Some women are competitive. Some are cruel. Some are performing for an audience. Some were already irritated or insulted before the fight began. To them, begging can feel like validation, emotional surrender, or an opportunity to “teach a lesson.” This is why many of the ladies you spoke to on FCF said it made their opponents more aggressive.
Whether you’re in a ring, on a mat, or in a spontaneous real-life scuffle, a fight becomes a symbolic struggle over status. When one woman cries or begs, she’s essentially signaling:
“You have the onus of power. I no longer have agency.”
To someone who is already in a position of dominance, especially if she resents you, or sees you as an outsider, or if the crowd is fueling her, that signal often acts like lighter fluid on a fire. Rather than mercy, it triggers escalation.
On the other end of the spectrum, the exception (and it’s a narrow one) is when the attacker is someone who:
- already had a limit in mind,
- doesn’t actually enjoy causing humiliation,
- or has enough emotional intelligence to feel empathy mid-fight.
