I’m getting grief for criticizing the “sport” of children’s Mixed Martial Arts.
Jerin Valel via email:
I think the British reporter in the peace was very irresponsible in his presentation of the topic, and was driven by sensationalism.
This is “my” sport so I take exception to it. I was a former professional MMA fighter and Coach, and moved on to become a reputable referee travelling the world over.
All though i don’t support drinking alcohol in a crowd context, what the two young athlete did was not MMA in its true definition, as there was no striking allowed (punching, kicking, hitting).
What they did do was a submission grappling match (which is combination of Wrestling, and Brazilian Jiujitsu on a wrestling mat), which you can find at many local elementary schools (it’s amateur sport). Its seems that in order to allow kids to follow and support a sport they love (MMA – orgs like the UFC), some parents and small organizers/promoters allow kids to compete at submission grappling in a professional MMA cage prior to the start of and event (it’s always a draw with no winner, more of demonstration). This is similar to “tim bits” 4 year olds hockey teams playing on the ice before an NHL game (for the experience), and we all know the beer that is consumed and fights that happen later at a hockey game.
OK.
I’ll concede that in some circumstances MMA could be a healthy sport. Safer perhaps than Women’s Elite Gymnastics.
That concession out of the way, I vote to remove boxing from the Olympics. And remain convinced that children’s MMA will escalate in violence, perhaps reaching the level of Canadian ice hockey someday.
related –
Guardian – Children fighting in a cage is wrong, but don’t demonise the sport
13 comments ↓
…why do you want to remove an traditional great sport like boxing from the olympics? just because it’s violent? violence is part of life and of many sports. if you remove boxing you have to be very unhappy about people playing rugby, or american football, or doing bob sleigh races, too?! violence in a controlled environment is not a bad thing. it’s part of human nature. better in a ring (by the way – just try it, fitness boxing and sparring is fun! hard, sometimes painful, but really great fun, extreme fitness benefits too…) than in real life.
I’d start with banning Boxing. And then move on to the next sport that has the highest incidence of concussion. (Perhaps Ice Hockey.)
Not ban. But remove from the Olympics.
A sport is only a “sport” if it is derived from war. Everything else is a “game” or just a “competition.” The whole purpose of the Olympics is to determine which country is the most dominant. The goal is to find the nearest substitute for war, but stop just short of the actual killing. Historically, sports and war overlapped: athletes were soldiers, soldiers were athletes. Training for sports was essentially the same as training for war. Most men’s gymnastics apparatus developed out of war training equipment.
Point is, boxing IS the Olympics, historically anyway. It’s the froofy stuff like rhythmic and synchro swimming that doesn’t truly fit in the mix.
Boy, I can’t WAIT for Sher to argue with me about this…
I leave boxing in the Olympics but children doing MMA is bit much. You asking for trouble. Some sports are not made for the faint of heart but I think athletes earn the right to participate despite the violence. They know going in the violence aspect but sports such as hockey should remain.
Totally agree with banning the boxing
“A sport is only a “sport” if it is derived from war. ”
I’d say the modern definition is pretty much anything you can compete at. Some like to split hairs. Personally I don’t see the point. We’re beyond fighting to the death as in the old days and I’d say we’re also beyond their definition of sport.
Best challenge JAO to a … duel.
If there is one sport that should be banned it is gridiron. Thankfully nobody outside of USA and Canada cares about that stupid sport (if you even consider it a sport).
You could question why anyone would care what the definition of “sport” is. It’s simple and convenient to say it’s anything you compete in. OK, but then what’s competition?
There are silly competitions, like eating the most hot dogs, memorizing the most playing cards, sniffing the most tobacco, or enduring the hottest sauna (all real things people “compete” in…). But more broadly, don’t business compete with each other? Is running a business a sport? What about raising children? Aren’t there plenty of parents competing against other parents to see who can raise the most advanced child? Is parenting a sport? What about candidates for an election? Is politics a sport?
Why split hairs then?
Because sometimes history has meaning, and sometimes tradition matters, and sometimes we don’t want to devalue the thing a person does by tainting it with comparisons to something someone else does.
If mere “competition” makes something a sport, then to me, that takes away all the glory and honor that comes with the sacrifices made in order to train for an Olympic event, and puts them on par with Wall Street bankers.
Well, I’d consider myself pretty knowledgeable about MMA as I hardly miss a fight and even have stopped in to observe at some notable MMA camps, including Team Jackson’s in Albuquerque, NM. The reality is that MMA is far safer than boxing because these guys take less shots to the head. Once a fighter is hurt and “unable to intelligently defend himself,” the fight is stopped.
In the nearly 20 years that the sport has existed, there have been three reported deaths – 1. a guy named Douglas Dedge (I believe) who died in Russia post-fight from a heart condition, apparently. With that said, he would have never been licensed to fight here because he wouldn’t have passed the pre-fight physicals required by the athletic commissions. 2. A guy named Sam Vasquez from Houston and 3. Michael Kirkham. For the #2 and #3 guys, I don’t think that they ever were required to get neurological exams prior to fighting. They both died of a brain hemorrhage. Such is probably the case with the smaller promotions. However, with the big promotions like the UFC, neurological exams are required and mandatory. In fact, Thiago Alves was pulled from a fight a while back due to something discovered on his neurological pre-fight exam. I know that the UFC is strongly trying to get standardization of pre-fight medical exams throughout the U.S. to encourage more safety in the sport.
As far as getting kids introduced to the sport – it will not incur violence. That’s a silly assumption. Listen to the fighters themselves – most are very laid back people and they fight because they enjoy competition and get paid for it. They aren’t out randomly picking street fights. Most are educated and many have jobs outside of fighting. Chris Lytle is a firefighter for the city of Indianapolis and is now running for Indiana State Senate. Jacob Volkmann has a chiropractic practice outside of Minneapolis. Nick Thompson is a city attorney for LaCrosse, WI I believe. Rich Franklin used to be a high school math teacher. Josh Koscheck and Frankie Edgar were both previously college wrestling coaches. Many of these guys nowadays are ex-college wrestlers that have made the transition.
It’s a great sport that’s truly a mix of all of the martial arts disciplines. What does martial arts teach in general? Discipline.
“If mere “competition” makes something a sport, then to me, that takes away all the glory and honor that comes with the sacrifices made in order to train for an Olympic event, and puts them on par with Wall Street bankers.”
Mere competition doesn’t make something a sport. Sports have an actual competitive structure and rules. That’s why bullying is not a sport despite the fact that it has things in common with war. Namely, picking on someone that is less capable than you and taking their stuff.
I can’t believe how much grief has been caused by these kids having a grappling match inside a cage. I spend most of my weekends taking my own children to Judo competitions all over the uk. If you think this event is bad, then go and watch one of your local judo competitions.
Kids as young as 6, actually physically throw each other around on the mat. I’ve seen broken arms, toes, fingers from the simplest of throws and kids nearly passing out as they refuse to tap when being strangled. Hence the referee being there!
From what I have seen and read, the only thing that caused so much up roar is the cage!!!
American football has the highest death rate of any “regular” sports. But at least it’s not sanctioned by the IOC.
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