1. His Professional Fighting Career Didnt End Well
His MMA record after leaving professional wrestling was good, but not exceptional, with four wins and two losses. However, it was his utter destruction by Eric Butterbean Esch in October 2006 at Pride 32 that cemented his stature in the fight world. Granted, Butterbean is well-known for taking down bigger and heavier opponents: hes a professional fighter who knocks people out for a purse, thats all that he does. And it wouldnt have been the first time that Esch had taken out a pro wrestler. He faced the winner of WWFs disastrous Brawl For All tournament, Bart Gunn, who was no slouch as a fighter himself and completely destroyed him in seconds in March 1999. In the final analysis, OHaire fared no better than Gunn, being knocked out in a flurry of punches in 29 seconds. All reports suggest that he retired from the fight game shortly afterwards and, oddly, may have opened a barbershop in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Perhaps his heart wasnt in it any longer after his setbacks in the world of professional wrestling: or perhaps, in his mid-thirties, he simply wasnt young enough to recover the mindset necessary to succeed as a professional fighter. Whichever, he remains one of WWEs most squandered opportunities: a Batista who could fly; a Cena who genuinely had no quit in him; a huge, phenomenally agile and legitimately tough professional wrestler who looked like the Devil himself.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
