Never Tap

[David Rosado]

Conor Heun is a 10th Planet OG. He changed my perspective on toughness, teaching me that it was largely mental. He had his jaw split in two from the first punch in one of his fights and went on to win a decision, even though his jaw clicked every time he was punched in the face. That's mental toughness.

It is pretty common for MMA fighters to say that they will not tap to a choke. I think Conor may have overstated his position here - I like to think he would tap rather than have his neck twisted out of shape, but his larger point was that he was making a calculated decision when he decided not to tap to a deeply set armbar. Notice that his examples are being knocked out or choked out - the ref can stop the fight in those cases to prevent further damage.

As Conor reports, his arm was really just sprained. He felt that was an acceptable amount of damage. If it had been a truly career ending injury that he was dealing with, I don't think he would have reacted the same way.

Conor realized he could survive and there is a certain amount of damage that was acceptable.

Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying. My points are: it's his body so it's his choice. Me personally, I prefer wisdom over toughness. I respect his stance, but I disagreed with his quip that "no one will remember your name." Plenty of fighters tap and they're doing just fine.

[scottross]

I absolutely understand where you are coming from. I acknowledge that this is 95% about Conor being a friend of mine, and 5% with me admiring his toughness.

I would not encourage a student of mine to have the same stance, I have had to tell some of them that they should tap - at least for low-level tournaments. For ADCC, maybe it's worth - I don't know. But Conor Heun was fighting for glory - 15 minutes to glory, that's how he described MMA. He was trying to prove to himself, first and foremost, what he was made of - and that was sterner of stuff than most of us.

You are right though, tapping is perfectly acceptable, and preferable in most cases. There's a line between a sprain and a break - and I think most fighters would allow a sprain.

On the other hand, I know a UFC fighter who vowed he would never tap to a choke but did when he was finally caught in one because he felt it a sign of respect to his opponent. I admire that sentiment as well - tapping is a sign of respect.

[scottross]

If Matt Hughes got choked out by Frank Trigg, Trigg would've won that fight. Matt Hughes did not get choked out by Frank Trigg though. Matt Hughes resisted and escaped the choke. But when GSP armbarred him, he tapped. And he is a legend. And the guy in the video is not.

Poor example withdrawn. That was based on hearsay that I remember from the time of the fight.

[David Rosado]

"Tapping as a sign of respect." That's a pretty cool way to see it.