Do you call matches "fights"?

Ps. Your comment of you feel a fight includes chance of bodily injury...

te you saying that there is I chance of injury in a BJJ match?? I just heard recently about a child I believe 14-16 years old, being killed or snapping his neck or back bad becoming palyllized...

I would call that chance if injury...

And definitely a fight..


Just to clarify :)

But it doesn't matter to me..

Match or fight, end of the day it is a battle between two warriors...
 
A pure bjj match is NOT a fight. Anyone saying so is trying to make it seem cooler/tougher than it is. If you want to call it a "grappling match" then I would be fine with that. But no it is not a fight. Period
 
If I'm getting punched in the face it is a fight, otherwise it is a match.
 
If I'm getting punched in the face it is a fight, otherwise it is a match.

If I suplexed you then armbarred you and broke your arm in a bar fight, would you say you got into a fight or you got into a match?

None the less I call BJJ matches matches...but I have been guilty of saying fight a time or two before too.

It IS a fight, but it is not a NO HOLDS BARRED FIGHT...

But yeah, I think of them more as matches.
 
If I suplexed you then armbarred you and broke your arm in a bar fight, would you say you got into a fight or you got into a match?

I think the rules matter. If it happened in a bar fight, you could be struck, you just weren't. If there's no possibility of being struck, I don't consider it a fight.
 
So what do you call two boxers in a comp?
 
sport grappling. or simply 'competition' in....

I'd be ok in context sub grappling fi.......nah match.

If two pterodactyl bros were wrestling in the backyard without punches or the intent to do damage, it is just wrestling, no fight.
 
I think if you can win a competition without intentionally hurting your opponent then it can't be considered a fight.

But then I did see some MMA matches where some fighters pulled a sub right off the bat so I don't know if my definition is any good lol
 
Any combat sport is the same, it is defined by the rules. Mma is no more a fight then a grappling match. Boxers don't have fights either because the ref steps in. What a bullshit topic.
 
I refer to grappling as matches and mma as fights, because those are the common usages. However, we're talking arbitrary semantics here, and both labels here are referring to athletic competitions that take place under a stringent and extensive ruleset. The image you present of a bunch of mma fighters sitting around talking shit about grapplers who refer to their heavily regulated competitions as fights when really only our heavily regulated competitions are fights sounds pretty douchey.
 
I call them fights because I'm training to protect myself in a real fight. There are a lot of violent sports, but you can't say that about any of them. If the single goal of the sport is to physically injure, subdue or maim your opponent, it's a fight. I would even be so generous as to call sumo a fight, even though they don't pin or injure.
 
I do call it a fight. Be it BJJ or judo. Actually in French "match" would refer to a sport like soccer or tennis but for combat-sports such as boxing, fencing, wrestling or martial-arts we say "combat".
Actually last week, the news were saturated with "Riner's fight" so I wouldn't feel awkward calling it a "fight".
 
i always say 'match'

when you watch wrestling, you are watching a wrestling match and not a wrestling fight.

also, i used to fight muay thai so i like to specify.
 
It's a match. I would not be comfortable telling an MMA fighter or kickboxer, that i'm "fighting", it just feels silly. However, I don't mind grapplers calling a BJJ or Judo match a "fight" among other grapplers but it feels a little pretentious, especially when a white belt school teacher in his late thirties says he's "fighting" next weekend, when referring to a bjj competition.
 
I say it because it's easier than saying 'I had 6 grappling matches'. Also, why on earth would anyone care that much?

I agree man. I've seen people be butthurt over it on twitter and facebook

It's just a word...of course grappling is a fight without punches or kicks
 
I only call it a fight if I'm competing in MMA or boxing. I've never called a wrestling or BJJ match a fight.
 
Yes, "fight" is pretty much reserved for striking. "BJJ fight" is an oxymoron, especially when you see the complete lack of dynamics and agression in BJJ. It's like snail race.





















Just kidding. Or am I? Judo is better anyway. And seriously, some grappling arts are much closer to fighting than others. Sambo is a good example.
 
The person I hear say "fight" the most is a judoka talking about judo matches. Personally I say matches or competing. To me grappling is a sport or a game not a fight or a war like I have heard people say.
 
When speaking of BJJ (or other grappling competition), do you call a match a fight? When it's convenient? All the time? Only when it means saving syllables?

This is a pretty big joke among MMA guys. I have no personal problem with people saying they "fought yesterday" or whatever, but I think it's very funny when BJJ competitors will say "I had 6 fights" because that just SOUNDS preposterous without context. IMO a "fight" means there was a chance you could have been seriously injured/maimed/killed, and while a strong choke or a deep leg lock can cause bodily harm, IMO a fight includes striking.

I have also noticed it's mostly BJJ guys that do this. Judo/wrestling do not say "fights". Perhaps this is because a fight can be executed like a BJJ match i.e. early Demain Maia MMA fights (choosing not to strike much in lieu of getting the submission).



This will probably devolve into a flame war, so let's try and keep it civil and include logical explanations as to why or why not.

I have fought in rings, cages, and in parking lots.

I call BJJ matches fights because that is what they are--a form of fighting.
 
A question of semantics, but for what it's worth, from the American Heritage Dictionary:

Fight:
b. A boxing or wrestling match.

It's not idiomatic to call it a "wrestling fight" but it's also not idiomatic to call it a "boxing fight."

Myself, I call it a match, but I have no problem with it being called a fight.
 
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