The Ultimate Fighting Championship is quickly becoming the biggest combat sport in America. Just last month, CBS has announced a deal in which it would broadcast primetime fights. The fights have attracted such a wide audience, they are threatening to surpass boxing as the nation's most popular pugilistic sport.
However, the latest news in the ultimate fighting arena is a bit disturbing for me. Perhaps it is the fact that I am not one to watch gruesome sports or even view sports in which one person is trying to beat up another person and leave them left on the ground.
The Associated Press is reporting that the sport is attracting kids as young as six whose parents view it as casually as "Little League or soccer."
I have to admit when I first read this my jaw dropped. What parent would compare soccer or baseball to a sport in which their kids are wrestling, fighting hand -o-hand combat?
The Associated Press chronicles a group out of Missouri in which several boys and one girl are watched as they wrestle, sucker punch, as well as take shots at one another in the garage of a local house.
Seriously, this sounds like a recognized sport to these parents? It is done in a garage. The article goes on to interview the parents who seem ecstatic that their children are involved claiming it teaches them discipline and how to defend themselves. Yes, it teaches them to defend themselves because they have no other choice than be beaten to a pulp.
I can't imagine the abuse their bodies are taken with this either. Seriously, football and baseball are hard on kids between the pitching and tackling, I can't begin to think of the injuries these young bodies, as young as six remember, are experiencing.
The good news in all of this I was able to find is that the league for kids has added weight classes to better match opponents and banned moves such as strikes to the back of the neck and head, groin kicking and head butting. The best news is that so far Missouri is the only state to allow the youth fights. In many states, it is even a misdemeanor for kids to participate, still some states have no regulations.
Obviously, these parents need to get in touch with reality. There are reasons why it would be banned for kids. This is not something to be proud of if it is ultimately hurting your children farther down the road. Besides, there is a reason the sport was created for adult men in the first place.
