I remember the first mma fight I watched, probably 25 years ago. Back in the day i was a big k1 fan, but heard a lot about mma so would give it a try.
Two big dutch guys were fighting and soon one of them turtled up like Cowboy did.
I was like 'wtf is this, I don't see kickboxers doing this. What's this for pussy sport'. Havn't watched a mma fight for more then 15 years after that.
A lot of newcomers who saw Cowboys performance might have the same reaction. They expect two guys fighting it out for a couple of rounds but they got a fighter who in their eyes quit the first moment he got hit.
Hard to reason with people who don't know what they are watching.