Some of you may not have know Chris, aka Big Poppa, but the guy was cool as hell - so we were very shocked to hear about this in the morning. I met Chris a few years back at the Bodybuilding.com Boise Fitness Expo, where he was the announcer at an MMA fight, and was graciously cool to all of us. He then went on to be a regular with Bodybuilding.com at the Olympia and the Arnold where he would be announcing various people and having fun at the booth.
At the Boise Fitness Expo this past June, he was hilarious as usual, and was a lot of fun.
And then we got this...
From KOTC Fan of MMAWeekly...
Today, King of the Cage and MMA world has lost a dear friend, colleague, and father of 2 wonderful children, Chris "Big Poppa" Schnake. Schnake was the full time, King of the Cage ring announcer and nobody will be able to fill his larger than life shoes.
Schnake loved this sport like nobody else. If you had any questions, or misconceptions about our sport, he would not stop talking to you until you became a fan of MMA. He was a ring announcer, commentator, a fighter himself, and one of the funniest people you could ever meet.
My favorite story about Schnake was the story of his fight with Chabasco Looney. Schnake was the announcer for the whole show. When it came time for his fight, he announced his opponent, then himself, fought and lost by TKO in the first round. The referee got him up, he cleared the cobwebs from his head, and announced his opponent as the winner and went on to finish the show.
He was an awesome person, and I'm glad I got to see him on Saturday night at our show in Texas.
We love you and will miss you dearly, my friend. Rest in peace.
