You rarely see a towel thrown in during a UFC fight.
MMA fighters are a warrior breed. They don’t know when they are beaten, even when they are soundly beaten.
Cub Swanson knows the game better than most. The 33-year-old has had 31 professional fights since his bow in 2004.
Linked, not so long ago with a Conor McGregor bout, the featherweight is edging close to a title shot after his Fight of the Year contender against Doo Ho Choi at UFC 206.
Swanson and ‘The Korean Superboy’ traded almighty blows in their three-round war and neither man had much left in the tank when the fight was over.
In a wide-ranging interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Swanson stated that Choi’s corner should have pulled their man out of the fight before it went the full 15 minutes. In addressing that matter, he offered a fascinating insight into life as an MMA fighter. He said:
“I was hitting him with everything I had and it was frustrating… I wish his corner would have thrown in the towel, if I’m honest.”
“Especially in the third,” he added, “because I could see in his face that he was just in there with all heart. He’s a young, talented fighter and I was like, ‘What’s the point of taking damage like that?'”
Saying that, Swanson admitted he would not be happy if his corner called a fight on his behalf. He does believe, however, that crucial decisions like that should be taken from a fighter’s hands. He said:
“I feel like [throwing the towel] should be more of a thing. We’re fighters, you know.
“You look at my fight with Max Holloway, I didn’t even tell my corner I broke my jaw and broke my hand, and I fought three rounds.
“That’s just what we’re going to do because in my mind, I was thinking, ‘You can win this. You can still win this’. That’s the way we train – to never give up – but you almost need someone else to say, ‘Hey, another day’.
“In boxing that happens all the time. They say, ‘I’m going to give you one more round. If you don’t go in there and do something different, I’m going to call the fight.'”
With growing talk of a fighters’ union and more and more fighters stepping up to voice their opinion, MMA is making some big steps in the right direction.
We may see more towels landing in the Octagon in the future but, where the health and safety of fighters is concerned, it would be a welcome sight.
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