Sean McCorkle's gifts as a keyboard warrior have propelled him to a far greater degree of notoriety than you'd expect for a 34-year-old fighter with a 1-0 record in the UFC. His willingness to get on the UG and throw down an outrageous barrage of insults has contributed mightily to his rapid ascent with the promotion from undercard to co-headliner in just one fight.
Sure a super-strength headliner like Georges St Pierre vs Josh Koscheck fresh off coaching a season of The Ultimate Fighter in GSP's hometown gave the UFC the luxury of booking a pair of relative unknowns like McCorkle and Struve as co-headliners, but it's McCorkle's personality that's had people talking about the fight.
That's why I was pleasantly surprised to learn there's more to McCorkle than beating people up inside the cage and smack talking online.
Ben Fowlkes got McCorkle to reveal his human side:
He doesn't enjoy hurting people anymore than he enjoys being hurt himself, so if he's going to endure both for money, he might as well make sure the money is good.
Plus, after a frightening incident in smaller show, he came to realization about the dangers inherent in fighting opponents who weren't up to his skill level, he said.
"I fought at King of the Cage in 2007 or 2006, and I hit a guy so hard that he went out and he stopped breathing. They came in there and were pumping on his chest, and I was nauseous. I thought, if I just killed that guy I'm going to hang myself. Everybody afterwards was like, 'Man, that was awesome.' And I was like, 'Yeah? Was it awesome that his family was there watching that?'"
After that episode, McCorkle said, he almost gave up on MMA for good. Almost.
"I didn't want to fight anymore. I was sick to my stomach. I swore from that point that I wouldn't fight guys who weren't good anymore. Then I went out and fought like three more guys who sucked, so I guess I didn't stick to my morals on that one."
McCorkle is displaying an unusual level of self-awareness for a professional athlete. It will be interesting to see if that avails him in the Octagon against Stefan Struve this Saturday at UFC 124.