XINDU
07-11-2005, 02:32 PM
remember a couple specific cases of MA guys in the toughman when i watched it on FX. The sad thing is that the training did not do much to help the majority of them. I remember one guy who was hyped in his intro for having a black sash in Wing Chun, but he couldn't punch worth crap and spent the majority of his fight cringing away and retreating fearfully from his opponent's barrage. He either got KO'ed in the first or second round. Another guy in the Police vs Firefighters tourney was a police karate instructor. First of all, the guy looked extremely out of shape. Secondly, his punching skills weren't any better than the last guy. Thirdly, he got punched a lot and seemed to have a heart attack or something and had to quit. However there was one black karate/boxer guy named Kenny "the Punisher" Pompey who enjoyed some moderate success in the toughman. Now that guy was pretty tough. He had his share of victories and always fought hard, although he lost in the championships. I also remember some young generation-x type snowboarder kid who also trained muay thai. His boxing skills were sloppy/mediocre at best but at least he knew how to take some punishment and dish a little back out. He won one match by decision and lost another by decision...in his second match he was clearly outclassed.
I don't understand all this crap about ego that people are talking about. Okay, so toughman contest doesn't always attract the most savory characters and there is a bit testosterone overload throughout it all. But we all have our own personal challenges that we wish to face. And as someone else said above, there are a crap load of MA'ists walking around with big egos to...and i'm not just tlaking about MMA types and fighters. Let's face it, half the reason people train in any MA today is for ego. Regardless of style, we all want to look ourselves in the mirror and have more confidence in what we see. We want to be able to know that we can out box or choke out that drunk a$$hole on the street, or we want to be praised for our black belts or whatever by those around us. Some of us are simply more willing to go out and put our ego on the line to see what we really have. If getting in the ring and testing your ability is not your cup of tea, then fine. But that is no reason to downgrade others who do it as having ego problems. IMO, that just shows how insecure you are. When it comes down to it, those who have this attitude seem to like to hide behind their martial artist status and convey some aura of humble controlled deadliness. But its all image. When the punches really fly, these guys simply don't have any real confidence in themselves or are deep down inside aware that they have no fighting skills. We should keep in mind that full contact competition is one very challenging avenue by which one can truly gauge their skill level. Its not necessarily about inflated egos. In fact, it shows that you are willing to put your ego on the line.
I don't understand all this crap about ego that people are talking about. Okay, so toughman contest doesn't always attract the most savory characters and there is a bit testosterone overload throughout it all. But we all have our own personal challenges that we wish to face. And as someone else said above, there are a crap load of MA'ists walking around with big egos to...and i'm not just tlaking about MMA types and fighters. Let's face it, half the reason people train in any MA today is for ego. Regardless of style, we all want to look ourselves in the mirror and have more confidence in what we see. We want to be able to know that we can out box or choke out that drunk a$$hole on the street, or we want to be praised for our black belts or whatever by those around us. Some of us are simply more willing to go out and put our ego on the line to see what we really have. If getting in the ring and testing your ability is not your cup of tea, then fine. But that is no reason to downgrade others who do it as having ego problems. IMO, that just shows how insecure you are. When it comes down to it, those who have this attitude seem to like to hide behind their martial artist status and convey some aura of humble controlled deadliness. But its all image. When the punches really fly, these guys simply don't have any real confidence in themselves or are deep down inside aware that they have no fighting skills. We should keep in mind that full contact competition is one very challenging avenue by which one can truly gauge their skill level. Its not necessarily about inflated egos. In fact, it shows that you are willing to put your ego on the line.