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Fights between teams, and partners

2K views 26 replies 19 participants last post by  Guy Incognito 
#1 ·
I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum coming down hard on fighters that don't want to fight against their training partners.

Some of the examples are Evans, Jones, Machida, Silva etc.

I can understand why some people may think that as professional athletes they should be forced to fight each other, however, I am curious to see how many people with this opinion actually train at an mma gym and with fighters that are their friends.

Personally I do train alongside many friends and fighters at my gym, and after years of blood, sweat and injuries, I would never step into the cage or ring against one of them.

The closeness of MMA is closer than that of many team sports due to the obstacles that you must overcome mentally and physically to pursue fighting.

This is not a game, this is not baseball or basketball,and if you are not mentally able to go into the fight 100% against ANY opponent, why should you?

So I am wondering, do YOU train, and what is your opinion?
 
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#5 ·
Hard to think of an opponent for Silva aside from Vitor. I guess Shogun has been sorta calling him out.

Impossible to find one for GSP since his camp is lacking for quality welterweights. Outside of Condit there's not much competition I can think of.

GSp wouldn't turn down any fight at 170, friends or not. He just doesn't have any:)
 
#8 ·
I don't know. It is a reasonable thing to say 'unless your'e a fighter you don't know', but I am human being and I can relate both to fighting, cooperation and love.

Machida fought his brother. His brother. Frank says it would be an honour to fight Ken. I train Muay Thai but not at the intensity of a professional fighter. I would love to fight my instructors and fellow students.

This is martial arts. It's about the test and overcoming it. If you truly value your'e training partners you believe their test to be worth taking.

I think its the ethic of professionalism, not wanting to take away something (money, opportunity, status) from someone close, that leads to the wariness of fighting teammates.

I do not think this fits the martial arts ethic,however, wherein by fighting them, you give them something, and by not fighting them, you withhold your wisdom.
 
#16 ·
Frank says it would be an honour to fight Ken.
I would say this is an entirely differenty story. Ken and Frank: 1 aren't brothers. 2 Have a documented rivarly where there is real animosity between the two.

I would imagine it differs on a case by case basis though when fighting teammates. In some cases like Josh Koshcheck/Jon Fitch where they have trained together for years or Shaub/Carwin where one literally has brought the other into the sport and mentored him I could see teammates being hesitant and opposed to fighting. The amount of respect for another and/or amount of tricks/specialties known can cause trepidation.

On the other hand, the instances of fighters like JBJ/Rashad or GSP/Condit I could imagine they do not train together regularly or haven't trained together long enough to form such a bond I would imagine they should not have such a giant problem fighitng eachother.

The only real problem I see in such instances is who is cornered by which camp. It would foce coaches to pick "favorites" and leave the other fighter to quickly find another coach who doesn't know them as well and won't be able to corner them to the same extent as their regular trainer would be able to, putting them at a disadvantage.

All in all, this is an interesting situation and has been discussed many times. I tend to agree with those who won't fight their teammates. In the UFC there should be enough depth in eahc division where this is not necessary (unless a title comes in the picture, in which case everything should go) and promoters should accomodate their fighters a little.
 
#9 ·
GSP at 170 has Sanchez and Condit at Jackson's

GSP at 185 has Akiyama and Marquardt

At Tri-star there is Rory MacDonald and Sean Pierson at 170,
 
#19 ·
He isn't in the UFC for now but I doubt GSP and Cote would fight they have trained together for a long time(oddly enough I don't think they have ever fought out of the same gym though).
 
#10 ·
i train mma in a gym along with my 2 best friends, they are like brothers, and we have fought each other and it was fun as hell!

my brother used to train with us and i spared hard with him many times and i really wouldnt mind fighting him either

at the end of the day, its just a fight...fighting to me is fun, i love kicking ass and getting my ass kicked, if a friend of mine is on the other end its just even better win or lose

i can understand ppl not wanting to fight their friends, but idk...i see fighting as a fun sport, not a negative thing, to fight my friend its as if we were going to play another sport together

its an awesome feeling...but i guess there are fighters that view fighting as a negative thing and purly a buisness thing, if they dont need to fight a friend they dont want to

i dont like it but i understand it

for the record i just dont like it if the 2 friends are in the same division and are both the top guys..like both have to fight for the #1 contender or if one becomes champ and the other is #1 contender

when its like AS and machida where both are in different weight classes then i really dont mind it
 
#11 ·
I understand both sides of the coin and appreciate your thoughts.

However, for my part I wouldn't fight one of my team mates. It would cause tension at the gym. Coaches wouldn't coach properly, other team mates would possibly take sides, and at the end of the day your fighting to take money away from your friend's family and put it in your pocket.

Mentally I could not get 100% up for a fight like this and have the same killer instinct that I would in a regular fight.
 
#12 ·
I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum coming down hard on fighters that don't want to fight against their training partners.

Some of the examples are Evans, Jones, Machida, Silva etc.

I can understand why some people may think that as professional athletes they should be forced to fight each other, however, I am curious to see how many people with this opinion actually train at an mma gym and with fighters that are their friends.

Personally I do train alongside many friends and fighters at my gym, and after years of blood, sweat and injuries, I would never step into the cage or ring against one of them.

EDIT. To use the Klits brothers as an example. They are brothers. They wont fight. This, is completely understandable and nobody should try to force them to fight. BUT, there is no denying that the HW belts are worth shit while these two refuse to unify. Thats a fact.
The closeness of MMA is closer than that of many team sports due to the obstacles that you must overcome mentally and physically to pursue fighting.

This is not a game, this is not baseball or basketball,and if you are not mentally able to go into the fight 100% against ANY opponent, why should you?

So I am wondering, do YOU train, and what is your opinion?
If you were fighting for the UFC, and were offered a title fight against one of your partners, are you 100% sure you wouldn't take the fight? Avoiding partners is fine 99% of the time. Its never an issue until 2 of the top 3 guys are friends and wont fight. In this instance, its bad for the sport.
 
#13 ·
There comes a point when it intereferes with their job. That is what this is. Their job. Now I do understand where they are coming from, but it is perfectly reasonable for them to get crap for not doing it. Especially when it screws up rankings like Kos and Fitch at WW and Evans and Jones at LHW.
 
#14 ·
I would fight any of my friends, family, crippled person, child with cancer for the kind of money those guys make :thumb02:

semi-jk

i would really fight any of my friends if we were both going to be heavily monetarily compensated for our bout.
 
#17 · (Edited)
2 questions should be enough, to throw this shit out of court.
:D

1. is mma a sport.?

2. do freinds compete against each other, in other sports..?

if you answer is yes to both, then you cant defend, not competing against your friends in mma. The "mma is a special sport" argumet, really isnt valid or solid enough.

At the end of the day, its a sport and like every other goddamn sport, its about being numero uno.
 
#18 ·
While I do agree MMA is a sport, I don't agree it can be classed like every other sport. There are no other popular professional sports where the intent is to injure as much as in MMA.

Even boxing does not compare in terms of sheer punishment to the body and face that some mma fighters take.
 
#20 ·
I don't train but my brother does and he gave me this explanation for not wanting to fight his teammates:

When you train with someone, if you really want to improve, you show him how to counter your best moves. In order to get the most out of sparring with someone, you show him your weak side. If you know that you will eventually fight that person, you may have difficulty sharing every aspect of your game with him, and thus won't get to the highest level.

This may explain why some of the best gyms have this rule of not fighting your teammates.
 
#26 ·
I don't have a friend I would not fight for $5000. Seriously I am not sure if that means I don't have any real good freinds or what but I would fight any of them for that kind of money and I am convinced they would do the same.
 
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