MMA News Forums - Little Known MMA Facts

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At UFC 98, Chael Sonnen defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision. What most fans don’t know is that he stepped up for an injured Yushin Okami. Chael took the fight on 22 days notice and had to lose 36 pounds just to compete. Never question Chael’s heart.

Nate Marquardt is no stranger to controversy, but there was one instance where things boiled over for the former King of Pancrase. Marquardt lost a fight to Ricardo Almeida in a Pancrase Championship Fight. The referee couldn’t separate the two fighters immediately and all hell broke loose. After Almeida released the hold, Nate swung at him and both corners rushed in like something out of the WWE. Renzo Gracie eventually kicked Nate in the face and it created one of the more memorable post fight altercations in history.

At one point, Wanderlei Silva was considered the best light heavyweight of all time. Some of that claim came from the fact that Silva would have fought anyone at anytime. Legendary striker Cro Cop was booked to fight Silva, but there were unique stipulations put in place. If the fight went the distance the fight would be declared a draw, and it did. Unfortunately their next meeting saw Wanderlei on the receiving end of a head kick knockout from Cro Cop. That first bout was important because it was rare that a big fight like that had special stipulations.

Nick Diaz has amazing jiu jitsu. Cesar Gracie jiu jitsu WHAT? Sorry, I had to say that. Nick actually started training Sambo at the age of sixteen. He admitted recently in an interview that he still trained in the art stating that it made his ground game different from other fighters who only trained in jiu jitsu

Speaking of Nick Diaz – The first man to ever finish him is in prison for rape. Former UFC fighter Jeremy Jackson finished Nick Diaz with punches in round one back in September of 2002. Jackson never really reached his full potential and sadly never will. On June 30, 2008, Jeremy Jackson was arrested and taken into custody by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. He was charged with multiple counts of aggravated rape and held on one million dollars bail. Jackson was sentenced to 25 years to life after pleading guilty to the charges. Jackson was sentenced 25 years to life after pleading guilty to the rape charges.

It was announced in August of 2008 a film would be made about on MMA fighter Lee Murray’s role in a high profile robbery. Lee was one of the sport’s hottest commodities until he decided to commit a $53,000,000 armed heist. In addition to the robbery, the film will also concentrate on Murray’s life, including his mixed martial arts career.

Anderson Silva initially fought in his native Brazil in the welterweight category.

Rashad Evans fought his first fights under the tutelage of veteran wrestler and MMA fighter Dan Severn.

Finally,

Lyoto Machida was the runner-up in the 2000 Brazilian Sumo Championships. He became Brazilian Champion twice, and placed second in the South American Championships.

Bonus:

Retired Australian MMA fighter, Elvis Sinosic once claimed to be the first person to perform a Gogoplata in MMA. competition