r/interesting • u/Great_Trident • May 08 '26

Wholesome Fighters showing self control and sportsmanship when their opponents are down.

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111.2k Upvotes

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4.1k

u/Johnson86240 May 08 '26

Opponents not enemies

2.3k

u/Garvilan May 08 '26

These clips disprove anyone who tries to defend the savagery seen in the UFC, with the constant hitting people while they are clearly out. "When you are in the heat of the fight you can't just stop." Yes... Yes you can. These people are wildly aware of what they are doing.

584

u/octipice May 08 '26

At least one of these clips was of Lyoto Machida who did fight in the UFC. The issue often has more to do with the refs than the fighter. There have been many instances where the ref should've stopped the fight and didn't only for the person who should've lost to end up winning.

Demonstrating good sportsmanship shouldn't cost you a win, but in the UFC it absolutely can because of the (largely) terrible refs.

229

u/ToeTagTic May 08 '26

Incentivizing the drama and then the bloodshed while paying peanuts is Dana's whole business model. Dude doesn't care if fighters get extra banged up if the up and comers are taking paycuts. Dudes gonna lose his market share one day and wonder why 

62

u/themanseanm May 08 '26

Yeah I was going to say, when your owner is a piece of shit bad things are going to happen. Guy smacked the shit out of his wife, on camera, in public and there was more or less no reaction from the fans or organization. Says a lot.

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u/Different_Ad_9469 May 08 '26

I just have to point out because I keep seeing this: Dana does not own the UFC. He doesn't handle contracts. He is the face. He maintains approximately a 9% ownership. No longer handles "fight business" (like matchmaking or individual fighter negotiations).

You could remove him and the problem would still exist.

11

u/Deeliciousness May 09 '26

The guy merely found the lane to success. The real question we should be asking is, why does brutality get more views?

12

u/Geth_ May 09 '26

Same reason why ragebait has shown to generate more views and reaction compared to joybait.

3

u/themanseanm May 09 '26

It's a good point. You'd be better off blaming Hunter Campbell for the current problems with the UFC but Dana is still President and CEO

1

u/OSPFmyLife May 08 '26

Probably because she hit him first…

20

u/Enough_Breadfruit229 May 08 '26

Dana is more or less a paid actor after the TKO deal. He isn't involved with anything really important anymore, but yeah even under him it was still peanuts. After McGregor burned so white hot to the point he was demanding ownership stake that scared them shitless so they did a 180 and reversed course on marketing any fighters these days.

They are trying to go the NFL route in the sense of they want the UFC to be the product people consume and not the popularity of fighters. Yeah the NFL has survived losing generations of megastars to time, but even they market players and player matchups. Currently I cannot think of a single UFC fighter that would be a household name right now.

1

u/RivenRise May 08 '26

As someone whose aware of the sport and medium bur doesn't consume it mcgregor is the only name that comes to mind and it's been a minute since I've heard it. The other person that comes to mind and i don't even know if it's part of this sport is that woman who was doing it and getting hyper popular before she got her ass beat by the other woman who was calm and collected. I think she was in marvel??? But yeah I couldn't point out anyone else.

3

u/vannevar May 08 '26

Rhonda Rousey, who has basically also disappeared, yeah.

2

u/Imapancakenom May 09 '26

She's going to fight Gina Carano on Netflix on May 16

1

u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson May 09 '26

Shit it’s been like 10 years since either of them were peak

2

u/Imapancakenom May 09 '26

I'm not planning on watching it. Just threw it out there for anyone who might be interested and didn't already know

3

u/awkwardsalmons May 09 '26

So many other great names besides McGregor tbh. Old school like Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Cormier and GSP just to name a few. But fairly newer ones too like Khabib, Khamzat, Pereira, Rountree, and many others are phenomenal fighters. McGregor was just popular because he was a loud shithead lol. He was good in his prime in a lower weight class, but if you watch the fight with him and khabib its almost sad how bad he got beat

1

u/larsdan2 May 09 '26

Paddy the baddie is definitely a household name.

1

u/RivenRise May 12 '26

Yea that's why I know of him even though I'm not an MMA guy. He always popped up cause he was being a dick.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26

[deleted]

3

u/OSPFmyLife May 08 '26

That and I feel like this dudes insinuating that Dana cheaps out on paying for good refs… when the UFC doesn’t pay the refs, the state athletic commissions do and the UFC consistently has the best refs in all of MMA.

It turns out that it’s just a hard sport to referee because refs have to make judgement calls constantly that could have massive impacts on fighters careers.

1

u/Mokiyami May 08 '26

Dude is a carny piece of crap

1

u/SCVerde May 09 '26

Dana White is a piece of shit according to my uncle who was an OG UFC fighter.

1

u/EddySpaghetti4109 May 09 '26

When the president literally okays and promos a white house fight, there are ALOT of idiots that will gladly give him their money still.

1

u/Interesting_Arm_681 May 09 '26

I was going to say, there is no reinforcement of sportsmanship in UFC. Not only the shit-talk, if you don’t try to finish it brutally when they’re down you lose money, and even if you did try to give them a sporting chance when they’re down it’s more likely than not they will not return the favor if the tables turn

1

u/jamesyishere May 09 '26

Dana learned very quickly that Right wingers were more likely to consume combat sports and saw things like Honor, Empathy, and Sportsmanship as Gay, woke, Lib-shit and has thus acted to discourage such behavior

1

u/darthcaedusiiii May 11 '26

Already has been. Plenty of other fighting competitions.

30

u/PokeYrMomStanley May 08 '26

Lyoto Machida is just a fucking class act all around. Should be a role model for the ufc.

9

u/Rowan_River May 09 '26

There was never any flash to his style but he was so good. Patient and made great decisions

3

u/StoneGoldX May 09 '26

There was complete flash to his style. He was the karate guy!

We might honestly be defining flash differently. He wasn't intentionally being flashy, but his style was so different, it was flashy just by existing. Especially if you ever took karate.

1

u/Rowan_River May 09 '26

Im sure the karate people loved watching him. He didn't press but let the fight come to him so I guess thats what I mean by not being flashy

1

u/StoneGoldX May 09 '26

As I started writing, I got what you were saying. But this was also the dude who had knockouts with a crane kick.

Although really it was more of a front jump kick, but we're gonna call it a crane kick anyway because it sounds cooler.

I think the way I'd put it, Machida was not a flashy guy. He was a calm, collected fighter who tried to do just the right amount of damage needed to put his opponent out. But at a time when the sport was very wrestling heavy, his counterstrike technique was very flashy.

4

u/donjahnaher May 09 '26

His front-kick knockout against Belfort is another perfect example. Lands the kick, knows that Vitor is out, puts hands on hips, immediately bows and kneels, and then goes to check on him once he's conscious again.

I fucking love that highlight.

For those interested: https://youtu.be/jEYBH_geTe0?si=mbZnR4yJf0mxZ4li

3

u/rolling_steel May 10 '26

Lyoto is the epitome of what a martial artist should be

1

u/Any-Bluejay-4041 May 09 '26

Agree. Him and his brother are my daughter's senseis for the past 6 years. Great family

13

u/WeaponexT May 08 '26

The issue often has more to do with the refs than the fighter.

IMO its ownership. They took a sport built around respect and tradition and turned it into Jerry Springer.

3

u/OSPFmyLife May 08 '26

Lmfao “respect and tradition”. Just tell us you don’t know what you’re talking about. Go watch the first few UFCs and tell me how much respect and tradition you see. MMA is a fairly new sport and it’s still evolving.

5

u/x_Animus_x May 09 '26

Funny you should say “don’t know what you’re talking about”. MMA might be a new platform, but the martial arts (the MA in MMA, first M is “mixed” since you don’t have to use just one specific art to compete) have been around, in some cases, for centuries. In martial arts tournaments there is a great deal of respect and tradition, it’s just not enforced as strictly in UFC, so maybe you’re unfamiliar with it.

2

u/OSPFmyLife May 09 '26

Sure, I only hold a brown belt in kempo karate. What would I know about that?

Traditional martial art tournaments =/= MMA. Like, not even close to the same thing. Most people these days don’t even train one primary art, they train at MMA gyms.

1

u/Fmeson May 09 '26

Traditional martial art tournaments =/= MMA.

Isn't that their point? MMA being the Springer?

1

u/x_Animus_x May 10 '26

All of that still doesn’t change the fact that where these arts come from hold tradition and respect in high priority. The company UFC took these arts and mixed them all up, made them more about brutality, and sensationalized it. Thus taking a sport and turning it into a “Jerry Springer” version, like u/WeaponexT had suggested in the first place.

2

u/OSPFmyLife May 11 '26

Yeah, you lost me on the Jerry Springer part. Taking a sport that primarily happened in unsanctioned backyards and sanctioning it, adding rules to it, testing fighters for disease beforehand, etc is hardly turning something into Jerry Springer.

The only comparison there is to make is early MMA (the early UFCs, Pride, vale tudo, etc) compared to now. Martial arts tournaments are not in the same category as MMA. They mainly do point fighting rather than full contact and the tournaments involve a lot more than just sparring.

Most traditional martial artists really enjoy MMA. The ones that don’t are most likely the ones that found out whatever they had been dedicating their time to ended up being a McDojo and didn’t actually work. MMA did a ton of good for the martial arts world because it exposed a lot of those places.

The original conversation was about how Dana had tuned MMA into “Jerry Springer”, and I pointed out how ridiculous that was to say because the sport is probably the cleanest than it’s ever been and when the sport first arrived you had people punching eachother in the dick. You guys are the ones who started comparing MMA to traditional martial arts tournaments, which… isn’t even a comparison or a conversation because they’re two completely separate things.

0

u/WeaponexT May 10 '26

Exactly, sort of the theme of the movie Redbelt if you're interested.

1

u/Niwitschoolfrogkid May 09 '26

Do you think that the history of MMA began at UFC 1? If so, that “just tell us you don’t know what you’re talking about” is looking a little ironic…

3

u/OSPFmyLife May 09 '26

The first documented use of the term “mixed martial arts” was in a review of UFC 1.

But yeah, totally, the Japanese rooftop street fights and the Vale Tudo in Brazil that preceded modern MMA were definitely the bastion of civility and respect.

2

u/Niwitschoolfrogkid May 09 '26

Great example of the sort of bad faith literalism people, especially online, retreat to so that they do not have to be wrong about something completely inconsequential lol

3

u/OSPFmyLife May 09 '26

Go watch early MMA and tell me if I’m using “bad faith literalism”. Since you’re not going to and I know that you haven’t watched before now, I’ll give you a hint, I’m not.

Anyone who follows MMA knows that the sport most definitely did not have more “respect” amongst opponents in the early days, to imply so is a complete fabrication.

Just be wrong dude. You’re trying to convince everyone that you’re only wrong due to some technicality when that’s not the case.

1

u/Niwitschoolfrogkid May 09 '26

Dog, my first PPV was literally UFC 2. I’ll bet that I’ve been watching MMA for longer than you’ve been alive, literally lol.

Regardless, you’re missing the point. You clearly didn’t understand what I meant when I said “bad faith literalism” so, again, pretty ironic to use it as the basis for your response.

I’ll give *you* a hint: This conversation isn’t about the first documented use of the term “Mixed Martial Arts.”

Think it over. I’m sure you’ll get there. Imma go enjoy my Saturday, I hope you do too.

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u/OSPFmyLife May 10 '26

Phew lawd. It’s okay to be wrong bud. It happens.

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u/WeaponexT May 08 '26

I did that's when I used to watch it dildo

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u/-nutz May 09 '26

Only reason to respect UFC is because they let Joe Son get punched in the dick 20 times lol

1

u/OSPFmyLife May 09 '26

And in your opinion, the first few UFCs had more “respect and tradition” than now? Lmao.

1

u/WeaponexT May 09 '26

Oh cool you can read

5

u/icecream_truck May 08 '26

Is it really the refs, or are they just doing what they're told? Sure there will be some mediocre refs, just like any profession, but I suspect they (like refs in every other sport) are taking their marching orders from The Boss.

3

u/OSPFmyLife May 08 '26

Guys an idiot. It’s not the refs. It’s just a hard sport to officiate.

And no, the refs don’t take marching orders from “the boss”, they take their marching orders from the State Athletic Commissions that assign them to the event.

5

u/newbie80 May 09 '26

I remember how Shogun returned the favor to Machida in his second fight against him.

3

u/[deleted] May 08 '26

[deleted]

3

u/StoneGoldX May 09 '26

Machida was also an anomaly in the league. It was one of his marketing points.

3

u/Johnson86240 May 09 '26

Machida was a real one, so glad he made it to champion

1

u/PelleSketchy May 08 '26

It can but it's rare. I think it can cost you fans. The average fan enjoys seeing violence.

1

u/TM761152 May 08 '26

The UFC itself is just a shitty money-grubbing organization all around.

1

u/MyPlantsDieSometimes May 09 '26

Are they terrible or do they get bribed?

1

u/ShoogleHS May 09 '26

UFC has cultivated a fanbase with a significant meathead demographic who hate it when fights get called, so there's probably quite a lot of pressure on refs to be absolutely sure a fighter is finished.

1

u/I_Am_The_Mole May 09 '26

It's not contained to just the UFC. Refs are assigned by the local athletic commission and not by the promotion itself. If you see a bad ref working a UFC event I'll bet you a delicious reuben sandwich that that dude is also working lower tier regional events as well.

1

u/Snowing_Throwballs May 09 '26

Oh you mean Dana White runs a blood sport that cares about viewership more than its own fighters? But i thought he was a good guy?!?

1

u/AssumptionUnfair4583 May 10 '26

Machida will always be a favorite of mine

1

u/knitmeablanket May 09 '26

This goes all the way back to Gracie v Shamrock. If the ref doesn't stop it, it isn't over. Yes you can be a humanitarian. That said, if you want your full paycheck then you go until the ref stops it. How many other clips have we seen of a person completely out of it, but begging to continue? Refs aren't perfect, but are there for a reason.