It's when people have the desire to hurt each other to obtain a goal.
Usually the goal is to protect something (like territory, an asset, another person) or to take that same thing from those trying to protect it.
When MMA doesn't feel like a fight to me is when one person is wanting to disengage or only counter strike. Imagine that you put a pot of gold in the middle of the octagon. Or a person. Or anything, really, any symbol. A guy like Machida who runs around the outside of the Octagon would lose that fight, lose that objective, and thus I can't respect him as a fighter, even if he's a talented sportsman. (This concept, btw, is undoubtedly why judges scored the fight for Phil Davis, which a lot of people don't seem to understand.)
In combat, the goal is rarely just to hurt the other guy worse or to kill more people than you lose. It's to accomplish objectives, and that generally involves moving forward and getting something done within a limited timeframe / ASAP so that you can move on to the next objective.
The best fighters will always be those who finish fights, who dominate, who end fights as quickly as possible while exerting as little energy and taking as little damage as possible. They are the better, more efficient, more effective warriors in combat. They are the best fighters.
Is it fair to say Alex Pereira is the best striker in MMA history?
