Fighters you have met in real life?

Get To Da Choppa said:
I've met Frank Mir and Josh Barnett, and took pictures with them. Great guys, but a lot smaller than I expected
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Not sure if Uber TS or nah
 
Rose Namajunas and Pat Barry. Rolled with Rose a couple times, and trained kickboxing under Pat.

Also met Justin Gaethje, Kevin Lee and Tecia Torres.
 
I have encountered many fighters in the wild, outside of the context of events and the same as you every single one has been extremely cool and down to earth even Conor many years ago. From my experience very few even "A list Hollywood" celebrities are recognized in public unless they intentionally create a scene. Not long ago, I made eye contact from my first class seat with GSP as he walked by, extremely well dressed, to his 7C peasant class seat. They are just regular people like us, except they can kick everyones ass.

Chuck Liddell has to be the most public fighter to ever exist. It is nearly impossible not to meet him in LA. I almost ran over him because he was taking so long stumbling to get on his crutches, blocking my way to go down the stairs to my car at Century City mall, good thing I recognized who he was and said hi, don't worry about it Chuck.

Randy Couture has to be the most powerful presence I have ever experienced. While most fighters come across very reserved, Randy exudes an extremely positive larger than life confidence.
 
Tyr XIII said:
I played slot machines with Frankie Edgar
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Lol, I nearly got my stupid ass KO'ed by Frankie at Patrick Molloy's in Hermosa with a very badly worded comment about his ears having not recognized who he was at all and meant as a complement to start conversation but he clearly did not take that way. Unlike Josh Barnett some guys are much smaller in real life than they appear in the mirror.
 
Used to attend a lot of events…Cowboy, Matt Brown, Spencer Fisher, Chiesa, Mitrione, Julianna Peña, Cruikshank, Elkins, Jessica Eye, Mighty Mouse, Woodley, Waterson, Randa Markos, Tim Sylvia, Clay Guida, Jens Pulver, Anderson Silva.

Probably forgetting a few. Some were in the audience. Some were after fights and weigh ins. Some were more warm than others, but I don’t recall any of them being assholes.
 
jm5000 said:
I met dillon danis at msg before the slap incident with diaz and he was actually really cool. Definitely looked boozed tf up tho lol
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TMI bro, I would have kept that one to myself.
 
RoñaCastroJr said:
lol. no worries, sir.
no need to be reading tons of pages of a random thread in a karate forum in order to pick up your words. cheers.
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True, but I see that shit every time in youtube comments, where everyone just say the same shit with a slightly different wording, and it triggers the fuck out of me.

Just didn't want to come across as one of those hive minded bastards lol, cheers
 
James Toney - funny guy, trained alongside him at the Wild Card in 1999. One on one he's a VERY different guy to the one you see on TV, but he could definitely be a bit of an asshole to people there too

David Tua - very nice, was really just a big kid (this was in 1992), held pads for him once and yes, he hit very hard even then as a light heavyweight

Mario Sperry - awesome, awesome guy through and through, very fun to hang out with and a great trainer

Ricardo Arona - ran into him by complete accident on Khao San Road in Bangkok a few days after his second fight with Wanderlei. Told him I knew Mario Sperry, we ended up chatting for ages until his wife got semi-mad at us both.

Freddie Roach (well, he used to be a fighter) - great guy, trained at his gym before both the gym and him got famous.

Alexander Gustafsson - nice guy, only met him quite briefly

Ilir Latifi - only met him briefly, but seems like a good guy

Cecilia Brækhus - met a couple of times, I once gave her props for her boxing technique when she was up and coming, which she clearly appreciated, and then later Lennox Lewis told her basically exactly the same things, which was cool.

Joachim Hanssen - much better than me at BJJ, I'll tell you that much

Ciryl Gane - very nice and chilled out guy, but met only briefly

Elvis Sinosic - good guy, great fun to hang out with

Claudia Gadelha - met her through my then girlfriend. She actually seemed like a great girl, and like all Brazilians she likes people who appreciate her country.

Steffen Tangstad - former European HW champ (boxing), once drew with a guy who beat Mike Tyson (we think that's kinda cool). Lives just down the road from me and we used to train at the same gym (just not at the same time). Last saw him at his 60th birthday a few years ago.

Ole Klemetsen - met several times, was a pretty good boxer back in the day, just not as good as Emanuel Steward predicted that he would be

Demian Maia - met only very briefly, but seems like a genuinely a very good guy

Jack Hermansson - as nice a guy as he seems on TV, planning to take him fishing

Celine Haga - knew her before she got into the sport but lost touch ages ago. I guess most people on this forum won't know her, but hey, someone has her in their avatar, which I find fun.

Bill Superfoot Wallace - met him when I was 15, some 33 years ago. Such a great experience. Thankful to have been kicked in the head by him (and thankful that the kick wasn't that hard, I guess).

+ lots of others over the years, but these are the most well known ones. Some of them I've trained with / trained alongside, others I've just said hi to and shook hands with, really.

EDIT: I forgot that I once yelled ugly things at Frank Shamrock, at the Caged Combat Championship (then called "The Australasian Ultimate Fighting Championship") in Sydney in 1997, but we thankfully didn't really "meet" as such, so it doesn't really count. My good friend and training partner Neil Bodycote was fighting in the event, he stepped in for Zane Frazier as an alternate. We had both just started training MMA (we didn't even call it MMA at the time), but he still made it (barely) past his first opponent and then fought Mario Sperry with a broken jaw, which ended the way everyone basically predicted. We all made friends with Mario later, though, which was fun.
 
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I met Randy Couture , back in the day.

He was in Toronto getting ready for the Machida fight.

I was training at Xtreme Couture at that time but hadnt joined the MMA program , and he was coming to do a seminar i didnt know , and was coming out of the change room and ended up coming face to face with him as he entered i thought i was gunna get tackled by his security cuz his wife was with him too ...but we just locked eyes and did the head tilt what up thing..

I stayed to watch the seminar .. cool shit ..showed alot of his wrestling for MMA stuff ..great high crotch setups too ..

After there was a picture and question part .. i got a picture that is now lost to an old cellphone somewhere... And i asked him .. " what advice would you give a new fighter or young guy who wants to fight" and he told me after shaking my hand after the picture " many people are gunna tell you , you cant do it and if you listen them then there 100% right".


It always stuck with me and probably the most Randy Couture thing to say haha...The Natural is the man..

I meet Simon Marcus not too long ago briefly but i hope to meet him again at his new gym here , will post pictures if i do get a chance ..they texted me not too long ago to come check out the new location

I went to Tristar in Montreal before too, but when i went all of the main guys had left to vegas for a GSP and other tristar guys fight so the place was mostly empty but the energy in there was crazy...just knowing what greatness was built there...knowing those mats is where GSP developed his skill was insane

Hope to meet more ofcourse, maybe one day ill grow up and be @BoxerMaurits


I also saw LHW Wanderlei Silva , at a night club with a fedor on ...dude was huge but was all smiles and having a good time and there was a huge line of ladies to see him hahaha
 
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