MMA for kids

I was sent this link with a TV news clip on kids competing in MMA. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4542356&page=1. I sent it around to see what kind of response it would get. Interesting that most who did respond didn't like the idea but one said those opposed (in the article) were just liberal women who want to "de-ball" our kids. Here's my take.


I teach people how to fight. I taught kids how to fight. I think learning to fight is a good thing; that's why I'm a professional instructor. I don't agree with kids going into a ring as in this clip. Not just for MMA. I don't think kids should box either. Read some of the articles in this blog on brain damage and you'll see why. I also disagree because of the possibility of joint injury and damage to growth plates in children.


It's not just that they may use locks and pins, etc. It's rather easy to hurt yourself throwing a hard punch that misses, over-extending the elbow. And what if one of the little guys does manage to knock out another kid? Anyone up for having a drool cup for the rest of their life?


You can largely control these things in a classroom but putting kids in a cage? They put Michael Vick in jail for doing it with dogs. Just because adults do it doesn't mean there has to be a junior version.

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This was sent just a day after I wrote this.



April 7, 2008, 10:36PM

Brain injury called cause of Houston fighter's death
Steve Sievert For the Chronicle
Houston mixed martial artist Sam Vasquez died from a severe brain injury, according to the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.
The 35-year-old Vasquez died Nov. 30 after being knocked out by San Antonio's Vince Libardi in the third round of a Renegades Extreme Fighting bout Oct. 20 at Toyota Center in Houston. After being hospitalized, Vasquez suffered a stroke, endured two surgeries to remove blood clots in his brain and spent weeks in intensive care.
The official ruling from the medical examiner's office stated that Vasquez died of "complications from blunt trauma to the head with subdural hemorrhage." Due to a significant backlog of cases at the medical examiner's office, it took four months to complete the necessary tests to determine definitively the cause of death.
Most subdural hemorrhages are triggered by impact to the head, resulting from a car accident or severe fall. It's an injury rarely seen in mixed martial arts, according to Dr. Johnny Benjamin, chief of orthopedic surgery at Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach, Fla., and a sports-medicine specialist who's consulted with a number of fighters.