27 September 2007, 16:26 in

Cage fighting should not be banned

There is a King Of The Cage fighting tournament scheduled to be held in Perth in October this year. For some reason, this has caused some uproar and the Australian government has recently been trying to ban the sport of cage fighting. Some news articles on the issue are here, here, here, and here.

In short, I believe that cage fighting should not be banned.

I am appalled and angry at the government for attempting to ban cage fighting. Every criticism of the sport that I have heard has either been completely ignorant, or at the least hypocritical or inconsistent with other sports. What we have here is politicians and other people who are completely ignorant of the sport looking at a few photos or viewing a short video clip and making a knee-jerk reaction.

For a start, cage fighting is not a sport in itself, and competitors don’t usually call themselves cage fighters. Cage fighting is simply a mixed martial arts fight held in a cage rather than the traditional boxing ring. Mixed martial arts competitions in normal boxing rings have been running here for a long time. Why is a huge fuss being made now just because the same event is now going to take place in a cage arena? Two fighters I talked to believe that the cage is actually safer than a boxing ring, because when grappling/wrestling is involved it’s quite easy to fall out of a ring or get tangled in the ropes.

Politicians and the media seem to make out mixed martial arts competitions as a blood bath, involving two unskilled brutes trying to kill each other. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth. All the people that I know personally who have competed in or intend to compete in MMA fights or similar tournaments are generally very down-to-earth, respectful, hardworking, and relaxed individuals. They have nothing to prove, and don’t go starting fights in public.

The violent idiots that just want to hurt someone never get very far in training. Generally they show up to a training session or two and never again, because they realise what is involved. Becoming good at any serious combative sport involves being humble, keeping an open mind, acknowledging that there are people out there much better than you, learning from defeat or failure, working your butt off, and being persistent. The biggest battles you fight are internal battles within yourself. From what I have seen, at least at the amateur level, there is generally a high level of sportsmanship between competitors (in contrast to what we usually see in AFL matches).

One commonly used argument against violent sports is “we don’t want to condone violence, we are a civilised society”. I hate this argument. Allowing fighting tournaments to take place does not condone violence. It does not send out the message that it is OK to be violent at home or at a nightclub. Two consenting adults challenging each other on fair terms with rules in place is quite far removed from a bunch of idiots assaulting someone outside a nightclub.

I believe that, just like any other animal, we humans have some natural aggression in us, and this is OK and not something to be embarrassed of. We need to be able to let this aggression out in a controlled manner. Labeling all forms and expressions of our natural physical aggression as being undesirable and taboo is just plain unhealthy. I am a fairly highly strung person, but after a good hard training session I feel relaxed and content (and a little less bothered by the stupid drivers going slow in the right lane on the freeway).

People are different. Everyone has different standards for what is too violent or too brutal. Some people would say that any contact sport like AFL or rugby is too violent. Others would disagree. It is a personal thing and everyone should be allowed to make their own choice. No one is being forced to watch or participate in something they don’t like.

Another argument often used against cage fighting is that it is unsafe. I disagree. Sure, it is has some risks associated with it, and accidents can happen, but I don’t think it is any more dangerous than many other sports such as football, rugby, boxing and so on. While maybe they aren’t as violent in nature, fast paced physical ball sports such as rugby or football seem like they would have a higher chance of serious injury because there are multiple people on the field at one time, there is lots of space and people are running at each other at high speed, there is only one referee who can’t be looking everywhere at once, and it is quite probable that you will be hit or tackled or run into by someone you didn’t see and weren’t able to brace yourself for. A mixed martial arts bout is more closely refereed, with one referee per two fighters. Fights usually only take place between two opponents of similar skill or experience, and similar weight. As soon as one of the fighters is unable to intelligently defend themselves, or when they voluntarily submit (give up), the fight is ended.

At first glance, boxing may appear to be safer than mixed martial arts, due to the bigger gloves, and more restrictive rules (no kicks, no grappling, no knees, etc). However, I believe these restrictions actually make it more brutal. In boxing you have no choice but to trade punches with your opponent, and as a result boxers get frequently punched in the head. On the other hand, mixed martial arts is a more flexible game where you have other options; there is grappling and ground fighting and it is possible to finish a fight by submission (which causes the opponent no damage provided they tap out). From what I know, mixed martial arts has a good safety track record with few serious injuries or deaths.

From the article in the Sydney Morning Herald:

The AMA says cage fighting is dangerous and puts contestants’ lives at risk.

You could substitute just about any activity (e.g. driving a car, riding a bike, playing football) in place of the words cage fighting in the above phrase and it would still be true. The AMA would probably like to ban just about anything else that has some tiny element of risk associated with it. Doctors aren’t experts on everything, and their advice has to be taken in context. Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for doctors and some of my close friends are doctors. Doctors are great at helping sick or injured people recover and lead a normal life. However they are generally not experts on helping an already healthy person become a better, faster, stronger athlete. I believe that because doctors tend to deal with people who have something wrong with them, they tend to have a skewed point of view. Some time ago, I hurt my back and went to see a doctor hoping for a detailed diagnosis on what happened, and advice on what I could do to prevent the same thing from happening in the future (e.g increase my flexibility, strengthen certain muscles, warm up differently, etc). Instead the doctor’s advice was that I should never lift weights again, and just do light jogging instead. Talk about a defeatist attitude, and legally covering your ass!

One thing that really pisses me off is people who believe that they have the right to tell other people what to do. As long as no one is being harmed or having their property damaged against their will, let people do what they want. I’m sick of living in a dumbed down idiot-proof world, where everything is covered in warning labels, no one takes responsibility for their actions, people expect compensation for their own stupidity or bad luck, every piece of information comes with a disclaimer, and anything that is remotely dangerous or doesn’t fit in with the current politically correct flavour of the month gets banned.

Obviously mixed martial arts is not a sport for everyone. Some people prefer football or cricket or tennis or chess. We are all different and that’s fine and good! All I ask is that if you don’t like a sport or activity, then feel free not to to watch or participate in it, but don’t ruin it for other people that do!

I would love to hear anyone else’s opinion on this matter, or feedback on what I have written.

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