Josh Koscheck, Brock Lesnar and the 10 Biggest MMA Villains of All Time

Villains, bad guys, heels, black hats. Regardless of nomenclature, whenever your sport of choice revolves around bodily harm, inevitably a few bad apples will sneak into the barrel.  But where would we be without them?  They're the fuel in the hype machine, the foil in the grudge match and the grist for endless debate.

They also happen to be, by and large, darn good fighters.  You couldn't be a jerk the way these guys are without being able to back up your smack.

With noted UFC heel Josh Koscheck getting plenty of ink in the run-up to this Saturday's rematch with Georges St. Pierre, I thought I'd compile a list of MMA's biggest and best villains.  I probably could have taken this into triple digits (just as I could have for the good guys, which are also plentiful), but I'll do everyone a favor and stop at 10. 

I've included video where warranted--please enjoy.  And if you're surprised by a specific inclusion or omission, put on your black hat and have at me...if you've got the yarbles.  Punk.  

10. Michael Bisping

Talk about a guy who gets under people's skin.  Some might react to his incongruous juxtaposition of hard-nosed trash talk and feathery point karate.  Some might react to his oddly heated feud with hearing-impaired fighter Matt Hamill (saying after beating him that Hamill should "go back to wrestling").  Some might react to those interviews he does in that over-the-top British accent. Whatever Michael Bisping does, it always seems to get a reaction.

9. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

Rampage reminds me a little of Shaq.  An engaging, funny guy at first who seems to get old quick.  Real quick. 

Perhaps his biggest claim to villainhood was his eye-opening (and highly unsuccessful) coaching stint on "The Ultimate Fighter." During the show, he incessantly taunted coaches and contestants and offered his charges valuable pearls of wisdom like "stop getting hit" and "get up", while looking the whole time like he was waiting for his next trip to the payroll department.

Contestant and Afghanistan war veteran Darrill Schoonover caught the worst of Jackson's hazing, with Rampage repeatedly calling Schoonover a nickname that decorum prevents me from repeating here, but which referred to his chest and rhymed with "committees."  Check out the video if you want more.

Oh, and he hit a pregnant woman with his car.

8. Tito Ortiz

Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

LOUISVILLE, KY - MAY 05: UFC fighterTito Ortiz attends the Stuff Magazine & Jack Daniels Kentucky Derby party held at Jillians on May 5, 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy--it's right there in the nickname--is the modern UFC's original villain.  Ortiz grew up a professional wrestling fan, and had his shtick well-honed by the time he entered MMA.  His consistent history of cockiness, ducking tough opponents and blaming injuries for every loss adds up to a classic heel character.  All he needs is a steel chair.

7. Josh Koscheck

Koscheck just spent three months schooling the 12 remaining fight fans in North America who didn't already know he was a villain.  Despite Koscheck's best efforts, though, Georges St. Pierre bested him at every turn on "The Ultimate Fighter," leading Kos to take on more of an unruly frat boy or annoying little brother persona, rather than that of an out-and-out villain.

Still, on Spike's "UFC 124 Countdown" show, Koscheck's college wrestling coach recalled that Kos didn't have many friends on the team because "he was such a prick."  And that's coming from someone who presumably benefited from Koscheck's presence.

6. Brock Lesnar

Insert your own commentary here.

5. Paul Daley

In a tragic case of black-hat-on-black-hat crime, Daley sucker punched Koscheck following their fight at UFC 113.  Unfortunately for Daley, Dana White dropped him from the company the same night.  A razor-sharp striker, Semtex is now 3-0 in his post-UFC career, and on Dec. 3 knocked out Scott Smith in his first fight for rival promotion Strikeforce. 

As for Daley's big transgression, check out the incriminating video on the left there (shhhh, don't tell Dana).

4. Shinya Aoki

If you're interested in seeing how far someone can crank a hammerlock before the shoulder breaks, start this video at about the 3:00 mark.  Ouch.

Come for the broken arm, stay for the middle fingers Shinya gleefully presents first to his addled and seriously injured opponent, and then to the entire crowd.  Nice guy.

3. Maiquel Falcao

Falcao (full name Maiquel Jose "Big Rig" Falcao Goncalves) is just beginning to make a name for himself in the UFC.  Unfortunately, it's a bad name.  The guy is a decent fighter when he wants to be, but as the video shows, he sometimes has a little problem ignoring the whims of that little homicidal maniac inside him. 

It happened again in his recent UFC debut against Gerald Harris, during which Falcao held a choke well after the round ended.  Falcao went on to win, but his temper (and his lackadaisical attitude at other times during the fight) might be a hindrance just as his UFC career gets off the ground.

And if that wasn't enough, Falcao was arrested in Brazil on Dec. 3 on charges he assaulted a woman outside a nightclub in 2002.  Stay classy, Maiquel Falcao.  Stay classy.

2. Junie Browning

Photo credit: MMABay.com

Yes, Virginia.  Junie Browning is still alive.  At least according to his Wikipedia page.

The last thing most of us heard, the hard-drinking, trouble-making Kentuckian from season eight of The Ultimate Fighter had won himself an all-expenses-paid trip to the pokey after punching and kicking some emergency room nurses who had the audacity to try and treat him for a pill overdose.  During the incident, Browning threatened to "kill and rape" the nurses' families.  Come on now, Junie.  Do you kiss your sister with that mouth?

Though talented, the UFC dropped Browning after the ER episode. Junie now toils in the MMA hinterlands, where he has lost three straight contests including a TKO in February at something called Wild Bill's Fight Night.  Yee-haw.

1. War Machine

Photo credit: TMZ

That's not a nickname.  And that's not a beekeeper's headdress.

He's also not technically a professional fighter at the moment, seeing as how he's, you know, incarcerated.

And yet, here he is at number one. The artist formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver could probably top any number of MMA lists: biggest villain, worst decision-maker, craziest name, craziest person, most likely to start some ish with a toddler and so on.

Machine earned a bit of national notoriety this year when TMZ posted photos of his arrest outside a San Diego nightclub called Thrusters.  He was so unruly police had to cover his head with a spit bag.  Ugh.

This UFC and Bellator veteran riled up MMA fans in 2008 by publicly speculating that fellow fighter Evan Tanner's death was a suicide, committed because he didn't make enough money (examiners determined it wasn't; Machine didn't care).  Bellator cut Machine after he made some incredibly strange and inflammatory remarks about Barack Obama just after the 2008 election.  It seems 2008 was not a banner year for Machine.

Machine has also backed out of several fights at the last minute, and once flat-out refused to accept a bout offered to him by the UFC.

He has also tried his hand at adult film acting.

He also legally changed his name to freaking War Machine.

After assaulting a bunch of people this spring, a judge granted Machine a one-year reprieve from the onerous restraints of a civil society, to be served in a California jail and followed by three years of what will hopefully be strictly monitored probation. 

Stand up, War Machine, and take a bow.  It's unanimous.  Please don't spit on me.