Originally Posted by
TitoFan
Boxing is above all a sport. You knock the guy down, he gets an 8-count while you go stand in a neutral corner. In MMA, heaven forbid the ref trips and falls while a fighter is pounding on a prone, unconscious opponent's face. Besides... once they go to the floor and it becomes wrestling, I lose what little interest I had in the first place.
The issue of a ref stopping a fight on time is a good point. Actually, MMA had a bad instance of that happen just last weekend. It was a dangerously bad stoppage and one of the worst I've seen in 15 years.
To be fair though, these days MMA refs are (for the most part) well trained and always in position to jump in. I've even seen many instances where a fighter will stop punching on his own because he recognizes that his opponent is out.
MMA's system allows, on average, for the losing fight to recieve much less damage to the brain, as if he's rocked and the opponent pounces, the ref will stop the fight. In boxing, a guy who gets dropped and concussed is given a count of 10 to try to clear the cobwebs and get up to take more punches to the head. You also have to factor in the margin of error for the ref, who may allow a guy who is out on his feet to wade out like a sitting duck for more blows. Frenkel/Macaranelli is probably the best example I can think of that.
Also, you have instances where guys are out on their feet and/or held up by the ropes and take vicious, unnecessary poundings. Morrison/Mercer, Pernell/Hurtado (I think) and Paret/Griffith where Emile killed the guy.
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