The Top 10 WORST MMA Cheaters

1. GILBERT YVEL

Long known as the biggest cheater in MMA, the Hurricane has had trouble getting licensed to fight by athletic commissions and has had fights cancelled because of it.

In 1998, Yvel actually bit and eye gouged opponent Karimula Barkalaev earning a disqualification.

In 2001 against Don Frye, Gilbert raked the eyes of his opponent  and gouged his eyes resulting in another DQ.

In 2004, the referee was attempting to restart the Hurricane’s fight with Atte Backman in a clinched position after the two men had become tangled in the ring ropes. Gilbert swatted the referee away before punching him in the face and kicking the downed citizen. Stay classy Yvel.

2. CHAEL P. SONNEN

The American Gangster has one of the most checkered pasts in all of MMA that continues to be ignored by media and fans.

In December of 2007, Chael faced Paulo Filho for the WEC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen became trapped in an armbar and screamed out in pain (screaming in pain is a verbal submission under MMA Rules) prompting the referee to halt the contest. With the pressure released, Chael then yelled, “No.” and claimed he was fine.

Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer states that Sonnen never mentioned any type of TRT for his fight with Nate Marquardt.

After the 1st loss to Anderson Silva, “A sample from Sonnen's August 6 drug test came back with a high T/E (testosterone-to-estrogen) level, which is indicative of anaboloic steroid use. CSAC learned of the results September 2 and ordered a second test, which also came back positive for steroid use. CSAC received test results from the second sample on September 14 and suspended Sonnen two days later.”

California State Athletic Commission Executive Director George Dodd said Chael had told him he was taking something before the Silva fight. “He only indicated that he was taking it, but never indicated why,” said Dodd. “(Sonnen) just let me know he was taking and that’s when I called over an inspector to get it documented. But when you do take it you still have to show a medical reason.” Chael never reports a medical reason for taking the TRT.

In order to get the TRT exemption, you must have is prescribed by a licensed Physician and test at normal testosterone levels. Sonnen tested higher than the normal levels. At the time, only teammate Dan Henderson had been approved for exemption therapy. Chael’s T/E ratio was nearly 17 times more than a normal man and over 4 times the allowed maximum for an athlete!

At Sonnen’s appeal hearing, he claimed he had been previously approved for TRT by Keith Kizer. Kizer responded by saying he, "never talked to Chael Sonnen in [his] life."

Chael then said it was his manager (Matt Lindland) who had spoken with Keith about a TRT exemption. Kizer acknowledged speaking with Lindland about TRT, but said the conversation concerned only the procedure itself, not the application of any particular fighter. There was no documented evidence of Sonnen being approved for TRT. Chael was finally suspended for 6 months and fined.

Miraculously, after all of this, Sonnen has been continually, and now officially allowed, to use TRT ever since. The lies don’t stop there as Chael pleaded guilty to money laundering in connection to mortgage fraud in 2011. Chael, “admitted that a financial transaction he conducted was designed to conceal or disguise the ownership and control of the proceeds of wire fraud.” according to an Oregon Department of Justice statement. The AG lost his relator license, paid $10,000, and was sentenced to 2 years probation.

The continually dilusional Sonnen once said going into his 1st meeting with Anderson Silva,"You gotta understand, I’ve never lost to a middleweight fighter and he has. Any loss I’ve ever had has been at a different weight class." Chael was submitted by Demian Maia, Paulo Filho, and Jeremy Horn, all at Middleweight.

3. HERMES FRANCA

The Brazilian lost a title fight to Sean Sherk at UFC 73, July 7, 2007. After the bout Hermes tested positive for Drostanolone. That was only the beginning to how low Franca would go.

In 2011, Hermes was arrested on 7 counts of sexual abuse in the 1st degree and 2 counts of unlawful sexual penetration in the 2nd degree. The charges came from an underage girl at Franca’s Oregon Jiu-Jitsu academy in December of ’10. Hermes pleaded gulty to 1 count for of each for a sentence of 42 months in prison. Upon release he will be on probation for 4 and a half years and register as a sex offender.

The crimes are bad enough but Hermes was also married at the same which makes him another kind of cheater. And a horrible person.

4. JOSH BARNETT

The Warmaster has tested positive for steroids 3 times! Barnett’s 1st failed test came after a win over Bobby Hoffman at UFC 34 in 2001 in which he was popped for Boldenone and Fluoxymesterone (anabolic steroids). The 2nd time came after Josh had defeated Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight title only to be stripped of the belt for failing the post fight drug test. Finally, Barnett tested positive for Drostanolone before a scheduled fight with Fedor Emelianenko in what would have been Affliction’s 3rd event. Josh’s failed drug test led to the cancelling of the card. Josh has still never admitted to any of these failings.

5. NATE MARQUARDT

Way back in the legendary days of Pancrase, Nate tapped out to a guillotine choke by Ricardo Almeida. Marquardt thought Ricardo held on to the move too long and after then men stood up and the fight was over, Marquardt threw a strike to Almeida’s face leading to an in ring melee.

Nate the Not-So-Great’s 1st failed drug test came after a win over Ivan Salaverry in the UFC circa ’05. Marquardt tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone but claimed he only used over-the-counter supplements. Next, Nate was forced out of a scheduled bout with Rick Story when he failed to receive medical clearance. It turned out that Marquardt was on TRT and his testosterone level was deemed too high for the fight, thus leading to his public firing from the UFC by President Dana White.

Marquardt almost cried on The MMA Hour saying that he was recently feeling poorly and his marriage was on the rocks. The TRT had saved his marriage and saved his life! Cut to a year later and Nate is no longer using TRT, said allergies had caused the problems, and he was off the prescribed steroids.

6. VITOR BELFORT

The “Phenom” tested positive for the illegal 4-Hydroxytestosterone in 2006 after losing a bout to Dan Henderson. Belfort claimed his Physician injected him without his knowledge of the drug. Uh-huh. Vitor then became a new man, guided by God and fueled by TRT. The Brazilian said TRT users should be made public only after he was outed by the Brazilian Athletic Commission against his wishes. When a reporter recently tried to ask Vitor about TRT use and his magical career turnaround, Belfort responded by saying, "Can somebody beat him up? "You're boring man, you're boring. Get out of here.... I'm not going to talk to you. Talk to my hand." You go girl!

Vitor doesn’t acknowledge that TRT is helping him get an unfair advantage saying, “I’m stronger than ever like I have always been.”

7. STEPHAN BONNAR

The American Psycho may have felt cheated in his legendary TUF finale against Forrest Griffin when the decision went the wrong way, but he took steps to prevent that for the rematch. Bonnar tested positive for Boldenone after UFC 62 and was suspended for 9 months. Stephan injured his knee going into the rematch and allegedly used the steroid to keep the fight.

Bonner’s career went on to a mid-level status and for much of 2012 Stephan was semi-retired. The 36 year old had stated that he wanted one last big fight and in October of the same year he got his wish. The UFC 153 card in Brazil had completely fallen apart due to a litany of injuries and was in danger of being cancelled. Anderson Silva stepped up willing to face anyone to save the crowd for his homeland. Stephan Bonnar was tapped as the opponent and trained for a month leading to the bout where he was destroyed in mere moments. After the fight, the American tested positive for Drostanolone a steroid used by weight lifters. Bonnar finally addressed the issue by saying, “Believe it or not, there are some therapeutic uses to some of the banned substances. Bottom line, I wanted to get my strength back. I was very weak. My body didn’t feel good, my joints didn’t feel good. That was my goal.”

Well as long as you felt steroid use is therapeutic then we guess the rules don’t matter. Bonnar got his payday and was suspended for a year though he promptly retired from MMA.

8. CHEICK KONGO

No fighter has abused the cup more than Cheick Kongo. The Frenchman never seems to fail in hitting opponents in the jewels and has victimized Travis Browne, Mostapha Al Turk, and Mirko Cro Cop. Cheick was hit in the groin by Al Turk and when the bout restarted, Kongo marched across the cage blatantly kneeing Mostapha in the pills and turning to his corner before the 5 minute recovery time was announced. Kongo landed multiple ball shots against the legendary Cro Cop and admitted after the fight to Fighter’s Only Magazine that, “The last knee in the balls wasn’t an accident because he was complaining about different knees in his balls but they were inside his legs. And that upset me.”

The class act went on to be nicknamed Cupcheck Kongo but his cheating ways don’t end there.

Against Paul Buentello, Kongo kneed his opponent in the head while down, twice, delivered illegal elbows, and punched to the back of the head. Only 1 point was deducted for all of these illegal actions. For a supposed “K-1 level striker,” as Joe Rogan used to call him, he sure can’t seem to hit anything but the illegal spots.

9. BOB SAPP

The Beast is a cheater in that he has cheated fans and promoters out of their money for years. The over sized actor has lost his last 11 bouts in a row with only 1 of those “fights” seeing the 2nd round. Its just such obvious shtick as Sapp promotes the fights in his deep Bob the cartoon character voice projecting a sense of power, before taking the slightest bit of punishment in the cage or ring, and simply quitting.

Of course, Sapp is the man who actually fought a cartoon character. In 2008, Bob faced Kinniku Mantaro from the kids show Kinnikuman Nisei. Dynamite!! put this on as a “real” MMA bout with professional wrestler Akihito Tanaka in the cartoon get up.

It would be one thing to be a pro wrestler doing these things. It is another to call yourself a mixed martial artist and do these fraudulent things under the guise of “real fighting.”

10. MARK COLEMAN

The Hammer once took a fight in April of 1999, against Nobuhiko Takada (2-6) in Pride FC. Coleman was coming off 3 straight losses in the UFC and was looking for a payday in Japan. Takada was a popular Japanese professional wrestler who had a limited MMA skills. Coleman took Takada down and then applied the neck crank he had used to submit Dan Severn in ’97, only to let it go for no reason seconds later. The 2nd round began and Mark took down the Japanese fighter again landing in side mount. Coleman moved form the dominant position into the less advantageous situation of Takada’s guard. The Godfather of ground and pound then stood up allowing Nobuhiko to grab the leg lock.

Later Mark would say, "It was what it was. I needed to support my family. They guaranteed me another fight after that and I needed that security. It was what it was. I'm going to leave it at that."

Honorable Mention Cheaters:

Alistair Overeem

Suspiciously went from a skinny Light Heavyweight in '07 to a massive Heavyweight in '08 though there is no proof of wrongdoing.

Failed a random drug test before a potential title fight against Junior dos Santos when his T/E ratio came back at 14 to 1.

Kimo Leopoldo

Old school brawler Kimo failed a post fight drug test after being KO'd by Ken Shamrock at UFC 43.

Kimo tested positive for Stanozolol for the 2nd time for failing a pre-fight drug test by the CSAC. The bout would have been against rival Bas Rutten.

Chris Leben

The Crippler's 1st failed drug test came after a loss to Michael Bisping in 2008. At that UFC 89 event, Leben tested positive for Stanozolol and was suspended and fined.

The 2nd failed test came after a loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 138. Chris tested positive for Oxycodone and Oxymorphone which just sounds like some good fun.

Kevin Randleman

Kevin had one of the oddest failed drug tests when he used the fake penis Whizzinator to give fake pee. The urine held no human hormones and NSAC's Keith Kizer said, "It was either allegedly non-human urine or urine from a dead human being." Randleman's license was revoked for a year.

Yoshihiro Akiyama 

Sexyama was accused in 2003 of having a slippery gi by 3 opponents in the World Judo Championships.

In 2006, Akiyama fought the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba who complained about his opponent being slippery. A video later surfaced of Yoshi greasing up with 6 bottles of lotion in the  locker room before the fight. Akiyama was DQ'd.