When an Australian comic realized that the audience member he had been making fun of was highly rated UFC athlete Jimmy Crute, he had an embarrassing moment on stage.
The event took place during comedian Luke Kidgell’s most recent stand-up comedy tour in Victoria’s rural Bendigo.
‘Who reckons they’ve got the coolest job?’, Kidgell asks the audience in the video. A huge person in the first row is pointed out by a number of audience members.
‘You fight in the UFC, really?’ says Kidgell uncertainly. ‘Do they have the UFC here?’
Kidgell then laughed nervously and said, ‘Oh, and I was trashing you about your mullet. Holy f***! Um, I’m just giving some distance. I wish I had of known that before the mullet comment.’
Kidgell gets even more worried when he learns that Crute is one of the top 15 light heavyweight competitors in the world.
Soon, he realizes he is speaking to a well-known local.
Kidgell says, ‘You’re like a local celebrity. Not even – [you’re a] an actual celebrity! Oh, dude – thanks so much for coming.’
Crute is a legendary figure in Bendigo. He quit his work as a plumber to train and be a professional mixed martial artist full time. Crute is well-known for his distinctive mullet and the fact that, while training to become an MMA pro, he lived in a van with his huge dog Buddah.
ESPN ranked Crute as the best MMA athlete under 25 in the world in 2020. He is now ranked No. 15 in the world, but due to a significant knee injury that required surgery earlier this year, he won’t be making his way into the cage again until 2023.