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No Respect: These Sports Stars Showed Truly Bad Sportsmanship

Darren - May 19, 2023

Featured

No Respect: These Sports Stars Showed Truly Bad Sportsmanship

Darren - May 19, 2023

Yoel Romero

Former UFC fighter Romero possessed terrifying power and athleticism. However, the Cuban was also a master of the dark arts and didn’t mind cheating if it gave him an edge. He fought Tim Kennedy at UFC 178 when the infamous StoolGate went down. Romero’s coach rubbed Vaseline on his fighter’s body. The referee noticed and forced him to wipe Romero’s chest.

However, this also gave Romero extra rest because he sat on his stool as his coach cleaned him. He blatantly cheated and it was bad sportsmanship. Romero is also famous for grabbing his opponents’ gloves and the fence. Some rivals even accused him of deliberately missing weight to gain an advantage (via SCMP).

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Myles Garrett

Nobody messes with Garrett because he’s one of the NFL’s best defensive players. The Cleveland star is also a fiery character as Steelers QB Mason Rudolph discovered. The NFL hit Garrett with an indefinite suspension after he removed Rudolph’s helmet and smashed him with it.

This was one of the most controversial incidents of 2020 and shocked the league. It came out of nothing after Garrett tackled the quarterback and took him down. Then they wrestled on the ground before Garrett saw red. It was an unnecessary overreaction but he paid the price for it (via The Guardian).

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Luiz Adriano

Adriano enjoyed a lengthy career with the Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk. They played Denmark’s FC Nordsjaelland in a 2013 Champions League clash. The Brazilian striker scored three goals but that’s not why people talked about him after the game. His first was very controversial because he showed bad sportsmanship (via Bleacher Report).

A Nordsjaelland player received an injury before the game restarted. Then their player kicked the ball back to their goalkeeper. Typically, opposition players allow the keeper to punt the ball upfield before contesting it. But Adriano stole the ball and scored the easiest goal of his life. He didn’t break the rules but UEFA still suspended him for two games because of his poor etiquette.

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Mike Tyson

Few combat sports athletes have an aura like Tyson. The former heavyweight champion was a savage knockout artist but he was in decline when he fought Evander Holyfield. The latter shocked the world in their first meeting and Tyson demanded a rematch. ‘Iron Mike’ didn’t enjoy their second clash but he produced one of the most notorious fouls ever.

Tyson bit a chunk of Holyfield’s ear off and suffered a disqualification after round three. This was his second attempted bite of the short match. Initially, referee Mills Lane didn’t realize what happened and allowed the fight to continue. Then, at the end of the round, he called an end to the match (via TalkSport).

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Marshall Henderson

There was a time when Henderson was one of the biggest stars in college basketball. The Ole Miss athlete attracted the nation’s attention with his controversial views and actions. We’re not here to talk about his racism because that’s for another day. But he had plenty of moments of bad sportsmanship too.

Henderson brought March Madness to another level after Mississippi crashed out in the third round. He infamously lifted his middle finger to LaSalle’s fans during the 2013 NCAA Tournament. This wasn’t the most family-friendly gesture and the NCAA reprimanded him for his action (via USA Today Sports).

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Israel Adesanya Part 2

Adesanya enters this list for a second time after an incident in 2023. He finally defeated his rival Alex Pereira in their fourth meeting and the relief was palpable. But he celebrated embarrassingly as he showed bad sportsmanship. Pereira knocked Adesanya out cold in a kickboxing match seven years before. Then the Brazilian’s six-year-old son mocked the stricken fighter.

He collapsed to the ground as if somebody shot him. Adesanya showed that he never forgets because he emulated this celebration after KO’ing Pereira. He cruelly mocked the now-12-year-old boy. Many critics said that this was unnecessary because he was feuding with a little boy (via The Mirror).

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Gregg Williams

Williams is one of the most notorious defensive coaches ever because of one illegal scheme. He was the mastermind behind BountyGate, a concept that almost cost him his career. Sean Payton suffered a one-year suspension and Williams almost got a lifetime ban for this villainous practice (via NBC Sports).

In short, Williams offered his players bonuses if they targeted and injured opponents. This rocked the NFL because it was so immoral. However, it emerged that this was nothing new because Williams did the same thing in his previous jobs. Amazingly, he continued to bounce around the NFL and even had an interim head coach job.

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Diego Maradona

England met Argentina in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup. It was a heated clash between two rivals on and off the field. These nations fought over the Falkland Islands in 1982 and there was bad blood. The English spent most of the game hacking at the legs of the best player in the world, Maradona (via Sporting News).

But this was the Maradona show because he produced two iconic moments. One was a shocking moment of bad sportsmanship as he punched the ball into the net. The officials didn’t spot the foul and he called it ‘The Hand of God.’ Later, he dazzled the fans with one of the best goals ever as he ran through half of the English team.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov

Nurmagomedov was one of the most intimidating MMA fighters of his era. The former UFC lightweight champion retired with an undefeated 29-0 record after beating some big names. He famously had a toxic rivalry with Conor McGregor but beat the Irishman when they finally fought. However, that wasn’t the end of the story because he went crazy.

‘The Eagle’ reacted badly to one of McGregor’s teammates, Dillon Danis. He jumped off the cage and attacked ‘The Notorious’s’ corner as a brawl broke out. It was one of the darkest days in UFC history because it played out in front of the world. Nonetheless, Khabib’s moment of bad sportsmanship enhanced his legacy (via MMA Fighting).

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