BYOBKenobi
11-16-2006, 03:28 PM
<p><font size="2">Anyone else getting into the UFC now that it's on regular cable?</font></p><p><font size="2">Well, I'm enjoying the availability, but it's not the same as it used to be. It's not like thunderdome anymore where two guys step in and the only thing that's going to save you from any situation is a knockout, losing the ability to intelligently defend yourself, or a tapout.</font></p><p><font size="2">Nowadays they step in if someone takes 2 or 3 punches in a row no matter how well they are defending themselves.</font></p><p><font size="2">That causes the other problem of stopping too soon or too late. I saw a fight this week where a dude lands a rib cracking body shot and the guy goes down clutching his ribs. Then the guy goes in to continue beating the now incapacitated other guy and gets knocked out with a lucky punch. By old standards that's great, by new ones the fight should have stopped when he went down holding his ribs.</font></p><p><font size="2">I know it wouldn't have survived as an untimed, no weight class, no rules combat sport... but damn were they fun to watch. Someone could take 100 shots to the face in a row, but if he didn't tap or get knocked out, the fight went on... and oftentimes the dude taking a beating early would come back and win.</font></p><p><font size="2">Having rounds sucks the most of all of it, but having the ref step in and stand them up if there isn't enough action sucks as well. If you watched the old UFCs, there were some fights that lasted 30 minutes where they were both locked in the guard with nowhere to go but they sure as hell ended. That was the beauty of it. Now they go to the cards instead of just mauling each other until one loses definitively.</font></p>