I would like to come clean about watching UFC fights. I look forward to the fighter entrances and the entrance music as much as the actual fights. I don’t think I’m alone with that admission.
It usually goes like this. It’s Saturday night. Most UFC fans, like myself, are with their friends watching the UFC event at an apartment or house or at a local bar. The room is packed. The beer and the adrenaline are flowing.
On the television screen you see the crowd start to cheer. The fighters are shown. The music starts to blare. The fighters move closer and closer to the octagon trailed by their family members, trainers, and teammates.
In the mean time, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg are spouting off the fighting styles and strengths of each and saying phrases they should patent , like “this guy defines cage fighter” or “he’s got that look in his eyes.”
Bruce Buffer then formally introduces the fighters to the audience, the fighters stare each other down while being told basic rules to keep in mind, they typically touch gloves, and then it’s on.
In the UFC there are so many unique entrances that it is hard to pick favorites.
It all starts with the gear. Some guys wear actual martial arts gear like the karate uniforms worn by Georges St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida.
Some wear props like Heath Herring, who wears a black leather coat and a cowboy hat, or Sokoudjou who wears a large mask that covers his entire face.
On the other hand, some fighters keep it simple and wear a t-shirt showing their sponsors or team name along with their fighting shorts, but they have really great music.
Personally, I like it when the fighters come out in the standard t-shirt and shorts, but pick a great song that gets them, the arena, and the millions watching across the country amped and anxious for the fight.
I have listed a few of my favorite entrances below. What are some of your favorites and why?
My favorite entrances:- Chuck Liddell
He’s usually wearing his Affliction t-shirt. He’s bouncing around. DMX’s song “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot (intro)” starts blaring. The song starts off slow, the beat drops, and Liddell comes charging out. The crowd goes crazy for arguably the most recognizable face in the UFC ever.
- Georges St. Pierre
I can never understand a word coming from any of his songs, but the beats are good, and seeing him quickly make his way to the cage is exciting enough. Sans Pression’s “Numero Uno” is one of my favorites. He most recently used it for his fight in Montreal, Canada against Matt Serra.
- Quinton Jackson
His entrance is great simply because the song he uses (PAK’s “Rampage”) repeats his nickname over and over again. He comes out with a huge chain around his neck. He will then repeatedly stop on his way out to howl at the moon a few times before finally entering the ring.
- Wanderlei Silva
Silva always comes out looking like a psycho on a mission. I loved the song choice prior to his super fight against Chuck Liddell, which was Darude’s “Sandstorm.” This is an upbeat club song that keeps a furious pace until fighter introductions and essentially symbolizes his non-stop, pressing forward fighting style.
- B.J. Penn
His entrances are slow and calm. He wastes no energy before his fights like a great fighter should. He comes out to Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Hawai’i ’78.” This is a very slow native Hawaiian song. I don’t typically like the slow songs, however, this is an exception. Penn symbolizes talent, hard work, and he embodies an entire culture of people with regards to the native Hawaiians who look to him as a hero.
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from 18 days ago
well im probably extremely biased as he is my favorite fighter, but i remember tito's entrance when he fought ken shamrock the first time and it was the best mma entrance ive ever seen. mma as a whole has a long way to go to catch up with some of the entrances ive seen from boxers, but i agree that chuck has a good entrance and music and so does rampage. I imagine brock will have some amazing entrances once he starts whipping some butt, as his sheer size alone makes his entrances scary.
from 17 days ago
I like tito's entrances a lot. He's one of those guys that wears his emotions on his sleeve and he's like pumping himself up the entire walk to the octagon. The ones I can recall he was coming out to eminem and carrying out a flag. Pretty good stuff.
I agree with you about the boxing entrances. UFC has a long ways to go w/ regards to making huge grand entrances for their fighters. They obviously prefer it the way it is or they don't want to invest the money needed. I think it would be cool if the UFC could step it up a bit for title fights at least.
I remember brock's entrance before his fight against frank mir, and you're right, his size alone is intimidating. He came out to motley crue, who i'm not really a fan of, and it sounded like the majority of the crowd was booing him. That never helps an entrance.
from 17 days ago
I'm not a very big tito fan, but he actually used to get some pyro for his entrances.
I have to disagree with Penn's entrance. It's cool that he is going national with it, but it is the most depressing music I have heard in the UFC as far as pre-fight is concerned.
I personally have to go with Fedor's brother Aleksander Emelianenko. The guy comes out as though he is just wandered in the the ring on his way to the bar. He doesn't show any emotion or concern for the other fighter. Sometimes that look comes off as lazy, but with Aleksander, it is intimidating as hell.
from 17 days ago
I can see your point about penn. I used to hate his entrances, however, I have grown to appreciate them I guess.
I tend to dislike the country music entrances the most and I'm even a country music fan to some degree. Matt Hughes coming out to Hank Williams Jr or Tim Sylvia to Brooks and Dunn just don't do it for me.
from 17 days ago
I have a couple that really enjoy but they are all a little different then the rest. Paul Buentello came out to Samuel L. Jackson reading scripture from Pulp Fiction. How about Arlovski coming out to Hatebreed, especially when he had the fang mouth guard, he was a scary dude. When Chuck was at UFC 54 he came out to American Head Charge, Loyalty. They are a band from MN and one of my favorites.
I also would like to vote for worst entrance. Carlos Newton coming in to Will Smith or when he came out to Bootylicious by Destiny's child, not cool.
from 17 days ago
Ditto on carlos newton ... those are just terrible. That is essentially giving his opponents more reason to kick his ass.
from 17 days ago
thats why carlos newton gets his ass kicked, and its deserving. As a huge boxing fan i can tell you from experience that entrances can tell you something about a fighter and his mindset coming into the fight. the biggest example I can think of is a few years back when Cory Spinks fought Zab Judah. Judah came to the ring quickly to a random hip hop song and looked hungry and focused. Cory was in his hometown of St. Louis, and came out with Nelly and danced with him the whole way to the ring. He was knocked out by Zab and I feel its a direct result of his ring entrance. Now while the UFC doesn't promote ring entrances as they feel its what makes them different from WWE, Pride used to have some good ones.
from 17 days ago
Genki Sudo should have this vote for all time.
from 17 days ago
as a heavy metal fan my all time vote goes to Arlovski's song "Onward to Voictory" by Hatebreed. When I hear the sirens and the dog bark i get chills
from 17 days ago
I honestly forgot about arlovski when i wrote this article ... out of sight out of mind i guess ... love his entrances too, very intimidating
from 16 days ago
i just watcheda genki sudo entrance and died laughing. awesome.
from 16 days ago
i had to watch the infamous genki sudo entrance as well and it's pretty funny. It's like a full blown broadway show before he walks to the ring. Here's a link to one of his entrances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vlnm60WwLQ
from 15 days ago
PRIDE FC had the best entrances, especially when the fighters would descend from a platform. The fighter's theme songs were much better too, and I love the official PRIDE theme. It sends chills down my spine. The entrances in the UFC seem more constrained and less elaborate than in Japan.
Amongst UFC fighters, I like Rich Franklin's entrance and song. Arlovski also has a great entrance; same with GSP. They need to bring back the ramp though. For non-UFC fighters, I believe Fedor's entrance is deceptively humble and simple when you consider the man's abilities and accomplishments. His song, Enae Volare Mezzo, is awesome.
Overall, I think PRIDE had much better production values than the UFC. The entire atmosphere in a building such as the Saitama Super Arena is simply amazing. The proceedings looked and felt very professionsal, a spectacle and a sport at the same time I would really like to watch a live event in Japan. I guess you could say that's my DREAM.
from 9 days ago
Arlovski's into is pretty nice, seen it in person @ UFC 82. Rampage's intro is pretty cool too
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