Why would someone do this!? This is strange

I'm currently at a gym west of old town Chiang Mai and my trainer told me about a foreigner who called a gym to ask if their opponent can go easy on them because he didnt want to fight. I assumed the foreighner knew the guy he was fighting and which gym he was from and I guess was scared of him and called? Why bother fighting? Is this common? I've never heard of this before. Why would someone go this far? Are people forced to fight?