[kdotsky]

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Of course being shot at or blown up doesn't translate to proficiency in a weapon-free fight, but the experience they have is actually being around death (the point I was trying to make). They stare it in the face daily, whereas the UFC fighters grapple with a referee, someone to end it before it escalates to the point of death. The same death those fine soldiers are forced to witness and create every time they are attacked.

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If UFC fights weren't stopped by tap out or submission, they would not "escalate" to death. The point at which they are stopped is the point where one fighter would have a practically zero probability of living if the fight continued. E.g. the tapping out fighter would pass out or have a major bone broken.

So the only new thing the UFC fighter has to do in a real fight to the death that they have never done before is complete the submission instead of stopping when the opponent taps out.

I doubt the UFC fighter would be nervous about it being a fight to the death, considering what he does for a living changes very little in a real fight. Plus he knows how big his edge is.

Also, I know this wasn't your point, but I'm pretty confident that very few, if any, Navy SEALs would have more than a handfull of purely unarmed combat kills. It's just not what they do. Most of their training avoids this type of situation.