Vladimir VladisavljevicThere is so much more to the UFC than training and fighting. At its core, all MMA should be what happens in the cage or ring.
But let’s be real, this is a business, the UFC is a multi-million dollar company. One thing is clear in this sport – the drama sells way more PPVs than “gentle word exchange”.
One way to create attention is to take the microphone and let the opponent have a piece of your mind. Sometimes UFC press conferences are way more entertaining than fight nights, especially when some of the most skillful talking experts do their job properly.
Trash talk has become a major part of the sport, it skyrocketed its popularity in the last 15 years. Welcome to the world of the greatest trash-talkers in UFC history.
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These are the greatest trash-talkers in UFC history:
- Conor McGregor
- Chael Sonnen
- Nick Diaz
- Tito Ortiz
- Nate Diaz
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk
- Josh Koscheck
- Colby Covington
- Michael Bisping
- Israel Adesanya
Conor McGregor
Many people call this guy the legend of trash-talking and the most influential guy in the history of this sport. He is Dana’s golden goose and a cash cow for a good reason – Conor vs. Khabib sold more than 2.2 million PPV buys, and the UFC boss is turned on by money. But let’s get to know McGregor’s “innovations”.
In the lead-up to Jose Aldo UFC 194 title bout, Conor trash-talked the whole nation of Brazil (the bout took place in Brazil, the home country of Aldo). He also threatened to score an early KO and backed up his trash-talk with the quickest title fight knockout in the history of the sport. Oh, Conor also learned Portuguese to troll Aldo.
His trash-talk against Khabib is one of the most epic pre-fight battles ever. Yet, Conor went too far when he started trolling Khabib’s family and religion. It led to a very tense stare-down and post-fight UFC 229 brawl, where Nurmagomedov leaped over the fence to deal with Dillon Danis, while Khabib’s teammates stepped inside the Octagon to deal with McGregor.
He also called Dennis Siver “midget German steroid-head”. According to McGregor, Nate Diaz “can only count to five“.
Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen is one of the most legendary trash-talkers in the history of this sport for a good reason. Chael is a good fighter, but let’s be honest, he has never had championship potential. He got the majority of chances to fight against top-level guys thanks to his top-notch trolling skills.
When Sonnen was chosen to fight Jon Jones at UFC 159, he threatened to “beat and retire” the UFC light heavyweight GOAT. Unfortunately for Sonnen, he was unable to back up his trash talk and got his ass whooped in that battle.
His legendary talking skills brought him a lot of fans all around the globe. Other victims on his hit list were Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, and Rampage Jackson. On one occasion, his insults went too far, which led to a physical altercation with Wanderlei Silva during The Ultimate Fighter.
Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz is a guy who took trash-talk to a whole new level. It is ok to troll your opponent before the fight. But, insulting and irritating your foe during the match has never been seen before.
Diaz swears a lot at the press conferences and on social media, which makes him even more amusing to watch. He has tons of followers and UFC still hasn’t parted ways with him despite fighting only once in the last six years.
According to Nick Diaz, every single UFC fighter is on steroids, while he and his brother Nate are clean.
Nick met Robbie Lawler at UFC 47. During the fight, he was constantly saying “What, mother**cker” and “Hit me”. In his title fight against Carlos Condit, “The Natural Born Killer” missed Diaz with a spinning back elbow, and the legendary Stockton-born boxer/BJJ expert responded: “Spinning sh*t, you’re throwing spinning sh*t?”
Don’t forget that Nick Diaz called GSP “a little b*tch”, and yelled at KJ Noons “don’t be scared homie” immediately after the fight. Enjoy Nick’s creativity and funny answers, this compilation video will make you laugh for sure.
Tito Ortiz
Tito Ortiz’s nickname is “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” for a good reason – he’s famous for his funny and epic trash-talk. His rivalry with Ken Shamrock is one of the earliest examples of creating tension and “hate” between the Octagon warriors.
When Ken threatened to “beat Ortiz into living death” at UFC 40 presser, Tito immediately started laughing, showing disrespect to his foe.
Well, Tito told Shamrock that he’s Ricky James, and called Ken Shamrock his “b*tch”, which additionally irritated Shamrock.
Tito is also known for his creative ways of trolling his opponents. Take a look at this video to see how he “deals” with Chuck Liddell, Chael Sonnen, and other 205ers.
Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz has never been the champion but he fought Conor McGregor two times, guess why? Well, it’s not hard to say – this guy is a master of trolling and increasing PPV sales.
Everybody’s on steroids, despite he was suspended because of marijuana abuse. Others are always guilty, Nate is innocent for life.
Diaz criticized McGregor’s training partners at their pre-fight press conference. It was one of the funniest ways to downgrade the opponent’s skills – according to Nate, Conor cannot kickbox against him because Nate trained with “top 10 kickboxers in the world”.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is one of the hottest female fighters and one the most famous trash-talkers in the history of UFC. The former UFC strawweight champion is known for expletive words and provocative Instagram and Twitter statuses.
She went many times back and forth with Claudia Gadelha, and the Brazilian didn’t want to back down. At one point, Joanna insulted Gadelha’s coach, but her coach didn’t understand English, so it was a perfect time for Gadelha to step in and attack the Polish superstar.
After a heated argument at the presser, Gadelha told Joanna that her boyfriend “doesn’t do his job”.
JJ went too far in the lead-up for her UFC 217 title defense against Rose Namajunas. Rose publicly confessed that she was raped and bullied at a young age but Joanna called her “mentally unstable”. She also commented, “I think you have personal problems, you will never be the champ”.
Josh Koscheck
Josh Koscheck has never been too popular among UFC fans, especially after faking a knee to the head against Paul Daley at UFC 113. He has always had way more haters than fans due to his personality. But one can call Koscheck a revolutionary person.
Josh is the first fighter in the history of UFC who did everything to turn hometown fans into a bunch of hostile foes. In the lead-up for the “GSP” bout, his sharp trash-talking was against the Canadian crowd. The UFC 124 title bout took place in Montreal, Canada, and St-Pierre is a French-Canadian out of Quebec.
Koscheck is one of the most legendary and bravest trash-talkers in the history of UFC. It is hard to threaten to destroy the home fighter on his home turf.
Colby Covington
Fighters troll and call each other, but you’ll rarely see a fighter trolling a journalist GOAT. John Morgan is a fantastic reporter, but he’s obese. Colby saw that and kindly told Morgan to do pushups. There was beef between journalists and fighters in the past but Colby definitively took it to the next level.
In the past, Colby threatened to confront Joe Rogan too but then decided to give up. On one occasion, Covington entered the casino and asked Dana White “why I don’t fight for the title”. Stop filming!
Colby mocks random people – actors, stars, NFL players… he’s also a diehard fan of Donald Trump (Covington was a guest in White House too). His random trash-talking style makes millions of viewers laugh.
Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping is one of the most creative trash-talkers. You can love or hate him, but “The Count” can bomb you with new quips for hours on end; he never runs out of ideas. Michael is a quick thinker, but his British accent makes him even more entertaining to watch.
Right now, he’s a commentator, and he got his ass whooped many times after insulting his opponents. Dan Henderson knocked him out cold despite Bisping winning the presser.
The lead-up to Luke Rockhold’s fight was so funny, as Bisping destroyed the former UFC 185-pound belt owner before the bout.
Don’t forget his epic confrontations with BMF title owner Jorge Masvidal.
Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya is one of the rare kickboxers who won the UFC belt but also one of the most entertaining fighters in the game. “The Last Stylebender” feints a lot, moves like a cat, and irritates his foes with tricky strikes. But he’s very fun outside of the Octagon too.
Fans claim that Israel is overconfident, they even call him cocky. He 100% believes that he’s going to whoop his opponents’ asses all the time. You can enjoy his funniest threatening moments here.
Don’t forget his famous hump on Paulo Costa after scoring a spectacular knockout.
Conclusion
A trash-talking and entertaining personality is extremely important in the world of UFC.
For example, Conor McGregor headlined four of five pay-per-view events with the biggest number of PPV buys in the history of the greatest MMA promotion.
A good fighter who is also a skillful trash-talker always gets an advantage and earns bigger paydays.
There were many epic rivalries and trash-talking specialists, but what are your thoughts on this topic? Do you agree with our choice of the greatest trash-talkers in the history of UFC? Would you add a name to the list?
