During the last two ATL throwdowns, we managed to have a broken nose, a broken leg, and two pretty bad beatings. For reference, look at KM vs Kiev, Luan vs Kiev, and Frankie Fulller vs Amir (best beatdown I’ve seen in a while). The broken leg didn’t make it on tape, but I busted it with a knee bar.
Now, what I’m thinking is that we have some sort of general competency guidelines in place. You don’t need to be doing hard contact MMA if you can’t grapple or clench. See KM vs Kiev. And Kiev vs Kickahippie. And then there’s fools who don’t need to be sparring hard at all. Frankie Fuller vs Amir isn’t what we need to see. So perhaps some type of nonrestrictive, but protective guidelines should be in place. Because really, some people are just that nasty to spar with, but haven’t reached the level where their control is all that good so that blatant and ridiculous incompetence will get you hurt.
I think one step would be adhering to the required equipment listed in the main Throwdown thread.
Despite all the fun shit talking we all do, it needs to be made clear to people that a Throwdown is not a place for grudge matches, and is not the same as a competition or match. Some sort of rule dilineation is necessary. MMA is fine, grappling is fine, stand-up formats are fine, no “street” and no NHB.
I’m not saying we need set formats and that if you aren’t good at one, you can’t do it. The thing that has made the MD TDs so good is we’re all about getting in there and doing things we’re not good at, jumpstarting our learning curves. Intensity is what definitely needs to be watched though. Some people’s idea of a friendly match is not the same as others.
Good point Osiris. Levels of competency should be determined.A ref should be on hand to atleast step in when somebody is going beyond controlled ownage.One thing we do during the MD TD is help keep people from hurting themselves.A good example is we dont do heel hooks simply because inexperienced or non grapplers tend to do some off the wall crazy shit to get out of things and a heel hook is one of those moves where we feel the potential risk to the participant is too high. Its like no pain no pain no pain pop fuck I just tore my knee out of socket.
We might want to go with multiple Refs … 2 - 4 with them being primed to dog pile and smother the particpants at the first hint of it going stupid.
This should be a golden opportunity for us to put out a solid message to the younger generation (Those before mine as mine is aged out.) regarding a real approach to developing real MA skills. The only way that can happen is if we look good … broken bones & bloody faces just don’t cut it. We’ll come off like a bunch of fucking Cowboy Fight Club idiots. First impressions are most important and with the anticipated exposure this will be for all practical purposes a first exposure … at least on the East Coast.
As for grudge matches … if it goes beyond pre-TD hype … that’s unaccpetable bullshit. John Rallo has been very good to us and I don’t think any of us in MD are williing to risk falling out of his good graces by acting like revenge crazed shitbirds.
I know the MD TD peeps fairly well and have no qualms about making the blanket statement that none of us are even remotely interesting in “ginding the axe” with anyone else. We have genuine fun … we play rough … do things we aren’t strongest in … and learn.
I don’t know your peeps, Osiris. But let me be very clear in this matter. If anyone from your Crew wants to do it for real … I’m there. We’ll take it outside and away from the school building all together.
What needs to happen is for an agreement to play by the rules be put in place … everyone participating declare their acceptance of same … and then the damned standards enforced by whatever means necessay. Last I checked, there was no Kingdom at stake depending on the TD Win - Loss outcome.
And after all, we’re having a blow out party courtesy of Groundcontrolba when it’s over. It’s my hope that some lasting Friendships will come out of this thing and Bullshido gets a rocket launch into the “Best MA Forum” bracket.
We have one chance to make a good first impression … let’s maximize the opportunity.
I would say reasonable safety gear (stuff I used to wear to every sparring class) for MMA would be gloves (obviously), volleyball knee/elbow pads if knees/elbows are going to be used and shin/instep pads if you’re kicking in the head.
That stops cuts, in my experience, and you can go nearly as hard as you like with really hurting anybody too badly.
The broken leg didn’t make it on tape, but I busted it with a knee bar.
That sounds a little ridiculous to me…all submissions should be applied in a slow, steady, controlled manner…isn’t that extremely basic stuff?
Yes, it is, which is why I applied the sub in exactly that manner. His knee never caught though and he never defended, tapped, or reacted in any other manner. I tugged it back slowly and he just started screaming. No one even saw that a sub was being applied, as I really hadn’t done much with it when it busted.
That makes no sense to me. When you bend a joint, you can tell when it’s straight, regardless of defence being used, tapping, or anything else. You can always just stop, or let it go, a sparring match isn’t worth breaking somebody’s leg over.
So either this guy had something wrong with his knee and it couldn’t straighten out without breaking, or…
Ok, fair enough…I’ve seen and done that a few times, with guys who were resisting in the extreme and refusing to tap, not out of ignorance but arrogance, so I know the feel…first time for everything I guess.