bermuDa

Strange Famous, I'm sorry but you are talking about fighting like someone who has never trained in a practical martial art. The only honorable way to settle a dispute is to avoid fighting. In a real fight, honor stops short of the first punch. When someone wants to hurt you or your loved ones, you have to commit to putting them in a position from which they cannot do you harm. If that means striking them until they are unconscious, or kicking them when they're down, groin shots or worse, it's all a part of self-defense. It's only when they are no longer a threat and you continue to attack that you cross the line of self-defense (at least in a legal sense).

What I like about MMA is it incorporates a lot of different styles and skill sets into one fight. It's as close as you can get to a real fight without throwing rules out the window (and still be able to televise it). As a practical style, MMA practicioners are trained to attack and defend on the ground; they are far from defenseless (as high_jinx said, BJJ fighters can be even more dangerous on their backs than on their feet). If you want to talk in terms of honor, attacking a defenseless person is dishonorable. Being on the ground does not necessarily mean that someone is defenseless.

There's really no honor lost in MMA, since it's all a part of the rules. Both fighters know what they're getting into when they step into the ring, and if they get taken to the ground and beaten into submission (which I have seen less of lately as the fighters become more well-rounded and improve their ground skills), it's their own fault for dropping their guard or being unprepared. If someone stepped into boxing ring and tried to "ground 'n pound" their opponent, they wouldn't get far before the ref puts a stop to it, not because boxing is more noble than MMA, but because the rules are different.

As for Tyson vs MMA, if I were a heavyweight fighter with a lot of confidence, I would get close, work the knees and try to get him on the ground ASAP. I wouldn't want to go blow for blow with him unless if I were built like a redwood. One could expect Tyson's stand-up to be phenomenal, but without a lot of training he would be more vulnerable to submission techniques than a knockout punch. From a strategic point of view, the goal is finding your opponent's weakness and using it to your advantage; in MMA there are just more variables to consider. If you are fighting a skilled opponent on their terms, or through some one-sided, self-imposed concept of honor, you are likely dooming yourself to an ass-whoopin.

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