interesting....
interestingly shitty.
Those two scary looking blokes fighting are fine gentlemen from my experience.
I wonder what the AMA's stance is on rugby league?
I found this article offensive and sensationalised!
I responded to it and so should you guys! Here is a copy of the email I sent to the SMH
To the editor,
I would like to offer more insight into cage fighting as described by your paper on Sunday the 5th of August! Here is a link to the article http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/law-gets-to-grips-with-cage-fighting/2007/08/04/1185648220969.html
While Mixed Martial Arts (M.M.A.) can at first glance look brutal, I would like to elaborate on a few of the safety mechanisms put in place to protect the fighters. I would also like to highlight the great track record that M.M.A. has internationally as far as serious injury or fatality is concerned! There have been no deaths as a direct result of participating in a M.M.A. bout.
Before a M.M.A. bout takes place the fighters are put through a medical and have their blood screened for communicable diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C and H.I.V.
There are weight classes to ensure that opponents are evenly matched, and the experience of the fighter is taken into consideration to again help ensure a well-matched bout. Immediately before the fight a doctor checks the fighters. The fight referee checks that mouth guards, groin guards and protective gloves are worn by the combatants.
When a fight commences there are still more safeguards! At anytime a fighter can verbally or physically submit and end the fight. There is no shame in this action and a win by submission is just one of the ways to win. The referee can at any stage stop the fight, the ring doctor can stop the fight after inspecting an injured fighter, and a fighter's cornerman can at any stage stop the fight by throwing in the towel.
None of the above information was in the article that the Sunday Morning Herald printed on Sunday! This is not a sport where two people enter and they fight to the death! This is a skilled sport contested by well trained and disciplined athletes, who are medically cleared to compete. At any stage of the fight a fighter or his corner, or the referee can stop the fight.
Your article stated that ""The Australian Medical Association opposes all forms of boxing and the chairman of the association's public health committee, associate professor John Gullotta, said that policy should also apply to cage fighting.
"It's basically similar to boxing and the AMA is opposed to that because the aim of the sport is to inflict a head injury and knock your opponent out," he said.
"Medically, we find that unacceptable due to the potential risks of head injury, brain damage and inflicting blows to the head.""
Mixed Martial Arts is not the same as boxing, while knock out is a way of winning it is not the only way to win. The sole aim of the sport is not to inflict a head injury and knock your opponent out! Submission wins are just as important in M.M.A.
On the topic of sporting injuries and fatalities, I again refer to mixed martial arts great international record, a record that is so good because of the safeguards that I mentioned earlier, that are put in place to protect the fighters. In the United States M.M.A. is approved in most states and is sanctioned by the individual states athletic commission, with thousands of M.M.A. matches occurring annually.
The Australian Medical Association's stance on M.M.A. appears to be misinformed. Either that or they would like to ban any sport that could cause serious injury or death. I don't want to demonise other sports but I would like to highlight some of the more dangerous sports that are part of mainstream sporting culture. Motorsports, how many deaths occur each year due to motorsports? Rugby League and Rugby Union have lots of injuries throughout a sporting year both at a grass roots level and professional level. Netball is the cause of multiple ankle, knee, hip and hand injuries each year. Horse Racing sadly at times claims the lives of its brave jockeys! Gymnastics is another high-risk sport. I could go on but my point is that sport carries with it some danger, some chance for injury. That danger, that desire to push the limits is what makes sport exciting to watch and exhilarating to do!
Most sports can be dangerous, but addressing the dangers and putting in place safeguards like M.M.A. has helps to ensure a safe sporting environment, without removing the excitement!
I write this reply with a vested interest in M.M.A. I am the current Warrior's Realm Heavyweight Champion, and I am being flown out to Vancouver, Canada later this month to compete in my first international fight as part of the bodogFIGHT series. M.M.A. is a great sport and an awesome spectacle! Its fighters are talented, dedicated and well disciplined! This is not a sport of untrained thugs, or bar brawling fools. M.M.A. has a lot to offer and I hope to see the Australian people embrace it!
Regards
Brad Morris
If enough of us complain they may do another story in a better light? Who knows? But even if they ignore the reply's I had to do something about the negative light in which our great sport is being portrayed!
You can contact the NSW department of Sports and Recreation at
NSW Sport and Recreation
Level 3, 6 Figtree Drive
Sydney Olympic Park NSW 2127
Locked Bag 1422 Silverwater NSW 2128
Telephone: (02) 9006 3700
Facsimile: (02) 9006 3888
or
http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/ABOUTUS/au_contact_email.asp
via this page here. It's easy, let them know what you think!
"in which contestants mimic street brawls" Well they got htat aroudn the wrong way. Andrew Taylor trotted out the same material with a different emphasis in the Sun Herald.
O to be near my scanner. Will type...
oops. Same article.
Whatever anyone does, individual letters to your local member are much better then a petition which gets tabled and delt with within 1.5 minutes flat. Letters mean that there's a ground swell growing.
Must say I was very excited when I read this this morning. I was in a cafe eating vanilla slice and drinking a very large, strong coffee. I scoffed it, jumped up and walked up the street at a rate of notts. Charged around all day.