Sherdog’s Top 10: Epic Fails

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3. Nakao’s Ill-Fated Kiss
K-1 Premium Dynamite 2005
Dec. 31, 2005 | Osaka, Japan
As we have discussed previously, Japanese MMA was weird -- really weird. Nothing approaches the sheer ridiculousness of what transpired between Heath Herring and Yoshihiro Nakao prior to their scheduled bout on New Year’s Eve in 2005.

Herring had been a staple of Pride Fighting Championships shows for years and had been in the ring with greats like Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Kerr, Mirko Filipovic and Vitor Belfort. He had a colorful personality and a fairly entertaining style, and matching him up with Nakao, a character in his own right who owned wins over Don Frye and Wesley Correia, seemed like a fun matchup on a card built around spectacle.

All went according to the plan until the pre-fight staredown. The two fighters were face to face when Nakao -- nicknamed “Kiss” -- reached out and gently pecked Herring on the lips. It seemed to take the American a few moments to process what had just happened, and he then reached up and clocked Nakao with a right hand. The Japanese fighter tumbled to the canvas and had to receive medical attention.

“That’s an illegal act. I didn’t touch him; he tried to kiss me on the lips like a homosexual. I’m not gay,” Herring said immediately afterward, as he attempted to explain his actions in the ring. The matchup was declared a no-contest, and while both fighters moved on with their careers, neither ever again reached the heights of absurdity or hilarity they reached on that New Year’s Eve.

Number 2 » Spinning Backfist of Doom