Former UFC and Strikeforce fighter Julie Kedzie has a hilarious story involving the Russian leader, action hero Van Damme and a particularly unfortunate event.
“Fireball” had an evening that she will never forget, which culminated in the American trying to find a place to dispose of her soiled panties in a Russian palace, of all places. It is hard to believe that many fighters in her position would admit to such an awkward experience, but
Kedzie’s recent appearance on Joe Rogan Experience podcast seemed like the best place to get it off her chest.
The story begins with Julie Kedzie fighting on 2007’s BodogFight: Clash of the Nations promotion in St Petersburg against Julia Berezikova. Russian MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko vs Matt Lindland headlined the card she was fighting on. Kedzie scored a TKO victory after suffering a broken nose in the first round of the fight, which represented a huge win for the Chicago native.
Kedzie’s fight was the last of the night, and as such, she was sent on to a bus with the rest of the winning fighters without having time to change. Still, in her fight gear, the bus arrived at a palace in St Petersburg which she believes was Alexander Palace. It was when the fighter entered the grand entrance hall, that she sensed something was not quite right:
“I’m standing there in fight clothes,” she said.
“I’m like ‘what is that smell?’ I had seen a guy puking backstage because of a headshot and I thought I must have rolled in it or stepped in it. I smelled so bad. Jean Claude Van Damme randomly walks up to us. Fedor [Emelianenko] was there, Jean Claude Van Damme, this and that. It was just weird and surreal and I already had head trauma going on so wasn’t really in my right mind”, Kedzie told Joe Rogan.“It was so weird to be smelling myself and be like ‘oh god, I stepped in puke. I’m sorry Mr. Van Damme that I smell so bad.’ It was bad. I remember being on the bus and looking around asking, ‘Does anyone have any perfume or anything?’ Other people were allowed to shower but I was the swingbat so I was right after Fedor. They just put me on the bus and didn’t tell me where I was going.”
Kedzie, looking to alleviate herself from the stench of vomit, went off in search of a bathroom. Once inside the ladies’ room, things took a turn for the worse:
“I end up going to the restroom and there’s just s**t caked all over,” she said.
“And I’m like, ‘How did I s**t myself?’ It must have been in between rounds. It was disgusting. There’s no trash can. It’s all silk and gold in this beautiful palace so I just take my panties off and roll them up and shove them behind the toilet.”“It was a black lace thong, Vladimir Putin. That was mine and I want it back. Actually I don’t want it back. That’s gross. It was 10 years ago.
“So then I have to go back out there and (former Italian Prime Minister) Silvio Berlusconi was hitting on me and trying to pick me up. He was like, ‘Hey, can I be your boyfriend tonight?’ He’s saying it through a translator. And I’m like, ‘I smell like s**t’.
“I was as cleaned up as I could be but I was like ‘you are a dirty motherf**ker’.
“And Putin comes and puts his arm around me and I’m like, ‘This is weird as hell’.
“I s**t myself in front of foreign dignitaries in another country. And that’s probably my favourite MMA story.”
What a story, Julie Kedzie. Check out the full clip above.