ESPN Story On Real Fight Clubs

I could have done without the fake editorial round-about conversation at the begining.

So this segment exposes that contrary to popular believe, people beating each other up wasn't invented by Chuck in 1996, but by guys in silicon valley in 1998 (which is somehow, according to the video, before Fight Club. maybe they also stumbled up time travel too... So Chuck is once again ripping these guys off!)

So all you anthropologists looking in South America, China, Africa, Rome, Mesopotamia, you're in the wrong place!

What the hell is up with the stabbing? I mean, honestly, theres aggression and then there's murder-fantasy. That's pretty sick. And their costumes are horrible, and some of them fight like weenies. Actually, all of them fight like weenies. Toilet seats as weapons? Protective clothing? Shoes and shirts? They're violating all the rules, man.,..

What's with all the weapons?  I don't know, that seemed sort of sadistic.

I find a defeat in the purpose of watching themselves fight after they have just fought, whereas other people watch UFC or Boxing.

Not to mention there is something peculiar about these people working in huge companies, with huge salaries, still wanting some 'innate' fight to happen. A little S&M to me, minus the leather.

these aren't "normal" guys. these are some fucked up dudes. a "fight club" is fighting, that wasn't fighting, that was just fucking stupid. u wanna see a fighter ... kimbo slice, that is a fighter he doesn't need knives or keyboards or fencing masks. this was completely rediculous.

What's wrong with you ? These guys are cool in my book.

bunch of dicks.. have they even seen fight club?

the rules are pretty clear..

I don't look down at these guys for doing this, but I think they're attention whores for giving those tapes to the press and making a spectacle out of it. They broke every rule except don't hit a guy who's done and maybe one fight at a time. This wasn't a fight club, it was more, as everyone has said, an S&M thing. They're not upholding the order among chaos ideal that fight club presented.

Sorta lame.  As mentioned, it wasn't before Fight Club, just before the movie, so it's very possible one of the guys read the book and thought it was a good idea.  I thought the dulled knives thing was a bit much, because thats just role playing basically.  I actually remember flipping past this on tv the other night, because I saw the part where they were hitting each other with the keyboards.  That round table discussion was the worst part.

Good on them for doing something a little different in their spare time but... Watching themselves on t.v afterwards? Seems a little wanky to me. Way too up themselves with the whole "macho" thing.

this is just weird

i dont care how they fight. i dont think theyre trying to be chucks vision of a fight club s they cant break any rules cause their rules, assuming there are some, are probably weird. i think theyre just weird dudes who like to hit each other with weird shit while wearing weird shit.

all i can really think after watching this is how weird it is

First off, Chuck doesn't have a monopoly on the term Fight Club (in fact if he did, it'd go against the very ideals of the book).

This is a club of people fighting, hence it's a fight club so stop getting uppity about how it's not "real." It's still probably more real than what most people have experienced. Hell have you not read Chuck's intro to the second edition of Fight Club where he admits he did not invent the idea, just brought it into popular culture?

I do agree though, the fighting was pretty weak and the use of some weapons (namely the dulled knives) just seemed like living out some American Psycho fantasy. For such an intellectual group, they disappoint me in their collective stupidity. It really looked to me like a bunch of overly-intellectual nerds desperately trying to take back the drunken jock culture that they were denied in high school. The issue I take is this club seems more created out of vanity and to escape the real tragedies of their lives, which is they are not living how they wish to live, but then again I'm the self-righteous one who's preaching on an Internet forum while dreading having to head to my own unsatisifying job in the morning, so the hell with it all.

i still think its just weird

It was on the tip of everyone's tounge. Tyler y yo just gave it a nombre.

One thing that's interesting about that, Chuck said that those from an older generation spoke to him all snug one time about how he didn't start anything new, they've been doing that years ago, etc. He told them they should have packaged and sold it like he did.

that is some crazy shit there. i had heard of the dog brothers stick fighting clan before but damn, keyboards? we get together three times a week to train in mma. I manage and train a few fighters. i only train them in boxing technique but i manage their upcoming fights and such. we pretty much beat each other up but not with the intent of hurting one another, but in preparing for sanctioned fights.

stick fighting?  fucking Kali, are those dudes serious?

guess they are..  i remember a few years ago, twentieth century fox was in lawsuit by a couple of kids who attest they invented fight club and deserve intellectual property rights, and gross earnings from said property.  that was one of the reasons chuck had to change his mind about offering advice on student work when the chuck shop began in jan of oh-four.  but, this doesnt look like they want anything, except a little spotlight in their otherwise boring world.  one member read the novel in oh-six or oh-seven or oh-eight and made their own devision.  good for them.  idoits.

-kabol

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That's such bullshiite. That's like Abner Doubleday saying you can't film baseball because he invented its modern rules. Letting those kids have any recognition was a mistake on Fox's part.

I'd be interested to read more about that, you got a link, Kabol?

naw.  sorry, have not heard a word on it in years.  in fact, the last word was something chuck posted here years ago either via a monthly essay or one of the Q&A sessions.  fox did a pretty thorough job of suppressing all content.  i'll look around through the dark a bit and if i come across anything, i'll post it up.

-kabol

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they imediately break the first two rules in the first 6 seconds. and dont worry the rest of the rules are broken too. this is not a real fight club. if it was no one would be talking about it.

i would be. id tell everyone

but mostly id just being saying its weird

 I think it's a little sad that some people are commenting on the way they fight or the rules of their fight club 'cause honestly, that's not the point of fight club.

These guys are just letting themselves be free and alive and I say kudos. 

Btw....... These ESPN people are eerily similar to FOX News people, though not as blatantly ignorant- are they perhaps the missing link between self-aware society and sheep? 

when i was a kid, i made younger kids fight with one another. we didn't call it a club but the idea is pretty much there.

it's just human nature to want to be aggressive just as some people want to be peaceful. i think what these guys are doing, lame as it may be, is a good release for an otherwise strangling existence. had the media not been involved, the credibility of this "club" would be worth a lot more.

the fact that they record the fights at all strikes me as annoying, and i'd at least strive for less fluorescent lighting if i were behind that camera, and most of the weaponry is stupid and fucked up...

but dude. keyboard fighting actually looks kinda fun. maybe not fun in a genuine fightclub kinda way, but still. fun. in a goofy, things-go-clatter kinda way. and i've never even had a nasty oppressive keyboard job.