Fighter pullouts in Irish MMA

John Ferguson

*Before I start this topic, I am not getting at anyone I'm just asking a question

In the last few weeks in the run up to Cage Contender we have been hit by 8 or 9 pullouts, mostly all for differing reasons!!!! And I know of another show close to the end of the year that suffered 11 pullouts.

In your opinion Is this just bad luck? Or is it the result of bad prep by the fighter, is this the fault of bad coaching or perhaps it has simply now been accepted as "ah sure its grand just to pull out"?

John
www.cagecontender.net

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fightie wrote: »

In your opinion Is this just bad luck? Or is it the result of bad prep by the fighter, is this the fault of bad coaching or perhaps it has simply now been accepted as "ah sure its grand just to pull out"?

John
www.cagecontender.net

Good God I would hope not.

People more experienced in MMA would be better placed to answer this in an MMA context.

However I suspect its all of the above (hoping its not the latter) plus nervous, lost of confidence and belief in one's ability, and pure and simply a lad bottling it.

But regardless of any excuse, I'd hope that there's not a culture of "Ah sure its grand just to pull out" here.

juijitsu black

In My opinion its because of not training properly. I mentioned this before, Guys dont want to wear head gear, shin pads, heavier gloves etc. Its the whole stigma of ... Im not wearing proctive gear or going to train/sparr at 70% cause im hard! Bla Bla! Dont get me wrong, Im sure there are some fighters who do really get hurt, but majority in my opinion are because off crap mindset and coaching.

mmmm...not sure

Well if you want a laugh I was at an event in England a few months back and a guy pulled out because he had to bulk up for a fight and he thought he was to fat and didn't want to get weighed in incase people laughed or called him fat when he was in his shorts now I know this sounds ridiculous but as they say vanity is a terrible thing

OMCCABE

I'd imagine the main thing is poor training (and as a side effect poor coaching). I can only talk for myself and my guys but in the one instance last year that we put forward fighters for an event they trained their asses off (one of them gave up weed, drink and poor eating for it...basically changes his whole lifestyle), I even had them training in Team Ryano with the lads for extra preparation. In short they were well prepared and even if they were being tapped in training their confidence showed. Unfortunately the show was cancelled only a few weeks beforehand.


I think most lads drop out when they accept a fight and don't lift a finger till a few weeks out and realise its too late and pull out (as they should) however people like that don't have the hunger or desire to be champions and thus shouldn't be in the ring...if you don't have the desire to be a champion you should never step in the ring..period. If their coaches don't recognise that lack of drive then thats their problem (they're only wasting their own time or not doing a good enough job to motivate their students).

In short preparation = confidence, lack of preparation = doubt...any experienced competitor can tell you this. Its all about familiarity with the situation your going to find yourself in.

My 2 cents!

cowzerp

I've experienced a few pull outs from the same clubs and would hope that its bad luck but obviously take note of this when it seems more than usual, im pretty sure some clubs pull out cause they want easy wins and others are just down right unproffesional, in fairness injuries do happen n combat sports and thats to be expected..

Raze_them_all

I think it's a mix of things, Some fighters are just unlucky, I believe roper told the story of how one of his boys was getting out of the ring after a light sparring/pads session and twisted his ankle after stumbling on a glove, could of been worse.

Some lads have jobs that can leave them injured, doorwork, work on sites etc Some people might have jobs that they were ok to agree to take the fight but a few weeks later had no option to pull.

I think it's seriously unprofessional to pull from a fight, I'm of the opinion that if you agree to a fight you follow through with it, If you pick up a minor injury let the promoter know straight away so he can replace you. I hate when people pull a day from a show and in the passed I've had to email a promotor for one of our fighters over it.

Martin Walker

Its part of the sport. People get injured. Such is life.
It happens in every promotion in the world theres nothing special about Ireland. Ive been there the last two-three weeks is when it happens most. In the last week of training the guys normally start to take it easy. Just manage the weight. But the two weeks previous are generally pretty hard. Hard sparring. This is when the injuries happen. Normally if yoou can hold the card together to the last week everything works out.
Dont get paranoid John. Its just the first time you have encountered this. And if you are in it for the long run it wont be the last time a card falls apart on you.

Martin Walker

juijitsu black wrote: »

In My opinion its because of not training properly. I mentioned this before, Guys dont want to wear head gear, shin pads, heavier gloves etc. Its the whole stigma of ... Im not wearing proctive gear or going to train/sparr at 70% cause im hard! Bla Bla! Dont get me wrong, Im sure there are some fighters who do really get hurt, but majority in my opinion are because off crap mindset and coaching.

This is complete bull s**t.

mmmm...not sure

In my opinion I think it's fella getting involved in the whole cage fighting culture because they think they will so hard or tough and love going round calling them self cage fighters or wearing the hoodies etc and agree to fights but don't put the training in and as the event gets closer simply pullout with no thought for the other people involved. I'm not saying this is all mma fighters as injuries can happen but if you notice it's the ones you hear more about than actually see that tend more to pull out.

Jason McCabe

Its very frustrating but it happens. If you do contact sports you will eneviatably get injured at some point.

Look at Elite FC. Shammie got injured during his warm up

Barry.Oglesby

I think what you have to understand is that fighters are amateurs. Most guys get up for work at 7am, fit in an hour afterwards of home time and then it's off to training for the night, home to bed- repeat. Then add in family, girlfriend, kids maybe and (these days especially) maybe another job on a door or behind a bar and it's a long day.

I have some issues with people taking fights they're not going to do, and I think there's a fundamental dishonesty from some people, but by and large, I believe the injuries. Coming from the job that I do, I can tell you that injury rates increase when rest decreases. The less you sleep and the more time you spend on your feet/in your office chair, the more likely it is that you will get a strain, sprain or tear as the weeks go by. I think a lot of it, and I mean no offence, has also to do with the more=better attitude of people when they train when often almost the opposite is true. You can't train at the intensity some people do without rest and not expect to injure yourself.

I've said this myself in the past (when I was extremely stressed out), and I was wrong. I'll repeat that because it doesn't happen often; I was wrong. It's unfair to ask amateurs to behave as professionals. If amateurs are on your card, you can expect amateurish behaviour. I don't mean the term amateurish as a derogatory term there, I mean that you can expect their "real" lives to be their priorities. One of my fighters had to pull from my own show as he was told if he took the night off to fight he needn't bother coming in the next night, or any subsequent night.

Even looking at my own life/training. I can't go this coming Friday to the Cage Contender show because I have a business to run. I'd love to, but I can't afford to. And I appreciate more than anyone what it means to have people pull from shows in any capacity, be they staff or fighter.

I think if you want professional behaviour, pay professional wages to professional fighters. There's far too much pressure on amateurs to perform in front of paying audiences as it is.

juijitsu black

Cool true statement Roper. That sums up life these days.:)

Clive

The top three reasons (in order) for people pulling out of fights in my opinion:

3. Some sort of emergency (family illness etc)
2. Genuinely injured to the point where they can't fight
1. Don't want to lose

That's the truth as I've seen it, most pullouts happen because people don't want to lose fights. Phantom injuries that heal up in a week, niggling injuries that could easily be worked around etc etc the list goes on. They realise the other guy is better - they see footage of a common opponent or a teammate, someone bluntly tells them or they know they're not at 100%.

Some people need to get over themselves, this is a hobby, fight because you enjoy it, win or lose, not because you're trying to prove something to the world. So what if you lose? A few battle scars, a bundle of notes and plenty to work on. The UFC is not watching your career with interest. You are not Denny Crane, you don't have a legacy.

wingnut4

Im forever getting injured, I just have no luck whatsoever! Your right though you need to make sure you rest

Jason McCabe

How is your arm Clare?

wingnut4

hey

Its not too bad thanks, its been 6 weeks it feels like sooooo much longer and ive still a while to go! Still in a brace and will be for another few weeks at least, apparently the humerous bone takes alot longer to heal. My muscles are all fat now!! cant wait to get back to training,lol

Jason McCabe

Was it related to the injury that you had to your arm previously?

Hard staying off the matts. I seperated my ribs years ago and went back on too early and seriously fecked them up the next time and was out for 4 months.

I still feel a twinge the odd time.

Its defo worth taking the extra bit of rehab time

wingnut4

yeh, i had a small fracture apparently from my first fight but they said it was nerve pain (so they didnt xray it) so i rested it for 4 weeks, well sorta,lol thats why it broke so easily the 2nd time, I have a cool xray photo somewhere,lol