Issue 108
December 2013
The history of mixed martial arts retold through the pages of the FO archives. December 2005: when UFC commentator Joe Rogan nearly gloved up to battle movie star Wesley Snipes.
FC 56 was quite the event. Rich Franklin added a Nate Quarry timber-style knockout to his highlight reel in the main event, future UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre famously dropped to his knees and begged for a second championship bout with Matt Hughes, and UFC president Dana White announced Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock would be opposing coaches on season three of The Ultimate Fighter. But that wasn’t the only prospective scuffle lined up that night.
During Gabriel Gonzaga’s dull UFC debut opposite Kevin Jordan, color commentator Joe Rogan made a unique personal appeal. “I’d like to say hello to my friend Wesley Snipes. Sign the contract, let’s do this,” he said, confirming internet talk of a match between the two.
That UFC 56 declaration made it common knowledge, having commented on the bout earlier that week when speculation began to grow online, telling MMA Weekly: “It’s 100% true. I want the fight and now it’s up to Wesley Snipes to accept.”
By the time our December 2005 issue hit stands, UFC fans were in a frenzy over the potential for the organization’s first celebrity showdown. We reported on the potential booking in that edition’s news pages, stating: “Rogan would not comment how much money was offered to him for the potential fight.” We also noted the challenger had posted online suggesting the Blade and Demolition Man action star’s motivation to accept would be a desire to “rejuvenate” his film career.
It appeared on the surface to be a bizarre clash of some-time experience and size mismatching. But the shredded Snipes, reportedly a karateka since the age of 12, standing at around five-foot-eight wouldn’t have dwarfed five-foot-seven actor, comedian and commentator Joe Rogan, whose many years in taekwondo in addition to his time as an avid student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu would likely have equipped him well for the odd Octagon tilt.
But, there was no fight. It was known at the time Snipes owed a significant amount in back taxes and one year later, in October 2006, was charged over several incidents of tax fraud. That, it appears, was enough to KO the contest – although Snipes never confirmed his interest either. In 2008 he was found guilty and began his three-year sentence in 2010, being released earlier this year. Neither party has mentioned much about the bout since, but in 2010 Rogan was confident in what the outcome would have been.
“I would choke the s**t out of that dude,” he told Arizona State University’s State Press newspaper. “He’s never done jiu-jitsu in his life. Unless you’ve worked for years on your takedown defense, ground defense, how to sprawl, how to counter jiu-jitsu, you’re going to get f**ked up.”
Today Snipes is indirectly brushing with MMA – filming The Expendables 3 alongside UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. At 51 it’s likely to be the closest he gets to dueling in the Octagon.
NOSTRADAMMAUS: OH, CANADA!
Not only did we cover the professional MMA debut of present-day UFC welterweight standout Rory MacDonald in our fight report of XFC 4 in Canada, we also predicted the country’s forthcoming mixed martial arts explosion, declaring: “MMA is alive and growing in Canada.” That would be confirmed in 2008 when the UFC held its deliriously received debut event north of the border for Georges St Pierre’s TKO defeat of Matt Serra at UFC 83.
ELSEWHERE IN THE DECEMBER 2005 ISSUE
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
We’ve been in the MMA game for a long time. In fact, so long we were here even before Strikeforce had a name. When we spoke to Frank Shamrock for our December ’05 issue we asked him which promotion he was fighting Cesar Gracie under. The fight would be the first Strikeforce main event, but at the time Frank told us: “The promoters are Silicon Valley Sports Entertainment, they own the HP Pavilion.” And part of Strikeforce, before it was sold to UFC parent company Zuffa.
FUTURE CHAMPIONS
Some of the British fight cards from several years ago were stacked to the gills with top talent from today and the very recent past. In the December 2005 issue, we reported on Cage Warriors: Night of Champions which had future UFC names Dan Hardy, Martin Kampmann, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, Rosi Sexton and Phil Harris on the one bill. To boot, there was Michael Bisping’s last pro bout before his UFC debut – an armbar win over eventual TUF 3 opponent Ross Pointon.
YOUNG GUN
Even when he was just a 7-1 pro we had José Aldo in the magazine. Covering Japanese warhorse Kazuhiro Nakamura’s training stint at Nova Uniao in Rio, we told you how he was working with Andre Pederneiras’ team to improve his ground game, enlisting Aldo and ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro to help. We even carried a shot of ‘Junior’ with the Pride and UFC veteran.
