Corpse Crowned Champion and Other Epic Sport Stories

Welcome to Epic Sport Stories, where we take you through sports history’s wildest stories, share current standout sports stories, and a quiz that tests your sports knowledge - all in one newsletter.

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He won Olympic gold… by dying mid-fight. Yeah, the ref had to crown a corpse.

Arrhichion of Phigalia was a pankration legend in Ancient Greece—a brutal mix of wrestling and striking where biting and eye-gouging were basically the only rules. In the 564 BCE Olympic Games, he found himself locked in a chokehold, gasping for air while his body gave out. But in one final, instinctive move, he twisted his opponent’s foot so viciously that the man screamed in pain and tapped out. By the time the ref turned to Arrhichion, he was already lifeless on the ground. The judges faced the most insane decision in sports history: the opponent had surrendered, so by the rules, the dead man won.

Arrhichion left Olympia as a three-time champ—and the only athlete to win from beyond the grave.

He was a massive underdog—like, -1300 odds underdog—yet Matt Serra popped Georges St-Pierre in Round 1 and rewrote UFC history.

It’s April 7, 2007: UFC 69, Houston. Georges St-Pierre, the unstoppable welterweight champ, is towering in the betting books at –1300—Matt Serra is barely a blip. The fight starts. Serra lands a brutal flurry. GSP is shocked. By 3:25 of Round 1, the champion hits the canvas. Cue collective jaw drop: no way. “This can’t be real.” Serra pulls off the knockout heard ‘round the MMA world—snatching the title and serving up the biggest upset the octagon had ever seen.

He beat a –1300 favorite in less than four minutes—Matt Serra didn’t just win a belt, he invented upset goals.

Martin Guptill: Proof You Don’t Need All Ten Toes to Break Records.

At 13, Martin Guptill’s world nearly splintered when a freak forklift accident crushed three toes on his left foot. Instead of a comeback, doctors warned he'd never reclaim his stride—but Guptill blinked back the pain and pressed on. With fierce grit (and a bit of hospital-bed inspiration from Stephen Fleming), he shrugged off the amputation and returned to the crease—faster, harder, hungrier. That same kid went from the brink of despair to smashing a record-breaking 122* on his ODI debut for New Zealand in 2009, eclipsing Fleming’s own mark. The “Two-Toes” nickname? A badge of badassery, not a handicap.

Sources: He lost three toes in a forklift accident at about age 13; Stephen Fleming visited him in the hospital; his debut 122* came years later, breaking Fleming’s record.

He lost toes—but went on to drop tons. Call him “Marty Two-Toes,” New Zealand’s deadliest opener and the ultimate flex in adaptation.