Mixed martial arts: Brutality at its finest Jason Campbell Rogue Community College Two men face off in an octagon shaped “ring”, each vying for the advantage needed to either subdue their enemy With a flurry Of brutal blows to the head and midsection or the opportunity to take them down to the mat and submit them With a technique designed to break a limb or pass out from lack of oxygen if they are unwilling to admit defeat. This is the sport of mixed martial arts, or MA, as it is referred to more frequently.
Some claim it to be a sadistic, violent activity that is synonymous with the arenas of ancient Rome ND the gruesome fights to the death by gladiators. Senator John McCain, one of the leading antagonists against MA, has in the past referred to it as Inhuman cockfighting” (Siegel, 2007, Para. 18). MA should not be banned, is no more dangerous than other high-contact sports, and can have a positive influence in an individual’s elite. Mixed martial arts boasts a much longer past than most people are aware of.
The first recorded history of MA was when it was presented into the Olympia_ Games by the Greeks in the tort of the sport called penetration in 648 B,C. E. penetration is a fighting form that incorporates restring and boxing into a deadly style of unarmed combat that the Spartan used to dominate the battlefield. penetration quickly rose to be the most admired game in the Olympics and fans were drawn to it; filling the stadiums. The allure of these matches can be seen today in modern mixed martial arts bouts.
This fighting style consists of standing strikes using the feet, hands, elbows and knees and on the ground using submission holds and blows to the head and midsection. Pantywaists were extraordinary grapples and employed a multitude Of techniques to subdue their adversaries via chokes and joint locks. These fighters were pursued by Alexander the Great because of their infamy in battle. He had recruited a considerable amount Of these individuals when he invaded India in 326 B. C. E. This is rumored to be the origin of martial arts in Asia, as most forms can attribute Indian influence from about the same time period.
Because of the extreme training this form required, it later declined in popularity in those who participated in the sport. At this time the west favored specializing in either boxing or wrestling and traditional martial arts were adopted as the combat sport for Asian nations. Mixed martial arts remained dormant for centuries, only emerging briefly at various times in history, until it was revived in 1925 in ROI De Jeanine by the Gracie family. George Gracie emigrated trot Scotland to a small province of Brazil in 1 801 , where the family settled and thrived.
In the first part tot the asses, Mitosis Made emigrated trot Japan to the same province as the Gracie family, where he began to train Carols Gracie in the martial art form of Judo. Carols Gracie trained with Made for six years as a young adult, until Made returned to Japan. Gracie then trained his brothers in the art of Judo and they adapted it to the form known today as juju-jujitsu, a dominant style adopted in MA today. In 1925, Carols and Hello Gracie moved to ROI De Jeanine and opened the first juju-jujitsu training camp.
To gain recognition for their young school, he advertised in local papers issuing the “Gracie Challenge”. This challenge consisted of an all-out challenge to take on any and all who thought they could best them. These contests resembled the penetration events Of Old. Thus the sport of mixed martial arts was reborn. Vale-outdo, which means “anything goes” in Portuguese, rapidly became the second most popular sport in Brazil, closely allowing soccer. This once again shows that these types of spectator sports are sought after by the general populace.
Hello Gracie, who weighed only 135 pounds, was an important aspect of this popularity as he proceeded to fight in over one-thousand fights to uphold the “Gracie Challenge”. Many of these matches, his opponents outweighed him by more than 100 lbs. Brazilian juju-jujitsu was introduced in the United States in the sass’s by Orion Gracie, where the “Gracie Challenge was once again issued, This time a prize of 100,000 dollars was presented to any who could best the Gracie brothers in a vale-outdo match. In 993, Gracie and two partners formed the Ultimate Weighting Championship or the LIFE: which it is referred to as more frequently.
In its infancy, LIFE had adopted the “no-holds-barred” style that the Ancient Greeks used in their penetration contests. The matches consisted of next to no rules, had no time limits, and could only be stopped by a referee, knockout, or a submission, A submission is when a contestant admits defeat either verbally or by tapping the mat, or his opponent three times with his hand. These events oeuvre originally marketed concentrating on the crowd pleasing brutalities of the sport, such as the lack of rules and the lain that “anything can happen, even death. This later caused the league much grief in the form of negative publicity. At this point, McCain cried out for the sport to be eradicated. It was eventually banned in most States and pay-preview carriers dropped them from their lineups. In 2001, Guffaw, LLC purchased the AFC, reformed the rules, and returned to pay-per-view. The stringent rules contained “rounds, time limits, five weight classes. A list of 31 fouls, and 8 possible ways to win” (Walter, 2003, Para. 18). This attracted a different type of fighter than those that participated in the AFC in its early stages.
The quality of the athletes that started participating in these events helped to legitimate mixed martial arts as a sport, These fighters are among the highest conditioned athletes known today. Walter continues to say the training required to excel in this sport often surpasses the dedication of trained athletes who compete in other sports, such as boxing or football (Para 18). A MA fighters training regimen can vary depending on the fighter and can even change from fight to fight. The one thing that stays constant is the intensity. Most MA tighter train tort as many as 8 hours a day, six days a week.
These are generally broke up into two sessions per day, once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. It consists of various forms of weight training, cardiac, and honing different fighting techniques, They spend a large portion of their time before a fight analyzing and studying their opponents. This is when a fighter is increasing the proficiency of the skills they are weak in or refining the moves that their opponents are inadequate at defending. For professional MA fighters training is their job, V-or most fighters a strict diet is adhered to for facilitating the growth of muscle and maintaining nutrition.
The term healthy is used frequently in the sport, usually meaning the fighter is in fighting condition or not hurt, but it refers to their overall nutrition also. Weight training Can be as rudimentary as lifting tractor tires and running up and down a mountain or can include state of the art training equipment and machines. Tit Rotor, a former CIVIC champion, owns an estate in Big Bear, CA Where he trains because the altitude is so high. Working on their cardiac at higher altitudes grant them increased stamina, Which is important for the explosive nature Of an MA fight (Chorizo, 2010, Para. 4).
These fighters have to be in top physical condition to give one hundred percent in a fight. These fights have three rounds at five minutes apiece. A championship fight has five rounds. These fighters go full bore for the duration of these fights and many times conditioning can be the difference between a win and a loss, An important reason for training so hard is developing a mental toughness, the ability to see past the pain and continue on no matter what, Georges SST-Pierre, current AFC Welterweight champion, made a reticence to this when he said “l push so hard that it builds the mental strength deed to keep pushing when fight,” he says. You can’t win at anything if you don’t have mental toughness. ” The physique of these fighters can also draw people in to watch these bouts. This is shown by the amount of gyms that are providing MA style workouts and people that are training in mixed martial arts for the workout it provides, not the fighting aspect (Schneider Para IS). Many people can attest to the allure of seeing a man in top physical condition, whether they be man or woman _ That is why there are such competitions as bodybuilding.
In addition, a body has to be in the best condition can be to withstand the enmeshment that is received during one of these bouts. Some individuals find the physical violence of MA appalling. They claim is dangerous and not even a sport. Senator McCain, Who champions the fight against mixed martial arts, made his declaration that MA is “barbarity and likened it to human cockfighting” in the early days Of modern mixed martial arts.
At this time MA was an extremely ruthless, no holds barred spectacle, with very little rules or regulations. In 2001 , the competition underwent a dramatic change, which has led to 34 states allowing sanctioned fights to take place within the state lines ND causing McCain to make a concession on the well-known radio program, All things considered, when he stated “They have cleaned up the sport to the point, at least in my view, where it is not human cockfighting any more. Hind they’ve made significant progress, Granted some LIFE bouts can be bloody or a severe injury can occur, but how is this any different from other high contact sports such as boxing or even football, The bloodiest fights usually occur because of a superficial cut on the head and retirees are trained to recognize when the cut has become a danger. Those that oppose mixed martial arts and the KICK-C claim hat the repeated blows to the head can cause brain trauma, primarily attributed to the fact that MA fighters wear small lightweight gloves, whereas, boxing has larger more padded gloves.
Contrary to popular belief, gloves in boxing or mixed martial arts are not to protect the fighters head and face, but are there to protect the hands (Walter, 2003, Para. 53). In fact, because of the heavier, thicker gloves the fighter is able to throw more punches to their opponents head because of the protection the gloves allow. Also, in boxing there is only a small amount of ways to accomplish a victory, all of them involve hitting your opponent enough mimes in the head to either knock him unconscious or enough to render him unable to pick himself up Off the floor, Which is considered a technical knockout, or TOOK.
Even in a fight where this does not occur and the winner of the fight is decided by the judge’s scorecards, the score is determined by how many blows connected with the opponent versus how many were thrown, also knockdowns are awarded a large amount Of points. The concession has to be made that this can occur in mixed martial arts also. But it is not the only way a fight can be won. In fact, a large amount of MA bouts end up on the mat as a contest between rappers supervenes; “only 28% of all MA bouts are decided by a blow to the head”.
A boxing match consists of ten to twelve rounds at three minutes per, MA comprises three to five rounds at five minutes apiece. Each sport allows a fighter sixty seconds to rest between rounds. Combining the shorter rounds and more frequent rest periods this means a boxer is going to have the stamina to throw more punches at close to full efficiency than a MA fighter. A boxer can he subjected to over a hundred blob’s to the head in a single fight.
Studies have shown that as many as forty percent of boxers suffer trot lingering brain aroma and that most individuals who have chosen this profession, at the very least, have minimal brain damage; even those who do not show symptoms. On the other hand, an analysis performed by John Hopkins in 2006 showed that the chance of traumatic damage to the brain was diminished in the case of mixed martial arts. Even in other sports not known for its brutality, MA showed less risk. In 2009, 55,000 residents of the United States were brought to the hospital for head injuries sustained playing hockey or football (Zincked, 2011, Para. -10). JIFF was introduced in 1993, since then, only three fatalities have occurred in the United States during sanctioned MA events. The most recent was amateur fighter Michael Karma who died two days after his pro debut on Lune 26th, 2010. Karma had suffered a brutal loss in an unsanctioned amateur fight just over 30 days before his death. In that amateur fight Karma had suffered repeated blows to the back of the head, which is illegal in sanctioned MA In response, Karma received a 30 day medical suspension before he could fight in his first professional fight.
The popularity of this sport drives people to participate whether it is legal or not. This is evidence that regulating axed martial arts is the answer, not banning the sport. While Skirmish’s death occurred in a sanctioned fight, the injuries that were most likely the cause of his death were sustained in a non-sanctioned event and were obtained trot blows that are illegal according to standards in professional MA events. Dry.
Joe Estonian believes his death could have been what is referred to as second- impact syndrome, which can be prompted by even a minor impact after suffering a substantial blow to the head up to 4 weeks after enduring the initial trauma (Perez, 2010, Para. 2-7). Perez also says, “Or, Robert C, Canto, a leading researcher n second-impact syndrome, said a brain scan done after the first fight may have been able to detect a brain injury” (Para. 8), but this was well out of the price range of an unemployed struggling musician and fighter.
Boxing on the other hand, reported 146 fatalities in the SIS in approximately the same time period, and has accumulated over 500 worldwide between the years 2000 and 2007 (Squint, 2007, Para_ 8-23). In I egg, 23-year old Jimmy Garcia slipped into unconsciousness after a one-sided boxing match against then WEB featherweight champion Gabriel Rulers; Garcia never woke again. Ironically, McCain was ringside for this event, which occurred during his battle against mixed martial arts. McCain “has seen the ultimate brutality Of boxing and, yet, remains a fan” (Silverman, 1998, peg. 2).
Football is an extremely popular and accepted sport in America, yet there were five deaths that occurred in 2010 alone and 115 fatalities relating to this revered sport since 1986 (Armor, 2011, Para. 13). These numbers do not include the indirect deaths such as heat stroke or cardiopulmonary, which accounted for eleven more fatalities on the football field in 2010 (Mueller & Colgate, 201 1, peg. 5). MA has grown in popularity and the AFC is one of the fastest growing organizations in sports history; with this popularity and the nature of the sport, criticism is inevitable.
While there is some risk of injury inherent in MA other such popular sporting events have a much higher risk. Mixed martial arts should not be vilified by those who are lacking in sufficient knowledge. Football and boxing have been around for years, before such concerns were brought to light. Because of this, they are firmly entrenched in our society, thereby, allowing them a measure of immunity to criticism, MA and the JIFF do not possess this leeway.
