An MMA Fan Bites Off More Than He Can Chew…
Social media can be a wonderful thing for fight fans. It brings you closer to the athletes you support, giving you a look at their daily lives, at home and in the gym. Sadly, it also gives trolls a platform to run their mouths – and some people just don’t know when to keep their traps shut.
Mitch Aguiar is a retired US Navy Seal. That alone should be enough of a reason for most people not to mess with him. But he is actually more than that. He is also a professional mixed martial artist. In short, why would an average joe want to screw with him?
That’s the question that one Instagram fan, going by the moniker @duffle_bag_harvey, must be asking himself after he was handed a spanking. It all started when the fight fan began to antagonise Aguiar, eventually calling him out for a sparring match. Maybe he didn’t expect “Smashin’ Frog” to agree, but agree he did:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdTCJewFtoq/?taken-by=mitch_aguiar
Challenge Accepted
“You better show up tomorrow @duffle_bag_harvey Let’s see if you’re as tough in person as you are behind a keyboard. @deminormma and I will be waiting for you at @eastside_muaythai tomorrow at noon. If anyone else is feeling froggy, you know where I’ll be”.
Now that would be enough for most rational people to delete their accounts and go into hiding. However, this particular fight fan isn’t most rational people. He eventually decided that he would show up and took a brutal beating.
In the video you can see the fan facing off against Aguiar and his team mate Damon Minor. The fan is taller and heavier than both pro fighters, but he repeatedly takes brutal jabs to the head and body, with neither fighter willing to go easy on him.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdV2gTkFZkO/?taken-by=mitch_aguiar
Lesson Learnt
Afterwards, Aguiar posted again on Instagram. In the text of the post he did show respect for the fact that the fan actually showing up. However, he made his feelings clear that it is entirely unfair of fans to criticise professional athletes online, when they are dedicating their lives to mastering a sport. Particularly when that sport is the ultra-violence of MMA. He said:
“It’s a mistake to push a man to violence when violence is that the man has dedicated his life to perfecting” ….. Life lesson boys and girls: don’t let your mouth write checks your ass can’t cash… I do respect the fact ol’ Duffle bag boy actually stepped in the ring…. Eventually. It’s not a coincidence or fluke that @deminormma and myself are champions. We don’t just keep getting lucky. We put in hard work and have rock solid and fierce warrior mindsets.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BckO-rYlkjZ/?taken-by=mitch_aguiar
Respect Pro Athletes
Now there’s a couple of things fans can take away from this. One is to respect the athletes that you are supporting. If you’ve nothing good to say, then for your own sake, don’t say anything. Words come back to haunt us. The second is not to be so absolutely stupid as to take on a man who is so obviously more badass than you. He calls himself “Smashin’ Frog” for crying out loud. A name that mental should have been enough of a warning.
