In recent times, there has been quite a lot of bad press about the dangers and the potential hazards of sports such as k1 and mixed martial arts, especially when these sports are staged as ??? fight nights??? that a lot of people attend, to cheer on or to boo the participants.
The participants in a fight night fight with each other using the techniques of mixed martial arts or those of k1, and critics have proclaimed that these fights are nothing but barbaric and gruesome, and promoted violence of the worst kind among the individuals who watched them, and that they must be banned. The question here is: should these fights be banned or not? Why should they be banned, especially when they are only as dangerous as other contact sports? (Liu J 2008) One must at the outset understand what k1 and mixed fighting entail. K1 is often referred to as the ??? no holds barred??? fighting that has originated from Japan. It is a potpourri of fighting sports that has fighters fighting with each other to determine who is the ??? strongest of them all. According to experts, the letter ??? K??? in k1 refers to the ??? K??? with which all the other fighting sports of Japan begin: karate, kung fu, kick boxing, while the number 1 refers to the fact that in this particular sport, there is only one weight class, and also perhaps that the champion of this sport would be considered to be truly ??? number one. ??? Launched in the year 1993 in Japan by the fighting organization Shodo Kaikan, the idea was to let fighters of various groups, like from karate, kick boxing, kung fu and so on come together to decide who amongst them was the strongest of all.
The fighters could use any of the techniques of any of the sports that they were experts in, and mix it with other sports, in a sort of potpourri of fight movements. (??? No Holds Barred??? (1998) The origins of martial arts can probably be traced back to the time of the Greeks and the beginning of the Olympics in 648 BCE, when ??? pankration??? was introduced. This was a fight that was a mixture of Hellenic boxing and wrestling, which would often leave one or both the competitors dead. A completely gruesome sport, it was nevertheless enjoyed greatly by all the men who gathered to watch the fighters and cheer them on, even when they became unconscious or were dying.
The tradition continued, until the mixed fighting matches combining the fighting techniques of jiu jitsu, muay Thai kickboxing, wrestling and other boxing methods, in what was known as ??? vale-tudo??? became the main attraction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the early 1990??? s. The sport spread to the United States, where it was labeled the ??? No Holds Barred??? fight, and was played out in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Held in a sort of cage, the sport had few rules and restriction, even about the respective weights of the participants, except that there was to be no biting or gouging, and that the fight would end when the referee decided it, or when one fighter submitted or surrendered. At the time, there were no time limits, and the fight would go on and on, boring the spectators. This was the reason why certain rules were brought in, including the restriction on the number of rounds, the time, and the weights of the fighters. When the sport became legalized, fighters started training in mixed martial arts, and the result is the tremendously exciting and thrilling mixed martial arts fights that are held at fight clubs on fight nights with unfailing regularity, to the bloodcurdling cheers and whistles from the spectators.
(Walter F Donald ??? Mixed Martial Arts 2003)In recent times, there has been much criticism of fight nights held in bars and in auditoriums across the cities, in which participants pummel each other without mercy. In fact, the Iowa City Council has voted unanimously to ban fight nights, especially in establishments that also serve alcohol at the same time. (Henderson O. Kay 2007) According to the police force, this sort of fighting only serves to attract criminal elements, and this is the reason why they must be banned. In fact, figures showed that these events attracted organized criminals in hordes to the event, and this meant a lot of trouble in the city, and tough times for the police force to keep things under control, even if it was true that the event in itself was completely legitimate.
In the words of police officer Ryan Arnold, ??? I enjoy watching the sport; at the same time I know it has direct appeal to organized crime. Those criminals are really drawn to it. There isn’t a more entertaining brand of fighting out there. (Peebles, Frank 2007) There have even been cases in which both spectators and fighters have become one, that is, the spectators have stepped into the ring when they were intoxicated, and tried to fight it out with the more experienced and trained fighters, leading to disastrous consequences, of course. The fact is that mixed fighting and k1 can never be compared to other contact sports, because of the simple fact that these sports do not involve wreaking harm on the other fighter, as this sport does. Citizens advocate that the City Council must take appropriate action to prevent these types of sports being fought or at the very least, to impose restrictions on the participants, so that the inevitably serious injuries that result can be prevented automatically.
(??? Fight Night too dangerous to continue unregulated??? 2007) In San Francisco, for instance, the I Team took a close look at the fight nights at certain exclusive clubs. To the shock of everyone concerned, the team unearthed the astonishing fact that these clubs meant for the elite often sponsored unmatched fights between participants aged between twenty and as young as eight! This is nothing but exploitation of the most horrific kind, in which the elite audience belonging to the upper crest of society munches on filet mignon while mere children, belonging to the lower strata of society battle it out within the cages built for the purpose. What makes it even worse is the fact that all this is carried out with the explicit permission of the parents. For instance, one parent of an eight year old fighter, Todd Jones had this to say, ??? The kids that come from underprivileged families, they’re the ones with the desire and the hunger to do it.
The defenders of these types of mixed fights and k1 state that this is also a form of entertainment like any other, and since there is no money being made, it is a safe sport for all. However, most people in the know do state that it is money that keeps the bloody sport popular despite facts and evidence that support the claims that this sport, which has no real rules and regulations, can be hazardous and even prove to be fatal to the participants, especially when one of them is either under-aged, or intoxicated. ??? Club Fight Nights feature under-age boxers??? 2008) As a large number of the fighters of mixed fighting and k1 are barely out of their teens, the risks of body building exercises to these as yet un-developed bodies may indeed be grave, especially if the teenager starts to use muscle building supplements that contain harmful hormones and steroids.??? Teenage Muscle Building, benefits and hidden dangers??? 2008) These dangers are often ignored in light of the entertainment that these sorts of fights provide to the audience made up of either drunken men, or previous violent fighters, or of organized criminals just out of prison and so on. Rarely, if ever, would a discerning parent encourage his own child to take up such a dangerous sport, in which he may lose any part of his body, or even lose his life, all for the sake of the entertainment.
Even today, despite mounting evidence to show that the bloody sport must be banned, k1 and mixed fighting is considered legal. Says an amateur fighter from Coeur d??? Alene, Justin Klawitter ??? The dangers of mixed martial arts are exaggerated,??? and ??? I have seen more people hurt playing football than I have in mixed martial arts?????? This is the spirit that keeps the sport alive, and will continue to keep it alive, making huge amounts of money in the process. (Kirby, Troy 2003) In fact, even people who once used to visit rock concerts for the entertainment, have switched over to visiting the more entertaining fight nights, where players pummel each other into a bloody mess, with no rules and regulations to stop them. This is ??? real fighting???, and this is where the fun is, and will remain, until and unless authorities take the issue into serious consideration, and initiate measures to ban fight nights. (Kelts, Roland 2003) In the meanwhile, there can be no doubt that fight nights involving players as young as eight years of age will continue to provide excellent entertainment to the audiences who tend to prefer to seek extreme violence in their Saturday night entertainment today, over any other activity. Works Citedhttp://www. grapplearts. com/Mixed-Martial-Arts-1. htmhttp://www. japaninc. com/article. php? articleID= 1026
