It takes a special kind of cojones to stare down permanent injury and say "Eff it, I ain’t tappin’." Inspired by the DVD we’ve been plugging lately, we decided to pay tribute to the technical submission — that thrilling moment when a fighter is caught in a health-threatening submission hold, but is too stupid much of a warrior to concede defeat, so the referee has to do it for him. Because as a wise man once said, "Tapping out is for bitches." Enjoy…

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#8: Daniel Gracie vs. Wes Sims
IFL Championships 2006, 6/3/06

After their first chaotic mess of a bout was ruled a “Technical Draw,” Gracie and Sims met again in the IFL for another technical ending.  Though Sims has always had a hazy understanding of the rules in any given MMA bout, he got taken down too quickly to launch any illegal stomps in this one, and had to settle for giving up his back and then trying to grab on to the ropes (thankfully Stephen Quadros reminds him that he can’t do that) as Gracie stayed on him like a backpack and choked him unconscious.  There’s nothing quite like seeing a 6’10” guy drop to the canvas like somebody just pulled his plug.  Sleep well, buddy.

#7. Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni
Strikeforce/EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Baroni, 6/22/07

(Choke starts at the 8:35 mark.)

Thanks to Shammy’s pioneering work in video trash talk, this fight was epic before it even began. Strikeforce’s first middleweight title fight paired two loud-mouthed badasses who would never admit defeat — but unfortunately, there could be only one champion. After battering the NYBA with punches for almost two full rounds, Shamrock took Baroni’s back, wrapped an arm around his neck, and squeezed. While most men would tap to the hold, Baroni went out like a warrior, throwing punches into Frank’s mug until he lost consciousness. Shamrock celebrated his win by shoving Baroni’s lifeless body then kicking him in the ass, proving that he wasn’t just the better fighter that night, he was also the bigger asshole.

This episode of Inside MMA is worth watching purely to get to the point where Renzo Gracie begins talking about the perils of being a pro fighter with daughters. He tells a story that’s so awesome, I don’t even care whether or not it’s true. I’m not going to ruin the story by recapping it for you, but you can skip to around the 26:40 mark to see it for yourself.

If you’re curious, you can also see a scene from the “Renzo Gracie: Legacy” documentary at the 24:30 mark. I almost forgot about what Renzo did to poor Oleg Taktarov. Now I remember though, even if Oleg doesn’t.

Renzo Gracie Legacy Trailer – Watch more free videos

This is a preview of an upcoming documentary about Renzo Gracie, which I admit I am very eager to see. MMA Payout has an interesting interview with the director of “Renzo Gracie: Legacy” and in it you can hear how Gracie’s charisma and magnetism convinced him that a film needed to be made about this man.

Having been around Gracie a good deal during my IFL days, I can certainly relate. And because some of you have claimed an interest in wanting to read some of these IFL tales, I figured Gracie was as good a place as any to start.

(Battle of the Teams Who Only Win About 60% of the Time.)

After doing a little bit of digging on Sherdog’s Fight Statistics section, MMA Madness posted a list of the ten most successful MMA camps (with at least 100 combined fights):

1. Arizona Combat Sports, 116-27, .81
1. Jackson’s Submission Fighting, 124-30, .81
3. Minnesota Martial Arts, 243-64, .79
4. Team Curran, 108-42, .77
4. American Jiu-Jitsu, 92-28, .77
4. American Kickboxing Academy, 174-53, .77
7. HIT Squad, 80-25, .76
7. Capital City Fighting Alliance, 78-25, .76
7. Southwest MMA, 78-25, .76
7. Miletich Martial Arts, 457-148, .76

Falling just out of the top ten were ATT, Xtreme Couture, Team Punishment, and The Pit.

In the interest of fairness, we compiled the ten least successful MMA camps. If you were thinking about joining up with these guys, think twice.

(Those wacky Brazilians. They even make the gym look fun.)

We’ve heard some great explanations for losing in our time covering mixed martial arts, but Ricardo Almeida has a new one: boredom. That’s what he says cost him in his split decision loss to Patrick Cote at UFC 86, according to Setanta Sports:

“I lost because I got bored…Whatever I say, I know it’s gonna sound biased,” said Almeida, who moved to 9-3 in his MMA career.

“It wasn’t a great fight. I felt I dominated the first round. Then I had the incident with the glove [which needed cutting], and something happened to me mentally right there.

“Even physically, I was just dead in the second round – very very tired. I felt I bossed the third, some good jabs, I got a takedown – and the only reason he got on top was because I tried the guillotine.

“My corner told me to stay on top with 60 seconds left. But I guess because the fight was so boring, I wanted to try a submission and he finished the fight on top – which probably swung it.”

You know, usually post-fight excuses are pretty lame, but this one actually has some merit in a weird way. Guess that’s why you don’t bring Almeida to your niece’s dance recital. He gets bored and it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll attempt a guillotine on you just to liven things up.