MMA confidential

38 MMA fighters anonymously tell all about Dana White, PEDs and more

Originally Published: September 10, 2013
By Michael Huang and Michael Woods | ESPN The Magazine

This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's Sept. 16 Fighting Issue. Subscribe today!

CAGE FIGHTERS are already an aggressive, talkative bunch. So when we gave 38 MMA fighters -- most of them from the UFC -- the chance to throw verbal punches in anonymity, they went for the knockout even more than you'd expect. Dana White? A transgender fighter? PEDs? "Oh man, I usually get in trouble when I spout off about topics like this," one veteran star said. Not today, sir. We'll withhold the fighters' names, but the rear-naked chokes of intel are all yours.

mma confidentialESPN The Magazine

UFC light heavyweight on MMA grossness:
"I was on top of a guy once, punching him, and he kept farting. It smelled, but what am I supposed to do? I just kept punching. I didn't want the ref to think it was me, so between rounds, I told him it wasn't."

UFC middleweight on abstaining:
"When I abstain from sex before a fight, I have nothing but first-round knockouts. So it's no old wives' tale."

UFC welterweight on Fallon Fox:
"I admire Fallon Fox's courage in coming out and as a role model for transgender people. But it isn't fair for someone who was born male and spent most of her life male to fight as a female."

Bellator MMA welterweight on weight loss:
"I'll cut at least 20 pounds prefight. I don't eat for 48 hours, I don't drink water for 24 hours and I hop in the sauna for six hours with friends to help monitor me."

Follow The Mag on Twitter (@ESPNmag) and like us on Facebook.

Michael Woods

Boxing
Michael Woods, a member of the board of the Boxing Writers Association of America, has been covering boxing since 1991. He writes about boxing for ESPN The Magazine and is the news editor for TheSweetScience.com.

SPONSORED HEADLINES

MORE MMA HEADLINES

MOST SENT STORIES ON ESPN.COM

Comments

Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPN's media platforms. Learn more.