# Does MMA not have a standing eight count?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [January 1, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036 "2017-01-01T11:23:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036/1 "2017-01-01T11:23:43Z")

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I’m puzzled by how quickly the referee ended the Rousey fight.

He never gave a standing eight count. Never looked in her eyes, asked questions like who’s the President? How many fingers do you see? He did nothing to determine if she was capable of continuing.

Instead the referee just declared Nunes the winner after Rousey went down. She stood right back up.

I’m used to boxing where a stunned fighter is given a standing eight count and the fight continues. They get up to three standing eight counts in a round.

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**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036/2 "2017-01-01T16:59:32Z")

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Does MMA have any sort of “count”? MMA is like wrestling, or judo; if you’re down, and the fight isn’t stopped immediately, the fight continues without a break.

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036/3 "2017-01-01T20:08:32Z")

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If you aren’t intelligently defending yourself, the fight is a TKO.

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036/4 "2017-01-01T20:24:16Z")

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I rarely watch MMA and didn’t know much about the differences from boxing.

Thank you for enlightening me.

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**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mma-not-have-a-standing-eight-count/776036/5 "2017-01-01T22:20:56Z")

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Boxing is more like a gentrified tough man contest; MMA is more like a real fight. In a real fight, there are no standing 8’s. Occasionally, a referee can call a temporary time out and have a fight doctor determine whether an injury is too severe for a fighter to continue, but that’s about as close to a standing 8 count as you get.