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Fighters you have met

5K views 52 replies 40 participants last post by  Dmaster23 
#1 ·
I'd be interested to know what its like to meet a fighter.
Were they nice ? disinterested and rude?

Post your personal stories

Im sure there has been a thread on this but as i have never met a fighter having only been to one event, id be interested to know what it was like.

Peace
 
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#2 ·
Several years ago, before he was in the UFC I met and trained very briefly with Chris Leben. And he is one of the coolest guys I've ever met, and is a great teacher.

I met Shane Carwin less than a month ago and he was a very cool guy. There were a lot of people there, but he was doing his best to answer one on one questions with everyone.

I met Matt Hughes at a book signing and he does have a little be of arrogance to him, but I didn't think he was as big a douche as some people seem to think. Maybe just takes himself a little to seriously.

And I met Frank Mir a little over a year ago in Vegas. I didn't talk to him much since my girlfriend is obessed with him and wouldn't stop. But he was all smiles and signed about a half dozen peices of junk she threw at him. Very cool guy.

That's it for UFC fighters, which is where I'll stop since this is in the UFC forum.
 
#3 ·
I've met Fitch, Bonnar, Maynard and JDS.

Fitch is a cool guy, friendly, I asked him when the documentary was out and he said Autumn/Winter time, so I'm looking forward to that.

Bonnar was just a legend, really friendly guy, all smiles, hope UFC keep him regardless of outcome of next few fights.

Maynard is a funny guy, I was wearing my BJ Penn shirt, and he gave me a dirty look and asked why I was wearing a BJ shirt and not a Maynard one and we chuckled. Nice guy, will beat Edgar. :p

JDS was just friendly, REALLY big in real life, these HW are just rocks in real life, scary. Nice guy, seems like a determined dude, hope he can put on a good fight against Cain.

They all signed a bunch of stuff I threw at them, and this was considering I was about the 100th+ person!
 
#4 ·
I met Big Nog at 119, he was a really nice guy.. All smiles and laughs while he was there. We got to briefly discuss his brothers upcoming match with Bader but he had alot of other people to talk to so we had to keep it short.

I also met Chris Lytle the day before 119 at a restuarant. He was probably the most genuine "celebrity" I've met. We talked breifly in the restaurant about his upcoming fight with Serra but we cut it short so he could go do his thing.. He was so nice that after he finished his meal he came back out to our table and said it was nice to meet us and all that jazz.. I was very suprised with how much he seemed like a regular guy.
 
#5 ·
Evander Holyfield and George Foreman. Both nice. George was dressed like a big lumber jack. Flanel shirt, big boots, old jeans. Shook hands with him, massive hands and big dude.
Met Evander at a night club in Orlando he was in the middle of the dance floor dancing. I told my friend that's Evander Holyfield. I went right up to him and shook his hand. Talked to him after club closed. Evander wasn't as big as I was expecting, compact but muscular.
 
#7 ·
Met and trained with lots of up and comming Canadian fighters.

I sat beside Jesse Bongfeldt at UFC 97 who is making his UFC debut at the georges v kos fight. Also train at the same gym as Mark Holst who just got cut from the UFC after getting the sassangle.

Jesse Bongfledt is literally one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He will talk with anyone one on one and actually be interested in it.

I'm hoping he does well in the UFC. The best memory I have is being at the gym at school, lifting weights and he walks in and comes up and remembers me from UFC 97. Turns out he took last year off fighting to come to the same college as me, wanted to have something to fall back on just incase fighting dosn't work out for him some day.

Mark Holst is also a really cool guy. Theres alot of people in our school and I havnt really talked to him too much, but he's super nice and mellow, and very helpfull to all the students. Really hoping he can make it back to the UFC.
 
#8 ·
I met Patrick Cote, Dan Henderson, Shonie Carter at some MMA expo a girl I know took me to in Canada.

I also met Randy Couture at one of my friends work where he was promoting some fight network, and I met GSP and Thiago Alves at a place called beach club in Montreal Canada.
 
#9 ·
Sadly ive only met Terry Etim. He was a great guy and took time to sign something for me even though he was limping though the stands at UFC 89.

I would have met alot more guys at the Fan Expo but my wife got sick and we didnt get to go at all. Shittest part was that I had allready paid for my tickets and there was no refunds.
 
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#10 ·
I met Jon Fitch over the summer. He was at a fighting event in Fort Wayne, IN, his (and my) hometown. He was cool as hell. I actually talked tot him for a solid 5-10 minutes and he answered a lot of questions I had. I think I was actually one of the first people to know that if Kos beats GSP he's moving to MW. He also shared stories about his high school ridiculousness with me (my cousin was there, who went to school with him) and man... they've got some crazy shit. Body shots from inside thighs, multiple women and flaming shots off bodies lol.
 
#12 ·
I met Chris Lytle and Gerrald Harris, both awsome guys. I talked with Chris about his fight with Matt Brown, and then upcoming fight with Matt Serra. When we were standing in line I told my son that Gerrald wrestled for Oklahoma (my son wrestles in oklahoma) Gerrald heard me and calle dmy son to the front of the line and talked to him personally about wrestling. I thought both guys were extremely cool.
 
#13 ·
Between '99 and '04 I had the opportunities to meet a lot of fighters, just about everyone fighting in the ufc at that time.

My grappling coach was good friends with Pat Militich and he and his guys did a lot of seminars partly as an excuse to visit the beach.

Also I had no family or crushing debts at that time and I went to a few shows especially in vegas and Mohigan sun.

I've met Pat, Jens pulver, Matt hughes, Jeremy Horne, pretty much all of the militch team, Randy Couture, Chuck, Tito, Carlos Newton, Din Thomas, Matt Sera, Josh barnet,Dan Henderson Renzo Gracie, Shonie Carter, both Shamrocks and more.

Everyone of them was nice, respectful, friendly and appreciative to have fans, with one exception.

Ricco Rodriguez was one of the biggest assholes I have ever met. Even in a group of fighters he had to be the center of attention, always interrupted people with a "that's nothing, listen to this" story and he's the kind of guy that would hit on your wife right in front of you. Then brag to your friends. I met him in a bar at mandalay bay and I heard him say "do you know who I am?" at least three times to three different women in just a short time.
 
#15 ·
Junior Dos Santos was very pleasant when i met him, looked genuinely happy to meet each fan that approached him. His English is also tremendous for being Brazilian and a young man.
 
#16 ·
I met Jason McDonald who was very friendly and approachable.
I also met Dan Henderson which I was pretty excited about but he really just kind of fed out the customary blah blah, nice to meet you line and didn't really seem interested in interacting not a very approachable guy. Very disappointing.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I met Anderson Silva in the buffet line before his fight with James Irvin at the Palms in Vegas. I asked for a picture and we took one with no problem. His posse was with him. He was really cool considering he had a fight in 24 hours and his first 205lbs fight.

Oh I forgot to add this was right after the weigh ins.
 

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#18 ·
My wife & I saw Anderson Silva at Dulles airport on our honeymoon. He was going to Vegas to fight Forrest. He & his entire posse were very cool. We took a couple of pictures and he wished us luck with our marriage. Very cool guy! His English was better than I thought it would be. Maybe Chael is right. :)

I saw Brock walking on the streets of Minneapolis around the time of his 2nd fight with Mir. I wished him luck in the fight, and he said he wouldn't need it. :) But he said it in a funny way, not cocky. He seemed like a pretty stand-up guy to me. He was one big boy!
 
#19 ·
This is a cool thread. Encountered Royce Gracie, met Denis Kang, congratulated Bibiano Fernandez on his championship win for the Raw Combat show, Marcelo Garcia in a training seminar, watched Marvin Eastman getting knocked out by Denis Kang. Come to think of it, it's time to get back into training and train with the pros to see how it feels to get owned...lolz!

Oh yeah...and I saw Arianny Celeste. A friend of mine was going to introduce me to her, but she had all these guys around her...so I said...fawk it. Now that she's in Playboy I think I kinda regret it. :drool01:
 
#21 ·
sadly i have only met Hector lombard when he trained at my gymm for a week, and yes he is a very nice guy but he is also very loud and funny when he comes in, hopefully ill meet silva and everyone at 127
 
#22 ·
I've met lots of up and coming/smaller show type fighters, but since this thread is in UFC the only one in that org. is Wand. You can hardly meet one better, though! Also a guy who tried out for the next TUF, but not he's not technically in the UFC even though it's a future lock if you ask me.
 
#23 ·
I've met and trained with lots of up and comers. But the two biggest I have met are Matt Hughes and GSP. GSP is exactly what you would expect. Very, very cool guy and very down to earth. He gave a seminar at our gym and rolled with us for a couple hours afterword. Oh, and he is strong as a freakin oxe!! He was a very likeable guy and went way above and beyond to answer everyone's questions and generally acted like he was happy to be there.

Matt Hughes on the other hand . . . one of the rudest, most obnoxiuos men I have ever met in my entire life. I have nothing good to say about this guy. He was just a tool, period. He came to a local show as a guest referee for the pro fights on the card. Before hand he set up his table out front with all his shirts, etc, and was sitting there signing autographs. My wife and I waited in line for an hour to buy a shirt and get it autographed. When my wife got up to him, she asked some standard question about being the champ (he was still the champ at the time). He literally looked at her, rolled his eyes, signed her shirt and tossed it back to her. Even though he could kick my butt, I felt I needed to repeat the question to him, giving him the benefit of the doubt. When I did, he looked at me and said, "I heard what she said". So I said a few choice words to him, albeit under my breath!! That night my buddy was fighting. He has this thing where he walks to the ring wearing these Elvis looking sunglasses. When he stepped in the ring, Matt literally took them off his face and threw them over the top of the cage and said, "Get that sh*t out of here". Then later that night, after the fights, everyone went to a local bar and grille type place to eat. We didn't even know that Hughes would be there, but when we walked in there he was. One of our other friends didn't get a chance to meet him, so he went up to him and politely asked if he would pose for a picture. He agreed. When he stood up to take the picture, my buddy asked in a joking way if he could stand behind him and pretend to get him in a rear naked choke for the picture. HUGHES FLIPPED!!!! He started yelling at my friend saying nobody gets him in a rear naked choke and was just blasting this guy at the top of his lungs. It was such a shame because this guy was the biggest Hughes fan you could ever meet. The look on this guys face is something I will never forget. He was devastated that his idol was such a jerk. Hughes is a tool.
 
#31 ·
Man I think this one takes the cake with when "meeting your idol gone wrong moment." Wonder how he has friends. Your buddy should have spilled beer on him...lolz! Then got him in a real RNC, get the picture for proof then shake his hand afterwards.
 
#25 ·
I've met some of the guys at ufc 101: Dana White, Chuck, Tito, Matt Riddle, John Howard, Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie. All of them were very nice and were more than approachable for pictures. Some even went out of there way to greet the fans like Renzo, John Howard and Matt Serra. Serra is an absolute tank.
 
#26 ·
I met Josh Koscheck once. He kept calling me a male nurse no matter how many times I explained to him that I was not a nurse and actually work as a garbage man. He then choked me but eventualally came back and gave me a weird apology...Not really, but I did actually meet Donald Cerrone once, he seemed like a pretty friendly dude.
 
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