News UPDATE: Justin Thornton who was brutally KO'd at BKFC 20 last August has passed away

[MrKontakos]

Come on, this guy should have never been sanctioned to fight. Athletic commissions are a joke, but it's going to take someone high profile dying in there for anything to change. Imagine if Chuck had fell like this after Tito smashed him, would we all be so willing to write off everyone involved with putting that farce together? This one is even worse than that, at least chuck and tito were both high level champions at one point.

 

[JSN]

Hey, say what you want about Dana but atleast he refused to book Conor vs Diego. This was like 3 times the mismatch that would've been.

Lots of fighters are tough guys that will accept hard or even impossible fights, promoters know this and can take advantage of them by sending them to lose against whoever they want to promote at the moment. They're obviously trying to build up stars by feeding them cans. I hope there's repercussions for BKFC because matching up some 6-18 dude against a 15-1 fighter at catchweight is insane.

Rest in peace Justin Thornton.

Definitely commendable, but it should not be on promoters to police themselves. Their driving force is how much money they can make. And even with the UFC kind of being the only game in town, fighters can go to Bellator or other promotions to fight if the UFC isn’t giving them what they want.

Unfortunately the commissions are operating with the same driver since they take a cut. They should be making a flat rate (after expenses).

 

[crystallake]

Does anybody remember the controversy about the ringmat in germamy just before the klitschko/fury fight? The fury team said the ringmat was too soft and they had to take out a layer. Vitali half joking said it would be better for tyson if he falls. Wonder if this would have helped at all. Just a thought.

 

[HHJ]

I think this is a pretty big overreaction. The death deserves the utmost diligence but I'd say 1. I don't think lack of gloves resulted in a fractured spine or spinal inflammation, but the fall likely did and 2. fights like these are sanctioned all the time in lower tier MMA organizations. Guys who are 1-15 getting a payday and getting tapped or knocked out, etc.

I agree that the fights should not be uncompetitive or spectacles, but right now I'd say it's like 50-50 that way.

The way Reyes fell on his head against Jiri was horrible. That could have been alot worse. It could happen at all levels despite the skill disparity or lack thereof.

 

[Rea_ctor]

Absolutely horrible news, when I was younger and dabbled in combat sports this sort of thing never crossed my mind, in reality it takes one badly placed punch to end your life, yet people sit behind their computer monitors and mock fighters for tapping to strikes, or tapping out to a submission.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

This is the fight game sadly. Sometimes bad shit like this happens. Then a few weeks later everyone forgets about it and goes back to posting knock out GIFS until the next time, then we make a big deal out of it again. I'm not talking about their death of course but I mean saying things like "we need to change the rules, we need to change this", etc. You guys know I'm right too.

Come on, this guy should have never been sanctioned to fight. Athletic commissions are a joke, but it's going to take someone high profile dying in there for anything to change. Imagine if Chuck had fell like this after Tito smashed him, would we all be so willing to write off everyone involved with putting that farce together? This one is even worse than that, at least chuck and tito were both high level champions at one point.

Why wouldn't they let him fight? I mean they let Felony fight still and he's lost like 16 in a row and hasn't won a fight since like 2016.

 

[Boxingfan998]

Absolutely horrible news, when I was younger and dabbled in combat sports this sort of thing never crossed my mind, in reality it takes one badly placed punch to end your life, yet people sit behind their computer monitors and mock fighters for tapping to strikes, or tapping out to a submission.

A bit of an exaggeration. When you're young, your body can take enormous physical abuse and actually dying is a very low risk, even when taking very damaging strikes. A good example would be Muay Thai fights in Thailand which are the some of the most gruesome in combat sports. They have kids and generally people under 25 fighting and deaths are rare. They do happen but its very rare. And we're talking kids getting elbowed and kneed in the face.

The fundamental problem is when you have 30+ year old guys fighting, and especially "straight off the couch" guys.
Due to popularity of MMA and muay thai, these retards think "hey I wanna fight", and either get killed or suffer grievous injuries.
Even on this bloody forum on the other section, I remember a thread of a 50 year old dude who was asking "can I start MMA and become pro" and people saying "follow your dreams". How fucking sick and delusional are people? Wake the fuck up.

Even at 30+ year old, you have to be a well trained fighter to be somewhat safe in there against lions that are 20 years old.

 

[crodor3]

The purpose of gloves is to protect your hands, not to protect the other guy's face.

You can't punch as hard without injuring your hands.

Have you seen their faces after a bare knuckle fight? Pretty sure the gloves do both

 

[crodor3]

It is strange how a right hook that looks like so many others ended up killing a man. Probably it landed on a precise spot and maybe the victim had health issue. When you think about it, that punch pales in comparison to how Hendo finished Bisping or how Vitor finish most of his fight punching on passed out opponent until the ref removes him.

A local boxer where I am from fighting in the 80s, Gaetan Hart, have put a man in the coma during a boxing bout and killed a man in his very next bout. Gaetan was never known for his knockout power but suddenly killed 1 man and almost another one in 2 consecutive fights. Once again, death from boxing/fighting in a ring are sometimes just random and hard to explained.

Ummm he fucking spiked his head into the mat doofus. Are you blind?

 

[Sticko]

Have you seen their faces after a bare knuckle fight? Pretty sure the gloves do both

You get more cuts and lacerations from bareknuckle boxing which is a different issue. The main problem in boxing is head trauma from repeated blows to the head which is not worse in bareknuckle. They just don't throw the same volume of power shots in bareknuckle.

 

[Migdagen]

Ummm he fucking spiked his head into the mat doofus. Are you blind?

Wow, that was really called for... You must have a lot of friends.

 

[Judge Lance Ito]

Man his MMA record is a horror show 6-18
https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Justin-Thornton-53642

 

[crodor3]

Wow, that was really called for... You must have a lot of friends.

lol how can you not see the guy spike his head and break his neck?

Wow, that was really called for... You must have a lot of friends.

hey hey hey lets not get personal. You can be my friend if you want. Just try not to watch a poor soul who lost his life and rant on two paragraphs about a god damned uppercut. It is clear as day that the cage was not padded correctly and he obviously spiked his head on it and got nuked. It is somewhat offensive to not even watch the video and comment some inane bullshit when a man died. so sorry bozo but if commenting on a dude dying it should be somewhat relevant...

 

[Poatan Power]

The way Reyes fell on his head against Jiri was horrible. That could have been alot worse. It could happen at all levels despite the skill disparity or lack thereof.

yes. This was a freak accident if anything. I’m amazed this didn’t happen to Fedor when Randleman threw him. He moved his head just perfectly.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

Come on, this guy should have never been sanctioned to fight. Athletic commissions are a joke, but it's going to take someone high profile dying in there for anything to change. Imagine if Chuck had fell like this after Tito smashed him, would we all be so willing to write off everyone involved with putting that farce together? This one is even worse than that, at least chuck and tito were both high level champions at one point.

I do suspect he real danger isnt so much mismatches but rather guys really not in good shape at the low end of the sport.

It does seem they are much more prone to really nasty KOs and bad falls, John Matua vs Tank comes to mind.

Something like say Crocop/Dos Caras back in the day was a mismatch but between an elite guy and a mid level guy in good shape.

 

[BForrester]

Such is the possible price of loving and being involved in extreme sports.

I wish a speedy and full recovery for the man and thoughts with his family and friends.

Heard that. I used to follow freeskiing (backcountry alpine skiing) and on a yearly basis you'd see 3 or 4 names in the sport die from falls or avalanches. MMA is incredibly safe by comparison.

 

[CasualBot]

any real reason this is in ...

UFC discussion?

 

[Kryptt]

any real reason this is in ...

UFC discussion?

Cuz...

 

[CasualBot]

Cuz...

... this forum loves click bait?

18 pages deep, still in the wrong forum.

What do mods do around here,
besides hand out cards for sarcasm ?

 

[Kryptt]

... this forum loves click bait?

18 pages deep, still in the wrong forum.

What do mods do around here,
besides hand out cards for sarcasm ?

Report or ask a Mod.

Lots a subjects that aren't purely UFC float here.

And it's far from clickbait.