The golden age of walkouts has come and gone. The raised ramps, the rising platforms coming out of the mist, the fireworks. We’ll never see Crocop walkout to “Wild Boys” on any meaningful stage again, and sure we still have Sandstorm and Gimme Shelter, but it’s not like it was. Wistfulness aside, however, walkouts are still a lot of fun. They are the first forum in which a fight is won or lost. Come out strong with a great song blaring and instantly, you’re a badass. Come out to the Rocky theme for the 4th time on the same card and, well… I certainly won’t be cheering as hard.
The basic format going forward is that I’ll be highlighting the best walkout songs of the month (I’m pre-screening the chaff, which means you get a chance to be incensed) and linking them to you for your enjoyment. At the end of each post I’ll have a poll to pick the best walkout song. Hopefully, at the end of the year I’ll have my act together enough to pull the winners of each month into a grand “Best walkout of the year” post. Of course, if I really missed someone feel free to post it in the comments and I will count the number of recs it gets as votes. And now, the best walkout songs of January.
The early favorite, in my own mind, has to be Luke Rockhold, who blew the doors off his UFC Fight Night main event status with Danzig’s Thirteen. It was unexpected, and totally badass. From that same card Beneil Dariush made a strong play for a classic with Michael Jackson’s Rock with You, as did John Moraga with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Thuggish Ruggish Bone. Garett Whiteley earned some hilarity points with Joe Esposito’s You’re the Best Around, and finally, Sam Sicilia snuck into the running with Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut you Down. Obviously there were others, but those were the best. Check out the rest here.
UFC on Fox 10 saw Benson Henderson return with his anthem R-Swift’s Awesome God, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he owns it. Likewise Gabriel Gonzaga walked out to an old favorite, Danzig’s Mother. Jeremy Stephens issued a strong entry with Work by Gang Starr as did Alex Caceres with Paul Simon’s One-Trick Poney. As with Whiteley’s Karate Kid reference Yves Jabouin went for awesome with the Mortal Kombat theme from The Immortals. Junior Hernandez walking out to MGK’s Edge of Destruction and Nikita Krylov with Duane Eddy’s Rebel Rouser were both fun entries as well. You can see the other entries here.
Finally, the first show of the month was UFC Fight Night: Saffiedine vs. Lim. There isn’t a handy list for this so I had to go with what I could pick out. Tae Hyun Bang went with his cowboy hat theme and came out to Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Dave Galera may not have had much of a UFC debut, but he nailed his walkout with Israel Kamakawiwoʻole’s version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Kawajiri brought his classic walkout from B-Dash, Water Pow. I’m sure there were other notable entrances on the card, but I couldn’t pick them out.
Also, three notable disqualifications this month. Elias Silverio gets an automatic failing grade for walking out to Wild Boys, and Luiz Dutra likewise for using the Rocky theme. Josh Thomson also got dinged a mess of points for ridiculous pandering when he walked out to the Chicago Bulls theme in Chicago. Now that all the choices have been laid out before you, who do you think had the most memorable walkout of the month?
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