A Violation of Sportsmanship Is Not Worthy of a Competition Ban
by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 7, 2009 1:15 AM EDT
in MMA News
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PrintSteve Cofield at Cagewriter recently got himself all worked up over a video that has been getting floated around several sites which shows amateur fighter Chris Sheridan knocking out his opponent by throwing a punch immediately after touching gloves. Peep the video:
While there clearly are things wrong with Sheridan's actions from a sporting perspective Cofield crosses into dangerous territory with the following:
Nevada shouldn't license this kid anytime soon unless he comes in front of the commission to explain his actions. Frankly, it should be treated more harshly than a positive drug test.
The problem here is that Sheridan didn't break any rules. In fact, everything he did in the fight was perfectly legal. There is no rule saying you must wait two seconds after a glove touch for action. ...there is no rule saying you must touch gloves at all. For someone in Cofield's position, writing for a blog on Yahoo!, to say that you should ban a kid from competition and treat him like a drug user is irresponsible.
Say you won't ever pay to watch him fight or that fans should contact the promotion and express that you don't want to see him get fight bookings anymore. But to call for athletic commission intervention for a legal maneuver is just wrong. This kind of thing happens sometimes in boxing and MMA; usually when one fighter extends for a glove touch and the other just levels him with a punch. Hell, even Kim Couture got blasted trying to touch gloves.
The "ban him" epidemic in MMA has to settle down. Some actions can simply be reprehensible and we should let the fighters know that we won't accept this type of behavior as fans, but this is simply not a place for intervention by an athletic commission.
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He shouldn't be banned, but..
I would hope his coach, trainer, father, or other male role model had a nice talk with him about what a dicked thing that is to do. Real men don’t need to take cheap shots.
weoweoweo is the best… and I <3 Vera cause he is pogi.
“You wouldn’t win in a fair fight!”
“That’s not much incentive for me to fight fair, is it?”
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Sep 7, 2009 1:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Real men don’t take cheap shots.
weoweoweo is the best… and I <3 Vera cause he is pogi.
by mythbuster on Sep 7, 2009 3:04 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Once the fight starts it’s not even a cheap shot anymore it’s just a shot. What part of protect yourself at all times during the fight is confusing? There are a lot of dick moves in combat sports that are still perfectly acceptable.
What the hell is a “real man” anyway?
A cheap shot is, I would argue, taking advantage of an opponents good sportsmanship (for example, the common practice of touching gloves to begin the fight) to get in an unexpected, and unsportsmanlike, shot rather than fighting as intended. Within the rules? Yes. Honorable? Far from it.
Real men don’t take cheap shots. <- That’s why real men don’t play rogues.
weoweoweo is the best… and I <3 Vera cause he is pogi.
Well the question would be why is it so unexpected then? Your going into a cage with a guy whose goal is to physically harm you to the point where you either lose consiousness or can no longer stand the pain and must give up, perhaps dropping your guard to shake the guy’s hand during the fight is a poor idea to start with. The fact that there is a specifically designated tme to touch gloves before the fight starts should be a big red flag as to when your supposed to buddy up with your opponent and when you are supposed to actually be fighting him.
Is this like those Bud Light commercials?
So real men are funny?
Well the question would be why is it so unexpected then?
Because it’s a commonly accepted practice to touch gloves again after the bell rings, then fight. Whether people should do that or not is a different story, but it is something that people do all the time. When one guy pretends to be doing that, and then swings, that is a cheap shot – taking advantage of anothers sportsmanship.
True it is a fight, but it’s not in an alley where anything goes. It’s in a cage (that sounded a lot better in my head….).
weoweoweo is the best… and I <3 Vera cause he is pogi.
He didn’t pretend to touch gloves, he actually touched the guys gloves and then he punched him in the face. So what about if he hadn’t touched gloves? What if the other guy stuck his hand out there and he just punched him in the face without touching his glove? Would that be ok? What if the guy stuck his arm out there and instead of touching gloves the guy grabbed his freely given arm and flying armbar’d him, would that be ok? How about if he took the guy down while he stood there with his arm stuck out? What if it’s the start of round two and they already touched gloves in round one? What if the other guy wants to touch gloves 20 times in the fight? Is there a point where it would be ok to just punch the guy or do you have to take a time out and shake hands every time the guy sticks his arm out there? How about if the guy doesn’t go to touch gloves he just puts his hands down at the start of the fight? At what point does not defending yourself during a fight become something besides not defending yourself during a fight? Honestly the more I think about it the more I think they should just ban guys touching gloves, shaking hands, giving hugs, exchanging contact information, competitive dance offs, body rubs or playing footsy during fights. They could call it the “no bromance” rule.
I was trying to find a definition of what a “real man” is (besides he doesn’t eat quiche). The best I could come up with is Mr. Mafioso:
Trait #1: A real man is strongI gave up after trait 2.
A real man doesn’t cry, doesn’t moan, doesn’t complain, doesn’t get sick, and doesn’t need to go to the doctor every time he sneezes. A real man makes decisions and lives with the consequences. A real man accepts responsibility for his actions and his words. A real man is firm. If life is a b*tch, a real man will slap it and move on.
Trait #2: A real man is focused
A real man knows the difference between what’s important and what isn’t. A real man doesn’t waste time on stupidities that don’t bring him any profit. Sure, there are things you can do as a hobby — I like to shoot ducks — but it must have a purpose. The purpose of my hobby is to improve my aim, and I don’t have to tell you whether or not that’s a useful thing in my line of work.
I'm gonna step away from this now
You are taking this wwaayy too personally.
weoweoweo is the best… and I <3 Vera cause he is pogi.
No True Scotsman
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Sep 7, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions
ok you guys
do you want to know what a real man really is???
this is a real man!
Chuck Norris becomes infuriated when he sees men cry or frown. Recently, he has been spotted at funerals, roundhousing grieving men in the face until their mouth is fixed in a cold, emotionless position. Chuck Norris is a real man, and real men do not react to life.
completely agree..
It was a cheap shot, and very unsportsmanlike of him.. BUT he shouldn’t be banned for that..
and also, someone tell cofield that a failed drug test is a lot worse, because the guy is actually cheating..
There's a reason
ref’s usually say “if you want to touch gloves do it now, then go back to your corner and come out fighting.”
Or something like that.
People haven’t been listening to that sage advice and the situation is finally playing out to its logical conclusion.
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
Exactly, the time to touch gloves is when the ref tells you, once the bell rings the fight is on. The whole touching gloves during the fight bit is at their own risk, heck if there would be some kind of violation here it is that the one guy didn’t follow the ref’s instructions to protect himself at all times.
It’s also legal to continue pounding a obviously KO’d opponent until the Ref stops you. There is a reason the Ref tells you to keep fighting unless I tell you to stop. Even so there are certainly a few instances where this shouldn’t be done.
MMA is about sport and a testing oneself. if you just want it to be about fighting and fun do it at your local bar.
Also a Ref shouldn’t be telling you to touch gloves in the first place. Touching gloves is a sign of respect. The fighters should initiate this act as they often do in the ring. A person such as a judge or Ref who has authority over the fight and fighters shouldn’t be “instructing” fighters to do stuff they aren’t going to and have no power to enforce.
The ref doesn’t force them to touch gloves he gives them the opportunity to do it before the fight starts(not every fighter does), the secondary glove touch after the fight starts is superfluous and (apparently) dangerous. There is nothing at all wrong with allowing a opportunity for them to touch gloves that doesn’t interfere with the fight, by comparison during the fight is definitely an interruption of the action.
Lets also get things straight on what MMA is too, it’s grown men beating each other up in a cage for money. You can say it’s about the sport or testing yourself but you can’t force that idealism onto fighters either, the only thing that you can guarantee is that they are going to fight for money. There are ass holes all over the place, heck we all probably work with at least one at our jobs but just because they are jerks doesn’t mean they aren’t doing their job. This guy followed the rules and won the fight. It was a dick move but that is quite common in the real world. Just because you don’t agree with his personality or his moralistic life view doesn’t mean that he did anything worthy of being suspended for.
Um
Yea. Is he a dick for the cheap shot? Yes. Should he be banned? Nope. So if its the case of banning him for it, he deserve to be defended. And btw, WAR Rashad. : )
"I will knock your hair black!"- Ken Shamrock to Tito Ortiz
I don't think it was a dick move.
There are rules. Everyone agrees to the rules.
Once you have established rules, unwritten ethical guidelines no longer apply. Even asking whether something is a dick move is nonsensical.
This is my position. Rules supercede etiquette.
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
Cofield is overreacting. It was a dick move on the part of the fighter, but ban him? Please. Guy did nothing illegal.
I love me some Sexyama!
At the gym I joke around by taking someone down as soon as we tap hands… but that’s all in good fun.
What this guy – and Manny Gamburian did in one of his fights is very unsportsmanlike and they should be punished in the court of public opinion, not by a sports governing body.
"Like a ballet of violence clothed in fine Brazilian silk." ~ MMASuPreMaCy
Nice Post
Nice Post Brent—I agree. If anything, call for a rule change, but as it is, while it appears most consider it bushleague, it is within the rules of the contest.
You mean a rule change to get rid of the fact that fighters aren’t following the ref’s instructions and “protecting themselves at all times”? Are we going to penalize a fighter who takes advantage of another fighter who is stupid enough to not defend himself during the fight? The only rule change I could see would be to ban fighters touching gloves during the fight or to penalize guys who don’t protect themselves (although that penalty is already built in).
Arguing whether a sucker punch or a positive drug test is worse, is like trying to argue which one of child rape, torture, or murder is the worst. They’re all bad.
Legally speaking, there’s no rule he broke. Ethically, Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner. I know there’s the saying “Protect yourself at all times” but that’s so cheap what he did. Imagine a fighter kicks you in the groin and you make a Timeout gesture. While he turns his head to look at the ref for the ruling you sucker punch him.
“Protect yourself at all times” but there are exceptions to the rule I hope.
Arguing whether a sucker punch or a positive drug test is worse, is like trying to argue which one of child rape, torture, or murder is the worst. They’re all bad.
not a very good argument since child rape, torture and murder needless to say are all illegal actions in today’s society, “sucker punch” is not illegal in the MMA arena…
Since you have agreed that technically there is no rule he broke, he shouldn’t be sanctioned for his action. He did break the “ethical” code which you agree to it as well, he’ll have a hard time building up fans and finding new opponents to fight, that will be his punishment.
All in all, he’ll get what is coming to him, remember how babalu left the UFC…
If a fighter calls a time out he very well may get hit, there is no calling time out during a fight. If a guy gets kicked in the groin and the ref doesn’t see it then the fight continues, that’s not in the fighters hands it’s 100% in the ref’s.
true, and there has been quite a few instances where a fighter tried to get time out and got hit instead, and no one ever jumped on the guy that did the hitting in consequence. fresh out of my mind is the gonzaga vs couture and cro cop vs al turk (although I’m sure there are quite a few more).
How embarassing..
The fact that there is an actual debate here between educated MMA fans..
It's the educated vs. the non-educated actually.
"He built his whole reputation (as a) waffle house chef. They've been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes." - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko
While legal still a dick move...but I see your point
Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both. For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, “If I Live, I will kill you. If I Die, You are forgiven.” Such is the Rule of Honor.-lamb of god
by despisedIcon856 on Sep 7, 2009 5:00 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Ugly shit
He broke all norms with that shit … I guess fighters will think twice before doing that from now on .
It's absolutely a dick move but...
if you want to touch gloves, use your non-power hand to do it and circle quickly away from your opponent’s power hand as you do it and hop back into a defensive stance in case your opponent decides to be a dipshit. The guy who got floored didn’t move quickly enough, unfortunately.
Where’s that gif of Manny spinning back kicking Jeff Cox during the glove touch.
This shirt is "dry clean only", which means it's dirty.
Cofield is a hack
And I think he is bad for MMA.
This guy is a douche. But a ban? No way.
I'm not sure its irresponsible
I don’t agree with Coefield, but I’m not sure its irresponsible journalism, just a bad opinion.
It’s irresponsible of a man who writes for a blog featured on Yahoo! to perpetuate the idea that fighters should be banned from competition for things that are 100% legal. He has the ears (eyes?) of a lot of people and does have a high degree of input into the way people react to events and situations because of that position. That’s all I’m saying.
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 7, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Its even more irresponsible to even half way justify what a horrible human being Chris Sheridan is. Banning Chris Sheridan for being an absolute disgrace of a competitor is less of a crime than defending him because it is technically within the rules. It is far outside the realm of what is considered acceptable by the norms of the MMA world though and I sure don’t want guys like this in the sport.
Perhaps we should ban the other guys too, after all he is the guy who actually broke the rules by not defending himself during the fight. Myself I would prefer it if they banned the silly ass touching of gloves during the fight, they are in there to fight not to become best buddies.
You just keep believing that karate kid was a documentary :D
by who me on Sep 8, 2009 10:55 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Uhhh…. welll…..
You always have to be prepared for anything. There’s no reason to touch gloves once the bell has rung, it’s a choice that usually one guy makes and the other just goes along with it, but here the other guy saw it as an opportunity to get in close and then throw a power punch. While I don’t think it’s that big of a deal since they were already fighting, it is a douchebag move.
No, he shouldn’t be banned from anything.
Also, this is why I hate it when fighters touch gloves during a fight.
'Ello G'vnor!
WOW i commented first on this thread and just came back to read what others opinions were and my comment is gone haha. pretty pathetic and lame
Other camps/fighters should just flat out refuse to accept a fight with a guy like that. Then you don’t need to “ban” someone for fighting within the rules, but we’ll see how far he gets when he can’t get a fight since no one wants to be in the ring with a scumbag like him.
I am the bastard love child of Junie Browning and Diamond Dave Kaplan.
Yep, it’s a problem that takes care of itself. No reason to ban the guy if promotions don’t want him he won’t get fights and if fighters don’t want to fight him because of this then he won’t get anywhere with this either. Heck it seems to me that all he’s done is opened himself up to getting swung on after every glove touch, I mean other guys might as well pop him one at this point. There is no reason to get bent out of shape or call for the guy to get banned from the sport, it’s a silly situation that will eventually take care of itself.
Maybe this kid absolutely HATES when fighters touch gloves after the bell.
No one says you MUST touch gloves, don’t expect to NOT get punched if you got one arm sticking out an the other by your waist.
As a side note, I’m spending my Labor Day watching MMA and I popped in Fight Night 2 and they showed a clip for TUF5. The guys are getting angry and who is the first guy to rip his hat off and take off his jersey? Nate Diaz. Of course it’s Nate Diaz! Love those kids.
by Applejack McNeil on Sep 7, 2009 2:20 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
promotion contact info?
anybody got it? i think what he did was legal, but this guy shouldn’t be a rep for the sport…. sportmanship is something mma is relying on right now
Big deal?
From the video, he fought well within the rules. Did he take a cheep shot, debatable, but he did help out future fighters. There are tools that are not good sportsman (like this guy) and you have to pay attention at all times once the bell rings. Just because one guy will tap gloves (like a man) and not take a swing, doesn’t mean the next guy won’t. He may not have been a good fighter, and he took the shot because he knew it, who knows.
End of the day, the guy seemed like and acted like (after the fight) a tool, so he is what he is, and maybe the next guy will be a little more leary before he taps with someone he doesn’t know. On the flip side, I hope a few fights down the line (if this guy lasts that long) someone watches this and gets him the same way, that would be funny.
A while back, about 10 of us were watching some local boxing show. One of the guys in the ring did this exact same thing, and 99% of the crowd booed. Amongst my group of ten, only two guys defended the move. They are both complete dicks.
If the only people I know who defend this type of action are those two guys…then anyone else defending this is in bad company.
BOOSH
There is no defense for the guy it’s just that people need to chill out. He was a dick and now that will be his reputation in the fight business, end of story. No rules were broken at all and the only backlash that could possibly come from it is because Cofield is blowing it way out of proportion. The guy threw the punch and now he has to live with the reputation as being a dick, that’s the end of the story.
brilliant
i’ve been waiting for someone to do this for years. between the bells anything with in the rules goes. exploiting personality weaknesses is just as valid as exploiting talent weaknesses. i don’t view this any more negatively than i view the diazes talking shit and rashad making rude gestures. there is a reason you keep your eyes on your opponent when you bow.
this isn’t a “realest man” contest, it’s not a skills challenge, it’s a fight. and you win fights or you die. this guy won, his opponent died, end of story.
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