Balls Sports and Combat Sports

**Squerlli** · Posted On: 4/24/2011 4:45pm

I apologize in advance for bringing up such a strange topic but since MMA has gotten more popular I've been noticing most casual fans (don't train it, but watch more then just the UFC (bellator, k-1, strikeforce, etc.) keep bringing up weird **** like percentages when comparing fighters.

Not things like "Oh such and such fighter has a 50% of his wins by submission" but more along the lines of "Such and such fighter has a 43% power punch landing rate" or "Such and such fighter has 27% low kick landing rate".

Wait, what the ****!?

Where the **** do these guys even get the fucking numbers???

Look I get it. Most people stick to ball sports because they're easier to follow and understand (most people don't know squat about actually fighting and training to fight) but this type of **** needs to stop. A fight is a fight. When that bell goes off your fight record, your sponsors, your family, etc... don't mean ****. It's just you and your opponent. That's it. If you were to fight the same man once a day for a 100 days in a row, you would be fighting a different fighter each time (obviously because you would both be incredibly injured after like 3 days but w/e you get the point I'm making).

I never even heard this **** about boxing (there was this one story about 2 boxers throwing so many punches the machine they set up that counts the shots they throw started to over heat) so why the **** is MMA turning into god damn baseball? I specifically watch combat sports because I don't fucking like baseball!

Is it just me that's noticing this? It's always some over weight 40 year old **** talking about numbers like they mean ****. It's also usually the same guy that thinks the Gracie's are still the best grappler's on the planet, Brock Lesnar is the 2nd coming of Christ in MMA and actually ask the question "So when is Chuck Leedel gonna fight that Jon Jones guy?"

Anyway my back is killing me so I'm gonna go take a nap now.

**CrackFox** · Posted On: 4/24/2011 6:04pm

They've started doing this crap in football games as well. I was watching some Champions League the other day and right in the middle of the game, they started flashing up these graphics showing how much a player had run, how many passes he made, and all sorts of other useless crap that no one gives a **** about. It's fucking cancer, I tell you.

**alex** · Posted On: 4/24/2011 11:06pm

i hate that prick on strikeforce ALWAYS going on about compustrike. give it a rest bro.

**Ashkuff** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 1:27am

My hypothesis...
In the social sciences, we call it "gambler's fallacy."
If a fighter usually throws around 200 punches per round, yet has only thrown 50 punches THIS round, gamblers might expect a huge flurry of punches to become more likely "any minute now." Obviously, this comes from a flawed understanding of probability and statistics, yet the gamblers think its important. Seeing as how the gamblers are a part of the viewership, the producers need to cater to them. And just like that, BAM. Lotsa made up facts and figures.

That's just my guess.

--- Ashkuff | http://www.ashkuff.com | How to venture out of “armchair” scholarship, and into action? One anthropologist tackles occultism, violence, and more! He gets spooked and roughed up a lot.

**Grey Owl** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 4:31am

It gives people something intelligent sounding to say when they don't actually know what's going on.

**Gabetuno** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 6:53am

Originally Posted by CrackFox

They've started doing this crap in football games as well. I was watching some Champions League the other day and right in the middle of the game, they started flashing up these graphics showing how much a player had run, how many passes he made, and all sorts of other useless crap that no one gives a **** about. It's fucking cancer, I tell you.

In football this is more helpful, though, because then you start to get a picture of the manager's strategy when he makes his subs. I don't mind that because there's so much going on, you can actually watch the thing on mute and still be totally drawn in.

**Sri Hanuman** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 8:00am

The title of this thread is misleading.
And for the record, at some point all combat sports will involve balls.
Undeniable fact of life.

**tao.jonez** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 10:06am

I blame Fantasy UFC. Like fantasy baseball, etc, those scores are used to determine how your team is doing. So, sport nerds are the underlying problem.

**Sri Hanuman** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 10:18am

Originally Posted by tao.jonez

I blame Fantasy UFC. Like fantasy baseball, etc, those scores are used to determine how your team is doing.

Hey hey hey, let's have no D&D ruleset bashing.
D&D MMA is becoming the next big thing since Hungry Hungry Hippos, Lite Brite, and porn.

**The_Beak** · Posted On: 4/25/2011 10:44am

Originally Posted by Sri Hanuman

Hey hey hey, let's have no D&D ruleset bashing.
D&D MMA is becoming the next big thing since Hungry Hungry Hippos, Lite Brite, and porn.

**** Yeah D&D MMA is beyond Awesome.
I already making my character:

Be-AK teh Grapplefag

+1 amercana
+1 against sweeps from Guard unless fighting a "adept" BJJ fighter
+1 Stacking type defense against armbars and triangles (another weight related attribute)
weak against legkick
and tries quickly

Needs work but I'm getting there.

EDIT: I am Equipped with the Tapout shorts of Posing
Which increases my intimidation factor against Newbs and Streetfighters but lowers expectations among anyone lvl.3 and up.