The history of moronic moments in mixed martial arts extends back to before the was term was coined.

Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki, for example. June 26, 1976

Ali’s doctor Ferdie Pacheco explains the background:

“Ali’s fight in Tokyo was basically a Bob Arum thought-up scam that was going to be ‘ha-ha, ho-ho. We’re going to go over there. It’s going to be orchestrated. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s just a joke.’ Well, when we got over there, we found out no one was laughing.”

Pre fight, Ali was unfliustered:

“The guy comes for me. I just jab him, bop, bop, bop. He can’t get close enough. What’s karate from a distance man? Nothing. When I’ve jabbed him enough, I’ll knock him out.”

The Budokan sold out. Vince McMahon’s dad sold 32,897 tickets to a closed-circuit telecast at Shea Stadium. The world held its breath with anticipation.

Inoki was not allowed to wrestle, and so devised a unique strategy, what he called The Crab, an early form of Open Guard. Use of Guard in MMA can bore an audience. But MMA has three rouinds, five max. This one went for 15 rounds, during which Ali threw a total of six punches, and walked with $6,000,000.

Trevor Berbick vs. Nobuhiko Takada

Years before UFC I, in 1991, the Japanese again put on a mixed rules match between a top pro wrestler anda top heavyweight boxer. This time, no one told the boxer the rules.

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Bill Wallace’s commentary at Ultimate Fighting Challenge I, November 12, 1993

UFC 1 was the beginning of what eventually became the world’s fastest growing sport, but that success was not due to former PKA world kickboxing champ Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace.

The IFL January 7, 2006

Real- estate developer Kurt Otto and comic book magazine founder Gareb Shamus, inspired by the uplifting Mark Kerr documentary The Smashing Machine, founded the International Fight League. Mindful that the UFC would likely snatch up any stars that the new league developed, they instead determined to build city based teams.

The IFL went public, and at one point was worth more than the Brooklyn Dodgers.

However, as Dana White quipped, no one cares about the Sacramento Goony Birds fighting the Hairy Beavers of Oregon, and the IFL closed on July 31, 2008, having burned through a reported $55,000,000.

EliteXC

2006 was a busy year for doomed-to-failure MMA start ups, and included the birth of EliteXC. Helmed by boxing promoter Gary Shaw, with assistance from son Skala, the parent company bought up an array of successful promotions, and drove everything off a cliff.

Dana White aptly summed up the effort. “36,000,000 million dollar losing retards.”

Sometimes an image can capture the truth more accurately than words.

The brand re emerged recently with entirely new management, and has done a compelling job thus far.

YAMMA Pit Fighting April 11, 2008

When interest in MMA rose after the TUF show did well , original UFC promoter Bob Meyrowitz decided to re enter the sport, in a bowl.

Meyerowitz declared the event a success, and never returned to the sport.

X-Arm

That same year, another founder of the UFC, Art Davie, decided MMA would be more entertaining if it was conducted while arm wrestling, and X-Arm was born.

It quickly died.

A third pivotal figure in the early days of the UFC, John Peretti, at one point announced plans to merge MMA with Calcio Storico, medieval Italian Soccer brawling. Sadly for this list, it never came to pass.

Dave Gardnder vs. Shinya Aoki, March, 07, 2009

The most destructive submissions in the sport belong to Shinya Aoki. Thus it was all the more astonishing when David Gardner waved and in middle of a fight with Aoki on his back, and mouthed a greeting to the host country – “Hello Japan.”

Strikeforce Brawl April 17, 2010

Strikeforce did a tremendous job of bringing MMA to the mainstream, including a show on CBS with Gian Carano and Herschel Walker that remains the most watched MMA fights in US history. When it finaly returned to CBS, a post fight brawl broke out. Commentator Gus Johnson blurted out “These things happen in MMA.” And the sport was done on CBS.

Strikeforce Nashville Brawl by snakerattle79

Paul Daley sucker punches Josh Koscheck, May 8, 2010

Paul Daley hits Josh Koscheck after failing to do so for 15 minutes, fired from UFC.

UFC gives James Toney high profile fight Aug 28, 2010

An extraordinary boxer, Toney relentlessly stalked boxing fan Dana Whit, until he was offered a contract, to fight Randy Couture.

When Toney finally met Couture at UFC 118, he was taken down and exited the sport without having thrown a single punch, or side check kick. Toney is rumored to be fighting Ken Shamrock.

Where’s Nick?

Nick Diaz fails to play the game, skips two press conferences, loses title fight that would have made him more money than all his previous purses combined.