The athletic commission in New York have refused to sanction MMA. UFC failed to the ban overturned last year. In all, 37 states have passed rules regulating MMA. But New York assemblyman Bob Reilly has called the sport "barbaric.''
"What the people from Ultimate Fighting will tell you is that 'We've changed the rules and it's no longer this brutal, no-holds-barred sport that it was in the past,'''
Assemblyman Reilly went on to say "That's far from the whole story. What they don't tell you is what is allowed. Sitting on top of them and repeatedly punching them in the head and face. They don't tell you those things.''
Mixed martial arts are getting bigger and bigger, with pay-per-view that have effectively surpassed boxing. It gets ratings. Yet it is still considered a second- or even third-tier sport by the mainstream media. Why
Change doesn’t come from the few; it comes from the many. Barack Obama was elected largely because a grass-roots approach around a once little-known candidate built into a tidal wave of support. So too did MMA rise from similar obscurity because of the fans that refused to let it die.
Comments
Ricky, I don’t mean to dis UFC or Zuffa, they’ve done alot of hard work and achieved a great deal in getting the sport into the mainstream, respect to them for that.
I think that it might be bad for the sport if one organisation has a monoply on MMA. I want to see growth in the sport and I can’t see it with one organisation alone - I may be wrong!!
By GavGav on 19 Feb 2009
It’s good to see a new organisation getting in on the MMA act. The sport needs a more professional organisation to regulate it and give proper leadership.
I watch ‘UFC’ and have many of their DVDs. (Edited). The ‘UFC’ president and others seem to encourage them to behave as such.
The organisation is trying to make MMA more acceptable while at the same time trying selling it as: ‘As real as it gets’ hmm, two guys in a match fight who’ve studied each other’s form over months and years - don’t think so. Perhaps more real than a Tae Kwondo tournament but not as real as it gets.
((edit - Guys please keep on topic and No nasty remarks - ProKick))
By GavGav on 17 Feb 2009