A self-described Army Ranger trash-talked a fellow employee, and the pair agreed to settle things outside, with a pair of gloves. Can you spot who is who in the image below? Hint, one has a mohawk and tattoos.
The 75th Ranger Regiment, known widely as the Army Rangers, is the U.S. Army’s premier light infantry unit and special operations force within the United States Army Special Operations Command. The author has been honored to have had limited contact with a number of Rangers, and they are all badasses, without exception.
The gentleman in the blue tee (yes, the man with a mohawk and ink is indeed the MMA fighter) claimed to be an Army Ranger reservist. There was a great deal of speculation about what that could mean. Unequivocally, at a glance, he was not in a reserve Ranger battalion, which doesn’t exist. That said, he could plausibly have been, perhaps, a Gravy Seal.
However, there is in fact a degree of ambiguity about who gets to call themselves an Army Ranger. In the minds of some, only those who serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment (“Scrolled”) can do so, while others extend the term to all who completed Army Ranger school (“Tabbed”). However, the copyright holder of the video below says the man in blue is simply full of it.
“This was an actual bet at work,” explained Michael Roberts. “The kid lied about being a Ranger and talked his way into a fight he couldn’t win. I am a former active duty US Marine sergeant, and you can tell when a military guy is trying to bulls*** you. I posted this to embarrass him, not make a real Ranger look bad.”
The Lesson
The Not Ranger does in fact look bad, quitting after just 52 seconds. Blue Tees technique is a catalog of what not to do in a fight:
•Failure to keep his base, literally from the first second. As BT reaches out to touch gloves, he brings his feet together, and then slips, as he was out of position.
•Arm punching, literally from the first shot, which was an uppercut of sorts.
•Shifting from southpaw to orthodox at random, without an understanding of the orthodox and southpaw stances, or shifting.
•Pulling straight back in response to punches. There are moments when fading is the sole choice, but relying on it betrays a near-complete lack of experience.
•In a related fail, BT transfers his weight frequently to the back leg. Fighting is simply not possible with most of the weight on the back leg.
•Backing straight up. BT circles from the outside when there is no pressure, but when Mohawk moves into a clinch, BT immediately back straight up instead of continuing to circle.
•At the 30-second mark, BT turns his back, and it is completely over. Turning the back is an irrefutable sign of timidity, and indicates the person in question does not want to be there, and has no right to be there. The third time it happens, it’s all over.
Note: Wait for the end, the uppercut is the best part.
Also please note, even if Blue Tee was an actual Army Ranger, there is no reason to expect that he could beat a competitive MMA fighter, in a central discipline of MMA. Rangers focus on The Big Five: Small Unit Tactics, Mobility, Marksmanship, PT, and Medical Training. Despite the ubiquity of martial arts in the award-winning documentary G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, knowing how to set up and execute a three-punch combination doesn’t have much relevance to conducting airborne operations, seizing airfields, destroying strategic facilities, capturing or killing enemies of the nation, and other central Ranger missions.
It is irrational to assume that because someone has good wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and striking, they are therefore qualified to jump out of a plane and blow up a bridge. However, for whatever reason, there is a widespread assumption that an elite soldier should be able to box against a combat sports competitor. That’s just not so.
So Blue Tee failed triply, for Stealing Valor, then trying to prove his bonafides in a manner that doesn’t prove a thing, and then quitting ignominiously without landing a significant shot. Still, he does have some use, he is an object lesson in what not to do.