A story about hurting people.

[Ron Powell Jr]

So for some reason i'm remembering this story today. Bored at work so i'll tell it:

A year back we had a fighter at our gym, we'll call him Danny for the purposes of this thread. Mid 20's, attractive, fairly athletic, took to Muay Thai pretty damn quickly for someone with little prior experience.

The months pass and he starts getting into real good shape, he wins his first few Amateur fights and he becomes the rising star of the gym.

I used to envy this guy, as far as i was concerned he had the eye of the tiger. Even though his technique wasn't as polished as mine and he didn't have all the little fight tricks up his sleeve like i did, this guy was a go-getter and it was admirable.

After a good run in the amateurs, he decides he wants to take off the padding and go pro.

His pro debut is against this MMA guy with only "a few" fights (fighters' records aren't closely kept track of here, which is a shame), his name was bubba(really), known for his heavy hands and ability to end a fight in the first round just off of pure aggresssion.

The fight was held in the most ghetto of places, a tiny poolhall full of tough guys and such, didn't see any medical people, and the ring was a piece of shit, no bell either, just an airhorn and stopwatch. The fight was scheduled for three 3-min rounds.

Despite the drunken, ignorant, gang-like atmosphere, this was one of the best fights i've ever seen in the local circuit. Too bad not everyone got to see the beginning because those assclowns that ran the event started the fight before the bathroom/food break was over and everyone was back in their seats. Bubba is a heavier guy, we gave up some weight so we could fight w/ knees, he also has a foul mouth and a bad attitude, definitely a crowd favorite, no joke.

So the fight starts. Bubba comes out like a bull, looking for the quick knockout. Danny uses his footwork and keeps him away with the push kicks. He then starts working on the lowkicks, some get blocked some don't.

Now Bubba isn't trained in strict Muay Thai so he was throwin some crazy spin kicks and stuff. There was one kick that he kept hitting Danny in the face with. As i recall from my TKD days it was a lead leg hook kick, that thing was quick and nasty. I think they had that strategy planned out from the beginning because Danny is a southpaw and Bubba is orthodox, so it's a straight shot.

Danny got tagged with that alot, he couldn't defend it well because he'd never seen a kick like that and he lacked the experience to improvise. I was yelling at the top of my lungs, Chop his leg! Chop his leg! but it fell on deaf ears. The kick wasn't strong enough to make a KO, but the way it was landing i could tell it could mess up his eyes somehow, and it did.

A toenail or something went into his eye and he clutched it to try to get the ref's attention, but the ref being as incompetent and untrained as he is, didn't do jack shit. Taking advantage of the situation, Bubba rushes in with a barrage of wild hooks and drops Danny on his ass against the ropes, my heart sank.

The ref does his little ten count thing...then asks him if he's ok, then he does some other weird shit (seriously, the whole event and people involved were clowns). After that awkward ritual, Danny got up and was ready to get back into the fight.

Bubba smells blood so he goes apeshit for the remainder of the first round, Danny survives the onslaught. Round 2, danny gets the upper hand in this round and starts landing some flush body kicks, bubba keeps trying to do the funny hook kick, but it's less successful this time around.

Danny throws a kick to the body that hurts Bubba, he starts crouching over a bit and dropping his hands to guard his midsection. Danny boy done good (lol), this is the turning point in the fight, Danny starts working is punches more, jab, cross, hooks, everything. There is 30 seconds left in the round and Bubba is tired can't take much more so he starts to avoid engaging and starts hugging and doing half-assed takedowns(wtf?) the 2nd round ends.

Round three, Bubba comes out with a freaking dragon kick or sum shyt and gets real close up and starts the whole hold-and-punch dirty boxing deal, bad idea. Danny knows exactly what to do from here. Both of his arms latch onto the back of Bubba's head and he starts smashing knees into his body like there's no tomorrow, it was a freakin' knee fiesta i tell you, i felt bad for bubba.

Bubba tries to escape but Danny whips him around and keeps kneeing. There is about a minute left in the final round. A knee to the solar plexus really hurts bubba and causes him to bend over, Danny knees him in the face but he's still standing and starts to hug against him. Danny then lets go of the clinch, pushes him away hard and lands a vicious high shin kick to the back of his head, it was LIGHTS OUT. Pure brutality i tell ya.

The crowd went nuts, i was screaming too, the ring girls were wetting their panties fanning themselves, that made me a little jealous considering they were pretty hot lol. Bubba wakes with an enormous lump on his forehead and lots blood trailing down his back from his head, he just shrugs it off like the toughguy he is. I have no idea how they dealt with that since there were no medical personel.

Best win of Danny's short career. We congratulate him and he seems happy enough, but i could tell something was disturbing him, he mentions something about "i can't believe i made that guy's head bleed, wtf." .

Oh yeah, turns out Bubba actually had 20 something pro MMA fights, talk about deceit, shitty regulation i tell ya.

I see him in the gym a couple times afterwards, and eventually he fades away and we never hear from him again. My coach tells me he suffered some form of shock after that particular fight, something about some hippie moral dilemma or something, kind of went over my head a bit.

So it's been exactly a year now and this fool is gone, could a guy really be that shocked at the violence of a fight that it would cause him to not want to fight anymore?

Anyone else know people that suddenly stop fighting due to these 'moral issues'? It's so foreign to me, your opponent is trying to hurt you too so i don't get it, why the hell did he decide fight in the first place if he had this 'issue' or whatever.

Man i miss that guy. All potential.

[panamaican]

I've never met anyone who quit after a pro fight, usually they realize they don't want to really be fighters around the amateur level.

I really think your sig should say "Machida's record = 15 and SHOGUN", it would just be cooler!

[Ron Powell Jr]

hmm interesting, that's cool, will do.

[ke1]

Very entertaining story.

I think this Danny guy got a reality check when the pads were off and the raw brutality of the sport showed itself.

Hitting an inanimate object and making a guy bleed and KO'ing him are two different things. My guess is he never really thought about the intricacies that come with harming another fellow man. The blood must have triggered those thoughts and made him realize the dept of his actions.

[Marvin Covar]

Not everyone has the stomach to dish out as much violence as they think they can. Being inside a ring will test that and looks like that Danny guy justwasn't cut out for it.

[Ron Powell Jr]

Good points guys, well i guess i'll never understand until i do it myself, i've been training in strictly Muay Thai for a year 1/2 now (on and off) and all i've done are smokers(ie. glorified sparring sessions between gyms), and i also corner for my teammates, hey someone gotta do it.

Still at the 'hobbyist' level i guess, but i know alot and am a dedicated student. Don't wanna make a career out of fighting, but i definitely still wanna test myself, gettin around to it, perhaps after i get my bachelor's degree. I've always imagined my first real fight being in Thailand, that would be cool.

[Ron Powell Jr]

[egoboost]
Hey those smokers can get out of hand sometimes though, i've gone against my fair share of crazy flailers and guys with no control throwing like it's a real fight.
[/egoboost]

[Rolf]

I went my first pro fight in Thailand, and I got the KO in the third round with a flush knee to the temple of my opponent. At the time I was dazed and overjoyed from winning, but the third day after I had a sleepless night thinking about the brutality of what I had actually done, and seen up close.

Kinda different to imagine it and talk about it, and actually hearing and sensing personally the clash of fullpower shins smacking against each other(the sound is the worst imho), or the feel of your opponent in the clinch going out like he's dead and lie crumpled at your feet. I dont blame people, like the guy in your gym, who find it too much. At the end of the day you're trying to hurt the other guy to win, and some people are not okay with it. That being said, it's a good experience to have to actually appriciate what we do.

Maybe it's like the assassins in the movies say, the first one is the hardest.

[Sinister]

Combat Sports aren't for everyone. If anyone gets a chance check out ESPN's now-running show "Muhammad and Larry" (or something like that)...it's an introspective look at the Ali/Holmes Fight and how it never should have happened in the first-place. Ali was shot and everyone knew it, but he was offered $8 million and Larry $2 million for the bout. Larry had been a sparring partner for Ali, and Ali had given him a lot of opportunities and accolades when no one else would.

When it came down to the night of the Fight it was basically a brutalization. And a difficult one even for Larry. He cried afterward. But during the Fight, Ali refused to go down and in the corner between one of the rounds Holmes' corner basically said "Alright Larry, it's time to end this, drop him...for mercy's sake." The ref didn't have the courage to end the Fight FOR Ali, and neither did Angelo Dundee, so Larry had to really pour it on to get everyone to realize what was happening. There were times he looked at the ref as if to ask "what more do I have to do? Do you WANT me to kill him?"

These Sports are about primal struggle. And I detest when people suggest otherwise. It's a bit more than the kid games, the threat of physical harm is absolutely imminent, and with minimal protection for your livelihood. Not everyone has what it takes to risk that, and that's perfectly fine. The rest of us, well there's just an area where we're just plain old crazy. And if we had to do that, even to the best of friends whom we love dearly, we can.

[Sweet Lew]

Interesting story. I'd understand if he'd crippled or seriously hurt the other guy, but a simply head kick and a bit of blood? C'mon! Man the fuck up Danny boy!