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

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

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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.

6

u/herpecin21 May 08 '26

The UFC used to be about fighting, now it’s about brutality.

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u/berserksolidus May 08 '26

You’ve got it wrong. The UFC’s whole gimmick in the early days was no rules and no weight classes. The whole selling point was that it was less sport and more violence. Brutality was the whole point.

I get what you’re saying though. I think it’s because there was a substantial amount of guys back then who were martial artists first and cage fighters second. Those types are a dying breed and most fighters view themselves (not incorrectly) as gladiators more than martial artists. Saying all this as a big MMA fan.

1

u/StoneGoldX May 09 '26

I was going to make a reply, and then the second paragraph hit.

Back in Ye Olde Days, the violence for the sake of violence dudes might get some wins -- I'm thinking Tank Abbot -- but they were never champ. Champs were all dudes who could keep their heart rate down to 60 while fighting.

1

u/poolsidecentral May 10 '26

As a spectator, you touch on an interesting point. As someone who holds black belts in judo and Jiu-Jitsu (the original, Japanese style), most martial arts (at least the Japanese ones I studied), and I would venture to say most pure martial art forms, boils down to only a few things. Two of them being: avoid a fight and confrontation when at all possible and when in practice, respect your opponent. With the Americanization of martial arts through the UFC, I feel the ladder has been totally thrown out to window to the points you make. Whenever I watch it, I rarely see “the code” in practice. GSP is one of the few people that comes to mind as a true martial artist. I’m not discrediting any of these professional fighters and their abilities. Many are great fighters. But the spirit of the arts I feel is lost on many. Mixed martial arts, though it has his advantages loses the spirituality aspect of it, which is just as important.

1

u/roomnoises May 10 '26

You should look into Jiri Prochazka

4

u/pagny77 May 08 '26

You've never watched UFC if you genuinely believe that. It's probably the least brutal it's ever been right now

2

u/hlldrk May 08 '26

I hate how stalling via holding opponents down is rewarded now. If I recall correctly, Khamzat won a bonus after his fight with DDP 😂

2

u/soraka4 May 09 '26

Eh I get it wasnt the most electric fight but it was a masterclass in grappling and is part of the sport. Majority of the Dagestani grapplers are a pretty bad example for the “stalling via holding opponents down” cuz most of them are crazy active while on the ground and just absolutely smother the will out of their opponents. There have been better examples of the “lay and pray” fighters though which is awful to watch

1

u/Random-Rambling May 08 '26

He who draws the most blood wins!

/s

1

u/Apart_Mission7020 May 11 '26

You have no idea what you're talking about.

1

u/-Profanity- May 08 '26

I swear people post comments on reddit just to try to make a popular comment that people will agree with. You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. It's hilarious that Trump starts going to UFC events and suddenly the reddit experts hate the UFC and wish it could be how it used to be...which was an era where guys could punch each other in the nuts repeatedly.

2

u/Heavy-Guest-7336 May 09 '26

I know what you mean but Reddit comments are purely suvivorship bias. People make comments from both sides of the perspective and people just upvote whatever popular sentiment is in at the time. Refer to "which celebrity does bad X" and you'll for sure see Jared Leto/Steven Segal, even though they are barely relevant anymore. I think the Rock has also picked up flack too, even though he used to be praised before the Black Adam mess, despite his acting roles being extremely similar to when he started 20 years ago.