Is it taboo to say you cannot beat another guy?

[sampuncher]

Chuck's head trainer said they avoided a fight w machida "It's all wrong for us,that match"

Damn shame, that's a fight I wish I could have seen in both of their primes.

 

[omawho402]

If you dont believe you have a way to win, why would you take the fight?

To try your best and perhaps pleasantly surprise yourself. Sometimes showing up is the hard part and you just don't know it (not you directly, but ppl in general)

 

[Candy Routure]

Remco was the first ever to do it.

 

[sampuncher]

If you dont believe you have a way to win, why would you take the fight?

Risk vs Reward.

 

[Felis]

If you dont believe you have a way to win, why would you take the fight?

Well, money, obviously.

Also -as long as you don't get completely destroyed- sometimes even a loss might raise your profile.

 

[Willek]

Chuck's head trainer said they avoided a fight w machida "It's all wrong for us,that match"

Forrest Griffin ducked being Machida’s first UFC fight.

Instead Forrest took an easier fight with Keith Jardine.

 

[H41ph_84k3d]

Beat them off? Yeah, that sounds pretty bad, lol.

 

[M4D SCIENTIST]

Chuck's head trainer said they avoided a fight w machida "It's all wrong for us,that match"

Eh, coaches do this all the time behind the scenes. There’s plenty of fights that get offered to fighters but they end up denying cause of this exact reason.

 

[HHJ]

Eh, coaches do this all the time behind the scenes. There’s plenty of fights that get offered to fighters but they end up denying cause of this exact reason.

Yeah i know but this time it's important. We never heard of chuck not fighting anybody. Also shows how machida's style was feared.

 

[notafighter86]

Well, money, obviously.

If you dont have a way to win, then it's short sighted, as you're likely going to impact future earnings.

 

[Epicman1324]

After fighting Anderson, Forrest Griffin was asked backstage if he wanted a rematch, and said "Fuck no I don't want a rematch, I wanna un-match the first match"

 

[pThree]

Bader knew he had no chance against Rumble

 

[capnlarge]

Certainly not Kazushi Sakuraba
Pride probably would've tried to run back Silva vs Griffin 4 times lol

 

[Sticko]

I think Izzy saying he wants to fight Jon Jones in like 2 years was probably a tacit admission that he thought he'd lose if they fought right away

But tbf I think Izzy is still getting better

 

[KID Yamamoto]

Whittaker said him vs Yoel 2 waa 50/50. He was very accurate there lol.

 

[Cid]

Forrest Griffin always had that self depreciation thing going on. I remember when he was asked about rumors of him fight JBJ he said sonething like "I better not be fight Jon Jones! I'll get killed worse than the Silva fight"

Close. Said it couldn't be worse than Anderson Silva. Did say he'd get whooped though.

 

[Combat-Betting]

Chael said after fighting Jones he would not do a rematch because he couldn't win

Forrest said that about Anderson in slightly different words

Derrick Lewis about fighting for the title

 

[Rvd Slmr]

Forrest Griffin always had that self depreciation thing going on. I remember when he was asked about rumors of him fight JBJ he said sonething like "I better not be fight Jon Jones! I'll get killed worse than the Silva fight"

Second best promo ever, after the Renan Barao one.

 

[Richard Fannin]

Famous example are Fujita before fighting Wanderlei. Something like the only path to victory he sees is relying on his thick skull to tire Silva out.

Also, Shibata before fighting Sexyama was rather pessimistic, talked about never getting a break/easy fight in his interview, and how he doesn't see any obvious weaknesses in Akiyama.
Poor Shibata was going through a rough patch, and his next opponent after that was Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, so it's not like they listened to him either

He still gave his all every time, tough guy this "Mad Dog Pro-Wrestler". Between Funaki and Sakuraba, his mentors were badasses.

 

[Felis]

If you dont have a way to win, then it's short sighted, as you're likely going to impact future earnings.

Depends on how bright that future really is.
If realistically you're a middle of the pack fighter at best, taking a high profile fight might be the smart choice even if you losing that fight is pretty much guaranteed.