A Paper on Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a new phenomenon, a new sport. It has a lot of controversies, mainly because of the injuries and fatalities that sometimes occur to the involved fighters. But the excitement, the aggressiveness and the danger are maybe the reason why MMA has become such a big crowd-puller. It’s something very different form our post modern society norms where aggressiveness and fighting are looked down upon. Are such wild and uncivilized events acceptable? And are the tragedies enough reason for a prohibition of the sport?
A description of mixed martial arts and an outline of the attitudes towards it
The writer of “The rise and rise of ultimate fighting (and why boxing is now so passé)” Jenny Flinn, who
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23-25). MMA emerged in the 1990s to decide which martial art was the greater. So it wasn’t meant to be a sport, but merely a fighting contest. In the text “How many more young people must die before mixed martial arts is banned?” Peter McCabe, chief executive for the brain injury association Headway, argues that the brutality of MMA is too extreme and should because of this be illegal: “There is no conceivable way in which MMA can even remotely be considered safe.” (text 2, l. 92-94). He points out that young people are exploited by money-greedy MMA promoters to risk their sanity and life for the sake of money and entertainment. An opposing attitude is presented in the text “In defence of mixed martial arts” by Australian sports blogger Cameron Mee. Cameron Mee claims that MMA is not harmless, but highly regulated to ensure …show more content…
But making MMA illegal is hard to justify, unless other sports should be banned as well. It’s true that the risk of fighters getting severe neurological damage and other injuries is relatively high, but when is the risk too high? Other sports like some extreme sports have very high risks of casualties like when Red Bull athletes jumps out of a plane trying to land in a net without parachute. But should this be banned? Both MMA and extreme sports have one important common feature; the participants know the dangers and the possible consequences of what they are doing. If a MMA fighter knows that he might end up disabled or even dead, and despite of that chooses to enter the ring for the kick, the glory or any other reason it’s his choice to make. Another point is that making something illegal rarely removes the problem. It would more likely make the sport even more brutal and unregulated. The amateur aspect of MMA, which Cameron Mee mentions is positive. MMA can have a positive influence on society, just like boxing-clubs have helped many desperate young people away from the streets in countries like USA. The amateur format also fits very well with the post modern society, where individual sports are thriving as Jenny Flinn mentions. The solution to MMA tragedies are probably not a ban, but more likely rule regulations or safety precautions that could give referees better options
Yes they might get paid handsomely but the lifelong damages it causes to the boxers are overwhelming. Life expectancy goes down even more when it comes to boxing because boxers have no head protection so if they get hit in the head it will cause severe
As long as there have been sports, there has been violence in them. Ice hockey, particularly due to its increasing popularity as a professional sport, has brought up several ethical issues regarding the act of fighting in hockey. There are strong arguments for both sides of this present problem in the world of hockey. Numerous male athletes, including children as young as nine years of age, have suffered injuries as an outcome of fighting and it should be considered if it should be part of a sport that very young people grow up with (Brust, Leonard, Pheley & Roberts, 1992).On the other hand, fights create excitement and the sport of hockey might grow in terms of popularity, making the problem of fighting in hockey complex and difficult to resolve (“Towards An Explanation Of Hockey Violence: A Reference Other Approach”). Even though hockey is known to be a very aggressive and fast-paced sport, the unsportsman-like action of fighting in hockey cannot longer be tolerated.
Violence has become a normalized concept in society. Children play video games based on beating and shooting others, people watch violent news stories without a second thought, and people watch people hit, punch, and fight each other for pure entertainment. In Norman Mailer’s “The Death of Benny Paret” Mailer assigns animalistic qualities to the boxers, comparisons of the boxers to inanimate objects, and pacing to convey that boxing is inhuman and uncivilized. In Mailer’s piece, he assigns animalistic qualities to the two boxers in the ring. He described Paret after he was hit by saying “Paret walked three disgusted steps away, showing his hindquarters” (Mailer,1).
Roberts, G.W., Allsop, D., Bruton, C. The occult aftermath of boxing. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1990 May; 53(5): 373–378.
Have you ever wondered, “What is the difference between MMA and boxing?” Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fights originated as hand-to-hand combat performed as a sport called Pankration from the greek words Pan and Kratas, meaning “all powers” (Shamrock). Often a practitioner of one of the skill groups in martial arts challenged a practitioner of a different skill for ultimate bragging rights (Shamrock). In 393C.E. Roman emperor Theodosius the first banned the Olympic games,spelling the end of Pankration as a popular sport (Shamrock). This style of fighting later resurfaced in the twentieth century in Brazil via a combat sport known as vale tudo”,anything goes” (“Encyclopedia Britannica”). MMA
In conclusion, both books take a differing view to bullfighting. However, in the end, they both tend to agree with Barthes that this is not really a sport. However, the view of this paper may be biased by the cultural values of contemporary times and the declining aesthetic value of violence.
The liberty of an individual in sport is the number one value that should be respected to make boxing morally adequate. Autonomy should be respected in sport because ones body should always have freedom from external control and influences. All arguments for paternalism can be explained in a justified way to prove that boxing is unethical and unsafe, but this does not mean that paternalism is the best way to bring about safety in boxing. If boxing were to be banned, violence would become more prevalent outside of sport, and proper boxing technique and skill would slowly disappear. Keeping boxing as a sport will create a safer environment for this type of activity to occur, and also create a fair ground for each sport that involves violence to stay available to athletes. Because boxing does involve violence, this does not imply that it is immoral to participate and that the freedom to participate should be taken away from athletes. Boxing provides a safe environment, a place to create a career, and is an institution for sporting entertainment. By allowing boxing as a sport to continue, this will create a safe and fair atmosphere with the freedom to allow all individuals to participate with proper
When we talk about violence in athletics, we are referring to any form of physical act that is committed by or against the athletes at the time of athletic events. These acts go against the regulations of the athletics bodies that govern the sport. Such acts of violence in athletics involve both deliberate schemes to injure fellow athletes and actual harm or threats directed towards the athletes by the spectators. The act of engaging in violence by some athletes is an attempt to intimidate or injure the opponents. A number of players and coaches have for a number of years been accused of such plots as a way of trying to outdo their opponents. Many of such cases have been welcomed by strict legal measures such as bans from participating in a future sporting activities.
Banning boxing is becoming an expanding topic. In England, boxing is on the verge on being banned on ethnical grounds. Ethnically, many people do not believe that it is legal to possible kill someone, intentionally. In many sport, there are chances of brain trauma, but the sole purpose of this sport is to injure someone else. Deciding at which point that brain trauma outweighs social benefit is the current argument when it comes to banning boxing. Because there is no proven, direct association between boxing and brain injuries, the argument is at a standstill in
Being a professional boxer didn’t do much for his mental health because he says he would feel on top of the world and yet so lonely at the same time after a fight. Therefore, he suffered not only the physical demands, but the mental demands in the professional arena of the sport.
Contact sports in America, like football and boxing, carry a rich history of the spirit of the game, and the feeling of victory. These games bring us together as we cry out and cheer for our team or fighter as they deliver the winning touchdown, or the knockout that brings them the undisputed champion belt. However, these players are facing injuries that can destroy their career and affect their brain for the rest of their lives. We shouldn’t outlaw contact sports, but we should force safety to become more important. If we want to keep our players safe and continue the tradition of the contact sports we enjoy as a country, then we must evolve our safety in sports, and change the way we view contact sports as a country.
to all that is barbarous in man”(11). In conclusion, a ban on boxing is not only illogical, but impossible! In my mind. if you want to minimize the number of actual life-long injuries related to. sports, you would be better off coming up with elaborated rules for motor.
Boxing Should Not be Banned In recent years, there have been many campaigns to try and have boxing
For those who do not know, I am a mixed martial arts fighter. Mixed martial arts fighting is “a sport allowing a wide range of fighting techniques that include striking, kicking, and grappling.” (www.merriam-webster.com) It is a compilation of forms of different martial arts. Two fighters will face each in the rings (known as the octagon due to its shape) for three to five five-minute rounds. I started taking martial arts classes when I was six years old. I wanted to be a mixed martial arts fighter all my life. I loved the thought of stepping into the octagon and pounding somebody senseless as a sport. My mother and father, at first, did not want me to take the Taekwondo classes because of this fact. It took a lot of begging to finally convince them to let me do it. They realized that it is very important for any child to learn some type of martial arts. It is essential to use for defense. Mixed martial arts are the thing that helped me cope with my rough childhood and mold me into who I am today. Over the past twenty years, the sport of MMA has revolutionized and has become very popular throughout the world. Despite this being said, other people very hesitant about accepting mixed martial arts. The sport of MMA is gradually becoming a safer sport. Even though it is considered a dangerous sport, other sports at proven to be more dangerous.
With the increase in society taking a stance against violence, sports has become an area where some feel that the violent acts such as the hitting and fighting that occurs should be eliminated. It is very difficult to change the way that a game is played because people have been playing it that way for years. The violence in sports needs to be eliminated because of the extreme cases that continue to haunt many of the leagues and the players themselves.