Man vs Chimp: Battle for Evolution
Rhys Kelly, staff writer
Humans have evolved over hundreds and thousands of years, and since our species is a direct descendant of apes, how has the strength and agility changed and evolved with humanity? This question became relevant when MMA Fighter Cole Johnson said he was going to fight a chimpanzee. At first, it sounded very crazy. I mean, most people would never actually agree to fight a chimp. But somehow, people online started believing that it was actually going to happen.
Johnson claimed that he had been offered more than $500,000 to fight a chimpanzee. The story quickly gained lots of attention online, and people started following the countdown to the supposed fight this year on September11. There was even a website that made the whole thing look real. It had a timer, live chat, and other stuff that made people think this was a real event. Then, the whole thing pretty much fell apart.
The fight was revealed just a hoax. Johnson had made the claim, but there was never actually going to be a fight. According to the Times of India an online news network, Johnson's website was also connected to a cryptocurrency scheme, which made a lot of people think that this was a “rug pull.” Which is correct, because he put a new cryptocurrency on the market and when it reached a high price, he cashed it all in and abandoned it dropping the coins value and taking the people who invested in the coins money. Even though the fight didn't happen, it does make you wonder what would have happened if it went down.
Honestly, it probably wouldn't have ended well for humans. Chimpanzees are smaller than most adult humans, but they are a lot stronger in certain parts of their body. According to IFLScience, chimps have almost twice as much muscle mass in their forelimbs compared to humans. They also have a very strong bite, which could cause serious injuries.
If the fight actually happened, I think the chimp would win pretty quickly. Johnson might have the advantage in size and the fact the viewers saw him training weeks beforehand made it look like he was taking this seriously, but an MMA fight is nothing like fighting a wild animal.
"I think the chimpanzee would have won because it is just so strong and wouldn't fight like a human." says freshman Adam Gillman.
The chimp could move extremely fast at twenty-five miles per hour and would probably go straight for biting, grabbing or scratching. Johnson could get lucky and maybe avoid it for a little while, but one good bite or attack could cause a serious injury. The most probable outcome would be the fight getting stopped before either Johnson was killed, or because animal handlers would have to step in once things got out of control.
Johnson has MMA experience, so he certainly knows how to fight another person. But a chimpanzee isn't going to follow MMA rules. It isn't going to tap out or wait for a referee to stop the fight. It could bite, scratch, or attack in ways a human fighter isn't used to dealing with.
Despite the fact that humans and chimpanzees are similar, humans didn't evolve directly from the chimpanzees we see today. However, humans and chimps share a common ancestor from millions of years ago. That's why we still have some similar traits, like our body structures and social behaviors, even though humans and chimps have evolved in very different ways.
The idea of a man fighting a chimp sounds like something you would see in a crazy movie; it was never really going to happen.
“He was never going to actually do the fight it was just to be in the spotlight." says freshman George Speigner.
The whole situation turned into an internet stunt that got a lot of attention but also took a lot of people’s money.
Maybe it is better that it stayed that way. A real fight between a human and a chimp wouldn't really prove anything about which species is “stronger.” It would just probably end with someone getting seriously hurt. At least we got a crazy story out of it though.
