How much is your dignity worth?
Mine isn’t worth much — and I’m not referring to my low-rent headlines. Personally, I would much rather go home with my teeth than my pride, but then again, I’m no mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and I don’t own any shields.
Those folks in the know, however, like former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, have a different perspective. “Cupcake” joins this top strawweight in defense of Raquel Pennington’s corner after “Rocky” tried to quit on her stool at UFC 224.
Instead, she was sent back into battle for a violent, technical knockout loss to Amanda Nunes (watch it), one that raised questions about the true purpose of corners and what qualifications they must possess in order to get licensed.
Tate talks to Sirius XM Rush (via MMA Fighting):
“I think that I would’ve done the same thing if I was in her corner’s shoes. It’s important that a fighter loses with dignity, and I think that Raquel lost with dignity. She went out there and she got finished. She went out on her shield. I would have done the same thing because sometimes when you’re tired and you don’t think you have enough left, your coach’s job is to pull the most out of you and I think that’s what the corner was trying to do – not let her give up on herself, get her back in the game mentally. When you’re in those mentally weak spots, that what your coach is there to do. Your coach is there to say, “No, no, no. Don’t give up on yourself. You made it this far. You’ve got one more round. Five more minutes for the rest of your life. I’m not going to let you quit.’ That’s the coach’s job and I think that he made the right decision.”
Besides, UFC likes guys gals who WAR!
Licensed corners don’t really get the same scrutiny as referees, but both are charged with protecting fighters from themselves. This idea that we should allow an athlete to endure unnecessary violence in hopes they can pull off a late hail mary is exactly the kind of attitude that kept MMA from being regulated in the first place.
Pennington was facing a striker with double-digit knockouts and had already taken her fair share of licks. If there was shame or indignity in being able to lay down her sword in preservation of her career, then maybe we need to change the culture of MMA and not the coaches standing in her corner.
For much more on UFC 224 click here.