| 100 Men | Gorilla |
|---|---|
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| Wins 66.80% of 1k fights | Wins 33.20% of 1k fights |
In this week's Fantasy Brawl we're tackling a viral social media face-off and will definitely answer the question would 100 men beat a gorilla. It's an interesting hypothetical with a ton of variables that could influence the outcome. So, like we do with all combatants in the Fantasy Brawls arena, let's analyze the strength of both of this week's competitors.
Gorillas are no strangers to the Fantasy Brawls battle simulator. They've fought Polar Bears and even tigers. But this is the first time they'll be competing against more than one foe. Their strength is unrivaled when it comes to primates, and they are around 10x stronger than the average person. In a one-on-one competition, even the strongest man alive would be torn to shreds.
But, if this man is accompanied by 99 of his fellow Homo sapiens, even if they are untrained, the strength advantage massively tips in the humans' favor. In the strength department, the group of 100 men is far superior to the gorilla. Now that we have the strength comparison out of the way, let's dive into the battle by first laying out a few ground rules for the bout.
For this battle, we are going to assume all 100 of these men are unarmed and untrained. Were we to factor in even non-lethal weapons, the gorilla would be toppled fairly easily. The place this fight will take place is the gorilla's natural habitat, a lush green mountain. To make things a little more fair for the gorilla, the 100-man group will approach from one angle, in clear view of the gorilla so no sneak attacks will be involved. Here's the TLDR for the battle.
The hardest part about taking on a gorilla unarmed, even if you have the numbers advantage, is to decide who will rush the gorilla first, as that person will take the full brunt of the ape's strength, meaning they will likely suffer a super gruesome death. Fear will inevitably set in, and the group of 100 will likely lose members as people decide to head for the hills instead of doing battle with King Kong.
How many people will flee immediately, you ask? Around 70–90% of the crew will flee instantly. Based on Fantasy Brawls research into fight-or-flight behavior, about 80–90% of non-trained civilians will choose to run instead of duking it out. A number of studies on acute stress reactions support this, and it's not necessarily a bad thing.
I'd rather be a living coward than a brave gorilla punching bag! So, given our natural aversion to deadly conflict, the group of 100 has now dropped to 20. This brave (or stupid) group of 20 people without weapons will have to resort to strangling the gorilla to win. It won't be easy to put a 500+ pound beast in a guillotine, so it's best to get it in a rear naked choke to avoid those massive teeth. There is no scenario where a punch or kick will be enough to incapacitate the gorilla. With their massive skulls and neck muscles, they would eat a hook from prime Mike Tyson with ease.
For things to go in the humans' favor, they'll need to send 5 brave souls to run in and engage the gorilla head-on, while it's preoccupied ripping them limb from limb. A pair will need to go for the gorilla's eyes to blind it. If the ape can't see, putting it in a rear naked chokehold will be easier.
The person applying the chokehold will need to have nerves of steel and be the strongest of the group. In addition, the second strongest guy needs to be close by for backup in case the first guy gets rag-dolled and snapped in half. Once the chokehold is in tight, it's time to squeeze and hold on for dear life. If the technique is perfect, which it likely won't be given the circumstances, it can take over a minute for the gorilla to lose consciousness.
Even when the ape finally drops, it's important to keep holding on to the chokehold as long as possible, as gorillas are extremely resilient and could pop up looking for revenge. It will be a bloody battle but in the end, as long as 20% of the men actually fight the gorilla, the 100 man group will defeat the silverback gorilla. There is almost no scenario where a gorilla can beat that man humans in a fight all at once.
If you enjoyed this viral comparison, you will love our other content. For my fellow gorilla fans, find out if the might silverback redeems himself in Chimp vs Gorilla. And if you want to find out exactly how Gorilla's compare to humans in certain lifts like bench presses and squats, check out our article on how much a gorilla can really lift. And, as always, if you'd like to play out this scenario yourself in the Fantasy Brawls battle arena, head over to Fantasy Brawls - The Online Game.
Posted by: Matt Irving on 04/20/2025
