Sean McCorkle and Stefan Struve's Feud Heating Up Before Bout at UFC 124

To say that Sean McCorkle and Stefan Struve aren’t the closest of friends would be an understatement.

The two up-and-coming UFC heavyweights have spent the better half of the last month taking shots at each other—albeit online.

McCorkle, known almost as much for his trash-talking chops as his mixed martial arts credentials, kicked off the war of words when the undefeated heavyweight posted a list of “facts” about Struve on “the Underground” forum at www.mma.tv.

This included No. 5 on the list: “Stefan Struve is just further proof that Sean McCorkle (is) the best looking man over 6’6’’ on the planet,”—a “fact” that was by far the tamest and least-offensive of the numerous pot-shots directed at Struve.

The usually reserved and respectful Struve at first laughed McCorkle’s taunts off, but was eventually surprisingly willing to retaliate, as the 22 year-old Beverwijk, Netherlands native opened an account on “the Underground” forum.

His first post invited the forum’s many amateur photo-shoppers to get cracking on their best photo-shopped pictures of McCorkle to, “expose McCorkle for the (expletive) that he really is.”

Within days Struve’s thread on “the Underground” had garnered thousands of views and dozens of insulting photo-shopped pictures had been posted—aimed almost equally at McCorkle and Struve.

Never one to back down from an argument, the boisterous McCorkle has been adding fuel to the fire for weeks now and it seems that both men are more than ready to square off on December 11th in Montreal, Quebec.  

Although McCorkle predicts a first round stoppage victory over Struve, the former super-heavyweight competitor isn’t taking his opponent lightly.

“Obviously he can fight. He wouldn’t be in the UFC if he couldn’t. He’s also shown in his fights in the UFC that he’s really tough, and has a lot of heart,” said McCorkle via e-mail, “but he’s not me. I’m too big, too strong, too athletic and too good looking for him to be able to deal with me.”

Although this bout is scheduled for 15 minutes of action, there’s a good chance that, given the bad-blood between both competitors and their respective histories of quick, decisive stoppages, this fight may end early and violently, as both men are more than ready to prove their dominance over the other.