Inside the octagon, MMA fighter Sean “The Real OC” O’Connell has amassed 16 wins, eight by knock out. Outside of the eight-sided enclosure, the 31-year-old from Salt Lake City has collected thousands of laughs thanks to his pre-fight antics (which don’t involve kissing).
O’Connell is the MMA’s resident funny man thanks to how he conducts himself during weigh-in, the last opportunity for fighters to see each other before fighting.
O’Connell has wrapped arms with opponents to share a drink, played a friendly game of rock-paper-scissor, and taken a selfie.
But not every opponent has been so gracious about O’Connell’s tomfoolery.
During weigh in for UFC Fight Night 59 in January, O’Connell tried to gently touch opponent Matt Van Buren’s nose, to his displeasure.
“I told Matt Van Buren, ‘Hey, it’s kind of my thing: I like to goof around at the weigh-ins. I’m gonna do something funny,’” O’Connell said according to mmajunkie.com. “And he said, ‘Uhhh, uhhh, OK.’ I tried to make it an ad-libbity (tap on the nose), and everyone tries to make it a tense situation. The fight is picked. … I thought it would be funny. He didn’t laugh, but I don’t really care.”
https://vine.co/v/OjFFT1VP2LT
O’Connell further explained his pre-fight pranks in the following YouTube video.
H/T Reddit | Screengrab via gfycat.com