The crowd at sporting events generally supports their teams and favorites while booing the opposing one. However, not all sports are defined by that type of dynamic. MMA is a sport that doesn’t involve any teams, so there’s usually confusion as to who the crowd will cheer for the most. Typically, fans will cheer for the popular UFC fighters or just for a good fight. However, this is not always the case. There have been instances where the crowd loudly booed some of the greatest fighters during or after their fights.
10) Al Iaquinta
Fans usually boo when they feel a decision amounts to robbery. However, many fighters have handled that bashing, one of them was AI Iaquinta, who faced the wrath after his win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas in 2015. “Raging” won a split decision over Masvidal and was then immediately showered with boos. In response, he reminded the audience that he had only fought for 15 minutes, and he called them out with a series of cursed words.
9) Weili Zhang
The current UFC women’s strawweight champion is one of the best MMA fighters. However, at UFC 261, she was booed for an unknown reason by the Florida crowd. “Magnum” was booed out of the building after her brutal knockout defeat to Rose Namajunas. In the post-fight interview, Weili was once again showered with booing from fans.
8) Casey O’Neill
Roxanne Modafferi’s retirement bout against Casey O’Neil at UFC 271 gave fans a surprising contest. Casey won the bout via split decision after fighting for three rounds. Eventually, the Australian crowd booed O’Neil. She responded by telling off the crowd and avoiding them in her post-fight interview.
7) Junior Dos Santos
Junior Dos Santos is one of the best MMA fighters to grace the UFC octagon. Despite being a heavy hitter who got intense at times, “Cigano” was always seen as gentle outside the cage. Still, he was booed by the MMA fans at UFC 155. After being defeated by Cain Velasquez in their rematch, he was bashed a second time by the LA crowd. It went so badly that Joe Rogan even asked the fans to show some respect for Dos Santos, who had just faced and gone through the defeat.
6) Khamzat Chimaev
After winning the first four fights in the UFC, Khamzat Chimaev got the biggest test of his career at UFC 273 in the form of Gilbert Burns. While the Russian got loud cheers before entering the octagon, the two had a little double-turn in the match. “Durinho” displayed excellent fighting abilities that won over fans’ hearts immediately. In the end, Chimaev won the contest by a controversial unanimous decision. This result caused the fans to chase “Borz” out of the building and boo him. The Florida crowd clearly did not appreciate the decision of the contest.
5) Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson faced CM Punk at UFC 225, which was the opening bout of the event. The main reason that this contest was on the card was that this event was being held in CM Punk’s hometown, Chicago. Naturally, the former WWE champion was the fan favorite for the fight. Jackson was booed during the introduction, but the hatred for him increased when he made a mockery of the bout by prolonging the beatdown. The Booing increased in large numbers as the match continued.
4) Daniel Cormier
Daniel Cormier is currently a commentator at the UFC, but before this, he was hated as a fighter. He spent most of the first half of his career being completely hated by the fans. The biggest example of this was seen when “DC” faced Anderson Silva at UFC 200 in July 2016. “The Spider” was the crowd favorite, as he took the bout on three days’ notice. However, Silva lost badly against Cormier. This earned “DC” a lot of booing from the crowd.
3) Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier faced Conor McGregor at UFC 264 for their trilogy bout. “The Notorious,” as always, was the fan favorite. However, Poirier had his fair share of supporters heading to the contest. The trilogy bout came to an end with McGregor left with a broken leg in the very first round. “The Diamond” was badly booed by the crowd as he came out as the winner of the fight, especially after he mocked the Irishman’s trademark billionaire strut.
2) Kamaru Usman
Kamaru Usman is one of the greatest fighters the UFC has ever had. Usman was set to face Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 in Florida. The state was Masvidal’s hometown, so he was the obvious favorite in the contest. In the main event introduction of the card, Usman was booed by the fans. However, he was able to turn some fans around with his devastating knockout. “The Nigerian Nightmare” was still heavily shoved in the post-fight interview.
1) Jared Cannonier
The Brazilian crowd is not usually nice to fighters who are from outside of the country. Some fighters, like Matt Brown, were even attacked outside the cage for being hostile towards the crowd. However, in terms of loud booing, Jared Cannonier may have received one of the worst crowd reactions ever at UFC 237. After defeating Anderson Silva via TKO, “The Killa Gorilla” was booed mercilessly. Instead of trying to play in front of the crowd, Cannonier refused to speak for nearly a minute, as he was waiting for a moment to speak. Whenever he did, the booing from the crowd was so loud that it became difficult to even listen to him talk.
