Posted by Tommy Hackett on 8th February 2010
One of the effects of MMA’s boom in popularity has been, predictably, a rise in MMA-themed merchandising. For a while it seemed everybody and their brother was beginning a line of MMA-themed apparel. Generally these companies featured T-shirts with awful “tap or snap” slogans, pitbulls, skulls, and the like. They were generally, to be perfectly honest, crap. Some have survived, some haven’t. A few, like Triumph United and Six Deuce, actually put out some nice designs — and it’s good to see them do well.
But there was an old guard, too, from the days MMA wasn’t all the rage: and some are still alive and kicking. Bad Boy, whose fight shorts were worn by seemingly every other fighter in the late 90’s, has made a return to the spotlight with such fighters as “Shogun” Rua — and the old “squinting eyes” logo, which I was always found somewhat irritating? It now seems, oddly enough, kind of classy. Of course, the TapOut story is well-known. Far from the days of hilariously cheap commercials like this one which showed up at the end of Hook n Shoot DVDs (and please accept my apologies if the implied nudity there offends anyone — it’s really not my style), they now have a big budget, their own reality TV show, and have become one of the biggest employers in their Southern California hometown.
But there’s one company from the “old days” which, more than any of the others, had two things going for them which would seem to be a combination for success. First, and most importantly, they have always put out great and unique designs. Second, their shirts were worn by Dana White in season one of The Ultimate Fighter, the show that really sparked MMA’s recent surge in popularity. If there were one company I’d have picked to break through, this would have been it.
Yet, despite some continued local success in their native Guam and a few parts beyond, they seem to have disappeared from the US mainland and had no part of MMA’s move to the mainstream.
I’m talking about Fokai International. Anyone else miss them a bit?
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Posted by Tommy Hackett on 11th May 2009
For the uninformed, the Japanese MMA legend Caol Uno has been dabbling in the fashion industry for some time now under his brand name UCS. He has featured everything from sportswear to childrens attire in the past, but his 2008/2009 Fall/Winter collection, which received a sneak peek at HypeBeast this week, appears to represent a new ambition.
I think back to the line from Fight Club where “Jack” ponders which kind of dining set defines him as a person. So, does anyone believe that Uno’s mishmash of tights, beanies, and the pictured Little Lord Fauntleroy getup defines you as a person?
Perhaps not. But that’s OK. I want it all anyway. This man is clearly over all of our heads.
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Posted by Tommy Hackett on 28th April 2009
In a recent interview with Fight Magazine, Lyoto Machida was asked what was in his refrigerator. The Brazilian MMA phenom known as “The Dragon” (or, as I prefer to call him, “The Next Light Heavyweight Champion of the World”) didn’t surprise me when he included açaí (pronounced a-sigh-ee, more or less) in his response. Why? First, I enjoyed açaí for the first time last year and have been hooked ever since. Second, and more relevant to this site, the purple berry has made mention all over the MMA world lately.
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Posted by Tommy Hackett on 28th January 2009
People get all kinds of tattoos for all kinds of reasons, but the fighting world seems to have a special affinity for the art. Dutch Muay Thai standout Melvin Manhoef sports the above scroll with a listing of all his KO’s in both Muay Thai and MMA competition on his rib cage; I suppose he updates it regularly. Closer to the source, in Thailand it’s not uncommon to see all kinds of traditional talismans protecting practicioners of Muay Thai from hexes and the like. In this video, several castmates of Contender Asia including Yodsenklai Fairtex receive yantras: sacred designs inked by Buddhist monks to offer protection.
But then, there’s the following fighters whose tattoos are in a class all their own. Any big MMA fan has seen what happens when odd ink happens to great fighters, and I am no exception. So, what follows is a listing of my top bizzare tattoos sported proudly by MMA elite:
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