Come on people. The UFC has been around for 15 years, and how many fighters don't know by now that you can't lie on the ground and cover up while the belt holder punches you?
Tito knows that the ref is going to stop it if he does that.
Secondly, Tito may survive that attack, but he's certainly not 'fighting'. Chuck is, and therfore he wins.
"And why does being in a "curled up" position have to be considered bad? I would rather bring my knees up to defend my body and my arms up to defend my head. That's an easy one to figure out."
So what your trying to say is Tito should be able to curl up and lay there for any period of time with punches raining down on him with no intervention from the ref? You have to be at least trying to fight back. I'm not going to say Tito wouldn't have survived, but he knew as well as everyone in the building that he put himself in a bad position and invited the stoppage. I'd also say that's why he's not complaining about the decision.
Intelligently defending yourself involves at least three things: (1) doing something to stop the onslaught (2) doing something to improve your position to the point where you can effectively fight back (3) giving the appearance that you still want the fight to continue. Tito was doing none of these; he was only putting his arms and body in a position to minimize the damage he was recieving. jmho.
"he was only putting his arms and body in a position to minimize the damage he was recieving. jmho."
Sounds like defending to me. Thanks for supporting the point Misedukatd. Thought followed by action.
And Tito was just shrimping when the stoppage came.
Tito wasn't disappointed in it though, so nor am I.
"Sounds like defending to me. Thanks for supporting the point Misedukatd. Thought followed by action."
Unfortunately for you Tito wasn't trying to improve his position nor was he fighting back, so I'd say he isn't supporting your point.
Arms up blocking punches, hmmm, that is called what? Again guys, you prove my point, thank you.
^^Premature title shot, too.
well, i think if tito had looked like he was on the move, it may have been an early stoppage, but taking into account that tito had been coming up short in nearly every exchange that round - i can't say it was horrible. it was however horrible in light of the earlier desouza stoppage. there needs to be consistency in the criteria for a stoppage. otherwise fans are confused as to the reasoning behind the stoppage. either way i have a feeling the results would have been the same had the fight gone on a little longer, so i wasn't too disappointed. that general feeling may have been what prompted an earlier stoppage. a gamer opponent may have been given more time.
"Arms up blocking punches, hmmm, that is called what? Again guys, you prove my point, thank you."
Give it up man... Royce Gracie had his hands up against Matt Hughes.. it doesn't mean he was improving his position, or showing he was still in it. How about Franklin vs Silva? Franklin wasn't taking any damage at the moment it was stopped, he was just lieing there with his hands up... bad stoppage right?
It doesn't matter if "putting your hands up to your head" "sounds like defending yourself" to you. No one cares what it means to you.
Again, Tito knew what would happen if he just laid there covering up. It's up to him if he wants to fight or have it stopped.
Im ok with the stoppage. If Tito would just trust his chin more he would have been able to at least survive down there i beleive.
"It doesn't matter if "putting your hands up to your head" "sounds like defending yourself" to you. No one cares what it means to you."
This is a forum, smart one, where people discuss topics and share thoughts. Caring isn't the issue.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
"I guess Ali wasn't fighting for the first half of the fight against Foreman......... "
Interesting....I remember Ali being on his feet and fighting. A tad different from being on your back in a fetal position. How are you drawing the parallel?
cxx31,
Your insight is appreciated. Especially because Tito, who is the king of excuses, did not make a single excuse for the loss (including premature stoppage), so thanks for making excuses for him.
it seemed to me that Chuck could've ended it early but was intentionally trying to stretch it out for entertainment value.
It did look that way, but I think Chuck was being extremely careful not to punch himself out, knowing that he could have to go five rounds.
"max power, yes, UFC rules lets you win by punching right in the back of the head (Arlovski's fight tonight) after being warned for the same thing, and stops fights as long as the guy on top is throwing vicious looking punches down on the opponents arms or ass or whatever. That's enough to give the ref stoppage arousal."
I think what prompted the stoppage, and the mulligans for hitting the back of the head for Arlovski, were teh result of Cruz just NOT MOVING AT ALL while Arlovski was destroying the back of his head.
If your strategy is to cover up and try to block strikes until your opponent gets tired that is not an intelligent strategy hence not an intelligent defence.
An intelligent defence is just not blocking an attacking but doing something to STOP THE ATTACK. If you're hoping the attacker will stop attacking when he gets tired YOU are doing nothing to stop the attack.
It's really that simple.
Tito went to escape at the very end right when it was stopped. As a big Tito fan I can honestly say that he was not hurt but he was also not showing the ref he could defend. in that situation the ref doesnt know if your just riding it out or you taking serious damage. Had to make the call and Tito gave him just a little to much time to do it. Fair stoppage.