Dave talks about kids cage fighting

After hearing about the controversy surrounding MMA and children, Dave voices his opinions

you can also catch dave talking on bbc radio london

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[stevep119]

@ct7320 (part2) involving children in it as as it is at the mo almost any one with the money to hire or buy ring and hire a venue seems to be able to start an MMA Promotion in this country jus look at how many there are and how many start up and close down every year we need better regulations and controls in place before we involve kids in it.And some people (ucmma) need to look at how they are promoting it as fighter brawling at weigh ins and on the street is not good promotion for the sport

[stevep119]

@ct7320 exactly the sport isn't controlled properly in this country and as you say most the fans at shows are baying for blood rather than watching it for the skills and techniques involved.infact i remember an alex reid fight that UCMMA promoted with vid footage of the fighters brawling in the street i thought really did not do the sport justice imagine what someone opposed to MMA would think if they saw that. i think we need to get the adult MMA rgulated and controled properly before

[ct7320]

@stevep119 Maybe. but kids do cry all the time, especially when things dont start going their way. As for the alcohol fuelled crowd, yes there is not that much understanding of grappling in the uk, and the crowd do want blood and knockouts not technical grappling matches. many times have i heard 'fuck him up!' i remeber one cornerman yelling at the guy i was about to choke out (i had his back) 'just flip him!' I couldn't help but feel sorry for my 'kickboxing knockout expert' opponent

[stevep119]

@ct7320 (part 2) Importants aspect of martial art's especially MMA and that is control. in the match above it should of been stoped when one of the kids was obviously distressed and crying for one because his crying caused a visual impairment that effected his ability to defendl him self properly and that is just bad reffing in any match

[stevep119]

@ct7320 i have nothing against children learning martial arts as it keeps them fit teaches them discipline and confidence. what i have problem with is here two prepubescent children put in a cage in front of a crowd that (let's face) it are alcohol fueled cheering them on to cause each other pain. childrens martial arts comps should be a lot more controled than this so there no accidental long term injuries. they can learn just as much confidence from point's based combat and also learn the most

[ct7320]

@stevep119 [part2] (especially if they were unwilling to tap due to being in a high pressure enviroment such as this). But that is a risk in all contact sports. How many broken legs in rubgy, football? How many head injuries in cricket? Risk is a part of life and reasonable risk taking should be encouraged. If we dont teach our children to 'go for it' and tell them 'you can do this' they will not have the confidence and self belief to succeed in later life.

[ct7320]

@stevep119 [part1] The main idea of a grappling match is not to hyperextend joints or do damage to them, but to beat your oppponent, either by 1- domination of position ie staying on top (in side controll, mount etc) or by 2- submission. Choking sybmissions (rear naked, triangle, guillotine) do no lasting damage whatsoever and are the easiest to apply. True hyperextending a childs joint could potentially do some damage (especially if they were unwilling to tap due to being in a

[stevep119]

@ct7320 first of all in rugby the idea is not to hurt your opponents as if you tackle properly you won't. and many kids do want to learn guitar and card tricks and fair play to them as that takes equal dedication and training to be good at. but in MMA and submission grappling the actual idea of the sport is to hurt your opponent and cause enough physical pain that their body cannot take any more sounds hard but it is a fact thats MMA and you want to put your child in to that situation?

[ct7320]

@stevep119 sorry, but your full of it on this one. an 8 year old boy is more than ready for a grappling match. I used to hate 'non contact' rugby at school, we used to have to play touch rugby because of the weaklings who couldnt handle full contact, then when we turned 10 and we were finally allowed, we loved it and could'nt get enough. why do you have this obsession with protecting children from contact sports? kids want to sit at home, learn card tricks and play guitar? no? figures

[stevep119]

@ct7320 i love MMA and grappling and wrestling and would love to see MMA recognized as a legit sport. i just don't think it is a good idea to put children in MMA while their joints are still developing as some of the most career ending injuries in MMA are caused by the grappling not the striking. so i feel it is best to let them train and learn and then when they are adults and their joints are developed and strong enough to take the punishment then let them compete it will also teach dedication