"Defend Yourself at All Times": The Best Advice a Fighter Can Get

by mma_dude on Feb 23, 2009 10:21 PM EST

In past fan posts we have argued about many different rule changes, and how they would adversely effect the sport or otherwise. Often times I have been on the side of liberalizing the rules in favor of more action, more technique, and more avenues to victory. But for the first time, I am actually frightened by what appears to be a radical new view on when a referee should stop a fight. Furthermore, this radical new view seems to be mainstream, it may even be the consensus: 'fighters should not have to defend themselves at all times'.

Some, rather non-contaversial enthusiasts, have even suggested that a fighter should even be allowed to sustain more damage after a knock out, just to see if they are still unconscious or not. For me, this is very concerning, bordering on absolutely crazy.

I know that this is not really crazy, I know exactly where the idea is coming from: 'we don't know if the fighter can continue or not, he may still even be able to win'. But should every knock out victory be followed up with hammer fists to the face of an unconcious dude? I don't think so. I know Rampage hated Silva -- but Silva got pummeled after Rampage had already won. Should that be the norm?

Now we have a case where Thiago knew he had won. He knew that Kos was out, and he acted like a compasionate human -- he gave the ref time to stop the fight before he proceeded to rape his unwilling opponent. Should this be frowned upon. Does this mean that Paulo is a pussy?

Also, what about the ref? When the referee sees that one of the fighters is unconcious, shouldn't he immediately stop the fight to prevent unnecessary damage or should he let it go on, just to be sure? If the ref yells, "ITS OVER", and then sees that the fighter recovered quickly, should he then yell, "NEVER MIND"?

Here's where I draw the line: If the referee sees that a fighter can no longer defend himself, he should stop the fight, verbally and otherwise. That stoppage should be mandatory, and final. Whether or not, the knocked out fighter's opponent is compassionate or blood thirsty, should have no bearing on the referees decision. A fighter who is unable to defend himself, is just that, and the fight should be stopped.

The fact that this post is at all controversial (and I know it is), is scary. Being able to defend yourself at all times is the only rule I absolutely agree with.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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Comments

very good write-up. the mistake that some fans are making is thinking that what koscheck was doing, mostly flailing around, was him actually defending himself. it wasn’t. i also agree that paulo didn’t go for the kill, b/c he knew kos was out of it. i brought it up on brent’s thread that people forget that paulo is a blackbelt in bjj, was 10-0 with 7 submission victories. he could have just as easily went for a submission, which would have been much easier to pull off on a stunned fighter, but chose not to b/c like you said he was compassionate. it’s time to move on and give paulo his props.

by bdw on Feb 24, 2009 3:38 AM EST reply actions

Mostly flailing around?

This is my description of exactly what happened, as posted on another thread:

Koscheck rises up on his arms to prepare to sit up and stand. He sees Thiago moving forward setting up a right hand. Koscheck falls to his back, pulls his left leg up and his knee in to prevent Thiago from falling on him cleanly, pulls his right leg up in position to push Thiago away. He raises his left arm up just in front of his face to put it in position to block if necessary. When Thiago stops moving forward, Koscheck raises his left arm higher to potentially grab onto Thiago’s right hand if it gets too close.

Flailing?

I understand the health issues argument. But all this pretending like Koscheck was out cold or randomly flailing around, blatantly ignores what he visibly does in the video.

by Michaelthebox on Feb 24, 2009 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

I think the ref might have yelled stop, from a different angle Thiago is going for a glove touch/hand touch rather than a punch.

A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.

by iiowyn on Feb 24, 2009 1:27 PM EST up reply actions

There is a difference in the KOS fight and the Silva/Rampage fight. Rampage not only new silva was down, he kept hitting him after the ref stopped the fight. For one, I think Thiago was surprised that he knocked down kos. It clearly wasn’t compassion. If you look, he was getting ready to go back at Kos and Kos had already sat back up and was ready to pull guard. Not that Kos wasn’t rocked, but he was up and good to go.

by adamdd on Feb 24, 2009 10:44 AM EST reply actions