If we want MMA to be a real sport—and it doesn’t seem like we always do, but that’s a different conversation—we need to impose limits. With respect to Enson Inoue and his interpretation of Yamato-damashii, no one has a right to say, “No one stops this no matter what.” Fighting isn’t a bad movie, no matter how much it sometimes seems like one. Fighters should be prepared for the fact that in the absolute worst case, participating in the sport could lead to death or grave injury, but we should take all possible precautions to protect them, even—especially—when they don’t want to be protected. The moment a fighter is in serious danger, the fight should stop. The moment the damage a fighter is sustaining loses any purpose other than satisfying the worst impulses of the worst element of the crowd, someone has to tell him he’s done.
We don’t need 10 extra minutes of Josh Rettinghouse or Dan Lauzon* outmatched, hobbling around on one leg. We gain nothing by watching Junior dos Santos take the worst beating Cain Velasquez can deal out. We lost nothing when Urijah Faber wasn’t given a chance to see how many of Renan Barão’s hardest shots he could take. What we do risk losing are the fighters who bring us so much joy, and a bit of our humanity.
It’s absolutely unnecessary for these men and women to show how tough they are. We know how tough they are. No one who has the courage to fight, whether on a low-level regional card or in a UFC main event, has anything to prove to anyone. And everyone in the sport has a role to play in making sure that it works in a way consistent with this central truth.
Promoters need to stop treating fighters who are good at winning without walking through concussive assaults, like Ben Askren, as boring and expendable. Corners need to stop treating the idea of throwing in the towel as something that robs fans of the fight they paid for. Commissions need to train doctors and referees to be more aggressive about stepping in when a fighter has had enough, and to always err on the side of caution. And fans need to start judging fighters by their skill and talent, not by how much they’re willing to suffer.
None of this is going to happen, though, because the sport is what it is. And so it’s a matter of time before we see not just a catastrophic injury or death in a high-profile MMA organization like the UFC or Bellator, but one that could have been prevented. In some ways, the worst of it won’t be the thing itself. It will be the knowledge that it didn’t have to happen.
Article Appeared @http://deadspin.com/if-mma-doesnt-change-someone-is-going-to-die-1556957162