Have we done this one? I'd not ban it (do what you like to yourself and all that) but televising it in fairly early evening slots? It really does just look like glamorised bar brawls – doesn't seem to have anything in the way of skill involved unlike boxing/wrestling/martial arts etc. Noticed a lot of 10-12 year olds talking about it and acting out fights in the street. Seems a tad wrong somehow.

doesn't seem to have anything in the way of skill involved unlike boxing/wrestling/martial arts etc

I have a suspicion this is not true. Mind, I don't sit down to watch tv footage of 2 black men punching each other, so watching 2 eastern europeans gouging one another's eyes was never likely to appeal. 🙂

We went to see Jarvis Cocker at The Troxy in Limehouse earlier in the year. A rather sordid little venue which basically staged cage fighting. I reckon it would be quite atmospheric live.

doesn't seem to have anything in the way of skill involved unlike boxing/wrestling/martial arts etc

I think youve not actually watched it or even participated in the styles used in this sort of fight. For the record i havnt either but a mate at work has and he actually gave us a presentation about its roots and the styles/forms of fighting used. Its pretty interesting really.

Oh, and 'cage' fighting is actually quite rare, MMA is what most of these fights are.

One final thing before this descends into a Daily-Mail fight, these guys arnt your usual 'pub thugs' (like a lot of people on here seems to be with all the bravado thats often spouted about punching people who cut them up when commuting) but actual people who train hard and have commitment and dedication, your typical street thugs simply dont have what it takes to stick it out so they go off and punch people in the street instead.

the only time i have seen it on is late night on channel five. its not something i would want kids to see but my god it is exciting to watch. the tension is huge cause every single move they make is informed by the fear that they are going to end up on the floor in pooploads of trouble.

the argument about kids watching violence could fly tho so enjoy your topic. as kids we used to love the wrestling, have long arguments about whether it was real or not! and copy all the moves in our garden, no one ever got badly hurt and it didnt make us killers. however, i cant help feel that lots of the street violence i have seen has been done by people completely unaware of the real consequences of getting beaten up. i cant believe that the person who stamps on someones head in a street fight is really trying to kill the other guy. hes just so thick that he doesnt realise what he has done is attempted murder???

i hope this is the case? please tell me its true? its not really is it, they are just vicious mindless thugs. oh well.

the technical side makes boxing look daft.

all styles competing in an awesome chess match

Oh, and:

A BMA spokesman said: "Gayness is a lovely thing, but we think there are better ways to discover your sexuality than stripping down to your undies, getting oiled up and pummeling another man's thighs. That said, we haven't actually worked out what it is yet."

i think it is pretty good to watch.
some very tough blokes, with awesome self discipline.

sounds naff. The cages can't exactly hit back, can they?

None of the stuff I was watching seemed to have much in the way of skill, it was just "can you pin him to the floor any way possible and slip and elbow in his face every so often?". While they may try hard, and I might not see the skill they apparently have, it doesn't look any different to a street fight to me.

(for background I'm not a martial arts/boxing person but I'm closely related to some and have done a period of kickboxing and quite enjoyed it.)

Does it involve bikes? No. It must be s#it then 😉

A couple of ex BMX champs became cage/ultimate fighting champs recently (Simon Hayes and Pistol Pete Loncarevich).

It's a bit like top level judo, very very technical but pretty dull to watch.

MMA training and sparring is ace fun though if you like that kind of thing….

Like jambo says, its like judo, or pretty much any grappling art – hugely skilled, hugely effective and dull to watch.

If you don't know anything about fighting and martial arts, you just won't see the skill involved, and it'll just look like two blokes getting excited about having a cuddle.

The reality is far from it. These guys are out to win, and with a much smaller rulebook than, say, boxing, 15 years of one-on-one evolution has led to submission grappling as the most effective way to beat your opponents. (although there are a few notable exceptions who are amazing strikers).

For a time I trained variants of shoot wrestling, kali and gracie jitsu floorwork under the guise of Jet Kune Do. When you start looking at whole body leverage and all four limbs, the number of combinations and variations of locks, holds, chokes, arm bars, etc is bewildering.

Same as non bikies watching videos of blokes riding in the woods and thinking its easy.

For the record, kids and young boys in particular have played war (mass killing) and cowboys and Indians (ethnic genocide) for a long time. Its what boys do. I did it and knew we were just playing.

I've not actually watched any MMA although as an ex-martial arts students I may give it a check. On the other hand however I would ban the so-called Professional Wrestling. Aimed at kids and shows non of the consequences of fighting.

I have been to a MMA fight and it was really dull. Im not too sure about techiques but Im sure you could win a fit by trying to tickle the other guy while he is trying to squish you!
Watching muay thai is brutle and really shouldn't be on day time tv.

I miss Pride.
The cage spoils it somehow for me.

For the record, kids and young boys in particular have played war (mass killing) and cowboys and Indians (ethnic genocide) for a long time. Its what boys do. I did it and knew we were just playing.

Yes, but we're not talking playing with toy guns that they'll likely never get hold of, we're talking fist fights that can (and do) regularly get re-enacted. I'm sure you're not so naive as to believe kids these days are the same as when you were a kid, nor parenting.

I'm assuming the original poster is talking about the 11.05 show on 5 on saturday? I watched it as I am quite interested in combat sports have done judo when I was younger so would naturally want to defend it as a serious sport and good Tv but that fight was brutal I have neaver seen so much blood I have watched a few other mma contests on tv and they wern't as bad as that!

Mixed Martial Arts – MMA at a high level is the most skilled combat sport there is. You need to be able to strike, wrestle and submit – all of which are disciplines on their own. It requires a higher degree of cardio than pretty much any other sport there is, especially given that they have 5min rounds as the norm, some longer depending on the association.

I'm a kickboxer and would love to add some submission wrestling to the (limited) skills I have. I'd also love to be 10% as fit as they are.

At a lower level if can appear unskilled and just like two blokes scrapping on the floor but it really is a superb sport.

Blood is just blood – it's not life-threatening, although I wouldn't want very young kids seeing it. Scalp wounds blled a lot. If a fighter is knocked out, or cannot defend themself, the ref should stop it. This is an improvement over boxing as you could get up to get knocked out again.

The term 'cage fighting' although correct for most associations as they do use cages, is a sensationalist description and not one used by those in the sport.

A bit of an unfortunate coincident but I saw 2 lads (16 ish) yesterday morning knocking ten bells out of each other, one commented to the other "you call yourself a cage fighter then!"

It wasn't normal school kid scrapping but very serious, very violent, very precise and skilled punches and kicks. ie both had obviously had some form of training, but you could see they were seriously damaging each other.

I called the Police straight away, and I hope both of them get locked up. I can't see why any form of violence is appealing !!!?!?

MMA is the pinnacle of combat sports. The athletes who compete in it are by and large, the best all round athletes in the world. It is incredibly technical so to the untrained observer it often looks like there is very little going on.

Since it became "popular" it has rapidly evolved into a sanctioned and regulated sport which is statistically proven to be safer than boxing.

Due to the nature of the sport cuts are a reality, even small head wounds bleed a lot so it looks more brutal than it is. It shouldnt be shown early in the morning, I'll agree with that, but…….

There will always be some touchstone for the righteously indignant to get on their high horse and complain about, be it video games, wrestling, video nasties, action movies, rap music etc people who go looking to get offended will be offended without wanting to understand anything about the source of their annoyance and will blame any and all kinds of social depravity on said popular culture.

I like to watch it now and again but enjoy the lighter fighters best as the fights seem to be a lot more technical rather than just trying to knock each other senseless which is what the heavyweights seem to be doing

carlosg

knock each other senseless which is what the heavyweights seem to be doing

I guess you've never seen Ferdor Emelianenko, Minotaro Nogeira, Frank Mir, Mirko Crocop or Andrei Arlovski fight.

It is incredibly technical so to the untrained observer it often looks like there is very little going on.

So it's like cricket, essentially? 😉

i suppose it`s like a lot of sports in that you only start to notice the technical skills the more you get in to it.if you just flick over to it catch 5 mins of one fight than you cant really judge. i train in mma and kung fu and we get lots of big blokes turn up who are just looking for a way to hurt somebody . they normally go in the ring with our instructor whos not a big bloke and after about 10 seconds they learn to appreciate the skills involed.these sports teach displine and dedication but sometimes i think the marketing of them gives them a bad name.

MMA rawx 🙂

I got into it because we live close to and know Michael Bisping, a rising British star in the UFC (although he did get spectacularly knocked out in his last fight).

His training, dedication, commitment and preparation is phenomenal. The self discipline he shows is commendable, considering that if he hadn't dedicated himself to his chosen sport, he would be working in another McJob and probably drunken brawling at the weekend.

I went to one of the first Gyms Michael went to for an MMA training session. I consider myself as fairly fit, but I've never trained so hard in my life (had to go outside to be sick halfway through)!

MMA is developing into a very credible sport in its own right, very technical and demanding of its participants (who are arguably some of the most well rounded athletes across all sports). Enough to have the boxing fraternity worried (Pay Per View revenues are falling dramatically).

Admittedly MMA can look brutal at first but give it a chance and you realize the skill involved. Its as much about defending as it is attacking and if you can't 'intelligently defend yourself' the ref will stop the fight.

Sort of relevant….

It's like watching two blokes trying to hump each other to death.

Its only homoerotic to those who perceive it as such and what have they got on their minds? 😉

mmm, ground 'n pound followed by a rear naked choke 😯

Damn JacksonPollock you sussed me out 🙂

😆

K2 = Outstanding skill level and superb viewing
Cage fighting = Utter shite

i still think the best fighting to wath is muay thai, and burmese boxing…

check out burmese boxing- like muay hai but they use heads as well. Very brutal.

I've been interested in martial arts for decades and have trained in quite a few including grappling and striking styles. Many would like to fight MMA simply to test their skills against others – it may look brutal at times but boxing is far more damaging long-term. Antonio Inoki seems to me to have done a lot to promote this sort of thing – he was a wrestler who took on top fighters in a variety of styles including Ali. I watched UFC 102 on tv the other day and the main fight, Couture vs. Nogueira, was incredible.

As you can tell from my forum name i train in brazilian jui-jitsu witch is one of the disaplines used in mma(i hate the media calling it cage fighting,it makes joe public think it's barbaric).To say it's not skillful is a serious understatment.

bjj… yeah, well obvious…..?!1?

i used to like WWF until i found out the panda wasn't real.

Some MMA techniques[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi77UUF3sNo]some more![/url]

If you can't see the skill involved Google Anderson Silva, George St Pierre, or Lyoto Machida.

Machida is a good example actually. One of the first karate fighters to be successful in years. He can almost totally avoid being struck or taken down and his strikes are so quick and accurate that it only takes a couple for a knockout.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the advantages of the thinner gloves? They make it much easier to knock somebody out with a clean punch which means the total number of damaging shots to the head is greatly reduced.

A couple of ex BMX champs became cage/ultimate fighting champs recently (Simon Hayes and Pistol Pete Loncarevich).

A name I haven't heard in ages. Used to ride for CW?

Saying MMA is a skill-less brawl is a bit like saying the TDF is just a bunch of drug addicts cycling up hills.