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I'm watching all these MMA training videos on youtube, with this coach who's giving commentary, and he talks a lot about etiquette and ego. Like, when you're sparring you're supposed to hit your opponent lightly because you're both just practicing your technique and so on, you're not supposed to hit them hard. But I guess a frequent-ish problem is things escalating, this coach keeps talking saying things like "see this guy's really great, he doesn't let his ego get in the way, the other guy got a sneaky hit off there and this guy was friendly about it", and he keeps talking in knowing terms about mild escalations. Like he'll say "her opponent did X, so her next hit was a little harder, just showing him not to do that" and so on, where X is something (evidently) annoying.

So it's like, an important aspect of etiquette is not hitting too hard during sparring, but also it's expected that there will be these little minor breaks somewhat frequently. And I kind of wonder... is this kind of behavior a personality trait that's being selected for among MMA enthusiasts, or is it inherent to the activity. Like, usually I'm an absolutely non-competitive person, I just don't care about winning at things. And I don't have this like, strong urge to punish slights against me, right, like in life if someone annoys me my default response is to ignore them, I don't have an impulse to "return fire". So would I do better, if it were me? Or is there something inherent to being hit a bunch, even lightly, that brings out the aggression in you? I suspect there might be. I suspect even I might, you know, bop a guy a little hard if he got me with a particularly sneaky move, it might just be part of human nature.

I don't really know but it's interesting to contemplate.

#y'know‚ that's actually really interesting‚ im no expert but it does make me remember smth#i was in a couple self-defense schools as a kid- at one of them‚ as one of the more advanced students i sometimes helped with new kids#so i was involved/ watching a lot of kids learning to spar#i think you're right that there's something inherent to it- it becomes a conversation‚ and when the /medium/ is contact‚#you become inclined to reply that way#but i suspect there is also something individual about it- for example‚ bc we were kids learning‚#there was a tendency for things to get a little out of hand-#we'd separate and reset frequently bc of escalation or someone getting frustrated especially#and i remember there being a split just of motivation‚ so to speak- you could tell the difference#between kids who would back off instantly if they took a hard hit or anything happened‚ and those who were more reluctant to end the spar#i was one of the latter‚ lol- i can be very competitve‚ though I've learned to reign it in a lot#i would almost never call a break unless the instructor stopped us or gave us a win/end condition for the spar#i remember a specific time my partner had gotten a good hit to my chest‚ knocked the wind out of me#and instead of calling it to regain my breath‚ i jumped back up and instantly went to get him back#wise? no‚ but my mind was going 'you jerk‚ that hurt!' and in that give-and-take‚ my response was to give it right back#so i suspect that impulse is selected for‚ if only bc people who are attracted to something like mma will#always be those who are willing to take that hit and stay in the game rather than those who. well.#would probably rather do anything other than fight recreationally lmao