McCorkle has been active on “The Underground” over on MixedMartialArts.com, as well as always communicating with the outside world through his Twitter account. McCorkle may tweet or post about a lot of different subjects related to the sport, but his trash talking antics, most recently targeted at UFC 124 opponent Stefan Struve, are what make him so popular on the internet.
“I would like to be an internet sensation, but I think Kimbo Slice is already an internet sensation,” McCorkle said on the HeavyMMA Podcast earlier today. “So I probably need to come up with something new. I used to tell people I was famous, but it was off the internet, so it’s not like being really famous. If the internet were the real world, I’d be a top level celebrity.”
McCorkle was previously very active on “The Underground”. Then the Ultimate Fighting Championship came knocking. He debuted with the promotion at UFC 119 against Mark Hunt on the preliminary card of the event, scoring a submission victory. Now, as his UFC career continues, “Big Sexy”, unfortunately for the many followers he has on the internet, simply does not have the same amount of time to spend online.
But he says he will never forget about his internet followers and fame.
“Before I started actually seriously training and fighting in the UFC, probably an hour a day (I would spend online),” McCorkle said. “Probably now, to be honest with you, no more than 30 minutes a day. And most of it’s done from my phone. I might be at the barber shop coming up with a new joke about Stefan Struve on the Underground or something like that. It’s kind of a hard legend to live up to at this point with as busy as I’ve gotten, but I’ll never forget my internet sensation roots.”
McCorkle’s first 10 professional contests all took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, including his debut with the UFC. However, he now ventures north into Canada. On December 11, he faces off against Stefan Struve in the co-main event of UFC 124, which features a welterweight championship bout between Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck.
After learning of the match up, McCorkle wasted little time poking fun at his upcoming opponent. The Twitter messages and other posts seemed to get under the skin of Struve, but that was not McCorkle’s sole intentions. Rather, he just wanted to score a slot on the main card of the highly anticipated event.
“It was part of my plan,” McCorkle continued. “My plan was, to be honest with you, was to get on the main card because the sponsorship money is drastically better. That was my plan and it was a little tough to get it going. I had to really push him (Struve) for a while, but he started coming back. It’s worked out pretty good. It’s a fight a lot of people want to see. I think it’ll be a good one, for me anyway. Probably not so much for him.”
The trash talk sent across the web, courtesy of McCorkle, has certainly not thrilled Struve. The noticeably tall heavyweight has expressed his disdain for McCorkle’s comments on several occasion, but the Indianapolis native feels that he has not crossed the line once, making sure nothing he said was personal. And while he may crack jokes about Struve from time to time, McCorkle understands the big challenge that awaits him inside the Octagon in Montreal next month.
“I think I’ve been pretty witty or funny about most of it without taking any personal shots at him,” McCorkle said. “But he’s a tough guy, a really game guy. He showed a lot of heart in his fight against Christian Morecraft. I think he’ll go in there and scrap for sure.”
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