Comments on: Renato Babalu Sobral VS David Heath UFC 74 Choke Video

By: that guy

that guy — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:49:25 +0000

Personally I think releasing Sobral from the UFC was way to harsh of a punishment. That being said Sobral did break the rules and some diciplinary measures are called for. I beleive the fine, although steep, was justified and a 3-6 month suspension would have been appropriate punishment. Dana White needs to consider everything that created this situation. While it is true that as a professional Sobral should have controlled his emotions, he is but a man. Men make mistakes.
Now on to Heath, he showed a complete lack of respect, professionalism, and class in attacking Sobral’s personal life. He has no right to comment on the personal life of anyone he does not have a personal relationship with.
Heath and all fighters who show a gross lack of sportsmanship like he did should also be punished for their actions. Also had this been Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, or any other big money name no actions would have been taken. This is a huge double standard and shows that Dana White only cares about money.

By: EricT

EricT — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:46:19 +0000

“I’ve been in many grappling matches where I didn’t tap our and passed out, you wake up and feel the same way as you did before you went to sleep.”

Brain damage is cumulative.

“If RS kept the hold on for 3 minutes after he passed out, then yes, Heath would have suffered brain damage.”

No, you’re confusing a blood choke with asphyxiation. They are NOT the same.

Asphyxiation is when no OXYGEN is getting to the LUNGS. This eventually leads to depletion of oxygen in the blood, but it takes a while (David Blaine went 17 minutes!) for the oxygen to be used up, and you remain conscious the whole time.

A blood choke cuts off BLOOD FLOW to the BRAIN. Huge difference. You become unconscious within SECONDS, at which point it’s doing brain damage. You can kill someone very easily. Continuing to hold it when the ref is trying to pry your arms off is completely fucking reprehensible.

“Banning him and the sport is ridiculous and absurd.”

Fuck no it’s not. Not if you want it to actually BE a sport.

UFC used to just be a circus. It was essentially human cock-fighting. It was banned in a lot of big markets. For it to grow, it had to be taken seriously as a real sport. So they created rules designed to prevent serious injury or death. You can no longer strike the nuts, the throat, the back of the head, etc.

Some psycho who is willing to look the ref in the eye and maintain a blood choke NEEDS to be removed from the sport, for the sake of the sport. Period. They did exactly the right thing.

“The ref should have stopped this fight before he got to the the gator roll submission.”

I agree with that.

“he did it on purpose to show david heath that he needed to show some respect to a fighter with superior skills”

Sobral has already beat the shit out of Heath, drenched him in his own blood, and had choked him into submission. Heath tapped out. Sobral won, decisively. That was more than enough.

Yet he chose to violate the rules of the game, to ignore the tapout, to ignore the ref, and potentially cause permanent harm to an already defeated foe who was no longer able to defend himself. And you suggest this was to teach a lesson about GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP?! *rofl*

You don’t teach anyone about ‘respect’ by behaving like a fucking douchebag. Sobral’s behavior is the ultimate example of BAD sportsmanship. More importantly, it was too dangerous. The rules and refs are there to protect people, to prevent the sport from having a ‘bad day’. If you don’t obey them, you don’t get to play. Period. Good riddance, Sobral.

By: mr42069

mr42069 — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:19:33 +0000

i don’t see why everyone is so pissed off about Babalu choking out david heath. he shouldn’t be released from the ufc. he did it on purpose to show david heath that he needed to show some respect to a fighter with superior skills. he shouldn’t be penalized in any way and i think dana white has made an idiotic mistake

By: Primaltwo

Primaltwo — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:11:21 +0000

All these critics with their nonsense antics and cries for help to ban this sport because of one isolated incidence. I’ve been in many grappling matches where I didn’t tap our and passed out, you wake up and feel the same way as you did before you went to sleep. If RS kept the hold on for 3 minutes after he passed out, then yes, Heath would have suffered brain damage. Since RS did this intentionally, he should be fined and allowed to fight later. Banning him and the sport if ridiculous and absurd. The ref should have stopped this fight before he got to the the gator roll submission.

By: brandon

brandon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:14:35 +0000

Babalu kicks ass and heath got what he deserved babalu should still be in the ufc any one who thinks different sucks balls

By: patrickgamil

patrickgamil — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:04:44 +0000

ref should be selling popcord in the little leagues

By: shadow

shadow — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:44:35 +0000

i also gotta agree with john campea. tap out means the fight is OVER. the ref TELLING you to it’s over means the fight is OVER. making someone tap IS the lesson the superior fighter teaches the lesser one. continuing to hold on afterwards is just cowardly.

dana white has been fighting stigma for over a decade to bring mma to a north american audience. stupid actions like this just make it all the more difficult for him to convince the critics that mma fighters are not barbarians, and that mma should be considered a SPORT.

By: Kelly Jo

Kelly Jo — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:35:12 +0000

Renato and David’s fight was by far one of the bloodiest fights i’ve ever seen, and not just in the UFC. In my opinion, Steve is an insecure s.o.b. who only refs for a quick power trip and should have never been hired in the ufc in the first place. the choke that everyone seems to be so upset over, never should have happened because any ref who actually cared about the fighters safety and not creating some low-budget horror film would have had that cut checked. Renato is exactly what i like to see in a fighter. i will agree that yes, he may have took things a little too far, and yea, even some of the best fighters talk shit, but with what little details i have of the situation, i believe Heath was very immature and classless in the way he went about it. it is an absolute insult to all ufc fans to ban such an incredible fighter like Renato. Heath learned a lesson, hopefully steve learned a lesson and will eventually be a better ref, though i doubt that he will, and Renato is and always will be someone i respect very much and i hope to be able to continue watching him fight. also, for those of you who disagree and automaticly think babalou should be banned, i only ask that you try to keep an open mind and realize how hard babalou has worked to become what he is and that it shouldnt all be thrown away for someone like david heath who obviously only thinks of himself.

By: jimmy

jimmy — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:48:12 +0000

I would just like to know why BJ Penn didnt get the same treatment. I could understand Royce Gracie since it was the first UFC, but why didnt they start this with BJ vs Pulver. Same thing. In the post fight interview with BJ they asked him why he held it so long and he said that he didnt hold it long enough. Just like Babalu said he did it on purpose. I am not saying what he did is wrong i just think they should penalize anyone who does it. Even big hitters like BJ.

By: TUMADRE

TUMADRE — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:04:35 +0000

No matter what Sobral or Heath did both should be sanction. Heath to irrespects sobral, got his ass kick, but Sobral irrespects the sport of the MMA. He will be sanction for another fighter…one of this day, sooner o later he will be cought for a true MMA fighter. Besides that all that bullshit… I do not like sobral neither heats
Mazagatti he should stops the fight… or Heath corner…
Referee for this fights should be imposed to the fighter will, they shoul have more power than just take a point out I think that they should have the power in some cases to desqualified a fighter like bad attitute, like mother fuc… Sobral.