Issue 076

June 2011

No matter how harsh the words preceding a fight, mutual respect and sportsmanship can be powerful enough to quash the most bitter of rivalries. This month we present five memorable, though very different, reconciliations

1 Pat Barry And Mirko ‘Cro Cop’

There’s a good reason why fighters rarely pal around with their opponents immediately before a fight; it’s harder to muster the aggression often needed to get in a cage and try and knock somebody unconscious if you’ve been BFFs just a couple of days earlier. In their UFC 115 clash, Barry was ‘supposed’ to pick up an impressive win over faded legend Mirko ‘Cro Cop,’ but seemed to let a liking for his idol and new-found friend get in the way of finishing him off, even after twice flooring him in the first round. True, Barry also broke his foot and hand in that first session but his chumminess with the Croatian was clear when the two men hugged late in the round for no apparent reason. Cro Cop benefitted from being let off the hook, outlasting a gassed, injured Barry and finishing him with a choke late in the third. The lesson here? Save your hugs and friendship for after the fight.

2 Dan Hardy And Marcus Davis

Few fighters are better at getting under their opponents’ skins than Hardy. Dismissing proud Irish-American Davis as a ‘plastic paddy’ before their UFC 99 clash, Hardy gleefully cackled along as fans photoshopped some already iffy-looking photos of Davis into some very compromising positions and poses. An enraged Davis subsequently allowed his bitter hatred of ‘The Outlaw’ to affect his performance and strategy and lost the decision. Afterwards Hardy was conciliatory, claiming everything he’d said was just to hype the fight (trash talk now being something he says he refrains from since losses to GSP and Carlos Condit) and they were both professional in the immediate aftermath. But the cessation of hostilities was brief with Davis disputing the verdict and calling for a rematch just hours later. Even nine months on, Davis bitterly tweeted he hoped Hardy “dies of AIDS”. Probably not one of the most successful reconciliations in history this one.

3 Dana White and Tito Ortiz

It’s rare that men in the macho world of MMA literally kiss and make up but Ortiz ambushed former manager, promoter and sometime mortal enemy with a big kiss on the lips a few hours before UFC 101 in August 2009. The smooch came after years of very public recriminations including, but not limited to, White calling Tito “one of the most dishonest human beings I’ve ever met” and deriding both Ortiz and porn star turned wife/business adviser Jenna Jameson as “morons.” With contract disputes dating back to the UFC’s darker days in 2003 and even a 2007 Spike TV documentary where Ortiz was portrayed as a total coward for no-showing his three-round boxing exhibition with White (which Tito had demanded when signing a new UFC deal) they finally seemed to have buried the hatchet. Until next time.

4 BJ Penn and Jens Pulver

Proving even the longest-held grudges can be set aside, a video appeared on Penn’s website last August showing him and Pulver hugging and handshaking more times in two minutes than most long-lost brothers manage in two-hours. With Penn apologizing for years of trash-talking and ‘Lil Evil’ paying tribute to Penn for training with him, two of the sport’s most beloved lighter-weight fighters seemed to have finally kissed and made up after almost a decade of on-off enmity. It all started back in 2002 when Pulver beat Penn over five rounds to defend his UFC Lightweight title. Five years later, they were opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter and got back in the cage at the live season finale. This time, Penn dominated, choking out Pulver and leaving the hold on a little too long for comfort. Still, with all that now behind them, it’s nice to see a genuinely happy ending to their story.

5 Georges St Pierre and Josh Koscheck

A fighter who truly ‘gets it’, Koscheck knew his December 2010 fight with Canadian idol GSP would be sold by a very simple story: good vs evil. Always happy to wear the black hat, Koscheck set out to make himself the most hated man in Canada ahead of their UFC 124 title fight. As opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter’s 12th season, Koscheck had an hour a week where he could make the audience desperate to see GSP wipe the smirk off his face. His reward: a rabid Montreal crowd desperate for his blood, a huge number of pay-per-view buys (not far off 900,000) and, thanks to St Pierre’s newly discovered jab, a resounding decision defeat and a smashed orbital bone. Good had undoubtedly vanquished evil and, in a classy display of sportsmanship, Koscheck dropped the bad guy act to wholeheartedly congratulate and pay tribute to the better man.