10 of the Dumbest Moments in MMA History

MMA is still a fledgling sport, but for as long as there have been people who have made a living fighting, there have been stupid moves committed by those who do.

This list could easily span over 100 slides and still not get through half of the dumb things done in MMA, but in the interest of not taking too long, it will be limited to 10.

With that said, here are some of the most frustratingly stupid things that have ever been committed in MMA.

Heath Herring Tells Nogueira to Stand Up

At UFC 73 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faced Heath Herring in a rematch.  

Their first fight had been in Pride and Nogueira had won by decision.  In there second fight in PRIDE he won by submission.  It seemed that Nogueira was just the better fighter and that Herring didn't stand a chance.

And then Herring landed the kick shown in the picture above late in the first round.  It seemed like Nogueira was out of it, but Herring decided that he wanted to stand the fight up.

This can be forgiven somewhat because Herring might have been worried about going to the ground with someone like Nogueira's level of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  

Nogueira was stunned though and if Herring had attacked he might have won the fight and had his career go in a different direction.  Then again no one said the Texas Crazy Horse was sane.

Andrei Arlovski's Flying Knee Against Fedor Emelianenko

Andrei Arlovski beat Fedor Emelianenko in most of the first round of their fight.

And then, he proceeded to get knocked out.

Arlovski was able to stay standing most of the first round and, as expected by somebody who was trained by Freddie Roach, had the superior boxing skills to beat Emelianenko to the punch.

He was keeping his distance and making sure he dictated the fight while keeping Emelianenko at a distance.

Then he threw a flying knee, closing the gap, and allowing Emelianenko to knock him out.  It wasn't the smartest move, and it lead to him ending up on this list.

Kevin Randleman Knocks Himself Out

Kevin Randleman has always been a bit self-destructive.  He never seemed to be able to pull it together in the ring or the cage and will always be a big question mark when it comes to what he could have been.

Knocking himself out right before UFC 24 and his fight with Pedro Rizzo though was a little over the top, even for Randleman.

Apparently Randleman was getting ready in the back and slipped on a pipe which lead to him cracking his head and injuring his shoulder.  Needless to say this also postponed the fight as Randleman was in no shape to be in the main event.

The fight was rescheduled for UFC 26, and Randleman won, but it showed just how crazy he could be.

Even when he wasn't trying.

Tim Sylvia Stands With Ray Mercer and Gets Knocked Out

Anyone watching this video might have a hard time believing that at one point Sylvia was the UFC heavyweight champion.

Not only did he let himself go for the Mercer fight, but he decided to stand with the former boxing champ.  It would have been understandable if Sylvia didn't have a ground game, but this was a man who had wrestled in high school so there was no excuse.

Instead of doing the smart thing and going to the ground, Sylvia stood up and got sent down the hard way.

And in doing so, the "Maine-iac" proved that he deserved his nickname.

Jesse Taylor's Las Vegas Rampage

The Ultimate Fighter could easily make a list of 50 slides by itself.  For some reason the show seems to catch fighters at their dumbest and makes it seem 10 times worse.

Because of this, the article is staying away from any TUF related incidents that happened during any of it's seasons.

However, this technically happened after the show had wrapped, and showed such terrible decision-making skills that it had to be included.

Jesse Taylor had won his way to the finals in The Ultimate Fighter and a guaranteed main event slot on the Spike TV final. 

And then he went to Las Vegas, where he damaged a limo he was riding in, harassed female bar patrons and used the UFC's name while he was doing it.

Not good especially considering Dana White lives in Vegas.

White found out and called Taylor back to tell him that he was eliminated not only from the main event, but from the UFC.

Taylor got a second chance, but failed to capture it, and was eliminated after one fight in the octagon.

Paul Daley Punches Josh Koscheck After the Final Bell

Paul Daley was doing very well in the UFC.  

He was being groomed to be a UK star, Dana White loved his focus on trying to knock his opponent out and he was getting international exposure.

Then he ran into Josh Koscheck.

Koscheck dominated Daley during the fight and used his superior wrestling to stop Daley's impressive striking and frustrate the British fighter.

In fact, Koscheck did such a good job of frustrating him, that Daley decided that three rounds wasn't enough and punched Koscheck after the bell.

Dana White and the UFC didn't take kindly to this and promptly kicked Daley out of the UFC.

After they bought Strikeforce he disappeared from that organization too.

Nick Diaz Fight Joe Riggs at the Hospital

Nick Diaz is crazy.  In fact he is so crazy that he could take up this entire list and still have room left over for another one.

In one bout of insanity he decided that after losing a fight to Joe Riggs UFC 57 he wanted a rematch.

He decided to implement it that night.

In a hospital.

The fact that Diaz tried to beat up another fight in a place of healing while both were recovering from the injuries after their first fight shows a momentary lapse in judgement. 

Except for Diaz it isn't momentary.  It's a life-long effort.

Nick Diaz No-Shows at the UFC 137 Media Conference

Nick Diaz finally got a shot at George St. Pierre after years of wanting the fight.  All Dana White needed him to do was show up for the press conferences.

When Diaz seemed like he might not show White, Diaz' training partners and team members, and even his coach tried to get him to show up.

Diaz decided to lie to all of them and disappear so that no one could find him.

White didn't have a choice and pulled Diaz from the main event and gave the title shot to Carlos Condit.  Amazingly he gave Diaz the co-main event slot against B.J. Penn

Instead of thanking White for the second chance Diaz posted a youtube video in which he blamed everyone but himself for why his fight had been called off.

David Gardner Greets Japan

There is nothing wrong with being friendly as an American in a foreign nation.  It helps spread a bit of good will and shows a friendliness that everyone who visits a foreign nation should have.

Greeting Japan was a wonderful gesture by David Gardner.  He just shouldn't have done it while in the middle of a fight.

Especially with a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert like Shinya Aoki on his back and half-locked in for a choke.

All it took was Gardner one second to wave to the Japanese audience and take his focus off the fight that he was in and that was it.

The Strikeforce Nashville Brawl

Could anything else really have topped this list?

It was for someone to let Jason Miller in the Cage.

It was stupid for Jake Shields to shove him.

It was stupid for Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields and Jason Miller to get in a fight on CBS.

It was terrible for MMA and it was terrible for everyone involved.

Hopefully this never gets trumped as the dumbest moment in MMA history.

Your Thoughts

Let me know if you think anything was missed on this list.

Did something get overlooked?

Was something else ranked too high or too low?

Let me know in the comments below.

And as always, thanks for reading.