Silicon Valley geeks have their own ‘Fight Club’. I kid you not. [video]

Right, because geeks should be fighting other geeks, for some mystery reason, rather than going somewhere where there is grown-up supervision, safety precautions and people who Know What They Are Doing.<p>Lousy technique - check. Out of shape guys - check. Amazing size mismatches - check. Hard floor so that the first time someone manages a decent throw or slam, someone can break something - check.<p>All of these 'Fight Clubs' I've ever seen usually revolve around a couple larger guys using this whole thing as a venue for somewhat sexually charged sadomasochism with their smaller buddies. There's a reason that they're not walking in the door of their local boxing/Muay Thai/MMA/BJJ club instead...

Why don't they go to their local Muay Thai/Boxing/etc. club and learn proper technique? And if you want to fight: Get into the ring. It's fun. Even if you get beaten up.<p>I've been doing Muay Thai for many years now and beside the workout, I got much closer to my cultural Thai roots. Martial arts is more than fighting. It's about personality building, respect and culture.<p>'Fight Clubs' like this are dangerous for the participants. They don't know how to hit and could get injured seriously. I just hope no trained fighter is ever going to participate in such a fight and gets serious.

As someone who practiced Kendo for just a while, the little scene where the guy swings a shinai around pretending to be what he thinks a samurai looks like was cringe-worthy and pathetic. If he ever does take up Kendo/Iaido, he will look back and regret it with the fire of a thousand burning suns.

Personally, I think hockey is a great outlet for developers (being one that plays of course). It is physically and mentally taxing, but most of all it requires teamwork; I can't think of anything that matches better. Sometimes you square off with someone on the ice and that's where it stays. When it does happen, it's far more raw than any staged combat -- I'll take that rush any day. Plus, you get a solid workout in the meantime!

The Army's Best Ranger competition is a Eco-Challenge event. If you want to get in touch with the <i>"essential nature of man"</i> pit yourself against nature herself (like a week hike of the Sierra Ridge), preferably with a buddy, and you'll walk away with a whole new perspective.

To each his own.<p>But this is idiotic.

I'd rather see a reality tv Fight Club.<p>Dancing With the Stars chicks tearing out the hair of American Idol wannabes? Sign me up!<p>...holy shit, re-reading that I think I just became a mainstream American tv watcher.

Though I was facepalmed through the entire video... it does lend itself to one question:<p>If you could geek fight anyone in history who would it be? :)<p>I'm torn between 1960s Gordon Moore or RMS (any decade).

How does this differ significantly from self-mutilation (cutting)? Sure, if you feel your life is hum-drum it's easy enough to hurt yourself and to hurt others. To indulge in your violent instincts. It'll pump endorphins into your system and make you feel alive. So will cutting, and bulimia.<p>But these are very unhealthy outlets.<p>I see the fight club mentality as an indication of the dysfunctional nature of modern polite (or "politically correct") society which tends to write off violence and risk as aberrations and taboos. We see this in the ongoing trend of dis-empowering individuals (often in the guise of protecting them) and shifting responsibilities (and power) to organizations and corporations. The perfect example of this is the commonplace fear and hatred of firearms amongst most urban professionals.<p>This subject is too large to be addressed completely in a mere post or two. Suffice it to say that I think these "fight clubs" are a trend of men attempting to ape some perverted ideal of masculinity. A twisted masculinity of violence, domination, and disrespect.

Real geeks do <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing</a>

I've considered joining a Martial Arts gym, because I thoroughly enjoy the competition -- I wrestled all the way through High School.<p>However, I've convinced myself that it may be detrimental to my long term cognitive abilities. Do any HN martial arts participants have any insight into this? Can one really expect to repeatedly get hit in the head and not pay for it, long term?

Hitting each other with a keyboard? Now days, that's just funny (the keyboard probably took the worst of it). Back in the 80's, that would have been assault with a deadly weapon. Back then, keyboards had massive steel frames, "suitable for cracking a managers skull", as it says in the jargon file :-)

It looks like some miss guided people, that wrongly interpreted Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.

These guys got some press several years ago: <a href="http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2006/05/fightclub" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2006/05/fi...</a><p>I was amused hearing of fights where they beat each other only with rolled up newspapers. It beats watching tv and eating pork rinds, I guess.

"In Silicon Valley we have the highest concentration of aggressive people in the United States."<p>Really? More than Fort Hood, Camp Lejeune, or the Louisiana State Penitentiary? What about New York City? I suspect that SV, in fact, has one of the highest concentrations of beta males in the US, and this club is an over-compensation mechanism.

And I was thinking that geeks were sticking to Search Engine Battle Raps... ;-)<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=search" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=search</a> engine battle rap

lol, I think this is a parody. Just something a bunch of nerds got together and threw together and is being taken too seriously. Meh just my opinion though, it very well might be for real.

yeah, that is retarded. getting exercise is good. exerting yourself is good. even learning some kind of self defense is good. but that is just completely retarded.<p>speaking as someone who DID get in a lot of fights growing up, the "it lets me know I'm still alive" thing is ridiculous; there are so many ways to enjoy life without beating the shit out of someone or having someone beat the shit out of you.<p>take up martial arts, or rock climbing, or an actual sport.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R90QyIBJqrg" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R90QyIBJqrg</a>

Chuck Palahniuk would be proud.<p>I want a go with Sergey. Or Larry.

Loved the "I do it for the hugs afterwards" line.

"I do it for the hugs"<p>Awesome

OP doesn't remember the first two rules.

This reminds me <i>very</i> strongly of Will Farrel and John Reilly in Step Brothers: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g0mUyH6dI8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g0mUyH6dI8</a>