The subject of corner stoppages came up recently during UFC 272 when Rafael dos Anjos was beating Renato Moicano in dominant fashion. Everyone, including Michael Bisping, felt the corner of Moicano should have stopped the fight to protect their fighter.
It was not meant as disrespectful to Renato Moicano, he was stepping up on less than a week's notice to challenge Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 272. Michael Bisping felt like the corner should have stepped in after realizing their fighter was not going to win.
“It does [make me uncomfortable],” Bisping said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “The last thing I would ever want to do is have my words be construed as insulting to Moicano. I have tremendous respect for what he did and what he went through — to step up to the plate on Tuesday and take on dos Anjos for five rounds at a catchweight is an incredible feat of bravery in itself. But the reality is, after three rounds, he was not gonna win that fight. It’s impossible to win a decision, he didn’t have the snap or the pop to beat dos Anjos or finish dos Anjos, and he was just beaten by the better man on the night. That’s how it goes.”
Throwing in the towel in MMA is a very hot topic and many UFC fighters have made it clear they don't want their corners to do it. It was seen recently at UFC 271 when Derek Brunson's corner threw in the towel. Otherwise, it's something rarely seen in the sport.
“In mixed martial arts, for whatever reason, we just don’t see it,” Bisping said. “I know Jason Parillo threw the towel in when B.J. Penn fought Georges St-Pierre for the second time. There aren’t many other occasions I can think of where that happens. … But in boxing, it’s a common thing. It happens a lot. I think that a lot of coaches [in MMA] need to man up. You’re looking after your fighter. I think what it is, a lot of coaches attach their ego to the fighter, because they go through it together. They want them to win, and then by winning, that is kind of like the coach winning as well. And if the fighter’s losing, that’s the coach losing.”
The long-term effects of a damaging loss are very serious and it could affect a fight both mentally and physically. Rafael dos Anjos caused a lot of damage to Renato Moicano at UFC 272.
“Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘You know what, today’s not our day. You’re gonna lose and I want you to continue to have a long, fruitful career.’ Because nevermind the physical damage they’re going to endure in that fight — Moicano was a mess, let’s be honest — the psychological damage is even more,” Michael Bisping said. “It’s one thing to get caught. If you get caught by a shot and you get knocked out, fighters have a great way of convincing ourselves, ‘Well we just got caught. We all get caught here and there.’
“But to get systematically beaten down for five rounds to where commentators say this needs to be stopped, there’s psychological trauma there. That’s going to affect your confidence going forward, and there’s a potential that fighter may never be the same again. So right then and there, if they’re stopping that fight, they are saving the fighter’s career.
“So what, you lose some here and there. Go home, feel sorry for yourself, heal up, and get back in the saddle. Doing that [not stopping the fight], you never know, there could be lifelong injuries.”
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