According to a Feb. 25 report from Yahoo! Sports, a South Dakota legislator called MMA the "child porn of sports" in a blog post.
"Boxing, wresting and legitimate martial arts are violent too but the line needs to be drawn somewhere," said South Dakota state house rep. Steve Hickey. "Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) or “cage fighting” is over that line – in fact, even the martial arts people I talk to tell me they hate cage fighting because it is a smear on traditional martial arts. I hope you’ll agree that MMA is over the line of what should be tolerable with regard to “violent entertainment” as child porn is clearly over the line with regard to “adult entertainment.” MMA Cage Fighting is the child porn of sports."
At best, Hickey appears to be ill-informed on the subject. Injury rates in regulated professional MMA competition are similar to other combat sports and the overall risk of critical sports-related injury appears low.
It's true that additional study is warranted to achieve a better understanding of injury trends and ways to further lower injury risk in MMA, but so far the results are stellar.
No fighter has ever suffered traumatic brain injury or passed away in the UFC's 20-year history.
Hickey defended his comment that MMA is like the child porn of sports during an interview with the Argus Leader.
"I'm offended that the state would legitimize cage-fighting and the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create," Hickey said. "I think it's interesting that we declare that it is a crime for one human being to strike another, and yet the state now proceeds to legitimize, and label a sport, cage-fighting."
Comments