Not true, you don't understand competition or loving something enough to keep at it even if someone bests you once in awhile.
Oh, yeah, and the money.
"To many fighters the only thing that matters is having a perfect record"? I am afraid that I have to disagree with that on some level. Many fighters fight for a variety of reasons to start with and those reasons are the driving force for them primarily. Having or keeping an unblemished record is just an out growth of some of this really and maybe not the driving force behind why a fighter fights is what I have found.
There are also some other additional factors to all this as well. Fighting in front of tens of thousands of people is a pretty big rush. It and the fame, notoriety, and recognition it brings to a fighter is something that I have experienced and can become quite intoxicating. Fighters usually have a hard time walking away from all that and other things that fighting brings them when they retire. They often see a loss as just a temporary set-back or something that was bound to probably happen at some point in their careers anyways. They resume training and fighting usually after regrouping themselves mentally and emotionally from having lost then is what you often see especially if they have a good record established with many more wins than losses.
Retiring undefeated is a goal in their mind I think but it really becomes secondary to the other reasons for them fighting along with some of the other things I mentioned once they have experienced a loss.
"The only thing that matters is having a perfect record and once that is ruined, there is no reason to continue anymore."
That sentiment is about as ridiculous as it gets, to the point where I'd have to wonder if the person making it suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome.
You know what happens to fighters who retire undefeated? They stop making money. Ever heard of Phillip Miller? Of course you haven't. He went 12-0 in MMA, even having a few fights in the UFC. Retired undefeated, yay! And with no titles or legacy to talk about.
If you're fighting good competition, you will lose. If Chris Weidman retired today, people would call him crazy. You fight, you lose, you get better, you come back. Perfect records mean nothing without something more substantial behind them. If I had a single MMA fight and won, I could retire undefeated, and nobody would give a crap.
Fighters fight for a living, dude. Losing is nothing more than an occupational hazard.
You have a strange outlook on what's important.
You can lay the beat-down on an infinite amount of crappy fighters and not prove a thing.
The important thing is taking on the best and sometimes that involves mixing it up with somebody who is actually better than you. You know what's more impressive than having an unbeaten streak? Proving that nobody gets the better of you a second time, it shows you can adapt and grow.
Well like the guy above, the money.
But it's besides that. Most of these guys dreamed to be this. Now they got it. All great people loses at least once, so what? They learn from their mistakes. Except Chuck Norris, he never loses.
Edit: Know your meme.
clay the carpenter is 0-5 and still has the heart to go
5 more rounds
u instead cannot even go 1 round
so why bother?
The money.
yyyeeaaahh.. no!
You kids are..
Never mind.
The only thing that matters is having a perfect record and once that is ruined, there is no reason to continue anymore. Lyoto Machida and Cain Velasquez should have retired undefeated when they had the chance. Not many people retire with undefeated records.
