According to a Feb. 11 report from Yahoo! Sports, New York Mets legend Mike Piazza planned to use MMA moves during a revenge fight against Roger Clemens.
Clemens famously struck Piazza in the helmet with a pitch during the 2000 regular season, giving everyone a juicy storyline for the next time they would meet, which happened to be later that season in the World Series featuring the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
In Piazza's new book, the legendary catcher explains how he mapped out an elaborate plan for revenge — taking karate lessons and visualizing a violent brawl with Clemens.
“I would approach with my fist pulled back. I figured he’d throw his glove out for protection. I’d parry the glove and then get after it,” Piazza writes.
Piazza would get his chance in October, when the Mets met their crosstown rivals in the World Series.
The coming confrontation between the Mets’ All-Star catcher and the Yankees' hurler was the talk of the Big Apple.
In Game 2 of the World Series, Piazza broke his bat, Clemens picked up the barrel and threw it in Piazza's direction. At that moment, Piazza decided against going through with any of the wacky MMA moves he was planning.
“There were complications,” Piazza recalls. “The least of them was the realization that Clemens was a big guy, and I stood a pretty fair chance of getting my a** kicked in front of Yankee Stadium and the world. That was a legitimate concern.”
The image of Piazza using some MMA moves on Clemens in the middle of the World Series would have been an unforgettable moment, but it never came to fruition.
Karate, of course, is one of the traditional disciplines in mixed martial arts.
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