Flipping channels on the TV the other day, I came across MTV Cribs or whatever the one where they focus on cars is called. It got me thinking about how far MMA has come since 1993 when I started training and thinking about rappers, movie stars, famous people in general, and where MMA as a publicized sport fits in to all this crazy consumerism and “keeping up with the Joneses”.
Dana White has certainly made some superstars out of a few fighters. But have they achieved the level of the men and women on MTV Cribs? The money is definitely getting better but has it gotten to the point of boxing or even fake wrestling?
We’ve all seen the pictures of UFC star Jon Jones and his Bentley, Rampage Jackson and his Audi R8 or Chuck Liddell with his Ferrari. But is this flashiness and desire to own an automobile that costs more than the average American home the rule or the exception to the rule?
I decided to talk to some of my pro friends, some of them pretty well known, about their cars and it appears this flashiness is not necessarily the new face of MMA. MMA is a short career and it seems most of the guys are putting their money into their gyms, homes and other areas to be prepared for the time when retirement is no longer avoidable.
But this doesn’t mean that they can’t have fun in the meantime. A few of the fighters have started modifying their “normal” cars and this is where it gets interesting.
I knew that former UFC fighter Jonathan Goulet (23-12) just bought a new car so I called him up to see what he purchased. Jonathan told me that he has been a fan of the Subaru Impreza for a long time and decided to get one recently.
Since Jonathan bought it brand new and hasn’t had a chance to personalize it yet I told him I would ask my friend, Matthew Fernandez, at www.WLTSautosports.com about it.
Fernandez says,
“The new Impreza has a huge jump in mileage—from 26 and 27 miles-per-gallon highway for today’s manual and automatic Imprezas—comes courtesy of the company’s new flat-four engine. The new Impreza has a 2.0-liter. Engines in this new family don’t add much power compared to the motors they replace. But with a little TLC any car can make a comeback. The new Impreza pictured above with a set of Rotiform SNA Super Concave three-piece wheels really set it off. It is hard to say what can be done to a brand new car that has no parts available for it yet. On the other hand that is what makes it so much more fun! The possibilities are endless; custom work, though tedious, is the most fun.”
When it comes to modifications, Fernandez and WLTS “recommend a nice set of wheels such as Rotiforms’, Coilover suspension, Cold Air Intake, Cat-back Exhaust and a custom performance tune. If you really wanted to get crazy, a custom turbo setup could be fabricated and would be putting up numbers close to 400Whp easily. Subaru’s respond well to boost and with the new 2.0L motor not bringing much to the table in the performance category a turbo setup would be exactly what it needs!”
If Goulet were to take WLTS’ suggestions, particularly the Turbo idea, with the added power a turbo would provide, I recommend a performance clutch such as the ones made by SPEC Clutches and Flywheels for the manual transmission models.
No car is finished until the stereo system has been modified so I asked one of the best shops in the U.S. to help, Rob Bess who owns Audio Specialists of Hopkinsville, Ky., recommended the following: Two sets of Helix e62c for the front and rear, two amps; a helix b4 4 ch amp and a b2 2ch amp bridged on a pair of Helix competition 12” subs in a ported enclosure. The 4 ch amp will give incredible separation and clarity and the subs will give the system a ferocious amount of bass without damaging the other speakers. As far as the head unit goes, rob recommends a Kenwood KDC-X996 which has an ipod/iphone control through a USB input.
A lot of you know that Jonathan likes flashy. To see proof of that just check out his hair in pretty much any one of his fights. So I’m sure he’ll personalize his Impreza to match his personality.
If the outgoing model is anything to base the aftermarket products on, this new model Subaru will have many performance and cosmetic upgrades available soon.
All you Quebecers keep an eye out for the crazy fighter flying around town in a new Impreza. I hope we see Jonathan fighting for MFC or some other show and work his way back into the UFC. Jonathan is always a game fighter that charges straight on.
I would like to thank www.Audiospecialistsinc.com and www.wltsautosports.com for their help.
If you are a pro fighter and would like your car featured in upcoming articles please contact Ron Dayley at www.MMAclarskville.com. Also, check out our “Cole Miller edition” of the “Boys and their toys” series.
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