Music is everything, even in the world of sports and even in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.
Music can get people hyped, fans enthused and fighters alert. It can bring the strongest emotions and the richest feelings into one’s mind and heart and it can literally change everyone’s mood instantly.
In UFC fights where there is so much at stake, music is a source of bouts’ influence. Fighters are risking their status and prestige and fight for a place in the MMA world or a highly desired belt and recognition. Bettors are risking their money staked at bookmakers and sites offering ufc betting Germany or anywhere else in the world, waiting to get some profits. Sponsors are risking their big money invested on fighters or on fight nights to get audiences’ attention and build strong brands. There is indeed so much at stake, that every little detail matters!
Music is of course not a small detail, but one would not really make the explicit connection between music and an MMA fight, just as they would do with music and an MMA movie let’s say. Music is so critical that it is in fact carefully selected by officials and fighters together. The walk-out song has become sort of a tradition for UFC fighters, who get to pick the one that they believe represents them the most, hypes them the most and cheers everybody up in the audience the most. And all this is because the vibe within the arena is certainly one of the main factors that can influence how a bout is going to unfold and also how focused and committed a fighter will be. In a nutshell, music can make a strong difference in any given MMA fight.
The walk-out song gets all the attention. It is the song with which fighters make their entrance into the ring and it is therefore the background with which they are presenting themselves to the audience. No wonder why it is so important!
Some fighters believe that the walk-out song is actually setting the tone for the fight or that it is preparing the audiences for what is going to happen, simply by tuning them into what they themselves want to happen! That is why they are selecting songs that are alerting, celebrating, arousing, stimulating and above all they select songs that trigger the crowds’ reactions.
Let’s see some walk-out songs in UFC fights that have made a difference in the fight nights!
Bleed It Out – Linkin Park picked by Lyoto Machida
Lyoto Machida chose Linkin Park’s “Bleed it Out” and made his name widely popular in the world of MMA back in 2008. It is a song that combines rock and hip-hop elements and it is an absolutely perfect choice for a walk-out theme, especially if one wants to make his name heard all around the MMA community.
Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chilli Peppers picked by T.J. Dillashaw
Back in 2014, Dillashaw chose to enter the Octagon under the rhythm of Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ track “Can’t Stop” and this was a wise choice, considering what happened that night!
The fight ended up in a total upset, with Dillashaw taking over his opponent, Renan Barao, winning the bantamweight title and in a way verifying what the song was actually telling.. It was like an omen! It made so much buzz, that a member of the band tweeted about the fight while watching it that night!
Know your enemy – Rage Against the Machine picked by Carlos Condit
This song is an absolute ode to ‘being aware’ which is perfectly aligned with the whole philosophy of Mixed Martial Arts. Carlos Condit chose the masterpiece “Know your enemy” from the infamous Rage Against the Machine and wrote history with his walk-out back in 2013. Everybody loved that entrance and everybody still remembers how epic it was!
Of course there are so many other songs that have made their own history in the Octagon and you can track them down if you browse through relevant sources, but these three are considered to be the ones that have made a difference and this difference has been felt by audiences!
