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Who is your MMA Man Love? Monday Fun...

by Leland Roling 6/16/2008 12:56:00 PM

As I drove home last Friday, I tuned into WSCR 670 AM in Chicago for a pleasurable mix of today's sports scores and talk. On Fridays, the network has a segment called “Friday Fun” with Bors and Bernstein. The premise of the segment is to ask a question and have listeners answer the questions with fun stories. Some of the questions range from “Dumbest thing you've ever done?” to “Which sports figure would most likely have sex with your girlfriend?”. Last Friday, the question of the day happened to be... “Who is your man love as a sports fan?”. Some fans would interpret this as homosexual innuendo, but the point of the question was to let men shout out respect to those sports figures they admire with some funny twist in the middle.

So... today, for the sake of having some fun with some of the readership... I want you to profess your MMA man love. Who is a fighter you absolutely respect due to whatever reason you want? Fighting style, aggressiveness, creativity, or do you have a story pertaining to a certain fighter that made you love to watch him fight regardless of how terrible he is in the cage.

I profess that Melvin Manhoef has been a “man love” of mine for quite some time. He only solidified my belief in him this last weekend by absolutely crushing Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM 4. Here's a rundown of reasons why Melvin Manhoef tops my “man love” list:

1.He can draw in hardcore and casual fans

2.He finishes fights in stunning fashion in nearly every win, and he can take a whooping as we saw against Remy Bonjasky

3.You could cast Melvin Manhoef in any Hollywood horror movie, and he'd probably need no makeup or menacing CGI to help him out

4.He'd probably give the Hulk a run for his money

5.His size, power, and skills in the striking game make him a formidable opponent to nearly anyone in his weight class

6.Melvin Manhoef would be the perfect wingman... I.e. he'd scare other dudes away from the prey

While Manhoef is beatable, who really cares? He's entertaining and downright hateful in the ring. In tribute to Melvin, here's his fight against Sakuraba below (Smoogy will probably hate this...):

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Jump on the Melvin Manhoef Bandwagon...Andrei Arlovski's future is up in the airMonday Column: MMA Analytics at 411Mania

Comments

June 16. 2008 18:15

This will probably be a common one, but I have to say I've got a man-crush on Georges St. Pierre. Aside from his dashing good looks, he's an amazing fighter and an incredibly nice guy, if the reports are to be believed. He's humble in spite of his awesomeness, which is a huge factor for me, and he's the antithesis of what Americans seem to think of the French (whether from France or Quebec). He's not a snob, he's not a coward, and he's...well, he's a nice guy. I said that already.

Please note that I am not stereotyping the French as being snobs, cowards, or jerks. That just seems to be the general American sentiment.

Dedwyre

June 18. 2008 14:47

LOL good post. And good choice too

Hywel Teague [FO Mag}

June 19. 2008 05:51

You're going to get some backlash from this article. If I was you I would heavily edit it immediately.

MMA fans are not metrosexuals, and a close look at how many times the words homo and retard are used on any forum will tell you they're not PC either.

Also, Dae Won Kim completely owning Manhoef prior to the last five seconds of that fight. Great kick versus Sakuraba, though.

Ultimate Mind

June 19. 2008 06:24

Lighten up. Maybe your intentions are fine, but that a lot of MMA fans are immature and/or homophobic is their own problem.

I'll say my "man love" is Faber lately, and it's not because of his good looks. His fighting style is so freakishly athletic, creative, and technical.

BTW Leland, I missed your previews for last weekend's shows. Looking forward to your thoughts about the Ultimate Fighter finale if your schedule permits.

Don

June 19. 2008 06:27

Political correctness is for sissies.

Dedwyre

June 21. 2008 08:58

Cool topic, Leland.

"Man love as a sports fan" - I get it. I'm also married and have an uncontested record of heterosexuality.

I'm going with Aleks Emelianenko; here's why:

1) I've always liked the idea of an expressionless Russian heavyweight with a litany of organized-crime-related tattoos (skulls, stars, cathedral, Grim Reaper holding baby, etc.) that quite frankly scare the piss out of me.

2) Aleks has quick, heavy hands, and he loves to throw.

3) He's a two-time Russian sambo champion whose submissions in MMA are, in my opinion, a bit overlooked. (Don't forget that he submitted Pawel Nastula back in Pride.)

4)Fedor told me (at his M-1 press conference here in NY) that he feels Aleks has the talent and the tools to be as great as any heavyweight in the game today. That's pretty high praise, especially considering that at the time of Fedor saying this, things had been kind of rocky between the brothers.

5)Aleks is close personal friends with Vladimir Putin. Think abut your closest friends...not as cool as Putin, I bet.

4) I've always liked the shadowy/villainous/possibly misread character, and Aleks is certainly that.

Needless to say, I hope Aleks knocks Paul Buentello's head into the parking lot next month.