Issue 168

June 2018

Causing conflict outside of the cage is not big or cleve, but sometimes, trouble just seems to find mixed martial artists. These are some of their memories of scraps from the street - and some sage advice about why it might be best to just walk away.

LIFE AND DEATH: JOSH EMMETT 

My craziest street fight happened in 2008 when I saved a man’s life. One night, I witnessed a man lying face down on the street unconscious while another man was kicking him in the head and another was over his back, punching him in the back of the head. Without hesitation, I ran over to help. I pushed the guy that was standing over him into a car. The other guy that was kicking him started to come towards me so I hit him. Out of nowhere, I got sucker- punched from one of their friends.

What I originally thought was just two guys turned out to be five. I was surrounded and still fighting even though I was out on my feet. The sound of sirens got louder and everyone took off running except the guy that was unconscious and myself. While in the hospital the doctor told me by stepping in and distracting them I saved the man’s life. He had a neck brace on and huge hematomas all over. His face was black and blue. It looked like someone beat him up with a baseball bat.

I had broken the left side of my jaw and shattered the right side. I had a few big lacerations, too. The police said if they caught the men that did this they would be charged with attempted murder. Even knowing the outcome and the pain I went through for several months afterward, I would still do it all over again if I had to.

GYM CLASS BASH: JASON KNIGHT

There was a guy named Matt Kelly and the fight happened when we were in eighth grade. He was talking all kinds of trash. We were in gym class. I had my book bag on my shoulders really tight. The next thing I know he grabbed the book bag and kicked my feet out from under me. My hands were stuck behind my head because of my book bag. I kept trying to sit up and pull my bag off , but I would sit up and he would punch me in the head. He did that about four times, then he punched me in the eye. I rolled up and kicked him in the face a few times and then the teacher stopped it.

The next year we were in ninth grade and I was waiting for vengeance. One of my buddies comes up to me saying Matt Kelly did this and that. I told him to let me handle it. I was looking for him all day at school and couldn’t find him. The next morning, I got off the school bus and my buddy had 50 people gathered up to watch this fight. By then, I had forgotten about it and he was a little bigger than I was. It was 7:30am and I was put on the spot. I walked up to the guy. I told him to put his bag down because I wasn’t going to cheap-shot him like he did me. He sat it on the ground, but he hid his arm behind the bag and I could see he had balled his fist up. I knew he was going to try to cheap-shot me again, but I waited.

He was on his way with that cheap shot, but I had one on the way for him. I caught him. I hit him a few times and he dropped. I stood over him and hit him a few more times. This was right after I started training in MMA. He stood up and I caught him in a guillotine choke. I kneed him in the face five or six times and then the teachers pulled me o of him. I won that fight. The next day he came back wanting to fight my buddy. Well, my buddy caught him with a few shots, whooped his ass and as he was falling, he broke his arm trying to catch his fall. That is the most memorable street fight story I have.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCUFFLE: KEVIN ‘BABY SLICE’ FERGUSON JR

My first fight happened when I was helping this girl who was being picked on by these five guys. We were only in fourth or fifth grade, and I just started fighting all of them. My brother was there watching it the whole time and I didn’t think twice about standing up for this girl. It felt good. I just knew in my mind that these guys couldn’t touch me. I had to just land that one punch.

I had to do the right thing. I beat them all. They all quit. I punched and didn’t stop punching. In the end, they did.

DRUNK AND DISORDERLY: TIM SYLVIA

I have been in a lot of ‘em. It’s funny because I look at it where I am the one going home. My first move in a street fight is that I kick the guy in the nuts. He’s either going to fall or get pissed off. Usually they fall and that’s great. I finish them off with a few boots to the head and face. He’s knocked out and you walk away and go drinking with the boys.

One of the most memorable was when Marcus Davis [UFC and Bellator veteran] and I were bouncing. We had this drunk idiot. I will never forget this. It was winter time in Maine. Marcus was in his dress clothes. He was the manager and the smallest guy of all the bouncers, but he was probably the toughest.

I threw this guy outside on his face. He was drunk and pissed off. The cops showed up. We knew the cops. We were good friends with them. This guy was all pissed off and looked like he was about to get all squirrelly. What are you going to do, dude? Just leave. He looks at me and he looks at the two other bouncers. I’m the closest one to him. What does he do? He decides to bum rush Marcus Davis.

Marcus does a side step, hits him with an uppercut and just folds him up on his face right there. Knocked out cold. The police were like, ’Thanks for doing our job.’ They put him in handcuffs and picked him up, put him in the squad car and drove off. What the hell was that guy thinking? Bum rush the a pro boxer? Wrong choice!

HOT-HEADED: MIKE PERRY

One comes to mind from when I was 18 years old. Not at school, but at a club.

I swear I fought 15 people. I was inside the club and there were two girls fighting. People were hitting the girls from the outside. I was stepping in and tried to break it up. Then somebody pushed me really hard. I looked up and was like, ‘What’s up?’ and he disappeared. He stepped way back and went into the crowd. I followed him. About eight dudes stopped dancing and looked at me. As I looked down the line I said, ‘What y’all wanna do?’

It was like slow motion. One of them hit me. Boom. I just absorbed it. I came back with full force. I hit him with a one-two and he disappeared. Two people grabbed me from behind. I slipped out of their arms. I hit the one on the right with the left and I hit the one on the left with the right. They both flew over the ropes in the VIP.

Another guy came at me. I kicked him in the leg. It was like a kick you see in a martial arts movie. Somebody grabbed me from behind again. I exploded out. I got my hand on their neck. I turned around and I saw security on his shirt. I put my hands up. Another grabbed me by the neck in a rear naked choke and they walked me out the back door. I went down the steps I called my friends.

I looked up the stairs. There were so many people trying to come out the doors that they were getting stuck. They were pointing at me, screaming, ‘Get that white boy!’ I told my friend on the phone that I was about to fight again.

I wasn’t running. I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket. I took my chain o and put it in my pocket. I took my hat o and started walking toward them. One dude walked toward me saying he was going to go to the car and see about my funeral. They wanted to shoot me because I was killing them with my hands.

I backed up to a fence between two cars. There was about 15 dudes. The first one tried to hit me and I kicked him in the leg and uppercutted him into his friend. They swarmed me and I was covering up. I was bobbing and weaving and coming up throwing a big hook. I don’t know if I was hitting people or not. I got dropped at one point. I was by the curb, thinking if I went down there they were going to stomp my head on the curb and kill me.

I got back up and said, ‘Y’all can’t f**king stop me!’ I was 18 and on some adrenaline and probably alcohol, too. It started to break up and I ran o to the side. My friends got there. It was a minute and a half of me fighting all these guys. It was the longest minute ever. My friends got there and started hitting on people and they started running. It was a wrap. We took off and left. 

SLICE STYLE: DAVID RICKELS

The backyard boxing really took on a life of its own. I actually got my girlfriend by beating up her boyfriend at the time in my backyard. A little Kimbo-style, alpha-male action. The cars used to line up around the block and we were always worried the cops were going to come. We never got in any trouble – we would just throw down. That one particular time I got lucky and got a girl out of it.