Brawling: is it worth it?

Ben Rothwell has used brawling well, but he's just way bigger than most of the guys he's fighting. He may actually take less damage brawling than he would plodding around waiting to get hit.

In general, I think it might be worth it to have a huge brawl early in your UFC career (like bermudez-grice). Just make sure its a televised fight. Then you get to capitalize on that rep for years. But once you get old, it is not worth it. Arlovski's last two fights have been insanely brutal, but they're a total waste. I don't even think Wanderlei Stann was worth it for those guys.
 
You can't really fault a guy for point fighting, but that shift in culture has sucked a lot of what was exciting about MMA away. I never watched boxing or karate, and only watched a bit of amateur wrestling here and there, and the cultures of those sports have taken over the sport from the days of the warriors.
 
In a word: no.

Why? Repetitive head trauma over time can yield minor brain damage, slurring, etc. Look no further than Arturo Gatti, one of the most exciting boxers to watch who put on a trilogy of truly barn-burning wars with Mickey Ward, and ended up with slurred speech before his passing. Fighting like Leonard Garcia will put an arena on its feet, but it certainly doesn't guarantee a healthy normal life after retiring, nor does it set a good standard for young men who wish to enter fighting and leave it with the ability to speak with lucidity in the manner of, say Bernard Hopkins and Sugar Ray Leonard. Even the KZ stopped blocking punches with his face as much after his first bout with Garcia...

Man. I miss Gatti. His wife killed him no doubt. She wanted a divorce and.his money...sucks..
 
Ask a guy like Chris Leben in 10 years if he thinks brawling was worth it. I think no. The amount of unnecessary damage you take over the course of your career is never better than becoming more skilled in other areas so that you don't have to brawl in the first place.
 
It's definitely worth it for the lower tier guys who will likely never make a title run and don't get paid a whole lot for their fights. Gives them the opportunity for bonuses, and it also increases the likelihood that the UFC keeps them around if they lose a few. But it absolutely does not make sense for contenders or top guys.
 

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