Early in my career I was at a fight show and I witnessed a
moment that took a part of my innocence as a fighter and as a person. A fight can be a beautiful dance or an
exciting display of athleticism. But
sometimes it is ugly and you must make ethical decisions that you never planned
on making in a split second. This was
the scenario: Two fighters, neither very
experienced, one punched to the point where he was just standing there in a daze,
arms hanging by his sides. In my opinion
the fight should have been stopped, but it wasn’t. The other was unable to react, he was shocked
by the state of his opponent and the best he could do was throw a half-hearted
head kick. He was unable to finish a guy
who was basically out on his feet.
What would you do?
What would I do? I love to fight, but I love to fight a challenging opponent,
not someone who isn’t able to defend themselves. A true warrior has honor and virtue, yet I am
a warrior and I have a job to do.
I have assessed the situation, from a distance, and I have
to come to the conclusion that ending the fight as quickly as possible is the
kindest and wisest thing to do. Another
round could mean more head trauma and irreparable damage. Should they recover, they have nothing to lose
and become very dangerous, which was what happened in this fight, and the judges
scored it a draw. It was ugly from start to finish, battle is
ugly.
I don’t want to trivialize the experience of war, but a
fighter must prepare as a soldier. We
must be prepared to take our values and morals and look at them in the context
of war. We must understand that both fighters
agreed to this situation, knowing the possible consequences of winning and
losing. Are you OK with breaking a limb
and ending someone else’s career? Or
having your career ended because you didn’t submit?
I have a friend who served in Iraq. At one point he was face to face with a
pregnant woman. She had a grenade in her
hand. What would you do? What would I do?
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