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For you guys that follow MMA, I'm sure that you're more than familiar with Brian Stann. A former Marine, current rising star in the UFC, and an all around good guy.

Here is another reason he is so well respected in the MMA world...

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UFC middleweight Brian Stann is a fighter, a Marine, and recently, a commentator for Fox. He's used to wearing many hats, so it's no surprise that during his UFC on Fuel 2 win over Alessio Sakara, he was both fighter and referee.

Stann knocked Sakara down with a bevy of knees in the first round. While in Sakara's guard, Stann knocked his opponent out with short elbows. When he saw Sakara was clearly out, he pulled back, waving to referee Marc Goddard that Sakara was knocked out.



Though MMA rules indicate Stann would not have been wrong to continue the bout until Goddard stepped in, he didn't want to inflict any more damage on Sakara.

Immediately after the bout, UFC president Dana White tweeted, "Brian Stann is one of the classiest people on Earth!" Light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, a training partner of Stann's, called the win "very classy" and "good for the sport."

Stann is already known as one of MMA's good guys. He started fighting after a decorated career with the Marines. He founded Hire Heroes, a not-for-profit whose aim is to help veterans transition to civilian jobs. Just before he was scheduled to leave his Atlanta home to train for the Sakara fight in New Mexico, his brother-in-law died. Instead of leaving his grieving wife, Stann trained at home and communicated with his coaches through videos.

As Ben Fowlkes from MMA Fighting wrote, he's such a good guy, you almost want to hate him. Except, he's also the kind of good guy who will stop a fight when he sees his opponent has been knocked out.
That was a good show by Stann. Some of the guys beating on an unconsious guy should try to learn something there. As a note, at one Sakara was a pretty good boxer. Stann is showing a lot of the right talents; now he can work on his sprawl and ground game.
Yeah, he really is coming along quite well. It's a very hard switch to throw when you're in the heat of things there on the mat. It's always cool to see a guy so in control of himself to be able to do that.

At that level, you have to go into the ring with the mentality that you are going to give your all to completely obliterate your opponent. To not have that mentality would end up costing you the match. To be able to go from that mind set mid-punch to one of a conserned participant is impressive.
Ithink it is character embedded. Some guys need to be pulled off; some guys want the ref to do their job. I also think a guy like Stann that has been in life and death situations is less likely to take a sport to that extreme. For the most part no one gets hurt that bad, but it could happen. I'm guessing just a matter of time.

I got a big beef with the lousy refs.
He has trained quite a bit with some good friends of mine and they all say that he is a class act! I've only met him once but came away very impressed
Not an MMA fighter or anything like that. I served some time in the corps and I wasnt a real big fan of most officers(Like most enlisted guys).I do watch MMA and I agree, Stann really is a stand-up guy. Not just for his service record but for his character overall.
That is what I call sportsmanship. From what I have noticed, the UFC has a pretty decent pool of guys who have it. Not only in this instance where he quit beating on someone who was clearly knocked out, but Matt Hughes helping Gracie up after he would kick him so hard and so often he landed on his ass, other opponents checking on people they knocked out cold before celebrating, and always fist bumping and/or hugging after a good fight. Makes a very big impression on me as all through when I was growing up, my dad always taught me that being a good sport was number 1, no matter the stage or situation.
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