Surely when most people hear about, or see their favourite fighter pick up a microphone they surely tend to cringe before they have even begun to chant a word. That is because most of us are use to seeing our favourite fighters, well, fight! It is hard to picture them in a different element.
It was kind of like when we saw Michael Jordan play baseball, or 50 Cent starting to act in Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, of which we are all use to seeing him on the big screen now. Or how can we forget when 50 Cent threw the first pitch of the game for the New York Mets. That was funny! There are many career paths that just dont fit for our favourite athletes in our minds. We even tend to have the same feeling when we see crossovers our minds can’t find a relation to. How about when Justin Timberlake crossed over to Hip Hop? It was one of the biggest stories in Pop and the Hip Hop industry at the time, which turned out to be great for him. There was also that time when Shaquille O’Neal released a rap album, then several of them, which did not benefit his music career in anyway.
Hidden Talents.
The fact of the matter is that many of these athletes, actors, singers had these passions before you ever knew. And the fact that they have the finances and the platforms, be it to crossover, or to garner the attention gives them an avenue to explore these passions.
Some of them work out, and some of them don’t. We cannot fault somebody for finding theirself and their passions. After all, they are artist. So with that, here is a list of all the rappers in the combat sports industry.
Tyron Woodley
In And Out Of Love is arguably the most notorious song that the former welterweight champ Tyron Woodley has done. This had become a hilarious meme in the martial arts community in 2020. Woodley has full songs with great video and sound quality, but this song is the one that gained notoriety for the former champ. He also has another song called, I’ll Beat Yo A** which is popular.
Ralek Gracie
G-In-A-Gi, was a song done by Ralek Gracie who is part of the famous Gracie family that became the pioneers for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu worldwide. A “Gi” (pronounced: jee) is a formal two piece garment worn in martial arts like Jiu-Jitsu and Judo. So he is essentially saying he is a, “Gangster In a Gi“. Ralek is an accomplished Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu.
Andre Fili
Andre Fili is a UFC Veteran and made his debut back in 2013. He is currently a featherweight fighter. But what was more shocking was that Fili is a pretty good rapper. Fili also has a band, not rap related called “Born Breach“. The name of his band signifies “doing it wrong way” as he describes, or “being born feet first.”. Fili is the first one to rap in the video. As you can see from the comments there is a mixed bag of reviews.
Roy Jones Jr.
Middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and WBA heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr., the Russian-American created this anthem that is beloved by everyone inside, and outside the combat sports community. The best song to train to, or get pumped up to. This is a timeless entrance track.
Paweł Ryszard Mikołajuw “Popek Monster”
Popek Monster, A Polish rapper and fighter is actually one of the rare athletes who started in rap professionally first, then made a transition over to a professional MMA career in in 2008, competing in Rage In The Cage and eventually KSW. Popek Monster started rapping back in 2000. He has gone Gold In Czech Slovakia and Poland. The video above is fairly popular and has amassed over 50 million views on his song Dirty Diana, a remix of Michael Jackson’s Dirty Diana.
Adrien Broner
Broner is known to aggravate people with the brash way he comes off and how he is a bit show boaty. But one thing forsure is Broner can fight. His rap, that is another thing according to the comments and fan reviews.
Brian Kelleher
Kelleher is a MMA fighter competing in the Bantamweight division in the UFC. There is only one consensus for the most part of Brian Kelleher and his rap. He is good! He is really good, and always delivers a positive message. He has several tracks on Youtube that are criminally underviewed.
Floyd Mayweather
The Best Every (TBE), the undefeated, undisputed Floyd “Money” Mayweather has bars and can spit! Floyd also has a single called Yep with over 250K views. Floyd does have several songs scattered over the internet. They are not reviewed that great by commenters and fans.
Danny Garcia
Danny Garcia the 2 division WBC and WBA boxing champion who fought in the light welterweight and welterweight division has come out with a couple tracks featuring some other artists. The reviews from fans and those who like rap are fairly positive.
Paul “Paulie” Malignaggi
Malignaggi the former Light Welterweight IBF champs music is hard to find. But surprisingly with all the hate Paulie gets, his music gets good reviews. And for good reason. Cause he can rap.
Kevin Casey
Kevin Casey was an American MMA fighter who competed in the UFC and Bellator. Casey’s career was short lived in the UFC and Bellator. As well as his rap career. But his rap career might be remembered more than his professional MMA career. Because he was a good rapper with a traditional west coast sound.
Alexander Yakovlev
Alexander Yakovlev who competed in the UFC welterweight division is truly sad indeed. Because he is so good at rapping according to Russian fans. And the music he made was not “poser” rap music. Yakovlev, despite the fans telling him to continue stated that it was just to capture attention from fans. He later stated to UFC.com “I shot two videos for my MMA fans, just to be more captivating and interesting. I do not have strong ties to the music world: I am truly a fighter at heart.”. Yakovlev actually went to a decision with the current welterweight champ Kamaru Usman back in 2016.
Kajan Johsnon
Ragin Kajan Johnson is a retired Canadian Mixed Martial Artist who competed in UFC and Bellator in the Lightweight division. He actually competed against the current Lightweight belt contender Islam Makhachev and lost via submission (armbar) back in 2018. Kajan Johnson was very controversial as he was one of the earlier fighters campaigning for unionization, fighter pay and benefits (check out Project Spearhead). Ultimately these things were his undoing and got him cut. Not too mention he snubbed Dana White, President of the UFCs’ handshake at UFC 217 in Calgary . In regards to Johnson’s rap career it is not known why he had stopped. As you can see from his songs, the lyrics, video production and sound quality was great. It has been about 4 years since Johnson has released anymore music. Not a bad review about his music.
Aleksander Emelianenko
Please keep in mind that the great Pride FC top competitor Aleksander Emelianenko only raps from 1:00-1:10 on this song.
Michael Pacquiao
Even though he is not a professional fighter like his dad, or his older brother Jimuel. Michael Pacquiao is worth an honourable mention on this list from the great song he had tributed to his dad. It is truly a great piece.
Bryce Mitchell
Thug Nasty as he goes by in the octagon is the only artist on this list that could make a smooth transition from his professional MMA career, into a career solely focused on rap. Mitchell is the best rapper to come out of combat sports and the UFC. He doesn’t have the style where, you know its your favourite fighter rapping. You can consciously separate his two professions and enjoy them equally without having to be like, “he is a fighter rapping.”. If you have not heard his album Pasture Fire, it is the best album to come out last year from a rapper. It is good from the first song to the last.
