Children in MMA:



Well, on the one hand, if parents want to get their kids into mixed martial arts, there's nothing wrong with that. Like any mainstream youth sport, it's perfectly safe when properly supervised. Kids take as much punishment doing traditionally sanctioned sports like football, wrestling, martial arts, and even boxing. Selfishly, I look forward to seeing some amazing fighters competing professionally in a decade.

On the other hand, jesus fucking christ. This is the last thing the sport needs right now. Done right, it looks like the video above, kids in protective gear learning skills from responsible adults. Otherwise, it looks like little kids throwing wild punches, kicks, and knees at each other with no fucking headgear. I've been a fan of the sport for over a decade, and that looks fucking insane to me. One kid gets punched in the throat for christ's sake! A perfect opportunity for another hostile and ignorant article on "human cockfighting," with the added bonus of making it sound like kids are being thrown into pits and fighting to the death. (This article dismantles the AP story almost line by line, and features an irrelevant Tony Snow picture!)

A couple seasons ago on the reality show "The Ultimate Fighter," UFC head Dana White kicked three fighters off the show, two for drunken brawling and one for drunkenly encouraging the fight. He said that they exactly embodied the stereotype of fighters as brawlers and not professional athletes that the sport is trying to live down. Mixed martial arts in the US is a young sport fighting the no-rules, bloodsport image created by the original promoters of the UFC. This kind of press can send the UFC back to holding events at the Waffle House Dome in Scooterville, Arkansas.