No bans needed

Telling someone they can't do something is the absolute best way to make sure they will do it.

Which is why I can't get behind this. 

Bans never work. Didn't Prohibition teach us that? Nobody stopped drinking; they just bought their hooch from criminals instead of legitimate businessmen.

You'd have to be pretty naive to think that the illegal status of marijuana is stopping people from partaking in it on a regular basis.

I'd even argue that smoking cigarettes wouldn't be nearly as popular amongst teenagers if they were suddenly allowed to do it. The attraction is in the 'danger' of doing something they're not supposed to be doing.

And MMA? Banning it across the country, across the world even, wouldn't stop people from doing it. It would simply head underground, where the risk of serious injuries would increase exponentially. 

And yet here's a group of doctor's taking time out of their very busy schedules to try and shut down a sport they don't even partake in, for the supposed betterment of those who do.

I've never understood our society's obsession with protecting people from themselves.

It's the same with the ongoing visor debate in hockey. Is it smart to protect your eyes from errant pucks and high sticks? Of course it is. My own personal choice would be to wear one. But I'm not going to huff and puff and argue until I'm blue in the face to make sure every last professional hockey player in the world makes that choice too. They are grown men (and women) and it's their choice to make. If they end up losing an eye, it's on them.  

By the same token, if you're a mixed martial arts fighter, you know the risks you take and accept them. Every time you enter a fight, you're aware that you risk serious injury. It's the same with boxing. When you take part in a combat sport, you risk your health. And if you fail to realize that, you have no one to blame but yourself. 

It's their risk. So let them take it.

Comments

[Timothy Mclaney]

UFC and other legal MMA promotions today practice very strict rules that makes it more of a sport rather than a spectacle of "human cockfights." MMA fighters know what they are getting into the moment they decide to enter this world of pain. Bumps, bruises, dislocated joints, teeth knocked off are all parts of the sport. If they can't take pain, then this is not for them.