Can corners still throw on the towel to stop a fight? why do we never see this? When was last time?

[Typrune Goatley]

I was waiting for Lauren Murphy's corner to throw in the towel last night.

 

[avenue94]

Dumbass gym culture, dumg ass fan culture, and perverse financial incentives (show/win) to keep your hurt fighter in there.

Nah, that's not true. It's up to the fighter.

MMA has a lot more options/opportunity for one off finishes than boxing. Still uncommon of course but def not unheard of. If I can't get knocked out or submitted and the ref isn't stopping it, leave me alone I'm doing my job. I honestly haven't met a fighter who didn't think that way lol

Which is the exact point of having corners do more. Fighters tend to have questionable long term thinking, it's the same reason we have refs.

 

[NoSmilez]

I think this practice would be more prevalent if people didn't get cut. They take too much damage sometimes. Sometimes it is better to live and fight another day.

Refs and doctors also need to step up more. I think refs are scared because they might get blacklisted.

 

[Poatan Power]

Dumbass gym culture, dumg ass fan culture, and perverse financial incentives (show/win) to keep your hurt fighter in there.

Which is the exact point of having corners do more. Fighters tend to have questionable long term thinking, it's the same reason we have refs.

You have no idea what you're talking about and no idea about the gym culture. Nor do you understand the financial incentives and their impact on cornering, it's actually quite preposterous.

We have refs to enforce rules. Not because fighters have questionable long term thinking, you dork.

Corners are not a governing body over the fighter. They're coaches. Often they're friends or family.

There are multiple ways to end an MMA fight, including referee stoppage. if the fighter is intelligently defending themselves there is no reason to throw in the towel 99.9% of the time. The only real reason, unless the fighter expresses to their coaches that they have that latitude for their discretion, to throw in a towel is if the referee is not enforcing the rules effectively.

This comes up so incredibly infrequently, yet we have people like you citing conspiracy theories about show/win money making coaches not throw in the towel. Get a grip dude, fighters don't want the towel thrown in because an MMA fight can end due to a dislocated toe, a cut, a knockout, a submission, one minor mistake can be fight ending, even if you're up 4 rounds to 1. As a matter of fact, it can happen strictly because the winning fighter gets fatigued.

Stop trying to ruin one of the beautiful attractions of MMA because you saw one fight and decided to form an opinion on an entire industry about it.

Corners should do what they agree to do for their fighters. No additional rules or enforcements, no moral implications, just honor the fighters wishes.

 

[WuDi]

People get absolutely destroyed time and time again in sparing sessions. I think that corners have a pretty good understanding of where their fighter’s hearts lie.
It is on a referee to make a call. With all the technology we have, there should be a damage/strike differential threshold that stops the fight. Would also make fights more interesting imo.

 

[Joshuaace]

In Boxing it hasn't been all that long since Shawn Porters Father threw in the towel against Crawford.

 

[Pizza Werewolf]

They stopped towel throwing cuz one was mistaken for a ghost during an event in a poorly lit arena.
Many fighters are superstitious and
Nobody wants to fight in a haunted cage.

 

[Diamondsareforever47]

Nate v Thompson & Brunson v Cannonier are the only two instances of the corner throwing in the towel that I remember in MMA

But the fights did not end via towel throw in both guys were still finished. At least that is what their records show I never saw the Brunson vs Cannonier fight and I barely remember Nate vs Thompson

You have no idea what you're talking about and no idea about the gym culture. Nor do you understand the financial incentives and their impact on cornering, it's actually quite preposterous.

We have refs to enforce rules. Not because fighters have questionable long term thinking, you dork.

Corners are not a governing body over the fighter. They're coaches. Often they're friends or family.

There are multiple ways to end an MMA fight, including referee stoppage. if the fighter is intelligently defending themselves there is no reason to throw in the towel 99.9% of the time. The only real reason, unless the fighter expresses to their coaches that they have that latitude for their discretion, to throw in a towel is if the referee is not enforcing the rules effectively.

This comes up so incredibly infrequently, yet we have people like you citing conspiracy theories about show/win money making coaches not throw in the towel. Get a grip dude, fighters don't want the towel thrown in because an MMA fight can end due to a dislocated toe, a cut, a knockout, a submission, one minor mistake can be fight ending, even if you're up 4 rounds to 1. As a matter of fact, it can happen strictly because the winning fighter gets fatigued.

Stop trying to ruin one of the beautiful attractions of MMA because you saw one fight and decided to form an opinion on an entire industry about it.

Corners should do what they agree to do for their fighters. No additional rules or enforcements, no moral implications, just honor the fighters wishes.

well good thing the Towel being thrown in cannot end a fight. I looked it up it is against the Unified Rules

Now what we need is to end weight cutting, and have less rules!

 

[avenue94]

You have no idea what you're talking about and no idea about the gym culture. Nor do you understand the financial incentives and their impact on cornering, it's actually quite preposterous.

We have refs to enforce rules. Not because fighters have questionable long term thinking, you dork.

Corners are not a governing body over the fighter. They're coaches. Often they're friends or family.

There are multiple ways to end an MMA fight, including referee stoppage. if the fighter is intelligently defending themselves there is no reason to throw in the towel 99.9% of the time. The only real reason, unless the fighter expresses to their coaches that they have that latitude for their discretion, to throw in a towel is if the referee is not enforcing the rules effectively.

This comes up so incredibly infrequently, yet we have people like you citing conspiracy theories about show/win money making coaches not throw in the towel. Get a grip dude, fighters don't want the towel thrown in because an MMA fight can end due to a dislocated toe, a cut, a knockout, a submission, one minor mistake can be fight ending, even if you're up 4 rounds to 1. As a matter of fact, it can happen strictly because the winning fighter gets fatigued.

Stop trying to ruin one of the beautiful attractions of MMA because you saw one fight and decided to form an opinion on an entire industry about it.

Corners should do what they agree to do for their fighters. No additional rules or enforcements, no moral implications, just honor the fighters wishes.

Like I said, dumbass culture. Refs are their to keep fighters alive by enforcing the rules. The rules are a means, not the end.

And yes there is a reason to throw the towel even if a fighter is intelligently defending, such as a blowout and the fighter being young. This happens all the time in boxing, pull your guy so they can get a quicker turn around and improve, instead of taking damage for no purpose besides a single digit percent chance of winning.

Fighters are paid more when their fighters win. This is a textbook definition of a perverse economic incentive: "I get paid more to keep my guy in and im not the one taking damage"

 

[SharpasaRazor]

You have no idea what you're talking about and no idea about the gym culture. Nor do you understand the financial incentives and their impact on cornering, it's actually quite preposterous.

We have refs to enforce rules. Not because fighters have questionable long term thinking, you dork.

Corners are not a governing body over the fighter. They're coaches. Often they're friends or family.

There are multiple ways to end an MMA fight, including referee stoppage. if the fighter is intelligently defending themselves there is no reason to throw in the towel 99.9% of the time. The only real reason, unless the fighter expresses to their coaches that they have that latitude for their discretion, to throw in a towel is if the referee is not enforcing the rules effectively.

This comes up so incredibly infrequently, yet we have people like you citing conspiracy theories about show/win money making coaches not throw in the towel. Get a grip dude, fighters don't want the towel thrown in because an MMA fight can end due to a dislocated toe, a cut, a knockout, a submission, one minor mistake can be fight ending, even if you're up 4 rounds to 1. As a matter of fact, it can happen strictly because the winning fighter gets fatigued.

Stop trying to ruin one of the beautiful attractions of MMA because you saw one fight and decided to form an opinion on an entire industry about it.

Corners should do what they agree to do for their fighters. No additional rules or enforcements, no moral implications, just honor the fighters wishes.

Yeh of course corners should honour what they agree with their fighter - that is where the onus is on them to say 'I need you to know that if I think you're taking too much punishment and not fighting back then I'm gonna call it off'. The fighter has to walk in there to fight - its not up to them to think about their health or that if their opponent or anything other than winning the fight. The corner plays a very important role in being able to make a decision that a fighter can virtually never make - that they are taking massive amounts of punishment with very small probability of turning it around.

I actually think last night isn't a great example of that - overall I think Glover showed enough at times when the question was asked that he was intelligently defending himself and still had the ability to pull of a set of actions to win the fight - evidenced by his takedown in round 5. It was a razor tight situation but I think between the ref and the chief corner etc they got it just about right.

A fighter and their corner should come into a fight with the fighter knowing they only have to think about wining the fight, because they know the corner will make that bigger decision for them. The corner's relationship with the fighter is different than the ref who sees them around or a doctor whose never met them before- the corner should know from what they're seeing if their is still a fight to be had or if a beating is starting to take place - in that scenario their is a moral onus on them to protect their fighter and stop it if needs be.

(Also none of those images represent fights where I think there was any wide suggestion that the corner should stop it - they were instances where guys were losing and made big comebacks, but weren't getting badly punished or looking done)

 

[Poatan Power]

Like I said, dumbass culture. Refs are their to keep fighters alive by enforcing the rules. The rules are a means, not the end.

And yes there is a reason to throw the towel even if a fighter is intelligently defending, such as a blowout and the fighter being young. This happens all the time in boxing, pull your guy so they can get a quicker turn around and improve, instead of taking damage for no purpose besides a single digit percent chance of winning.

Fighters are paid more when their fighters win. This is a textbook definition of a perverse economic incentive: "I get paid more to keep my guy in and im not the one taking damage"

lol

1. This isn't boxing. Not only is the damage not the same, but neither is the turnaround or the propensity for a walk-off win. You can literally tire yourself out going for one submission or finish and turn around and lose. Not the same in boxing.

2. They aren't "keeping their guys in there." This is fiction on your part. Their fighter has the propensity to tap out/quit, get knocked out, get submitted, or just curl up and stop defending and the fight ends. THEY are keeping themselves in there because they have a chance to win. If they do not allow / do not agree for their corner to throw in a towel, they shouldn't. Simple as that. Fighters have more than ample opportunity to be put out without that as an option.

3. Like I said, there ARE circumstances where it is acceptable/understandable: the referee not enforcing the intelligent defense. Intelligent defense includes not taking continuous damage, it has to actually be effective. If the referee isn't honoring that, sure, protect your fighter -- it's no different than throwing in the towel if your fighter is completely knocked out and the referee doesn't stop the fight. That just doesn't happen, though, compared to intelligently defending.

4. These aren't promoters. They're coaches. Coaches don't sacrifice their fighter making 8k to show and 8k to win so they can get an additional $1600 cut and fuck the rest of their career. 99% of this is fighters not allowing their coach to do towel throwing. That's a verbal agreement/contract between a fighter and coach and nobody should be advocating for a violation of that.

These are adults who agree to fight for a living. They don't need another way out of a fight when there's already a myriad of ways.

You'd have Krause in here throwing in the towel on their fighter while illegally betting against them

Yeh of course corners should honour what they agree with their fighter - that is where the onus is on them to say 'I need you to know that if I think you're taking too much punishment and not fighting back then I'm gonna call it off'. The fighter has to walk in there to fight - its not up to them to think about their health or that if their opponent or anything other than winning the fight. The corner plays a very important role in being able to make a decision that a fighter can virtually never make - that they are taking massive amounts of punishment with very small probability of turning it around.

I actually think last night isn't a great example of that - overall I think Glover showed enough at times when the question was asked that he was intelligently defending himself and still had the ability to pull of a set of actions to win the fight - evidenced by his takedown in round 5. It was a razor tight situation but I think between the ref and the chief corner etc they got it just about right.

A fighter and their corner should come into a fight with the fighter knowing they only have to think about wining the fight, because they know the corner will make that bigger decision for them. The corner's relationship with the fighter is different than the ref who sees them around or a doctor whose never met them before- the corner should know from what they're seeing if their is still a fight to be had or if a beating is starting to take place - in that scenario their is a moral onus on them to protect their fighter and stop it if needs be.

(Also none of those images represent fights where I think there was any wide suggestion that the corner should stop it - they were instances where guys were losing and made big comebacks, but weren't getting badly punished or looking done)

If the fighter agrees to it. If they don't, then no. And no fighter is obligated to agree to that, nor is any coach morally obligated to make that a staple of their coaching grown men in fighting. This is such an infrequent issue at this level of MMA it's hardly worth mentioning. It's much more prevalent on the regional scene, but, on the regional scene fights get stopped pretty urgently in states like CA, FLA, etc.

 

[ripsta619]

Nah, that's not true. It's up to the fighter.

MMA has a lot more options/opportunity for one off finishes than boxing. Still uncommon of course but def not unheard of. If I can't get knocked out or submitted and the ref isn't stopping it, leave me alone I'm doing my job. I honestly haven't met a fighter who didn't think that way lol

Username makes this comment better.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

They stopped towel throwing cuz one was mistaken for a ghost during an event in a poorly lit arena.
Many fighters are superstitious and
Nobody wants to fight in a haunted cage.

Herb Dean once mistook one for a soul leaving the body, and declared it the winner.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Harold Howard beat Royce Gracie before the fight even started at UFC 3 because of teh famous towel throw.

Commissions don't allow a towel to be thrown in, simply because anyone could do that, but if a fighter's corner man makes it clear that he wants the fight stopped, (by any means) that will be honored.