Ten Crazy Colors Of MMA Personalities: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Crazy is like a box of crayons; there are so many different colors and varieties to choose from. This rings true when it comes to all the diverse personalities of modern day cage warriors.

Despite popular belief, the bulk of today’s MMA fighters are college educated and well mannered.

Champions such as Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva, represent the sport as true martial artists displaying honor and respect to their opponents.

The sport has come a long way from its “no holds barred” ages and the athletes are finally able to showcase their integrity to the world.

However, for every Machida, Georges St. Pierre, and Randy Couture, there’s always going to be a couple of fighters behind them that will appear to be cookoo for cocoa puffs.

With that being said, let’s take a look at the top ten craziest personalities in MMA today. Some will be harmless entertainers but others will be downright degrading to the sport. It is up for you to decide which is which on this countdown.

10. Shonie Carter

Nicknamed “Mr. International”, Carter is a 12-year veteran of the sport and has won championships in various organizations. At one point in his career he was a top-10 ranked Welterweight and is mainly remembered for knocking out eventual UFC champ Matt Serra with a spinning back-fist at UFC 31.

While most fighters wear traditional fight shorts whilst competing, Carter prefers to wear tight spandex—otherwise known as “man panties”—when he’s fighting.

If the “man panties” aren’t disturbing enough, Carter stuffs his pants with an extra-large cup to give the illusion that he’s extra-large in the pants. His strategy may have worked if it didn’t look like he smuggled a banana and two pears into his tights.

Outside of the cage, Carter dresses like an old-school pimp that you thought only existed in gangster films.

If you’re ever in Chicago, Illionois and you see a middle-aged man strutting down the street with a cane, dressed in flamboyant attire then it’s probably “Mr. International” on his way to solve some “baby-momma drama.”

9. Chris Leben

Ah, who can ever forget the antics of the man formerly known as “The Cat Smasher” from the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter?

“The Crippler” has matured tremendously since appearing on the reality show in 2005 but it’s like the old saying goes, “you can take the man out of craziness, but you can’t take the craziness out of the man.”

On TUF Season one, Leben irritated his fellow housemates with his drunken frolics and uncivilized behavior. At one point in the show, a drunken Leben stole a pillow from team-mate Jason Thacker and urinated on it.

Later in the season, Leben went beserk at the house after being antagonized by Team Liddell members, Bobby Southworth and Josh Koscheck.

After the show, Leben has simmered down a bit. A move out to Hawaii has eased his mind and matured him as both a fighter and a human being, but as previously mentioned, you can never take the craziness out of Chris Leben.

8. Tom Lawlor

Crazy might not be the best phrase to describe “The Filthy Mauler.” Lawlor has gone far and beyond the definition of crazy, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing either.

At the weigh-ins for his bout against C.B Dollaway at the historic UFC 100, Lawlor painted himself with green and white face paint, signing “UFC” on his forehead and “JUST BLEED” on his chest. This was a parody of a fanatical fan from a classic UFC event that did the very same thing, and needless to say the fans fell in love with Lawlor after witnessing this hilarious display.

To make matters even more intriguing, during the face-off, while Dollaway is staring into Lawlor’s eyes with mean intentions, Lawlor positioned his hands as if he were ready to launch a kamehameha wave straight out of the popular martial arts cartoon, Dragonball Z at his opponent.

However, the event that transformed Lawlor from a comic relief into a legend in the span of one night was his epic entrance at UFC 100.

“Who let the dogs out” by the Baha Men hit the loudspeakers and Lawlor walked down the ramp with his close friend and training partner, Seth Petruzelli hooked up to a dog collar leash on all fours.

Lawlor has a long trail ahead of himself as far as becoming a UFC champion is concerned, but when it comes to the entertainment aspect, he’s already an emperor.

7. Jason “Mayhem” Miller

Die-Hard MMA fans know Miller as “Mayhem” and a talented eight-year veteran of the sport. Everyone else recognizes him as “that Bully Beatdown guy from MTV”, either way mostly everyone has heard of him in some form and acknowledges the craziness behind this fighter.

When you get the tar kicked out of you by Georges St. Pierre for three rounds but still manage to crack a smile whilst blood is trickling down your nose, you’re the true king of craziness.

Most mortal men would mentally break down after having GSP beat and batter them for 15 minutes, but Miller seemed to enjoy the butt-kicking, or so he made it appear judging by his blood-stained teeth in his smile.

When it comes to flashy ring entrances, “Mayhem” is a true master at entertaining the crowd. At DREAM 9, “Mayhem” came out to the song “Lava Lava” by Boys Noize and walked down a ramp surrounded by a bunch of Japanese women dressed like Catholic school-girls, all of which he has probably slept with before and after the fight.

As he made his way down the ramp, he, along with all of the Asian girls, began to perform this ridiculous dance that both Steve Urkel from Family Matters and Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air combined would not be able to duplicate, even in their prime.

There’s a certain swagger surrounding “Mayhem” Miller and the fans love it. He’s an entertainer first and a fighter second.

6. Wes Sims

If you’ve been following The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights every week on Spike TV, you will know exactly why “The A-Whole Show” is mentioned on this list. To put it simply, the man is completely out of his mind but totally harmless at the same time.

From accusing Zak Jensen of “sniffing his shorts”, to sneaking up on Matt Mitrione in a Ninja Gi at the basketball court and spraying him with silly string while the former NFL player tries to sleep.

Sims loves to mess with people and he loves to entertain his fans.

Even before the TUF show, hardcore fans knew Sims was an exotic human being. We’re talking about a guy who stomped Frank Mir’s head in a disqualification loss at UFC 43. Obviously, the man is insane but believe it or not, he’s a friendly type of insane.

He lost to Mir twice in two of his three UFC contests and then went on TUF to announce to all of the new fans watching the show at home, “Wes Sims is the only man to have beaten Frank Mir on two separate occasions.”

Of course the charismatic Heavyweight followed that up with this line: “Wes Sims will never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

5. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett

With a nickname like “Krazy Horse”, it would be an injustice not to include Bennett among the wildest personalities in MMA. Nevertheless, it isn’t the nickname alone that makes Bennett worthy of this ranking but the fact that the man is totally deranged in every way imaginable.

Bennett has the reputation for being an extremely arrogant competitor and is known for insulting other fighters as well as referees both during interviews and in the ring.

The man plays to the camera every chance he can get. Anytime the camera is on him he will make some sort of face gesture to imply that he is indeed every bit the psychopath that you think he is.

One of his signature techniques is to sit atop of the corner ropes after the opening bell rings, and attempt to dropkick his opponent, pro wrestling style, as his opponent rushes in forward. Outside of the ring, he’s been arrested twice with his first arrest being for possession and selling of cocaine.

Not exactly the best ambassador of the sport but an entertaining fighter, nonetheless.

4. The Diaz Brothers

Stockton, California natives, Nick and Nate Diaz are notoriously known in the MMA community for their brash behavior both inside and outside of the Octagon. 

The Diaz brothers are the type of fighters that need to be angry at their opponents before every fight and they’ll find the dumbest reasons to hate any opponent they are matched up against.

Before battling Diego Sanchez at the TUF 2 finale, for absolutely no reason at all, Nick sent out angry emails to his opponent. Then in the locker room before the fight, Nick taunted Sanchez before throwing a shoe at him. Yes you did hear that correctly, a grown man chucked a shoe at another man like a toddler.

That isn’t even the worst of it because right after losing to Joe Riggs at UFC 57, after spending weeks smack-talking him beforehand, Nick attacked Riggs at the hospital after the fight and they had to be separated by the police.

Nate isn’t as bad as his older brother, but he’s certainly no saint either. When his brother Nick confronted former EliteXC champ K.J Noons while Noons had his family in the cage to celebrate his victory over Yves Edwards, Nate started cursing out Noon’s father and a brawl almost erupted between them.

3. Junie Browning

“The Lunatik” is a fighter that suffers from multiple demons and a split-personality disorder. In his normal mind frame, Browning can be one of the coolest/friendliest guys you’d ever come across in this sport. But when his demons get the better of him, Browning turns into a horrible human being and one of the all-time worst ambassadors of MMA.

On TUF Season eight, Browning was constantly flipping out on his fellow housemates. Shoving and kicking fighters at the house, throwing glass at people and even hopping over the cage after a fight attempting to attack another fighter who had just won.

After the TUF show, Browning relocated to Las Vegas to train with Shawn Tomkins at Xtreme Couture. Tomkins along with other Xtreme Couture members would praise Browning and claim that the TUF “bad boy” has matured and rid himself of his demons.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as the demons were still there and getting worse as the days went by. Browning went into a depression and tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills and was brought to a medical facility by two friends. From there he went on a drug-induced rage and attacked a couple of male and female nurses.

He has since been released from his UFC contract and will be competing on Nov. 28th at a small regional promotion. Hopefully, one day Browning can get his act together and really make a change in his life, but obviously that’s easier said than done.

2. Jeff Monson

Most of the fighters mentioned on this list are a funny type of crazy. “The Snowman” on the other-hand is a scary/horrifying/hide your children, type of crazy.

Just taking one look at this Heavyweight grappling-machine will cause you to soil yourself in fear of your life. He looks like the type of guy that would club you over the head and then drag you into his cave before eating you alive.

He’s accurately the most intimidating looking guy in MMA. He has the physique of The Incredible Hulk’s younger brother with tribal tattoos to boot.

Earlier this year, Monson was charged with First Degree Malicious Mischief, for vandalizing the Washington State Capitol by spray-painting "an anarchy symbol, a peace symbol and the words 'no poverty' and 'no war'" on the large columns at the front of the building.

A warrant was issued by a Thurston County Superior Court Judge after pictures of Monson committing the crime were printed in ESPN magazine. Yes, this guy was actually dumb enough to commit this crime while doing a photo shoot for one of the most well known sports magazines in the world.

To quote a certain former Light-Heavyweight champion, “this boy’s cheese has fallen off its cracker.”

1. War Machine

When a person legally changes their name to “War Machine”, it’s safe to say that they have more than a few screws loose upstairs.

However, when that person is the man formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, not only is he downright idiotic, but he’s an embarrassment to this sport and society in general.

War Machine is infamous for his controversial MySpace bulletins of topics that include; taking your girlfriend to gay bars, small breasts, fat chicks, his 55-year-old aunt who is a Hollywood prostitute, among other things.

The most controversial bulletin about the late great Evan Tanner is one of the reasons why the UFC released him from his contract in 2008. Shortly after War Machine signed with the newly-formed Bellator Fighting Championships but a bulletin about how he wishes someone would assassinate president Obama caused him to be cut from that organization as well.

Nowadays, War Machine has transitioned into the porn industry and has apparently already posted a few scenes online.

The UFC made the right move getting rid of this guy, and every other major organization is smart for not signing him either. He's a horrible representation of MMA and every time he speaks or posts one of his notorious myspace posts, he damages the credibility of the sport to outsiders looking in.