10/05/2026
I’m genuinely curious where people stand on this, because I think there’s an interesting line between sportsmanship, accountability, and simply getting back the same energy you’ve been giving.
Saturday night at the fights, we competed against a team that had spent the better part of the last three or four months doing a lot of talking. Some of it was normal competitive banter, but plenty of it crossed into disrespectful and derogatory territory.
That has never really been how we operate at Pariah.
We don’t make a habit of disrespecting opponents. We don’t talk down about other gyms. When our athletes win, we normally celebrate with our team, show respect to the opponent, and move on. Anyone who has been around us for any length of time knows that.
But Saturday, after months of hearing it, our athlete knocked their athlete out in less than a minute.
And yes—we gave some of that energy back.
Were we louder than normal? Absolutely.
Did we act out a little bit? Probably.
Was it overboard? Maybe, depending on who you ask.
But here is the part I’m curious about:
If someone antagonizes you for months, talks disrespectfully about you and your team, and is perfectly comfortable doing it when they believe they’re going to win…are they also obligated to accept what comes back when they lose?
Or is the expectation that one side gets to talk indefinitely, but the other side is somehow supposed to remain completely silent once the outcome doesn’t go their way?
What I actually respected most was the opposing athlete himself. When we spoke afterward, I apologized for some of the back-and-forth, and his response was basically, “I opened my mouth. I got what I deserved.”
I can respect that.
What I have a harder time respecting is coaches becoming upset afterward about the reaction while apparently having very little issue with everything that led up to it.
To me, respect has to work both ways.
If you truly respect another gym, another coach, or another fighter, that respect should exist before the fight—not just after the result doesn’t go your way.
Competition comes with emotion. Talking comes with consequences. And if you choose to make things personal before the fight, I think you also have to be prepared to eat a little crow afterward if things don’t work out.
So I’m genuinely interested in other people’s thoughts:
Where is the line?
If someone spends months talking and antagonizing an opponent, is the winning side wrong for giving it back afterward?
Or is accepting that response simply part of the territory once you decided to start talking in the first place?
