Giving “Nicknames” to a person in sports has become a culture. No matter which sport—football, cricket, MMA, or basketball–nicknames are given to players and fighters, and they end up knowing by that name their whole lives. In MMA, they immortalize a fighter by highlighting his fighting style or a key characteristic. This led to the creation of numerous nicknames that serve to elevate the fighters. However, some nicknames do quite the opposite and only make the fighter an object of mockery. There are several nicknames that didn’t go well with the fans and became popular for the wrong reasons only.
Here’s the list of 10 Worst Nicknames in history of MMA :
The Pink Pounder
Logan Clark is a former UFC fighter whose career was successful, with accomplishments including a unanimous decision win over Steve Byrnes. Clark has a record of 18-6, meaning he has twice as many wins as he has losses. He is known as Logan “The Pink Pounder” Clark and whatever accomplishments he may have achieved in MMA, regardless of whether Logan managed to claim UFC gold, this would have been definitely overshadowed by such an embarrassing nickname.
Sexual Chocolate
Jon Jones has enjoyed a very successful career in UFC and also has the longest undefeated streak in UFC history with the UFC light heavyweight division. Although he eventually marked his rise to MMA as John “Bones” Jones, he once had the name Jon “Sexual Chocolate” Jones in his smaller fights prior to the UFC. Thanks to Jones and his team, they had enough self-awareness to get rid of such a misnomer. WWE wrestler Mark Henry also became known by the nickname “Sexual Chocolate” in his early career.
The Master
The current Bellator Heavyweight Champion, Ryad Bader, is an extremely successful fighter. Although he never managed to capture UFC gold, he consistently remained in the top five of light heavyweight divisions. He only lost to champions such as Jon Jones, Tito Ortiz, Lyoto Machida, Glover Teixeira and the two-time UFC title challenger Anthony Johnson. When Ryan switched to Bellator, he finally became the champion in two divisions. Although he left UFC behind, he can never leave his other fighter nickname, which is “Darth”. Fans know him by this name, but his other nickname is “The Masterx” which is as hilarious as any other.
The Cheesecake Assassin
Danny Mitchell, a retired MMA fighter, didn’t have a successful career in the UFC as he suffered two losses and eventually got traded to a different promotion. Despite this, Mitchell is well known by some fans of the sport. Danny has one of the silliest nicknames in the history of MMA, which is “The Cheesecake Assassin” . This paints a less threatening picture than one might expect for a fighter.
The Ginger with the Intent to Injure
Rick Pfeifer is an unknown fighter with a record of 5-6. He was never able to reach the heights of success that would have earned him a place among the big names in MMA. Thus, he never entered the UFC, Bellator, or even ONE championship. Instead, he fought for organizations that didn’t catch the attention of general MMA fans. However, his nickname is something that can’t be ignored. Rick was known as “The Ginger with the Intent to Injure” , but probably didn’t strike any fear in his opponents when it came to his intent to injure.
Felony
Although Charles Bennett has never fought under the UFC banner, he has earned a cult following among MMA enthusiasts. Bennett’s rise as a prolific MMA standout peaked during his tenure with PRIDE. He was an entertaining fighter both outside and inside the cage because of his unpredictable fighting style and personality. Sadly, his personality seems to be extreme. Charles has been arrested over 14 times for innumerable crimes, which made his nickname “Felony” , really bad.
Touchy
Andre Fili is an amazing mixed martial artist with a record of 20-8-1 , who currently competes in the Featherweight division. However his nickname is not that amazing. While Fili has the fighting spirit of a true fighter, his chosen nickname does not reflect that. His nickname “Touchy” puts a person more in touch with their sensitive side than their instinctive desire to harm his opponents. This is an obviously counter-intuitive name for a fighter.
Hairy
Nicknames are intended to either elevate a fighter’s personality and skills or create a dominant impression of the fighter. However, UFC fighter Dakota Bush got such a ridiculous nickname which is based on his last name. He is called Dakota “Hairy” Bush, how this nickname came about will probably never be known, but it will always overshadow Dakota’s achievements in his MMA career.
The Fire
Kevin Burns is a former MMA fighter who ended his career with a disappointing record of 12-7. His career included a head-kick KO loss to Anthony Johnson. Kevin did not experience the luckiest run in MMA but got the nickname “The Fire” which doesn’t exactly relate to his UFC run.
Pee-Wee
David Herman, a retired fighter, had a brilliant record of 20-2 at heavyweight by the time of his UFC debut. His first fight in the famous octagon was against Jon-Olav Einemo at UFC 131. The two fought an exciting fight, with Herman winning by TKO in the second round. Unfortunately, Herman lost every fight after that match and got a losing streak in four matches. The worst thing for him was being called Dave “Pee-Wee” Herman, one of the least dangerous nicknames in MMA history.
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