"Luke Haberman" obviously born tough

[AbrahamG]

Well, you can be sure eye-pokes would be a staple.

LOL.  The shame is that he doesn't need to do those things.  It's really unfair to everyone else just how gifted he is.  On top of that throw in that he's probably the toughest guy out there too.  He never gets buzzed by shots and he fights through injuries.  I predict here that the Reyes rematch will look a lot like the Gustafson rematch.

[pellius]

LOL.  The shame is that he doesn't need to do those things.  It's really unfair to everyone else just how gifted he is.  On top of that throw in that he's probably the toughest guy out there too.  He never gets buzzed by shots and he fights through injuries.  I predict here that the Reyes rematch will look a lot like the Gustafson rematch.

Maybe but it looks like he's going the route that Tyson did. Gifted and dominate in the beginning but somehow losing it later in his career. With Tyson it came fast. Jone's has been champ for ten years and all his recent showing have been less than impressive.

[Matt]

I do believe that because this guy was a skilled wrestler and hyped up on drugs that made a difference. But, you're right, the context of the situation can make a big difference.

Too bad about this kid, he looked like a good clean-cut kid and was probably a pussy magnet in those days. I am actually quite curious what happened to him to go down this road.

That was my impression too - the way Anthony Smith was talking...he was trying REALLY hard to knock the guy out.  I'm sure he was thinking about his family.  I think at some point he said that his mother-in-law [?] brought him a knife, and he had to fight Luke Haberman with one hand, while holding the knife in the other hand [?].

If that was the case, I could see his fighting level decreasing when he lost the use of one of his hands...but otherwise, it sounds to me that Smith was giving Haberman everything he had.

So that leads me to believe that whatever Haberman was on made him panic and then fight for his life when he ultimately confronted Smith.

I assume the drug theory because Smith said he gave the kid everything he had...so it really didn't sound like he held anything back.

Given a weight disparity of around 60-lb...I'm surprised that the fight took this long.  I would be surprised if any lightweight or welterweight fighter could last longer than a round or so with a top light-heavyweight like Smith.  I know size definitely isn't everything in combat sports, but weight classes DO exist in combat sports for a reason...and it seems to me that Haberman lasted as long as any lightweight or welterweight would have likely lasted against Smith.

Does bare knuckle fighting make that much of a difference, that would cause this fight to go on as long a it did?  Or is it just that any high level fighter lightweight or welterweight fighter - be it top high school wrestler or UFC fighter weighing in at 155-170 - is going to roughly last five minutes with a light-heavyweight fighter?

I was reading a thread on Sherdog about Conor McGregor vs. Hafthor Bjornsson, and just about everyone there [an MMA forum] said that Hafthor would beat him - that there is a point where no amount of skill can overcome a certain amount of size and strength.

Just extrapolating that a little...maybe a lot of high level smaller fighters would all roughly last about a round versus a fighter much outweighing them, if you averaged it out or something.

And that's why I go back to the PCP/drug theory...that's the only easily understandable reason I can explain how a small fighter would last five minutes with the #3 ranked UFC light-heavyweight.  I can't remember if Smith was asleep or in a state of winding down / falling asleep when this fight started...that could explain how he wasn't ready to go...but I'm still flabbergasted by this whole story.

As a smaller guy myself, this story was inspirational to me. 

[friedchickendinner]

From what I can remember they hit the floor early, in a limited space against or under a desk.
So I suspect it was mostly ground and pound at that point, trying to knock Haberman out. Maybe a lot of fighting for positions and wrestling with eachother, grabbing hands etc Smith probably was never in a clear position as full mount where he could get a choke in.
I think Smith was woken up by his wife, so he might have been in deep sleep at the time. But he is a very well rounded fighter, a bunch of ko's tkos and submission wins on his record so there is no lack of tools in his toolbox. He might have gassed real quick and got an adrenaline dump so I don't think those 5 minutes he's talking about was actual fight time, probably was quite a bit of time just sitting on him holding him down rather than actively trying to KO him.

It is surprising that he didnt have a gun, knife or even a flashlight to defend himself with, anything would do really but being bare armed. He was lucky Haberman didnt have a weapon and Haberman was lucky he didnt.

[oldgolds]

Smith said the guy took every punch, elbow and knee and wouldn't go down....So they fought upright for awhile..