5.1999
Tito Ortiz avenges the first loss of his career,
when he finishes Lion's Den team member Guy Mezger in their rematch https://t.co/8pnaCM24Uc
Shamrock, understandably, was furious with the show of disrespect and angrily confronted Ortiz, which led to the two men having to be separated.
The feud would eventually lead to a mega-fight between the two stars. While it came over three years after Ortiz’s wild celebration, it still drew a record buyrate for the promotion at the time, ultimately saving it from going under entirely.