In an amazing act of sportsmanship, winning MMA fighter Mike Pantangco taps out to prevent himself from seriously injuring his opponent, Jeremy Rasner
Mike Pantangco was an amateur MMA fighter who was totally dominating a fight against Jeremy Rasner at the Prison City Fighter League when he realized that his opponent was no match against him. Fearing that he might critically injure and hospitalize Rasner, Pantangco decided it was necessary to tap out and give Rasner the win for the match.
In the middle of a fiery bout, audiences were shocked to see Pantangco kneel in front of Rasner as he tapped the floor of the octagon a couple of times, signifying that he no longer wanted to continue the fight.
Rasner and the referee appeared to be surprised by Pantangco’s sudden move. Pantangco raised Rasner’s arm to indicate the latter as the winner of the bout and the referee later on acknowledged the events and declared Rasner the winner.
In an interview with Inside MMA , Mike Pantangco said:
“I just feel that there’s n point fighting him because he didn’t train against me and I didn’t train for him and I just feel like we’re amateur fighters. We don’t get money. we don’t get paid…”
“And that the only thing I’m going to finish the fight is him to go to the hospital or get hurt. I just feel terrible so I’m just going to give him the win”.
Bas Rutten, retired MMA fighter and co-host of Inside MMA , adored Pantangco’s act.
“Props to you. That is so cool if a fighter does that”.
Co-host Kenny Rice described Mike Pantangco’s sportsmanship as “awesome”.
The video of the match and Mike’s sudden termination of the match gained reputation on Reddit , where it was posted by Redditor deezobey. Redditors had different opinions regarding the match and weighed in on Pantangco’s gesture of sportsmanship.
Redditor RomanM47 wrote:
“I feel like he could have really injured him if they kept going. Class act.”
FaceMaulingChamp wrote:
“Oh wow didn’t expect that – this is unique in that they are flyweights and the “loser” probably doesn’t have KO power and would have just teed off on the outclassed guy all 3 rounds without enough to finish him or have the ref stop it. Great sportsmanship.”
Mike Pantangco didn’t gain everyone’s admiration. Others felt that the “win” was not legitimate and honorable. On YouTube, WilliamRayWalters wrote:
“I’d rather get sent to the hospital then have someone give me a pity win….but that’s just me.”
What do you think? Did Mike Pantangco do the right thing and tap out of the fight ?
