(Some weeks, when there’s nothing going on in the fight world, the lads at Undercard will do a roundtable about something that interests them. This is one of those times.)
Josh Hall: I love when an MMA fighter pays homage to pro wrestling, and as such my favorite walkout ever has to be Tom Lawlor coming out to “Real American” for his UFC Fight Night 20 bout with Aaron Simpson. Simply coming to the classic entrance music of Hulk Hogan would have been good in itself, but it was the attention to detail that made this entrance so well done.
Lawlor came out with an American flag he waved exiting the tunnel, and had the absolutely necessary feather boa wrapped around his shoulders. He mirrored every part of Hogan’s over the top walkout complete with the constant pointing to the crowd and cupping of his ear as he took in the cheers. Ripping off the muscle shirt when he got to the cage was a wonderful final touch on a perfectly executed Hulkster impersonation that gave me a nice flashback to watching him as a young kid. A+.
Honorable mention to the Diego Sanchez: Vampire Hunter entrance, but the English language lacks the words to adequately describe that level of insanity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlE4KKPFXAo
Earl Montclair: My absolute, hands down, no questions asked favorite walkout of all time is Chris Leben at UFC 138 in Birmingham, England. Chris walked to the cage to Gary Jules/Michael Andrews’ cover of the Tears For Fears song “Mad World” from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. The movie was a massive hit in the UK and that resulted in the crowd was singing along for the majority of the song. There was just something about Leben walking to the cage to unleash hell with that song playing, nothing but piano and vocals, that created a haunting atmosphere like i had never felt during a walk out before or since. Most often walkouts are set to the tune of rap, radio rock or EDM. This was the antithesis of the cliche MMA walkout. It was a brilliant choice and I wish I could have been there in person. I still get chills every single time I watch it.
Nolan Howell: November 24th, 2012 was the date of Ricky Hatton’s last fight. Though still a relative novice boxing fan at the time, I tuned in live that afternoon to see the comeback of a great fighter.
What resulted was one of my favorite combat sports experienced ever. Walking out to Blue Moon, the Manchester crowd was electric and sang along as Hatton made his last walk to the ring. The unbridled love and support for their hometown boy was absolutely bone chilling. Crowds like that are few and far between in combat sports. Though he went down after a valiant effort against Vyacheslav Senchenko, seeing Ricky Hatton enter for the very last time in his hometown is something I will never forget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6QQHPpHGLU
Taylor Engel: My personal favorite walkout of all time is Mark Hominick at UFC 129, and it isn’t particularly close. Coming into the fight, Hominick was on a tear including wins over the likes of Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, Leonard Garcia, and George Roop. Hominick was a massive underdog to Jose Aldo, but was coming home to Canada for his fight in Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The lights dimmed, and ever so softly, Skylar Grey’s “Coming Home” began chorusing throughout the arena. One could see the tears in the corners of Hominick’s eyes as he marched towards the biggest fight of his life. However, what made the night truly special for me was not just the manner in which Hominick walked to the cage, but the manner in which he walked from it. The Machine walked from possibly the worst beating he took in his career, with an enormous hematoma on his forehead, bleeding from multiple facial cuts, and oddly, smiling. Smiling because he had just fought in front of 60,000 of his countrymen? Smiling because he was back at his pregnant wife’s side? I am not sure, but I am sure that it is without a doubt the moment in this sport that has affected me the most emotionally, and for that reason, Mark Hominick wins my favorite MMA walkout.
Ben Kohn: My favorite walkout of all time honestly has to go to Brock Lesnar’s walkout at UFC 121. Brock was having his second fight since his first bout of diverticulitis and had just had the amazing comeback victory over Shane Carwin in his last bout. This was only the second PPV I had bought myself at the time and the first was his fight with Shane. Brock was my favorite fighter and when those lights dimmed and Enter Sandman started playing, I got so beyond hyped up I can’t even describe it. Brock is one of the most intimidating looking men I have ever seen. When he made that slow walk to the cage, his eyes focused dead ahead ignoring everything, I got goosebumps that I can clearly remember. When he shoved that security guard like a small toy by just backhanding him, that sealed it as my pick for my favorite walkout. Brock was the ultimate version of “I don’t give a fuck” attitude at the time and I love it to this day. Brock may be hated and ridiculed by many fans today but I will always remember him as the destructive force that came out of nowhere and took the Heavyweight division hostage.
Luke Irwin:
It was the most heated crowd in UFC history and this was their first moment to really explode, and boy, did they. Paulo Thiago, a former welterweight nightmare, was on a downslide of his career, but being both Brazilian, and a member of BOPE, the special forces of Rio de Janeiro’s military police, the crowd absolutely exploded when they saw him. The sold out crowd singing, in complete unison, “Tropa de Elite”, a theme song of sorts, for BOPE, made even hardened fight veterans like Stitch Duran and Herb Dean watch the crowd.
It was the last stand of Paulo Thiago. David Mitchell never had a chance.
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