MovieChat Forums > Never Back Down (2008) Discussion > My biggest problem as an MMA fan...

My biggest problem as an MMA fan...

posted 14 years ago by kev_devine
9 replies | jump to latest

Ok theres a lot of things in this film that are unrealistic but a lot of the fight scenes and things are on the whole not too bad which is why it made me kinda angry to see a glaring error in the final fight scene, pretty much the most important part of the most important scene of the film.

I am referring to the standing guilitine choke the bad guy has the good guy in at the end, first of all this is one of the most basic submission moves to pull off in MMA most people instinctively target someones neck if they try take them down so its particularly odd to see the BEATDOWN champion and supposed expert fighter completely fail at it when we've seen him do far more complex techniques throughout the film.

When the camera cuts to sideview of the fight he has one arm around good guys neck and his other arm just flailing at his side while he screams like an idiot. In order to be choking his opponent he would have to lock his arm that is around the neck onto something normally it would be clasping his hands together but could grab his own arm, this applies pressure to opponents neck and stops opponent from breaking free. As it is there is absolutely nothing stopping good guy from using both his arms to yank bad guys one arm away or pick him up and slam him or do whatever he likes really and also there is nothing choking him anyway making the whole almost blacking out thing a mute point and also why some random dude in the crowd is yelling for the good guy to tap out to the absolutely non threatening hold i have no clue(especially stupid idea since its a streetfight and the guy has just put his best friend in hospital in an unprovoked assault just to fight the good guy).

Surprised no one has picked up on this at all pretty glaring error to anyone with even basic MMA/BJJ knowledge.

[–] rockdawg21 14 years ago

LOL, you can still apply a guillotine with 1 arm. The other arm just adds more leverage. Frank Mir in an interview spoke about the squeezing power of Joe "Daddy" Stevenson, admittedly that Joe Stevenson used a 1-arm guillotine and nearly choked him out.

However, I did think it was funny because a standing guillotine is pretty easy to defend, especially when the guy is the same height as you and only holding it with 1 arm.

[–] Brommabo 14 years ago

My biggest problem as a kickboxer is that they never showed Jake stretching ever :P
It's not enough to lift tractor wheels and kick bags. I think Jake was allready pretty strong from his football practices. What he probably lacked, except for good techique, would be flexibility. To be able to kick as high as another guys head he'd mainly have to stretch, and stretch. Not as fun to watch I admit ;) but they could have showed a short sceene of that to make the training a bit more realisitic.

[–] woodsmith 14 years ago

They showed a lot of stretching in the montage. Especially hamstring stretches, haha.

OP. Surely the 'biggest' problem is the lack of damage the fighters take in the fights. For example, in the very first fight between Jake and Ryan, Jake lands a couple of huge hits on ryans head and ryan doesn't even notice them. If Jake can 'one hit' a big football player then a direct hit on anyone would do damage. Training for martial arts will build up tolerance, but a big hit is a big hit. This happens again in the final fight. Jake lands a monster punch on Ryan when he is down and Ryan then grins and rolls away.

Another point I can think of is when Jake is slammed onto a car bonnet and then onto the floor. That would a) smash your head in as you wouldn't have been able to use the arm technique to stop your head smashing back, and b) screwed up his back.

[–] BoSoxRules 8 years ago

"For example, in the very first fight between Jake and Ryan, Jake lands a couple of huge hits on ryans head and ryan doesn't even notice them."

"Iowa, that was a cheap one!" Yeah, come on. It was like he was completely unfazed by Jake's punches.

[–] megameme (370) 8 years ago

you guys never heard of punch resistance? everyone reacts differently to being hit.

[–] cyguration (3951) 4 years ago

Yeah but physics tells us that velocity x mass is not something you can resist when x pounds of pressure per square inch is moving at you at y feet per second. Masvidal learned that the hard way, thinking he could tank Usman's punches.

All it took was one punch from Usman to lay out Masvidal, and Masvidal is a guy known for taking heavy hits since his backyard, street fighting days.

[–] megameme (370) 4 years ago

you speak like someone who has never been in a fight before have at it nerd

[–] BrickNash 8 years ago

If you want realism then watch a real fight, this is a motion picture.

it's not meant to look real nor do I want it to look real as it's different forms of art. I enjoy the high choreography of martial arts films and you don't get that in a real fight so to make both the same is just being greedy.

[–] 8 years ago

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