8 Craziest Fighters From The Early UFCs
1. Harold Howard (1-3)
Harold Howard may have only had four fights in his professional MMA career but left an indelible impact on the sport thanks to his wackiness both in, and out of the cage.
Sporing a glorious blond mullet and owning black belts in several forms of karate, Howard would've made the perfect antagonist in a Chuck Norris movie, but somehow found his way into the UFC 3 tournament.
In his pre-fight promo package, Howard erroneously refers to the UFC as the Ultimate Fighting Challenge before uttering the words that would make him a cult hero among early fans of the sport.
"We have a saying back home, that if you're coming on... Come on!"
Howard would demonstrate his fighting skills in his first bout, as he finished muay thai specialist Roland Payne by knockout in a surprisingly decent fight that saw him advance to the second round.
With Royce Gracie unable to continue in the tournament following his fight with Kimo, Howard claimed moral victory and advanced into the final to fight alternate Steve Jennum.
This bout would see Howard showcase the full extent of his fighting eccentricity, attacking with a Rolling Thunder that was more Peter Griffin than Peter Graham. An exhausted Harold would ultimately be defeated, but his legacy as one of the craziest fighters in the history of the sport was already cemented.
After retiring from MMA, Howard was seemingly determined to live up to his reputation and was sent to prison in 2009 for two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a weapon, attempted breaking and entering, failure to remain, flight from police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, mischief and two counts breach of recognizance.