8 times MMA fighters knocked themselves out instead of their opponents
Mixed martial arts is one of the most punishing sports in the world, even without accounting for the fight itself. Depending on an array of factors like their age, opponents and the proximity of a fight, MMA fighters train anywhere from once to thrice a day. Their preparation is an almost Christ-like purging and when a fighter goes to war completely unscathed, it’s more of an exception than the rule.
In Dante’s Inferno, each ring of hell is progressively more torturous than the last one; for fighters, it is the same. The unforgiving road of a training camp leads to a merciless field of war, where there stands a warrior whose sole purpose for the last few months of his life has been your doom. The cycle is perpetuated with the next fight.
Every elite fighter’s offence is always strategised, measured and sharpened towards the coveted W. But remove all the pageantry and science, and an MMA contest is a microcosm of the most atavistic, universal, and conclusive characteristic of evolution there is – fight or flight.
When the verbal quivers are empty, the camera lenses shut for the promos and trained on the Octagon, reality becomes highly protean. We’ve seen Gods cast down from the Pantheon by humble mortals; the cage has often been the background for modern-day myth.
Reputations are no armour in the cage; auras of invincibility are shattered in seconds. Regardless of gameplans, when they smell blood, fighters will go in for the kill like an Orca on a Great White. But sometimes, these jugular attacks are ill-conceived and the fighters end up impaled on their own swords.
Adrenaline charging through their veins and walking the tightrope between hunter and hunted, it takes nerves of steel to be able to tame a fight. More often than not, a fighter’s misstep allows his opponent a foot in the door and that’s the beginning of the end.
But there have been times when MMA has shown it has a cruel sense of humour. In social media, epic fail compilations are what Piko Taro is to music. So here’s an assortment of jacked dudes who live to hurt each other, KTFOing themselves:
#8 Gray Maynard gets DDTed by Rob Emerson
Gray Maynard’s early UFC career is now a palimpsest; the once-mighty wrestling standout from the University Of Michigan was undefeated in his first ten UFC fights, except for a draw with Frankie Edgar and this bizarre No Contest against Rob Emerson.
As contestants on The Ultimate Fighter 5, both shared the unattractive record of being submitted by season winner Nate Diaz during the show. But their showings in the tournament warranted them a fight on the undercard.
Maynard swept round one except for a flying knee and a takedown from Emerson. In the sophomore, Maynard picked up his foe and slammed him to the ground. Emerson tapped instantaneously due to a rib injury but there was a befuddling fix when referee Herb Dean noticed that Maynard had spiked himself into blackness.
The official decision was furiously protested by Maynard, who claimed to be wide awake and completely sentient of Emerson submitting.
“The Bully” would put that twist of fate behind him and cut through the Lightweights, earning a shot at champion Frankie Edgar, whom he had defeated once and fought to a draw in their next meeting.
Maynard lost to a radiant performance from Frankie Edgar that is worthy of a Rocky reboot and has since become a shell of his former self, losing five of his last seven fights.