MMA has some incredible record holders. Enson Inoue has the biggest heart ever. Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier have held UFC belts in two different weight divisions at the same time. And then there is the mother of all wardrobe malfunctions. There actually should be two categories here, accidentally and on purpose. Dennis Hallman holds the on-purpose record, and was very nearly cut by the UFC for it.
INLINE
Dennis Hallman lost a bet, and nearly his job.
The accidental award goes to the amazing Leslie “The Peacemaker” Smith. It took place vs. Raquel Pennington at Invicta Fighting Championship 4. In a testament to the fact that Invicta is the world’s leading WMMA promotion, of the 12 main event fighters, eight went on to the UFC, and the UFC only had two women’s divisions to Invicta’s five.
Fans saw Smith and Pennington, as well as Carla Esparza, Bec Rawlings, Alexis Davis, Shayna Baszler, Amanda Nunes, and JoJo Calderwood in action. And they saw more of Smith than anyone had intended.
The top she wore indicated that something might go awry, potentially. It did.
http://mmatv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/73351_392455500847163_718210629_n.jpg
UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten, and WMMA pioneer and brilliant Invicta FC matchmaker Julie Kedzie. were doing the commentary, as Smith drove Pennington to the fence. Suddenly, if you watch color commentator Rutten sitting cageside, you can see him make a face. He starts to speak, then checks the monitor to confirm.
“OOAAOOP something’s showing,” explained Bas, who sat cageside, facing the action, and politely looked away. “I think the referee should momentarily stop it for a second. Because once she turned into us, I think something’s showing.”
Kedzie offered a word from the management perspective.
“For those of you at home, this is a professional event, and attire is an important thing to take into consideration,” said the matchmaker. “Ten seconds left in this round, I think there will be time to make suitable adjustments.”
Then the round ended.
http://mmatv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lesliesmith1.jpg
Leslie Smith is a damn warrior, and kept her opponent on the cage, throwing shots for almost 30 seconds, with a wardrobe malfunction.
For further, entirely unnecessary evidence that Smith is a warrior, consider that in 2013 she won yet another Fight of the Night bonus losing a decision to Barb Honchak for the Invicta’s flyweight (125) title. When the UFC announced they were debuting a bantamweight (135) division, Smith stepped up.
In her first UFC fight, she lost a decision to Sarah Kaufman in a rematch taken on short notice. Then she stopped Jessamyn Duke in the first round. Then she fought Jessica “Evil” Eye, and had the fight stopped when her ear exploded. And she bounced back with a win over Rin Nakai in Australia.
Her next fight was against arguably the greatest fighter in the history of WMMA, Cris Cyborg, who was coming down to a catchweight of 140 from approximately 170. That fight took place in front of Cyborg’s hometown crowd in Curitiba, Brazil. on May 14, 2016, at UFC 198. And Leslie Smith asked for the fight.
Smith then won two in a row in the UFC, but was released under controversial circumstances, with some concluding that the release was due to her Project Spearhead fighter organization efforts.
Smith moved to Bellator MMA, where she has gone 2-2, most recently losing a rematch with Cyborg with the Bellator women’s featherweight world championship on the line.
Follow Leslie Smith on her social network:
Leslie Smith Twitter
Leslie Smith Instagram
Leslie Smith Facebook