Babalu out of the UFC???

Question

I'm hearing Dana White terminated Babalu's contract and he's out for good, if it's true what are your thoughts on the whole situation?

Answer 1

Good for Dana White. The behavior that Sobral displayed during that fight only lends credence to the human cockfighting stereotype. Sobral put enough of a beating on Heath to make up for any disrespect that Sobral felt from Heath. He purposefully and maliciously choked Heath out after Heath had tapped, and after Mazzagatti had acknowledged the tap and called the fight.

EDIT: This is now confirmed.
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/blog/box_experts/post/UFC-cuts-quot-Babalu-quot-loose;_ylt=AlsY4nAwhMJlXn.1Mik2x2iUxLYF?urn=box,43467

And Bullet, Bodog is not even the minor leagues. They are so far down the list that they have to show their big shows for free because nobody will buy their PPVs. Tito is still around because he's never intentionally tried to injure someone like Sobral did, and Dana White hates his ***.

Answer 2

I definitely agree with the firing. MMA is a dangerous sport. Very strict rules are put into place to protect the health of fighters. One of the very basic rules and most important to the ongoing health of fighters states that when a fighters taps or signifies that he has given up, the fight is over.

Babalu broke one of the most important rules in MMA. He continued to attack a defenseless opponent, even after referee intervention. This kind of behavior does not belong in MMA. MMA has worked very hard to shake the "human cockfighting" reputation that it earned in UFC 1 through 12. The sport has coming a long way from it's brutal beginnings and is just recently getting recognition for being an art form, much like boxing. A fighter who continues to attack, even after referee intervention only serves to harm the sport.

I see very good reasons why Dana would fire Babalu besides the above obvious.

1) A danger to other fighters.
Do you think fighters will want to get into the ring with a guy that they suspect may continue to attack after the fight is over? Not to mention that the fighters lost respect for him, which could be seen when Manny from TUF threw Babalu's hat back into the ring after he caught it when Babalu threw it into the crowd.

2) The fans have turned against Babalu.
Babalu has turned from a fighter that draws a crowd to an enemy. Everytime he steps into the ring, it will be to an onslaught of boos. Nobody wants to see him in a main event ever again. When the fans turn on a fighter, as a business, the UFC has no choice but to drop them.

I'm quite sad that this has happened. Babalu is a master submission fighter, long time #1 contender, abu dhabi champion, and the list goes on. I did enjoy him as a fighter. However, I lose respect for anyone who doesn't obey the very basic rules that define a dangerous combat sport.

Answer 3

If I was Dana White, he would be gone for good. It's true that the choke would have to be applied for a much longer period of time for there to have been a risk of actual injury, but for the image of the UFC and the sport in general, any fighter who continue to willfully punish an opponent after the opponent has submitted and the ref has called the fight should be terminated. Babalu's excuse was pathetic. First of all, how much of an insecure jerk is he if he still felt like he had to "teach him a lesson in respect" after he had soundly beaten him in the fight? Second of all, both fighters have an ultimate obligation to respect the ref and his orders. That's imperative if MMA is going to continue to gain respect as a legitimate sporting event. If your opponent disrespected you, that hardly gives you any excuse for disrepecting the ref.

Answer 4

Didn't Babalu wear an orange jumpsuit out to the cage? So he can joke on it but no one else can? Either way what he did was total BS. You proved that Heath isn't at your level and screwed him up bad, why did you need to make an *** of yourself. I support Dana 110% in this decision.

It was also good to hear the fans booing when they realized how long he held it on. The Vegas fans aren't TOTAL morons... Cali fans on the other hand...

EDIT: Bullet... Tito never tried to injure anyone on purpose. What caliber level is Babalu anyway? He couldn't beat Chuck, and he can't beat Rampage, Hendo, Wanderlei, or Shogun. And who becomes a star in Bodog? I don't think I can name one of their fighters.

Answer 5

Really its Babalu's fault because he admitted to holding the choke long on purpose in his post fight interview. When I read the play by play it said he held the choke for 4-6 seconds after the ref stepped in and that he was trying to pull him off while babalu continued to hold the choke, so I downloaded the fight off of UFC on demand it this was completely incorrect, a fighter is not supposed to release a submission if the fighter taps, only when the referree steps in. So he was not wrong to continue after the tap and he only held the choke for barely a full second after the ref stepped in to stop it. But because it was such a bloody and brutal fight, and that dispite tapping heath was unconcious after he released the choke (you could even see him shiver/convulse a little in after babalu was returning to his corner) it would have look really bad for there to be no displinary action.

BJ Penn did the same thing after his fight with Pulver and even appeared to squeeze harder for a second after the ref stepped in. So I firmly think that it is because in the heat of the moment Babalu wanted to look like a tuff guy and say he did it on purpose, thats what got him in trouble.

EDIT: if you haven't seen it here is a GIF of the end of the fight side by side with a GIF of the end of BJ Penn vs Jens Pulver II- http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=631757

Answer 6

It easily went from one of the best fights of the night to one of the worst displays of sportsmanship in MMA. We got to see everything from Babalu, good striking, excellent GnP, and a submission. Too bad its has been tarnished and he's now an Elite XC candidate. One of the amazing things about MMA is the level of respect for other fighters and the rules. Think about the things you would be tempted to do that are illegal when getting pummeled or choked but they rarely happen.

Answer 7

I think it is good news. Right now UFC is perceived as being safer than boxing. If a death occurs for some stupid reason like someone failing to let go of a choke then the media will go absolutely crazy and there will be moves to ban the sport.

White should send a message that there is zero tolerance. It might be cool in Brazil to hold a choke after a guy taps but there is no room for that in a main stream sport.

I support White 100%.

Answer 8

he's got to set an example. He wants ufc to be mainstream and when you have punks who act like babalu, it hurts the credibility that the ufc is trying to portray. He's not expelled for good, he will come back.

Answer 9

I had heard about losing half his purse to the Nevada Athlethic Commission, but having his contract terminated seems a bit much. The other fighter suffered no serious after affects so I think a fine should be it.

Answer 10

only a complete idiot would terminate a fighter on babalus level. suspension sure but termination is way unnecassary. if he gets terminated i hope he goes to bodog and becomes a superstar.i kno dana white wants to get rid of the street thug image but terminating babalu is going to far and unfair, he never terminated tito ortiz and hes a total asshole.