Classy amateur mma fighter taps out to spare his opponent from any further damage.

[The Great Cochrane]

MMA Fighting - Amateur MMA isn't often featured in the report but we decided to make an exception. The 'poor, nasty, brutish and [hopefully] short' phase of the sport is more often than not an eyesore so any chance to balance out the universe should be taken.

Someone working to that end is amateur flyweight Mike Pantangco. While dominating fellow amateur Jeremy Rasner in Michigan's 'Prison City Fight League' on Mar. 29, Pantangco, a Bible camp counselor originally hailing from the Philippines, decided to forfeit the bout rather than see his opponent absorb any further damage. Ruled a win for Rasner via TKO (Retirement), the bout came to close in the final seconds of the first, three-minute round.

"I just feel that there's no point fighting him because he didn't train against me and I didn't train for him and I just feel like we're amateur fighters," Pantangco told Inside MMA. "We don't get money. We don't get paid and I know that the only thing I'm going to finish him to go in the hospital or get hurt. I just feel terrible so I'm just going to give him the win."

The selfless act comes just a year removed from the death of another amateur competing in Michigan, a state where unregulated amateur MMA still flourishes.

See below for Pantangco's segment on Inside MMA.

[video=youtube;RyBZQlJ8VeA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyBZQlJ8VeA[/video]

Props to that dude, being a fighter myself I thrive in the spotlight too much to do something like that. But that guy deserves my respect to do something that I could never do.

Here's to you, Mike Pantangco.

 

[Postman Dave]

Sort of pointless being an MMA fighter if that's his attitude towards it, no?

I mean, clearly he's a good bloke and all, but maybe he should look for a different hobby.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Yeah, personally I don't see the point. I mean you have to be competitive if you want to... you know? Compete.

But at my gym we also value the warrior's spirit as well. Which this is more of a testament to than MMA itself.

 

[Fuji Vice]

He seems like a nice guy, and we all know where they finish....

 

[Swinny]

He seems like a nice guy, and we all know where they finish....

Into a tissue? :shifty: