Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo: Thiago Silva

photo via tattooblues.blogspot.com. The place Thiago is getting the back piece done is Tattoo Blues in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Thiago Silva made his first Octagon appearance in 364 days last night and a few things were apparent:

1. He has not lost his aggressive style that has made him so popular.

2. He has either been hanging out with hippies or watching John Stamos in The Beach Boys video for "Kokomo" on a continuous loop because Brandon Vera's shoulder blades inspired him to play the bongos as a prelude to some vicious open handed strikes that I am sure made Sakuraba a happy camper.

3. He has been spending a lot of time in the chair getting a beast of a tattoo on his massive back.

Although it is only partially complete, it is already clear that this tattoo is very well done and will be a great finished product. It's a shame that the warrior has to share a canvas with that small Geico gecko on his right shoulder blade but shit happens and shit.

Congratulations to you, Thiago Silva. You made a triumphant return to the UFC last night, you made Brandon Vera capable of smelling his own eyeball, and you are the owner of a Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo.

Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoos: Neil Melanson

Neil Melanson is the grappling coach at Extreme Couture. You might have seen him presenting Randy Couture his black belt in the ring following his submission over the incredibly difficult to submit James Toney at UFC 118. He also married MMA fighter Erin Toughill. He also has some pretty bad ass tattoos.

They are all done in black and gray, have great shading, detail and background work. I have the same background style on my sleeve as Neil does on his right leg.

The standout part of his artwork, in my opinion, is his elbow. The elbow is a difficult part of the body to tattoo as your options are kind of limited. It looks like an old ship's wheel to me and the detail and placement is perfect. It is a much better choice than some people and their dumbass spiderweb elbows or just leaving the elbow as negative space.

So congratulations to you, Neil Melanson. Not only are you the head grappling coach at one of the best MMA gyms in the world but you are definitely the owner of some Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoos.

Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo:Waachiim Spiritwolf's Bear Hand

Photo via mmaconvert.com
(Do your best to avoid staring at the wax statue of a Rockstar girl behind Spiritwolf)

I am normally not a fan of hand tattoos. The only people who should be allowed to have hand tattoos are Ozzy Osbourne and as it turns out, Waachiim Spiritwolf.

Everything about this tattoo is awesome. I can usually find a way to hate on just about anything but I have thought about it and this tattoo is un-hate-able. It is placed perfectly and it has great color. If you can find something wrong with it you are nuts.

So even though you got poked in the eyeball by Marius Zaromskis in your last fight Waachiim, you can be thankful that you scored a huge victory in life by decorating yourself with a Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo.

Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo: Genki Sudo's Backpiece

Genki Sudo is a renaissance man. Mixed Martial Artist, Kickboxer, Author, Musician, Choreographer and Buddhist. He also is the owner of one of the simplest yet best tattoos in all of MMA.


Photo via cdn.bleacherreport.net


Photo via ufighting.com

This tattoo benefits immensely from the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach. The black is flawlessly consistent and it is well centered on his back. It just goes to show you that one doesn't need to have an elaborate tattoo to have a great tattoo. They even make T-shirts of this tattoo, but they are hard to find and will run you at least 50 dollars. That is a whole lot to pay for a t-shirt with no glitter, skulls or Fleur-de-lis on it but at least you can look at yourself in the mirror with a Genki Sudo tattoo shirt on!

So Genki Sudo, on top of all your other accomplishments, you can add to that list being the owner of a Wicked Awesome MMA Tattoo.