Been boxing for 5 years and still love it, but I've stopped sparring and fighting recently. The head contact wasn't sitting right with me anymore so I'd rather pack it in now than later.

Problem is I've tried keeping my training up and I've just lost all motivation without someone to actually compete against. Bag work on its own gets old fast.
Has anyone come over from boxing or another striking sport and found something that scratches the same itch? I still want to go hard against people, just not with my head on the line. What did you end up doing?

[EDIT]:
I’m okay with contact and maybe some head contact, I just feel the volume of punches to the head was getting too much. I couldn’t rely on a sparring partner not going too hard.

Yesterday I had an ambivalent moment in a sparring session. I was matched with this 40 year old uncle who began punching hard, which is okay but out of nowhere threw a jumping teep with all his might sending me close to some equipment.

I returned a hard but not 100% teep and told him to go lightly, which he completely ignored and threw another hail marry ducking overhand, which I warned him again to go lightly.

At that point I realised this guy had 0 technique and leaving openings left and right, he only repeated two more times the same duck-overhand combo which ended with his head in a headlock.

I remained in the round but just pushed him and threw some light jabs to keep him at bay. For a reason I decided to not attack back and contain my emotions as I didn’t want to participate in his BDSM experiment (he was blissful when he got hit) or risk injury for the other sparring rounds.

Part of me is proud for not losing my temper and felt like a mature fighting mindset (why hurt a guy that obviously cant defend himself yet properly). But another part felt like I acted too passively to not escalate and I should had punished him for his actions.

Have you guys/girls had similar situations and did I react good for the situation?

Cant help but feel a bit of a bitch for not doing him dirty as well.

Salut Boooonjour, j'espère que tu vas bien. Du coup, pas de musique ni de montage. C'est une séance d'entraînement amateur. Je ferai mieux la prochaine fois.

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The McGregor and Nurmagomedov match was one of the greatest examples of a fight that with two completely opposite fighters with different motivations. McGregor obviously believed he was destined to be famous and was fighting for money and recognition. Nurmagomedov was fighting for his personal values and a desire to be excellent. I think both fighters hated losing, but McGregor‘s weakness was that his motivation was shallow. Khabib’s values and reason for fighting fit into his worldview and who he was inside as a person. Aside from technical differences and wrestling being king in the UFC (IMO), When the fight got hard, McGregor didn’t have the depth of purpose to push through and try to win.

Can you think of any other examples of fighters that were so different and created a great matchup?