SOUPS

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will address a motion directed at NHB/MMA this Tuesday.

The motion on the agenda can be read in it's entirety at the end of this article but we want to focus on a portion of the motion that was introduced by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

The motion states:

Some have referred to "Ultimate Fighting" as "human cockfighting," and participants have at times suffered severe and life threatening injuries.

We take exception to the term "Human cock fighting." We've explained in the past why we believe people who use this term are greatly mistaken.

You can read our commentaries in the archives section for our views on the term. We believe we've

stated our position very clearly and we won't rehash it yet again.

But to say that "participants have at times suffered severe and life threatening injuries" is to, in a way, lessen the dangers of other sports and appear to be singling out NHB/MMA as a sport that this is unique to. 

The terminology used in the motion makes NHB/MMA sound violent and brutal which is what we object to.

We'd like to know what "severe and life threatening injuries" the motion is referring to. We have covered King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, UFC, Pride, and so on and can't remember where someone suffered a life threatening injury.

We'd really like to know. We're not being sarcastic. One of our goals is to make sure that the fighters are being protected.

We hope they are not confusing ToughMan with NHB/MMA because the two are not the same. We can't say anything nice about ToughMan so we won't say much other than from what we know, ToughMan has no background check to make sure the competitor is qualified to step in the ring. Only to make sure the competitor is not a professional. That means you could sign up and fight without ever training. That is something we absolutely do not support. 

Now, we know that there have been injuries in NHB/MMA, but not to the extent of let say...Football, Hockey, NASCAR, Skiing, Baseball, etc... Remember Washington Redskin Joe Theisman and his leg. What about Eric Lindross and his concussions. What about Dennis Byrd of the New York Jets breaking his neck. We could go on and on and on with "severe and life threatening injuries" in other sports but the question we have is why is it acceptable in those sports?

We understand that people may not like our sport. That's okay. We don't particularly like golf but we don't want to have it banned or stop other people from playing it.

As stated, our objection is with the terminology used to describe NHB/MMA. We feel the terminology is misleading to what the sport truly is and it makes it sound like it's unique to NHB/MMA when we know it's clearly not.

TheFightGame.tv

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        The California State Athletic Commission is seeking $500,000 from this year’s

State budget to enforce regulations the Commission adopted last year for "Ultimate

Fighting."

        Some have referred to "Ultimate Fighting" as "human cockfighting," and

participants have at times suffered severe and life threatening injuries.

        During this time of budget crisis, California taxpayers cannot afford $500,000

dollars to sanction and regulate this activity in our state.

        I, THEREFORE, MOVE THAT the Board of Supervisors:

        1) Send a five-signature letter to the Governor, Legislative Leadership and

           members of the County’s State Legislative Delegation opposing the California

           State Athletic Commission’s request for funding; and,

        2) Support legislation prohibiting funding for "Ultimate Fighting."

MOTION

MOLINA _______________________________

YAROSLAVSKY _______________________________

KNABE _______________________________

ANTONOVICH _______________________________

BURKE _______________________________