Fighting is in our DNA, but technique isn’t. Not fighters in a cage or ring, or on the mat ever spontaneously decided to have a ball game on the spot. But in ball sports, fights break out from time to time. The results is usually terrible.

There was a remarkable exception on Sunday, May 15, 2016 in Arlington, Texas, when the Texas Rangers played the Toronto Blue Jays. Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor and Jose Bautista didn’t get along, so they had to get it on. It began when Bautista slid at Odor’s legs in the middle of a double play in the top of the eighth. Players from both sides rushed the field, and Odor shoved Bautista and as Bautista cocked his fast, Odor beat him to it, and landed an excellent straight right. 

Buatista stood up to the shot, and was pulled off by other players.

UFC welterweight and Versace model Alan Jouban saw the shot on social media, and spoke for the sport in an interview with TMZ Sports.

“I’d say he kind of set the bar, with the nice straight right hand right here,” said Jouban. “He kind of set the bar for the combat sports world. You see it so many times – like soccer players and basketball players, they just can’t throw a punch to save their lives.

“So that was a clean little punch right there. It was a good punch. I’m surprised that the other guy didn’t drop. I was kind of shocked. I thought for sure he was going to do down, but he held his own. That was a good straight right hand, on the button. Good form, good straight right, down the middle, turned it over. It was nice.”

“Bautista, he has a good chin, but you don’t want to keep getting hit like that. I think so many times in other sports, they walk up with the intention to get pushed, and don’t expect to get hit. He went into that fight pushing and he got clocked. So I think he learned his lesson.”

A good strike in mixed martial arts can earn you a performance bonus, but in baseball, not so much.

Odor received an eight-game suspension, and was fined $5,000, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday. Bautista received a one-game ban for his actions and postgame comments.

Odor said Monday that he respects Bautista because he “plays hard.” And