MMA always gives amazing thrills and entertainment to its fans, but sometimes the events in the arena lead to many conspiracies. The president of the UFC may disagree with the notion that none of these cover-ups matter, but nonetheless, he tries to protect the ethics of the sport. Whether fact or fiction, weird conspiracy theories have always existed in sports. Some are completely ignored, while others become authentic urban legends. In this article, we will tell you about some conspiracy theories that have occurred in recent years.
List of six MMA Conspiracy theories
Did Rockhold fix his own loss?
When the former UFC Champion Vitor Belfort landed a spinning heel kick on his opponent Luke Rockhold at UFC on FX 8, several fans couldn’t believe that Belfort could do it without any help. Immediately after the surprise KO, conspiracy theories began to spread, and rumours stated that Belfort knew exactly when to launch the dreaded finishing move due to a subtle signal from Rockhold seconds before the kick. Later, Rockhold took to Twitter and defended his integrity by clearing up the doubts about Belfort’s Knockout.
He wrote, “I heard some talk about my fight with Belfort being fixed. No amount of money will make me even think about falling. I got caught, and I’m defeated”.
A planned “Showtime Kick”
At WEC 53, Anthony Pettis landed the most talked-about and creative strike in MMA history and defeated Benson Henderson with his “showtime kick”. But the question that was raised after the fight was, “Did Pettis get the signal from Benson, and was this famous kick a hoax? Seconds before Pettis used his right foot to exit the cage, leap into the air, and land a round kick to Henderson’s face, Benson backed up and tapped his foot on some of the cage padding. As the ploy was underway, Henderson tapped his foot in an attempt to signal Pettis to throw the kick, and this was clearly seen.
In addition, conspiracy theorists believed that the UFC and WEC, which were merging after WEC 53, staged the kick in an effort to promote Pettis as a potential fighter. However, Pettis completely disapproved of this theory by dropping his promotional debut to Clay Guida with a disappointing performance at the Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.
Cowboy took a dive against McGregor
In 2020, Conor McGregor had not stepped inside the cage since his one-sided submission defeat against Khabib at UFC 229. Fans were restless to see him back as MMA’s greatest star. Soon, the promotion scheduled his fight with Donald Cerrone at UFC 246. At that time, Donald was on a two-fight losing streak, suffering back-to-back TKOs against Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Many fans considered him an afterthought against “The Notorious”. Rumours got out that the “Cowboy” was carefully selected by the UFC because of his loyalty to the promotion. The rhetoric was that he was being induced to dive. Although Cerrone objected to these claims, after losing to McGregor via TKO in just 40 seconds, the claims intensified. After the fights, UFC enthusiasts flooded his Instagram comment section, accusing him of taking a dive.
The UFC hid Lesnar’s PED usage
The “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt was not a successful fighter, but he still entertained the fans. At UFC 200, he took on the challenge of facing Brock Lesnar in the PPV co-main event, who was returning after a long time. The fighters outside the USADA testing pool are required to undergo six months of testing, but Lesnar only had to undergo one month’s testing after the UFC applied for an exemption for him. The Beast was originally victorious against Hunt, but the win was overturned after USADA reported that he had failed two drug tests. Later, Hunt alleged that the UFC already knew about Lesnar’s PED use, chose not to inform him, and allowed him to compete, knowing very well he had an unfair advantage. This served as the basis for Hunt’s subsequent lawsuit against the promotion.
Silva took a dive against Wiedman
Anderson Silva faced Chris Weidman at UFC 162 and attempted to execute the same game plan that he used to beat his 16 straight opponents. Weidman ignored his distractions and focused on finishing the fight. He achieved the feat with a stunning knockout in the second round. Fans and media members were left heartbroken by Silva’s loss and began to spread rumors that Silva took a huge pay-dive. Later, UFC President Dana White cleared up the allegations during the post-fight conference and said:
“It happened very quickly, and some of you said it, and I was thinking the same thing. What just happened? Was he roaming around? Is he still poking around when he’s down, and is he getting ready to take precautions? Then they show that replay, and you just see that clip happening; his eyes just roll in his head. Yes, it’s resolved.”
EliteXC bribed Petruzelli
Two days after Seth Petruzelli defeated Kevin Ferguson with a 14-second TKO at EliteXC, he did something even more surprising on an Orlando talk show. Undeterred, Petruzelli admitted that EliteXC offered him a hefty paycheck to stand and exchange blows with Kevin rather than try to take the fight to the grassroots. During an interview in 2008, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw denied the allegation that Petruzelli was told he would receive a large amount if he stood and exchanged blows with Slice.
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