This came up the other weekend after watching UFC 67 with some buddies. I threw out the question “If you and I were both professional fighters, would you have any problem fighting full contact?”
I was rather surprised that they all would not want to do it. My fighting experience is limited to some judo and BJJ training, but I never had any problem going all out against others (and vice versa), and getting slammed, choked out or submitted didn’t bother me on a personal level - losing is part of the sport. Admittedly this isn’t the same as getting whapped in the face, but still.
So would you have a problem fighting a good friend all out, in a sport setting? We’re talking going for the KO, submission, fists and knees may fly, etc.
Am I weird for thinking that I’d do it with no hard feelings regardless of whether I won or lost?
No problem with it at all. I’m a soldier and when we’re training hand-to-hand or grappling, we’re training with our buddies. I’ve been choked out and submitted by my best friend and vice-versa. No biggie.
Mind you, I’m not a prolevel fighter. Because it’s training for us, grappling is usually for real (choke out/tap out), but hand-to-hand is done with pads or at half-force. No point in busting up your buddy when it’s just training.
If I were a pro, sure I’d fight my best friend. And I hope he’d feel the same way. Of course I’d feel bad when I kicked his monkey ass , but that’s life.
Yeah, Ray that’s right. You heard me. I’m calling you out! Anytime, anyplace.
I love watching MMA and my neighbor is really into it too. I would have no problem choking his goofy ass out, just as I’m sure he’d have no problem trying to break my face, arm, leg or whatever. I think that if you are serious about a contact sport and are friends with others in that sport, when it comes time to compete the sport comes first and the friendship comes second. If I choke out my best friend to win, after the fight is over you want him to be OK, but you still do what you need to do to win. Hell, one of my best friends in high school didn’t become my friend until I body slammed him almost breaking his ribs and them him retaliating by almost breaking my neck.
I’ve sparred full contact and rolled with friends, so yeah, I think I could. Come to think of it, there’s a few of my friends that I’d jump at the chance to knock around a little bit!
While I want to say, sure, I’m not entirely sure. My MMA competition experience is limited to IIRC 2 tourneys - did more BJJ, a little boxing/kickboxing and some WEKAF. But my mindset for competitive MMA or boxing was quite different than sparring - even sparring full contact. I’m not sure how to put it other than that I really didn’t mind if I injured my opponent. Whereas I may have wanted to “hurt” my training partners, but neverreally wanted to injure them. Does that make sense?
When striking in competition, if you see that you have hurt your opponent, the proper response is to immediately gain additional advantage - generally by hurting them some more. I was never in a situation where I needed to do that to a friend, and could imagine difficulty doing it if the situation arose.
BJJ is a little different IMO, because the goal generally is to tap/choke out the opponent. So lots of times (not always) if injury occurs it is because the opponent refuses to submit when he is beat, forcing the other guy to push the technique further. Or if someone tries to throw a move - um - excessively abruptly. (It’s been a while - I forget the terminology.)
Just a couple of thoughts from an old, creaky retired warhorse.
Along these same lines, did anyone catch the Ultimate Fighter 4 finale fight between Scott Smith and Pete Sell? It was the oddest, friendliest fight I’ve ever seen. After one would get a good hit they would smile and high five, and then come out swinging even harder. Smith took a hard body shot in the second round and was on his way down, but as he fell to the canvas he unleashed a wild right on Sell as he was closing in for the kill that popped him right on the button and KO’d him. It was awesome.
I googled the fight and came across this quote by Patrick Cote about about this last UFC and getting into the mindset to fight a friend:
I’ve sparred full-contact with (and been knocked out by) good friends. You definitely don’t take it personally, it’s part of the sport. In fact, I’ve found it more comfortable fighting my buddies because I’m confident they can defend themselves. I also like familiarity because I tell if they are seriously hurt or not. I know if I’m beating the tar out of someone, if his face scrunches up in a certain way then he is seriously hurt and I should stop so as not to kill him.
One buddy seriously knocked me out in a martial arts tournament. He bought me a beer later, because he felt bad about breaking a couple of my teeth. I never held it against him. He bested me fair and square and I screwed up when defending myself.
, but that’s life.