Blood sport
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- June
- 20
It ought to be rated X for violence.
This extreme fighting, such as the Ultimage Fighting Championships, and other mixed martial arts things of various names, sell violence, nothing more, pure and simple. They sell it because people will buy it.
I wrote a column for The Journal News and LoHud.com Thursday about my opinion on extreme fighting, and in it I spoke with Steve Acunto, who co-founded the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing—which is an organization focussing on the safety of the sport.
“I think this Ultimate Fighting, it brings out the worst in people,” Acunto said. “I think Ultimate Fighting satiates the barbaric lust of people who would watch cock-fighting, dog-fighting, bull-fighting, or anything that has the ultimate results of hurting somebody, very badly. Very badly. I’ve taken this position which is adverse to what is going on in many states.
“I’ve watched it. I’ve seen people removed from the ring in a stretcher because they’ve been struck behind the neck with a knee. They’ve been absolutely out of it. Very shortly, although it’s at its peak in Atlantic City right now, there will be some deaths from this thing. You can’t call it boxing. It’s not boxing. It’s not any one sport, per se. It a sport for hoodlums who kicjk each other, smash each other in the groin, do things that are absolutely barbaric.�
I agree 100 percent. But people will buy it, people will watch it. So TV will sell it.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 8:57 pm by Carp.
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This article was written by someone who obviously has never took a logic course. Most sports bring out “barbaric lust.” Every sport is dangerous. Football, rugby, hockey, etc. Ultimate Fighting is great. It’s not boxing, nonsense! It’s boxing & then some. Carpinello makes it sound that boxing is somehow more noble than Ultimate Fighting, drivel! Boxers are out to knock their opponents out, aren’t they? So it’s just as “barbaric.” Get over it, Ultimate Fighting is here to stay.
I was intrigued to hear that Rick had done an article about Mixed Martial Arts, hoping to read a balanced piece about the fastest growing sport in the world today.
It seems that over the last 2 years, for every 10 informative and fair articles written about MMA, there emerges one that spouts a level of ignorance and misinformation as if it was written pre 2000, pre regulation, pre-every change that has been made to make MMA the sport it is today. Carpiniello’s article, sadly, is one of the latter.
Misinformed, misaligned, and just flat out wrong is this article, and a blog comment will not provide me or many others near enough space to point out where. I will say this though:
– Quoting Mr. Acunto, a boxing dinosaur, and someone obviously threatened by MMA’s threat to Boxing popularity and it’s revenues, is not remotely resembling an objective viewpoint. – Supporting Mr Acunto’s comparison (by inclusion) of MMA to Hitler is not only a gross insult to the fans of the sport of MMA, but an insult to those millions of people affected by Hitler’s actions in WWII. – Generalizing MMA fighters and their fans as ‘hoodlums’is an unfortunate stereotype to apply, as it only makes participants of other fighting sports (which shall go unnamed) look worse. Why? Because anyone that cares to truly check out MMA can see that it’s marquee athletes are well spoken, intelligent professionals. (see R. Couture, D. Henderson, F. Emelianenko, etc etc etc).
Oh and Rick, there’s no groin strikes in MMA. There hasn’t been since, oh..2000. We’re 7 years later..perhaps it’s time to do some Real Journalism?
Regards,
GE
Mr. Carpiniello,
If you were looking to cause a stir you did! I know some of the athletes that train and compete in MMA. Many of them were former standouts as NCAA Division 1 wrestlers. These men are working very hard to make it as a champion in an arena where a referee closely observes and inforces strict rules. Points are scored and instant victory is awarded for submission holds or a knock out similar to boxing.
Is this a fight to death? Should this be aligned with Hitler? Am I a bad man for teaching kids how to wrestle which may in turn create more MMA athletes? No.
I respect all sports that spark a person to train hard to achieve a goal in an arena with rules, a referee and a high level of sportsmanship. It may not suit your fancy, but it is a sport that has plenty of integrity, just like boxing.
Coach Rogers
Wrestling Coach
Hello Rick,
I wonder if the friends and loved ones of Benny Paret, Duk Koo Kim, Mike Quarry, Jerry Quarry, and Gerald McClellan would agree that boxing is safer than mixed martial arts. I’m guessing they wouldn’t.
So…boxing with its 2-3 dead fighters a year is safer than MMA where there’s been ZERO fighter deaths in the last 10 years in any event under a commission’s overview.
Uh?
Exactly…your arguments about the safety of MMA make no sense, specially coming from a boxing fan/reporter/participant. If MMA is dangerous…what do we call boxing? Legalized murder?
MMA is a chess match. It is the ultimate sport that matches many different styles. Your report is soooo ignorant and off base i don’t want to waste any more time on it. Those posts above are clearly on target.
I LIKE IT WHEN YOU CAN’T RESPOND TO YOUR OWN BLOG!!!!
I can respond, and here’s the main point. I am blown away by some of the well-written, convincing arguments in favor of MMA. Wow!
Here’s another. Some of the idiots who emailed sure make the intelligent fans look good.
Here’s one more. I still say that TV sells Ultimate Fighting and team fighting or whatever it’s called over on Versus as pure violence, caged street brawls. Too bad they don’t sell it for the legitimate sport some of you convincingly say it is.
Hi Rick, and thanks for taking the time to respond. One of the caveats of MMA going mainstream is having to deal with the new fan’s learning curve. For every thought out response to your article, I would not be surpised to hear you received two poorly worded emails of nonsensical vitriol. I am certain there is a demographic of fans who like MMA (and lets call it Mixed Martial Arts, shall we? ‘Ultimate Fighting’ is the brand of the UFC and would be like calling Football ‘NFLing’.) for the wrong reasons which you outline. However, these fans do not embody what the sport is about.
Your last comment. Versus network shows the WEC, which is a smaller ‘rival’ org to the UFC (but is also owned by). It is the same one on one based format.
Perhaps you were referring to the IFL (IFL Battleground)? The IFL (International Fight League) does use a team based format. Earlier this year, the IFL marketed one of their shows as ‘someone is going out in a body bag!!!’. It drew so much criticism from the MMA community that Kurt Otto, the IFL commissioner addressed it directly. There has not been a repeat incident. In fact, some of the IFL teams are coached by true veterans of MMA, who uphold respect, and the ‘art’ of martial arts quite well. I hope this helps clarify things.
Rick, As you did include Mr. Acunto’s comments in your article, I was seriously wondering if you endorsed them or agreed with them, and if so, why?
Regards,
GE
Hi Greg,
This is what I see, since I don’t have any interest in watching the fights. I see the commercials for the stuff on Versus and some of the other cable networks, and how they sure don’t make it look like a sport. They make it look like two cretins trying to kill each other, trying to knock the living crap out of each other. They make it sound as if there are no rules. As of only one fighter is going to come out alive.
If MMA—and I never hear it called that on TV promos—is going to be legit (and I’m sure those like you who see the fights as rules-governed sports believe it is legit) the public has to understand and be led to understand that there is skill and science involved. This is how Steve Acunto sees his sport. As an art and a science. TV doesn’t want to sell art and science. It wants to sell blood and violence. And you know as well as I that the reason the ratings soar is that there is a portion of the viewing public that wants to see the gore.
But TV isn’t going to sell anything but the violence and the gore and the potential for mayhem. Too bad.
Rick-Thank you for telling it like it is.Mixed Marshall Arts is the lowest of the low. I hope you continue to call MMA what it is,”Blood Sport”, and it will be a matter of time when the people who support MMA see something that makes them want to turn their head away like it does for me right now..
Don
rick
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Interesuj? si? tym od jakiego? czasu i wi?kszo?? informacji jest dla mnie ciekawych, nowych.