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Five MMA Fighters Who Beat Addiction

Addiction can make the toughest S.O.B. as powerless as this guy. While many MMA fighters have had their lives and careers derailed by drugs and alcohol, some were strong enough to find treatment and pull their lives out of the tailspin. Here’s our trib…

LYLE BEERBOHM
Lyle Beerbohm mugshot meth drugs arrest addict
Drug of choice: methamphetamines
Rock bottom moment: Wandering around the streets looking for a place to sleep after he had burned his bridges with everybody in his life. When he landed in the Washington State Penitentiary for 18 months for drug-related felonies after six years of shooting meth, nobody in his family came to visit him.
Recovery: While in the joint, Beerbohm began watching The Ultimate Fighter and became inspired to fight for a living; he’d already had to physically defend himself in prison a few times. "Fancy Pants" joined an MMA gym the day he got out, and won his first amateur fight eight days later. Beerbohm is currently 16-0 as a pro, and will take on Pat Healy in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers 14 next month.

COURT McGEE

Drug of choice: Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.
Rock bottom moment: McGee began abusing drugs after falling in with the wrong crowd after high school, and was once pronounced dead following a heroin overdose. In 2006, McGee had managed to stay sober for five months. In order to test his willpower, he took a trip to Las Vegas and decided to order just one drink. He woke up four days later in Iowa, not wearing any pants.
Recovery: McGee has been sober since April 16, 2006, two weeks after the Vegas/Iowa incident. He began training in MMA and rebuilding relationships with his family, which helped restore order to his life. "Crusher" came out of nowhere to win TUF 11 last June, and submitted Ryan Jensen in his follow-up fight at UFC 121.

And Now He’s Fired: Phil Baroni

(The record shows he took the blows / and did it hiiiiiiiis waaaaaaaay. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
After suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Brad Tavares at UFC 125 — his second-consecutive loss since returning to the UFC in N…

(The record shows he took the blows / and did it hiiiiiiiis waaaaaaaay. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

After suffering a first-round knockout at the hands of Brad Tavares at UFC 125 — his second-consecutive loss since returning to the UFC in November 2009, and his third-straight loss overall — it appears that Phil Baroni‘s latest stint in the UFC has officially ended. Versus’s MMA Beat passed along confirmation of his release last night. The firing was no surprise to Baroni, who intends to stay very active in 2011 and work his way back to the big leagues.

The 34-year-old currently holds an MMA record of 13-13, with a 3-7 lifetime record in the UFC. Baroni hasn’t tasted victory in the Octagon since declaring himself "the man" after storming Dave Menne at UFC 39 in September 2002. Tough break for the NYBA, but maybe we’ll finally get to see that rubber match with Minowaman.

Semi-related: Matt Brown, who has lost his last three fights in the UFC, all by second-round submission, is reportedly getting another shot against British welterweight Mark Scanlon (7-1, 0-1 UFC) at UFC on Versus 3 in March. Go figure.

UFC 123: By the Odds

Filed under: UFCIn at least one way, UFC 123 is already a disappointment. To me, anyway.

I would have thought that when you put Lyoto Machida – a fighter known for drinking his own urine – together with “Rampage” Jackson – a fighter known for his pla…

Filed under: UFC

In at least one way, UFC 123 is already a disappointment. To me, anyway.

I would have thought that when you put Lyoto Machida – a fighter known for drinking his own urine – together with “Rampage” Jackson – a fighter known for his played out bad breath jokes – we would have had comedy gold by now. I would have thought the combination of necessity and opportunity would help break some new ground in the field of bad breath jokes. Sort of like the polio vaccine, only much, much less helpful to society.

No such luck so far. Guess that means we’ll have to put our hopes in the fights themselves to entertain us. Let’s start with a look at how oddsmakers think Saturday night’s event will play out, along with some suggestions on where they might be wrong.

Lyoto Machida (-280) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (+220)

The Cut List: Who Desperately Needs a Win at UFC 123?

Filed under: UFCThe main event at UFC 123 may feature two former champs battling it out for another shot at glory, but the undercard includes several fighters who are just struggling to stay employed.

Let’s face it, with the WEC fighters being brought…

Filed under: UFC

The main event at UFC 123 may feature two former champs battling it out for another shot at glory, but the undercard includes several fighters who are just struggling to stay employed.

Let’s face it, with the WEC fighters being brought into the fold, the UFC is bound to trim a little of the fat off the roster soon, jettisoning some of the guys who have underperformed of late. The good news is, the fighters on the chopping block probably know who they are and what they have to do to keep the paychecks coming.

At least most of the time, that adds up to exciting fights. And after the yawn-inducing display at UFC 122, the UFC needs an adrenaline boost like “Rampage” Jackson needs new bad breath jokes. Below, a detailed look at who might spend Thanksgiving looking over the want ads if they can’t pull out a victory on Saturday.

Rory MacDonald Out of UFC 123, Will Be Replaced by Brian Foster

Filed under: UFC, NewsRory MacDonald has suffered a knee injury in training that has forced him out of a planned UFC 123 matchup with Matt Brown, MMA Fighting has confirmed from a source with knowledge of the situation.

The injury was first reported b…

Filed under: UFC, News

Rory MacDonald has suffered a knee injury in training that has forced him out of a planned UFC 123 matchup with Matt Brown, MMA Fighting has confirmed from a source with knowledge of the situation.

The injury was first reported by MMAJunkie.com, which adds that Brian Foster will replace MacDonald in the matchup, slated for Nov. 20 at the Palace of Auburn Hills just outside of Detroit.

‘UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida’ to Go Down 11/20 in Auburn Hills

(Some fan-made video hype from SandmanMMAPromotions)
MMAFighting has confirmed that the previously reported bout between former UFC light-heavyweight champions Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida will headline November 20th’s UFC 123 card, which wi…

(Some fan-made video hype from SandmanMMAPromotions)

MMAFighting has confirmed that the previously reported bout between former UFC light-heavyweight champions Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida will headline November 20th’s UFC 123 card, which will take place at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It will be the UFC’s first event in the Great Lakes State since the spectacularly bad UFC 9, which was marked by an official ban on head-punches and a 30-minute Superfight Championship between Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, in which both future Hall of Famers refused to engage, circling each other for the majority of the bout. That ill-fated event was held at Detroit’s Cobo Hall; now that Detroit has returned to wilderness, the UFC will instead head north to the suburb of Auburn Hills and the longtime home stadium of the Detroit Pistons.

At this point, the only other match reported for the event is a welterweight scrap between Matt Brown and Rory MacDonald. Brown is coming off consecutive submission losses against Ricardo Almeida and Chris Lytle, while MacDonald most recently succumbed to a TKO with just seven seconds remaining of his UFC 115 fight against Carlos Condit. You could say it’s one of those "must win" fights for both sides. And yet one of them will inevitably lose. Doesn’t seem fair, does it.