Ultimate fighting expands to include kids

Ultimate fighting expands to include kids

www.globesports.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Ultimate fighting was once the sole domain of burly men who beat each other bloody in anything-goes brawls on pay-per-view TV.

But the sport often derided as "human cockfighting" is branching out.

The bare-knuckle fights are now attracting competitors as young as 6 whose parents treat the sport as casually as wrestling, Little League or soccer.

The changes were evident on a recent evening in southwest Missouri, where a team of several young boys and one girl grappled on gym mats in a converted garage.

Two members of the group called the "Garage Boys Fight Crew" touched their thin martial-arts gloves in a flash of sportsmanship before beginning a relentless exchange of sucker punches, body blows and swift kicks.

No blood was shed. And both competitors wore protective gear. But the bout reflected the decidedly younger face of ultimate fighting. The trend alarms medical experts and sports officials who worry that young bodies can't withstand the pounding.

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This, I think, is not a good development. I understand that children have been taking martial arts lessons for a long time, boosting physical fitness, mental discipline, respect for self and others, but ultimate fighting is a different breed, with an emphasis on brutality and savage violence. But I guess that today's youth have been desensitized by the constant barrage of war and violent videogames / movies and are needing something more extreme to get the endorphins and ego tingle.

www.globesports.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 27-3-2008 by Silenceisall]

Children have been boxing, wrestling, and doing martial arts for quite some time now. This is really no different.

When it comes down to brutality and injuries, there is only one sport that comes out above all others: American Football

Thats the one I would be worried about. I have seen plenty of guys not able to get in or kicked out of the the military due to injuries from football as a child. That would be the real problem.

It can be said that this is really no different, but every dojo and sensei I've been to or known, rigorously teaches discipline and not to ever fight.
PRIDE fighting is exactly that, fighting for PRIDE, a pride that will be hard to swallow when they get their ass kicked by someone they thought didn't know how to fight, but turns out they did, and just had the discipline to be civilized.
In ultimate fighting, the purpose is learning an art specifically to fight. I personally think this hurts your game in the first place, but thats just me.
Who knows, maybe this will teach kids to fight instead of just shoot each other when they are 8 years old.

This "bare knuckled, burly men, human cockfighting, anything goes" crap is obviously the description of someone who knows nothing about the sport. Its like a bicycle mechanic describing the intricacies of an F22 raptor. These ignorant idiots writing about MMA really gets old. "Relentless exchange of sucker punches," WTF is that? Most of these guys have extensive training in Muay Thai, boxing, and kick boxing. These are skills that require lots of training. Not to mention the chess match that is the ground game. This guy needs to go write about shuffle board or something.

Now to Silenceisall's "with an emphasis on brutality and savage violence" statement. That is also total BS and ignorance. Savage? Hours a day training for months, honing submissions, submission defense, wrestling, refining striking, to make the ultimate competition between two individuals is hardly savage.

The emphasis is just as much on a quick submission as a knockout. This isn't 12 rounds of punching each other in the head, that is boxing.

Now as for kids training MMA. So? As long as there is proper supervision and protective equiptment, I say fine.

Well, yeah, hours of rigorous training go into any discipline, this is no worse than children participating in beauty pageants or competetive weight-lifting.
I'm gonna invite fate down on me and someone is clearly gonna prove me wrong here, but - Only in America...

Rock on. These kids will be Super Fighters by the time they're 18.

They'll be able to rip a person's head off or tear his heart out of his chest while it's still beating.

I know if you want a truly cold blooded killing machine in your fighting dog you've got to start young and these kids are no different.

Imagine 10 years ahead. Brain dead, battle torn, hollow eyed teens born and bred to inflict pain on the weak. Maybe some will even become policeman. Yay :w: