With one action, Wes “the Project” Sims immortalized himself and made him a frequently and venomously cited example for hyper-critical MMA fans.
The legend began in 2003 at UFC 43: Meltdown, where Wes Sims was facing future UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. During the match, it was Sims who had the meltdown. Just under three minutes into round one, Sims got Mir to the ground and instead of doing some orthodox ground-and-pound, he opted to grab the fence and begin stomping on Frank Mir’s head.
This earned Sims a quick disqualification and an equally swift induction into the MMA Mental Hall of Fame. A blood feud ensued between the two, culminating in a rematch where Mir knocked Sims out with a combination of knees and punches. The 6′10″ Sims crumbled to the ground and the controversy was over. Sims moved on to smaller MMA organizations.
It only enhances Sims’ legacy that he is known for traveling in a posse with Phil Baroni and Mark Coleman, two men who, while talented fighters, are known for varying forms of tantrums, odd behavior, fits of rage and/or altercations after the final bell. While Sims’ most notable victory is probably over MMA Mental kingpin Kimo Leopoldo, he has faced and lost to some of MMA’s elite heavyweight competition, including Mir, Tim Sylvia and an aged Dan Severn. As of this writing, Sims sports a respectable 21-12-1 record with two no-contests.
Forget mental, this guy gets straight up awesome points for entering the cage in his early fights as “the Cat Smasher.” In an MMA world where we have multiple “Naturals,” multiple “Pit Bulls,” multiple “Spiders” and a hundred different variations of “Assassin,” Leben belongs in the mental hall of fame for taking such an original name and downing the creativity factor by trading it in for “the Crippler.”
Still, Leben doesn’t have to rely on his nickname antics to secure a place among the great MMA Mentals. A frequently changing goji-berry treasure troll hairdo isn’t even one of the notable factors either. Chris Leben secured his place in this Hall when he burst onto the scene for the very first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and became the UFC’s original problem child, paving the way for the War Machines and Jesse Taylors of the future.
Leben attracted the spotlight throughout season one with a frequent and bizarre combination of tantrums, crying, screaming, urinating, property destruction and, occasionally, a vulnerable honesty that endeared him to viewers. However, by the time taping was complete, he had punched through windows, whizzed (”spritzed”) on housemates’ beds and flirted with being kicked out of the house for fighting outside the octagon.
A few years after the show, Leben had become an integral part of the UFC’s middleweight division, having faced such notable opposition as Anderson Silva and season three winner Michael Bisping. The red-headed gremlin had let the dye grow out of his hair and was entering the ring with his actual brown hair, looking like a focused man rather than a teenage punk rocker.
However, something was still rotten in Denmark and Leben nearly had to miss the Bisping fight due to a probation violation for an old DUI conviction. Leben dealt with the matter and actually seemed to earn credit with the fans for maturity when he entered the ring to fight Bisping. While overmatched, Leben seemed to fight with a lot of heart and impressed the crowds by going the distance with Bisping despite being a heavy underdog and suffering a severely damaged face in the bout. Shortly after the match, Leben tested positive for steroids and was issued a suspension that he is still serving.
Ray Mercer? The world heavyweight boxing champion? What is Ray Mercer the boxing champ doing in the MMA Mental Hall of Fame?
Have no fear. “Merciless” Ray Mercer has earned his spot as one of the great MMA Mentals and is not simply being given the status of Mental Case Greatness based on his history as a legendary boxer. Ray Mercer entered mixed martial arts, apparently having no idea that there was a difference between mixed martial arts and boxing.
And then, when he had his ass handed to him via the use of techniques other than punching, he then continued with his mixed martial arts career, still apparently having no idea that there was a difference between mixed martial arts and boxing.
At UFC 1, the very first North American MMA tournament in 1993, a sumo wrestler named Teila Tuli stepped into the Octagon with kickboxer Gerard Gordeau. Twenty-six seconds into the match, Gordeau kicked Tuli in the face, knocking out some teeth. Tuli seemed to be in disbelief that his opponent had actually used these unfamiliar techniques and became so noncombative that the referee paused the fight to check on him. The fight was called off.
This was 1993 and the North American public really had no idea what to expect at the time. Tuli had never really done anything but sumo wrestle so somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he hadn’t really acknowledged the real possibility of being kicked in the face. He can be forgiven.
Ray Mercer can’t. Mixed martial arts had been around for a good 12 years by the time he stepped into the ring for a kickboxing match with Remy Bonjansky in 2005. Had Mercer even watched UFC 1, he would have been at least prepared with the knowledge that this would not be a straight boxing match.
The result? Opening Bell. Pawing jab by Ray Mercer. Head kick by Bonjansky. Ray Mercer can’t believe he was going to face high kicks in this kickboxing match. Cued by Mercer’s disbelief, the referee steps in and stops the fight. Mercer leaves the ring, still apparently unable to comprehend the possibility of kicks being thrown in a kickboxing match. The fans were thrilled.
Two years later, and apparently none the wiser, Ray Mercer stepped into the cage with Kimbo Slice for a full-fledged MMA exhibition match. The fight went something like this: Opening bell, Kimbo Slice takes Mercer down, Kimbo Slice taps out Mercer with guillotine choke. Elapsed time: Not sure, I didn’t have time to reach for my stopwatch to press ’start.’
Again, all of this said, Ray Mercer was a fantastic boxer. But Royce Gracie is a great practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I doubt he would step into the ring with Roy Jones Jr. for a straight boxing match without accounting for the possibility that Roy would be throwing actual punches…
And don’t get me wrong, a Remy Bonjansky kick to the head definitely has the capacity to stun, disorient or concuss a man or a small elephant. So I am sure Mr. Mercer was, at least on some level, a little more aware than Teila Tuli of the reality that there would be more than punches thrown in his brief 2005 matchup. But the complete lack of any indication that Mercer had trained in even rudimentary kick defense suggested that the contemplation of this reality was cursory at the very best.
Dan Quinn, Dan Quinn, Dan Quinn. Oh, where to begin…
One could begin with postings on theoretical physics forums that he has completed the work that was only half-done by Albert Einstein and, armed with only his blender and a food sweetener, achieved cold fission in his kitchen. Don’t take my word for it. Dan Quinn will happily film this “chemical process” with his cell phone and put it on YouTube for you.
Yes indeed, if you put Stevia and water in a blender and hit “puree” you will witness cold fission. No, that is not water frothing because it is being run through a blender with a dissolving powder. It is cold fission, dammit. He has split the atom in his kitchen and you are all a bunch of idiots if you can’t see the Nobel Prize-worthy scientific breakthrough.
Or we could go directly to his YouTube calling out of Kimbo Slice, where Dan Quinn for some reason finds a college football play he was involved in during the late 17th century relevant to his abilities in the ring today.
Of course, in addition to being an over-the-counter atom splitter, Quinn also advocates that the sugar replacement Stevia is the chalice of everlasting life. As a result, he stands in the mirror with his shirt off, looking a little bit older than his forty-something years but claiming that his fountain of youth has him looking fitter than a man much younger than his actual age.
To his credit, Mr. Quinn does hold a .500 record in mixed martial arts (4-4-1) but his last fight was in 2005 and as overhyped as Kimbo may have been, it would be pretty hard to imagine Kimbo risking his reputation by taking on a grandfatherly opponent with a record inferior to that of James Thompson (and against far less noteworthy competition, though Quinn did manage once to last almost three minutes with Frank Mir).
One thing is for sure. For as long as he is alive, Dan Quinn will make himself the unofficial spokesman for Stevia as both a nuclear power generator and an age-defier. Another thing we can count on is that as long as Dan Quinn has a camera with video capabilities, we will have free entertainment.
Forget for a moment that it is a little odd to change your name from something normal like, say, Jon Koppenhaver to something bizarre and ridiculous like, say, WAR MACHINE. But that aside, we have in “The Fighter Formerly Known as Koppenhaver” one of modern MMA’s most notable mentals.
War Machine first burst onto the scene as a replacement for an injured fighter on the Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes season of The Ultimate Fighter. On day one, coach Matt Serra was enthusiastic about Koppenhaver, impressed by his tattoos and claiming he “looked like a fighter.” It was a matter of days before Serra was banging his head against the wall as he tried to figure out whether he was a coach, babysitter or psychotherapist.
In Koppenhaver’s defense, he appears to have gone through some tough times. But his issues tend to manifest themselves in unusual ways. While on the show, he participated in an “upper decker” toilet prank on the opposing team (do your own research) which led to a near in-house scrap with Jared “J-Roc” Rollins. The two faced each other on the undercard of the season finale, and when Koppenhaver knocked Rollins out, he quickly commenced a Terrell Owens-like breakdown in empathy for his fallen foe.
It all went downhill from here. After Evan Tanner’s unfortunate death, War Machine made some questionable comments in the immediate aftermath suggesting that it was a suicide, earning him a swift boot from his UFC contract. He then went on to write a long series of controversial blog posts, including the statement that someone should “smoke” President Barack Obama. This latter statement got him booted from Bellator Fighting Championship.
War Machine made perhaps the biggest headlines when he was arrested for a fight at a gay nightclub where he was working. This followed an earlier arrest in 2007 for choking out a man in a parking lot.
In the following video, War Machine discusses a few of the issues he has run into with his behavior, but seems to hold out hope for the future. The guy’s still young. There could be either a great MMA career or an MMA Mental Lifetime Achievement Award in the future.
There is a UFC Hall of Fame, featuring such mixed martial arts luminaries as Randy Couture, Dan Severn and Royce Gracie. The accomplishments of such individuals deserve to be respected and acknowledged. But what about the unequivocal accomplishments of MMA’s greatest mental cases? Where do they go to be recognized for their unparalleled contributions to a legacy of MMA lunacy?
The answer: The MMA Mental Hall of Fame. In this shrine, we will walk through the prestigious history of MMA mentals, dating all the way back to MMA’s infancy in the early 90’s UFC era and continuing through to some of today’s most notable MMA head cases.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
The following cardinal inductees are the archbishops of MMA insanity. These men have consistently conducted themselves at an elite level of lunacy over a long period of time, earning them the unparalleled distinction of a place in the Lifetime Achievement category of the MMA Mental Hall of Fame.
The following MMA Mental legends have earned their place in this prestigious Hall with their behavior, conduct, or techniques inside the cage (or in the near vicinity of the cage). In some cases, we have men who belong in cuffs. In other cases, we have all-around good guys who simply have a tendency to go a little cuckoo when they hear the words, “Let’s Get it On! Come on!”
It was these men who laid the foundations for all MMA Mentals who would follow in their footsteps. Without the weird behavior of these men in MMA’s infancy, the sport may never have matured and expanded to allow the hordes of MMA Mentals who would later pick up the torch and carry it for a new generation.
For the current induction into the renowned and hallowed MMA Mental Hall of Fame, we have a man who was once considered an undisputable MMA legend and who may even have eventually flirted with the UFC Hall of Fame, had his head been screwed on properly.
The mugshot to the left may unfortunately be the most resounding impression left with MMA fans, however, and we should probably give Kimo some credit for staying off the police radar for as long as he did, given that for the early part of his career his manager and spiritual mentor was none other than alleged gang-rapist-slash-Christian-fanatic Joe Son (see mugshot to the right).
Kimo began his career with a bang, putting in what was considered one of the elite performances of the early UFC era in pushing Royce Gracie to his physical limit and, despite eventually being submitted, leaving Gracie unable to continue in the tournament.
Kimo had already outed himself as an MMA Mental Case prior to the fight, however, when he entered the octagon with an enormous cross strapped to his back. This bizarre entrance was later repeated by Joe Son at future UFC events, when he unsuccessfully attempted a transition from manager to fighter.
Kimo’s valiant loss to Royce Gracie would stand out as one of the high points of his career. It would later be topped by victories over Tank Abbott and the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba, as well as a draw with Dan Severn. He was submitted and knocked out in two fights with Ken Shamrock, and by the end of his career he was losing to the likes of Dave Legeno and Wes Sims.
But Kimo is not a Mental Hall of Famer for his Jesus entrance antics alone. For one, he was twice suspended for positive steroids tests. For two, he followed up these positive tests with a campaign to become the official in charge of anti-doping for the California State Athletic Commission. For three, in the midst of this campaign, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer (in uniform) while in possession of illegal drugs.
Fourth and finally, he produced and released the following MMA instructional video…
And as something of a novelty, we have Kimo in one of his more unusual victories, defeating WWF wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow in his one and only professional MMA fight.
For today’s historic induction into the prestigious MMA Mental Hall of Fame, we have before us James “The Colossus” Thompson, a journeyman fighter who presently boasts a 14-10 record.
While his 14 wins include victories over such MMA luminaries as Dan Severn and Don Frye, his relatively simple-minded fighting style has caused some to draw comparisons to another well-known brawler, pictured to the right. An MMA loss to Eric “Butterbean” Esch will generally do that for your image.
While an impressive physical specimen with a great deal of ring experience, Thompson has set the current MMA standard for a consistent inability to learn from his experience.
He continually opens his fights by bullrushing across the ring while throwing an opening haymaker that usually misses, leaving him exposed for a very quick knockout. He also appears to have yet to learn the value of keeping his hands up.
The result is generally pleasing for the fans, however, as he almost always gives the fans a very short slugfest with a very fast KO, and it is pretty much a coin flip as to whether he will be giving or receiving the knockout.
Six of his 24 fights have ended within the first 45 seconds of round one.
He is perhaps best known for leaving the cage looking like this (to the left) after his network-televised fight with Kimbo Slice. He had walked into the cage without thinking to drain a cauliflower ear so swollen with blood that the top literally hung over from the weight. Guess what happened…
For a sample of the Colossus in action, see the below video of his brief fight with Don Frye, which also features the most strange and homo-erotic staredown in MMA history.
All of that said, the guy rarely turns in a boring performance, seems to be a good guy with a good attitude, and appears to have conducted himself well outside the ring.
Disqualifications are relatively rare in mixed martial arts. Even more rare is a fighter who can accumulate three losses in this manner. Rarer still is a man who can find three completely different and increasingly creative ways to get disqualified. Gilbert Yvel is that rare beast.
Despite being one of the most talented strikers in MMA, Yvel has set up several roadblocks to his own success by leaving fans, officials and opponents completely unsure of what he might or might not do in the ring. His unpredictability and general lack of boundaries have led to his being compared more than once to Mike Tyson.
Disqualification #1: At 4:49 of Round 1 vs. Karimula Barkalaev (1998), Gilbert Yvel is disqualified for biting his opponent.
Disqualification #2: Against Don Frye at Pride 16 (2001), Yvel is disqualified at 7:27 of the first round for eye gouging.
Disqualification #3: A mere 35 seconds into the first round of his match against Atte Backman (2004), Gilbert Yvel is disqualified for knocking out the referee (then kicking him while he was down).
Despite his bizarre conduct during fights, Yvel has secured victories over top fighters such as Cheick Kongo, Valentijn Overeem, Semmy Schilt and Gary Goodridge. He has also gone the distance with Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Jeremy Horn. One thing is for sure, this man has the ability to consistently keep the MMA world guessing.
This is also the longest he has ever gone in his career without a DQ. Is he overdue?
And in Yvel’s defense: In the following clip, prior to his match with Josh Barnett, Yvel gives a brief explanation of why he knocked out the referee in the Backman fight.
I am a longtime fitness advocate and a veteran of many grueling battles in the gym.
You never know when you might be struck by lightning, so I am gladly sharing the knowledge and experiences I have accumulated over the years.
Here you will find articles about fitness, nutrition, motivation and bodybuilding. I write about and track my own training and progress in varied activities such as weightlifting and distance running.
I am also an avid sports fan, and write from time to time about hockey, mixed martial arts and other athletics, as well as film, music and occasionally social issues that pique my interest.
The following is a select collection of readings and publications by the best of the best in the bodybuilding world - nothing but champions and innovators.
