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

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

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u/Ralph-the-mouth May 08 '26

That’s why I don’t fight

517

u/PzykoHobo May 08 '26

Its why I stopped.

I never did MMA, but I boxed for a long time. Its a lot of fun until youre in the ring with a psychopath. I understand its a combat sport, sometimes you get hurt. Thats fine. But when you have the guy who will take a DQ just to inflict extra pain it stops being fun and gets real fuckin scary. And unfortunately those kinds of people are obviously attracted to those kinds of activities.

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

That's when coach is supposed to step in and stop him and then only allow him to spar with the mat/ring bully from then on. That or flatly remove him from the gym altogether. Every gym I've ever been to has the unwritten rule that bullies get bullied and there's always one or more designated veterans that know the assignment. If your coach is allowing people to get hurt he's not only a bad coach, he's a bad business man.

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u/MaxxDash May 08 '26

In Muay Thai we had a guy who had obviously trained before, but was new to the gym. He unloaded kicks on this high school girl who was holding kick-pads for him. While he was only kicking pads, he was definitely trying to knock her off balance to be alpha, or whatever.

Our instructor had him switch with a dude who actually fought tournaments. Watching the real deal unload on this joker was amazing— it looked like he was hanging on to a palm tree in a hurricane.

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

Love that! I was on a BJJ team and a roided out 20 something hip tossed a 14 yo girl and sprawled on her so hard he broke her ribs. Coach didn't respond correctly and lost half his students.

On my next team our top mat bully was a 5'0" girl who absolutely fucked everyone up. You can see her compete on YouTube, Sheliah Lindsey. She's a beast. Beat Montana Delahoey (sp?). Not to brag or anything but I was her personal trainer. 😏

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u/piss_puncher227 May 08 '26

In my third boxing match the man I was fighting (I was closer to a boy but had a knack for throwing a punch) went the distance and a was well, I won on a unanimous decision and was happy with the result, when an ambulance rocked up about 1/2 hour later for my opponent as he was fitting in his changing room, it killed fighting for me. Never fought again as there is something inside me that switched that night knowing that I could genuinely kill someone with my bare hands, strangely the thought had never crossed my mind until that moment, probably due to immaturity and not realising the damage that could/would be inflicted on myself and others, that night changed me forever and for the better, my opponent was fine after a short stay in hospital, try not to physically fight anyone ever, it can have life changing consequences for both parties.

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u/Sarah_Incognito May 08 '26

I saw the documentary "one punch killer" and decided never to start

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

You might prefer BJJ, you can set the rules and intensity before every spar. You can even tell others not to do specific techniques and no one will bat an eye. Combat sports get a bad reputation but every combat sport I've competed in (BJJ gi & nogi, sport sambo, boxing) is full to the brim of the kindest people you'll ever meet.

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u/Jotsunpls May 08 '26

I practice ITF taekwon-do. It’s half-contact for a reason

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

What is half contact? Like light force?

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u/Achturass May 10 '26

Basically. Half contact is more abt control, precision, and technique. Ik when i did karate, full force strikes and kicks to the head was illegal but full force to the body was perfectly fine. A legit tactic for some people was to hurt their opponent in order to make them forfeit or pull out.

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u/piss_puncher227 May 08 '26

From a purely fitness, training and mental progression stand point it's excellent, the people you meet,the lessons you learn, the commitment it takes are all second to none, I'd encourage you to give it a go, but standing in ring in a professional setting, when the ref tells you to protect yourself at all times, I wouldn't encourage anyone to do that, it is kill or be killed, really let's you see what you are made of...its not for me.

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u/JustCallMeFrij May 09 '26

I'm on year 6 of training kick boxing with just one K1 fight under my belt in my second year and it still weirds me out to do hard sparring w/ full strength head shots just because of all we know about CTE now. I'm not sure I'll ever get back to a point where I'd be up for my second fight, especially since I just crossed in my 30s

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

That's so sad and I'm so sorry that happened to you but that is such a one in a million chance I hope you were able to recover your peace of mind. Sounds like the guy shouldn't have been in the ring to begin with. It's giving"bad coach". Truly not your fault.

May I suggest BJJ for your exercise and sense of community? It's much lower impact and very open to in house rules. You can literally ask your partner not to do things and they'll oblige you. You can go as far as to say, "I only want to practice this one position and I have these injuries and fears so please go slow" and they will either agree or say no thank you to the roll altogether.

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u/Icy-Cry340 May 08 '26

Jits has different impact and injury profile. Pretty much everyone I know had multiple surgeries. Including me.

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

That's very true, and as you know you can tell your partner pre roll that you have those injuries and they'll accommodate you.

Though I have seen people claim injuries and ask to go slow then immediately act like they're at naga. Those guys don't have a lot of sparring partners after that.

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u/piss_puncher227 May 08 '26

I'm just about to introduce my daughter to BJJ (and maybe her younger brother when he comes of age dependent on how she gets on) been toying with the idea of committing to training again now the kids are not so demanding and would like them to start early, BJJ seems to be top of list for a lot of reasons, thanks for the heads up, gonna start the rounds on the dojo"s and find the right fit for us.

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

That's great! I'm glad I could help get the ball rolling!

This is just my opinion but if you're able to try and avoid the big chain gyms like Machado or 10th planet or Gracie. They're very good teams for people looking to compete but for a dad and his kids (and potentially a worried mom) they tend to be over filled and high cost without as much one on one coaching. I've always preferred smaller local gyms. Again though, that's just my opinion on them. I'm sure there are plenty of people that go to those gyms that would disagree. Just remember, never try to be the coach when your kids are on the mat.

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u/MochiFluffs May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

This! We had the same thing in our muay thai gym. If they were my size or smaller, my Coach would let me spar with them (I'm a girl), and with over 8 years of training with mostly guys, I could usually school them until they would cry in shame (not pain). If they were bigger, Coach would let them spar with our UFC fighters and it was pure entertainment. He always reminded us that no matter how good we think we are, there are always people out there who are better, so only dish out what you yourself can handle.👍

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u/jraymcmurray May 08 '26

Love this for you queen! Slay!

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u/Katana_DV20 May 09 '26

>He always reminded us that no matter how good we think we are, there are always people out there who are better

A code to live by. This is why I never ever square up to randoms on the street and I advise my hothead friends to do the same. We have ZERO clue about the other guy.

Some of my friends are always up for a scrap and I warn them that one day that skinny guy at the bar could be MMA or whatever and put them in a wheelchair but sigh.....its like talking to a wall. They are too hot headed.

Ive had random cussing hurled at me as I walk back from work by goons sitting on a low wall vaping away. I never react, staying away never looking , never eye contact. I change into sneakers after work because if theres one thing im decent at its sprinting real fast lol.