Canada Doctors say No to MMA!!!!

[krogothwolf]

http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Doctors+vote+matches/3441720/story.html

So Canadian Doctors got together for their little powwow and decided that they should vote to ban "mixed martial arts prizefighting" You know as opposed to mixed martial arts in general cause that might mean practicing it would be banned.

They do this because apparently, blows to the head can cause brain damage. Which doesn't happen in any other sport! Like Hockey, or Football or even Boxing. Things they don't want to ban!

This comes after Ontario said it's A-Ok to do this cause man, it's profitable for us!

So now, after all the lobbying by MMA dudes to get the fights unbanned, we're going to have lobbying by doctors to get the fights banned again!

I have issues with this because not only are the government funded doctors wasting our money spending time on this crap there are a slew of rules and doctors on hand for fights. Also, these people aren't being forced at gun point to fight, they want to, knowing full well the risks that are possible. It's the same with every other contact sport. Not only that, why pick one sport? Players in football and hockey smack each other around with hits that cause their heads to bounce on the ground or into each other with pretty good force, and boxing involves trying to knock the other guy the fuck out, like MMA. Why does everyone have misconceptions of MMA to the point the think they must ban it.

It's starting to tick me off.

[Premmy]

Do MMA gloves cause less brain damage than Boxing gloves due to the structure?
I feel like they do, but I'm not sure.

[Fifthfiend]

Talking about banning MMA due to risk of brain injury while saying nothing about boxing is a pretty sick joke.

Do MMA gloves cause less brain damage than Boxing gloves due to the structure? I feel like they do, but I'm not sure.

MMA gloves are nowhere near as heavily padded as boxing gloves so it shouldn't be anything like as practical to go for blows to the head as hard or as often as in boxing, aka "repeated head punches: the sport".

[Premmy]

Yeah, MMA gloves look they smack, whereas boxing gloves thump.

[Krylo]

MMA also tends to fall to ground games/grappling a lot while boxing never does... and well grapples don't usually involve repeated blows to the head.

Over all the sport should just be much brain safer than boxing all around.

[krogothwolf]

It's freaking annoying as hell, I can't understand the hate on for MMA when Boxing gets ignored. Boxing is all about punching the other guy in the head. MMA involves a lot more then just smacks to the head. They should just let them fight in these events, they're trained professionals and they do this because they want to.

Hell, Hockey has had a more recent death due to a "blow to the head" when the guy fell on the ice after a fight and they aren't calling for a Ban on that. Double freakin standards.

[Fifthfiend]

MMA also tends to fall to ground games/grappling a lot while Boxing never does... and well grapples don't usually involve repeated blows to the head.

Yeah I mean a sport that frequently ends in knockouts is gonna have more brain injury than a sport that ends in submissions, which is to say a sport that frequently ends at the point of sufficient brain injury to cause loss of consciousness is gonna have more injury than a sport which doesn't end that way.

This is like the prizefighting equivalent of justifying the illegality of marijuana based on risk of lung cancer.

[Darth SS]

Y'know, I wouldn't even be mad if they called for a ban of MMA. It's a sport which involves locking two grown men in a cage and having them fight until someone is too hurt to continue. But that isn't what they're calling for, they just want a ban on prize fighting. If they're reccomendation goes through that means it's still 100% totally okay to have amateur fights. Which means each provincial athletic body doesn't have to sanction the referees, which is the primary way of keeping people from getting hurt. In effect, if I'm fighting in Saskatchewan, which will happen, not is it illegal to win anything (which I'm okay with, I guess) but the ref could be a random frat boy that won a drinking competition the night before. So if I go down, he doesn't know if I am incapable of defending myself or if I just lost my balance

Furthermore, they're singling out MMA. Boxing, Lacrosse, Football and Hockey all have a higher incidence of head injuries, and probably more injuries overall than MMA. As crazy as it sounds, out of all of my hobbies, MMA is probably the safest.


Just...arg. Sometimes this country has this annoying tendency to take the long way around.

[Seil]

Do they mean they want regular people from "practicing" fighting, or do away with the show in general? Because I'm for both.

[Darth SS]

As far as I know they can't actually ban MMA period without banning all martial arts, because that's what it is. What each province currently does is ban prize-fighting, so that you cannot legally fight for money or reward. Each province has an exemption in their criminal code that allows for boxing, and most now have an exemption to allow for MMA.

So...I guess I would get it if doctors just wanted everyone to stop fighting? But they're just calling for MMA prizefights to be banned.

[BitVyper]

This seems like a poor business decision on the part of the doctors.

[shiney]

This is like the prizefighting equivalent of justifying the illegality of marijuana based on risk of lung cancer.
QFT.

[Darth SS]

This seems like a poor business decision on the part of the doctors.

You know, it would probably concern me more if the doctors were demanding that MMA be part of the curriculum in elementary schools.

[Magus]

Canadian MMA fighters could wear those little boxing helmets they wear in college, though I think about the only thing they protect are your ears.