MMA requires athleticism, coordination, in-fight IQ and the will to inflict violence on another human being. Sometimes, one or more of these prerequisites is either absent or slips away over the course of the fight, and it is to these fantastic failures -- moments of utter and sheer ridiculousness -- that the Sherdog.com staff turns in its latest Top 10.
Instead of a broader category that would include promotional idiocy or ironic drug test failures, we decided to focus on in-cage faux pas of all sorts, ranging from premature celebrations and God-awful strike selection to displays of utter and complete timidity. In lieu of a complicated set of criteria about meaning or importance, each member of the staff simply listed the events that most tickled his or her funny bone. While there were a few individual favorites -- Shad Smith’s choice of Vans as footwear against Duane Ludwig, Allan Goes’ display of “capoeira” against Mark Coleman and David Gardner’s “Hello Japan” before getting choked out by Shinya Aoki, to name a few -- the final list actually reflects a strong consensus about MMA’s biggest and most epic failures:
Number 10 » Mid-Fight Celebration