Too Brutal For Some

On Saturday December 7th there was a rare UFC event down under in Brisbane, Australia.  The main event featured hometown hero Mark Hunt (from New Zealand) against a Brazilian known as Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva.  The fight was an unbelievable display of heart by both fighters that ended in a rare  deaw.  Draws are extremely rare due to the nature of the scoring system and odd numbers of round.  Fights are three rounds, or five rounds for championship or main event fights.  Rounds are scored as 10-9 just like in they are in boxing.  Which is the exact same as scoring a round 1-0.  So if you win 2 out of 3 rounds, or 3 out 5 rounds, you win.  Rounds are very rarely scored 10-8, so draws are usually the result of point deductions).

This main event  fight was extremely bloody.  Often elbow strikes do less physical damage to an opponent than a punch will, but they have a propensity to cut the opponent because elbows are sharp.  If you have ever cut your head open, you know that the head bleeds much more than a cut on other parts of your body.  If you are physically exerting yourself, this problem is magnified because your heart is pumping at full capacity to get blood to your muscles and the blood is really flowing.  It is for this reason that elbows are often not allowed in kickboxing matches, except for professional 'full rules' Muay Thai matches, usually in Thailand.  When a fighter's foreheads bleed, if the blood is going into their eyes, the fight has to be stopped.  That is the pragmatic reason for their exclusion in other combat sports, not the blood itself.

So anyway, the fight was very bloody and both fighters took a lot of punishment.  The fact that they were still standing at the end was absolutely unbelievable.  After the fight, a sports editor for an Australian website wrote a scathing article  about the entire fight card, but the main event in particular.

Some of his quotes:

"SINCE when is kicking, elbowing, kneeing, punching and stomping an opponent classified as sport?" 

Well Phil, the first appearance in the Olympics was 648 BC - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration
(P.S. stomps, as well as kicks and knees while any opponent is on the ground, are illegal)

"This was nothing but barbaric savagery that should be banned in this country."

...lol

"And why are the competitors allowed to do all this inside a cage when it’s illegal on the streets?"

Probably for the same reason you can't run up and tackle people on the streets.  These are people who are trained how to fight and are agreeing to fight each other. 
 This man must have never seen a Karate tournament, a Tae Kwon Do tournament or a boxing match.  Or even a wrestling  match(the olympic kind, not Hulk Hogan/Macho Man kind).  All of those activities definitely not allowed on the street.
Basically every argument the man made was fallacious, and grossly ignorant.

My favorite has to be:
"The injury risks they face in rugby league and all the footy codes. At least their sport involves a large degree of skill - and it's not just a contest to ­violently bash another person into submission."

Yes fighting does not take skill like rugby.  Fighters don't hire dieticians and train 6 days a week and hire coaches to watch tape and discover their opponents weakness, and even pay people who have fought with their next opponent to come train with them and give them insight into how they fight.  Yes, none of that takes skill.  You just walk into a cage and punch each other until someone falls over.

This article created a huge stir in the MMA world, which I will save for part 2 of this entry because it is already quite long.  Thanks for reading.

link to the article:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/boxing-mma/ultimate-fighting-championship-a-bloody-disgrace-writes-phil-rothfield/story-fnii0bqi-1226778234609

To retire or not to retire?

Two weeks ago one of the best fighters in the world Georges St. Pierre won a controversial split decision (two judges scored it for him 3 rounds to 2.  The other judge scored it for the challenger 3 rounds to 2).   Most people scored it for the challenger Johny (yes, with one 'n') Hendricks.  All 16 journalists at the post fight press conference who give unofficial scores live on twitter had it for the challenger.  There was a ridiculous statistic that the champion GSP took more punches in this fight than he had taken in his first 20 fights COMBINED.  Sadly, I can't remember what it was now and I can't find it :( Anyway, that isn't important as the aftermath.  GSP gave an interview post fight and said he wanted to take some time off from fighting (mind you he had just been punched in the head a lot and had his toughest fight ever).  The president of the UFC proceeded to lambast him in the media and say that there is no way he is taking extended time off  and that he owes it to the fans and the ufc to defend his belt.

This sparked a very serious discussion of how much damage a fighter should be allowed to take and how the fans, as well as the company itself, should encourage fighters to fight if they no longer feel comfortable with it.  Many people in the forum were critical of the UFC president for making those statements and that no fighters owe the UFC anything.  Anyone who feels they should not compete anymore or who aren't 100% devoted to professional fighting should be able to walk away.  I would say 95% of people agree with this.  Usually the only people who disagree are obviously trolling and trying to get a rise out of the rest of the posters on the forum.  The UFC president has been asked to apologize for his comments, but he has refused and stands by his words.