# 8 year olds cagefighting



## PrideNeverDies

Im sure we've all see it by now, the video of the 8 year olds in preston "cagefighting"

1. What was the promoter thinking ? What sort of stupidity does it take to have kids grappling in a cage , never mind at an adult mma event , and then to have ring girls too ? The promoter should be ashamed

2. Today we have seen the british public will believe anything, without doing their owm research

3. UFC should tell sky to f**k off, theyve disgraced mma by reporting this ignorance. Though I doubt it, since dana

Dealt with fox sports, whilst fox news has bill o'reily talking shit about mma

4. When will people learn the cage is for protection ? Just youtube "junior witter prizefighter" and you see him fall out of a boxing ring

5. When will morons learn mma is safer than boxing, has less seriois injuries than rugby or cheerleading ?

6. All these hippies and oxbridge people and ignorant fools see the sport as barbaric, but dont see the discipline that comes with it (i know without mma i would be in jail or involved in crime)

7. The BBC let ross and brand insult a man by calling him up about his granddaughter, newscorp hacked dead people, other journalists invade privacy .. And now they use ignorance to blast mma

8. I wonder how stupid you have to be to realise the children were grapplin, a safe no striking sport ? It was in a cage because of a moronic promoter, but it wasnt "cage fighting"

9. BMA say judo is safer, again, just like their report into mma, theyve made statements with flawed arguments that could be corrected with a google search, clearly think grappling is to damage someones head , I bet they didnt even watch the video

Though since the british public sees alex reid as the face of cage fighting .. f**k their stupidity and ignorance


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## TroJan Fight Wear

Agreed!! Couldnt agree more! Was a stupid idea but you get kids fighting in mauy Thai comps about the same age!?... Dont care about that!...


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## mmafrontline

Amen!!!

This made me so sick, I came into work to my colleagues giving me grief (been trying to educate them for 2 years now on the subject)

Can no one clearly see this is just 2 kids grappling? no differnt - like Jeevan said - to Judo or BJJ. If they were in a dojo and wearing Gi's no one would bat an eyelid

And thanks very much Steven Nightingale (the promoter and a cage fighter himself) this was such a backfire - you just destroyed all the hard work the MMA communtiy has done trying to educate and change pre conseved notions about 'cage fighting'.


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## SanshouMatt

Atmosphere was wrong but other than that there were no strikes and now obvious element of danger, nice to see they actually got someone in the sport speaking on BBC news today and didn't do the usual "cage fighting is bad" run at him.


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## Viper

First thing that pisses me off about the sport is the term "cagefighting" sure the action takes place (at most events) in a cage but it is terms like that which feed the moronic masses and paints the sport in a bad light. Call it for what it is Mixed Martial Arts not Cagefighting.This has no doubt given fuel to the fire of the idiots that no nothing about this sport


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## ginjaninja

The cage and baying audience for two topless 8 year old boys grappling certainly does not help the case for MMA to become accepted as a mainstream sport in the UK. What is more disturbing is how quick the media are to criticise and lead their audience along an uneducated path. The BBC news link is full of comments from self-righteous, pontificating twits dissing the sport and vilifying the supporters. We have an uphill struggle in this country to turn opinion around, and promoters need to be more careful when planning events to consider how they might be viewed by the general public. Let's hope that this doesn't end up a parliamentary issue that could result in a legislation change.

Get on the BBC site and comment to show your support for MMA.

BBC News - Boys' fight in cage 'very barbaric' says Jeremy Hunt


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## JN9

I've trawled through the comments connected to the story on the BBC News website. To be fair, MMA does seem to be coming off quite well. I tend to agree with most of the comments on there which are going along the lines of...

'Although the environment in which the event occured probably wasn't the most suitable, the actual contest was perfectly acceptable'

I'm very much in support of anyone that wants to train in any form of martial arts (whatever age), but think that some common sense should be used when it comes to kids competing.

Hopefully this will get people talking and we can get across the difference between MMA and 'Cagefighting'. An MP has come out and called the event 'barbaric', I'll put my house on him knowing very little about the sport.

But surely everyone here is kind of happy that this has got people talking about the sport? It seems that the message is getting across that MMA is a legitimate sports (I think Warrior will help too), and I think the fan base will continue to grow. Heres hoping anyway...


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## PrideNeverDies

I bet fools will use john mccains reference to humam cockfighting

But ignore the fact in 2005 he acknowledged all the good changes

What mp btw ?

The actual bbc reporter told me on twitter that he mentioned there was no striking, going to educate him some more


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## JN9

Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary... God help us...


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## PrideNeverDies

I can sort of understand his viewpoint, about it being in a cage for children, the adult version eg ADCC's arent in a cage

But im also betting he thinks the cage is barbaric, ignoring that it prevents fighters from falling out in mma

The kids might have liked the excitment, but rosi sexton knows one of the kids parents and says that they expected a different environment to this

He mentions the riots .. I can guaruntee that if it wasnt for martial arts, I would have been looting and probably up to more violent shit

Hunt should go to a bjj gym an see the actual skill involved

A "sport like that" to me suggests that he read newspapers to get his view, as he clearly hasnr watched the actual video, there is less violence than there is in karate


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## Baggsy

I can see why its been this blown up from having kids in a "cage", but the fact there was no kicking or punching makes the general medias stories pointless! Kids take part in other sports such as boxing, karate and rugby, which was failed to be mentioned that they are all more likely to cause the kids harm than just grappling. The term "cage fighting" also does my head in!


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## PrideNeverDies

Most brits are lazy too, so they believe every news report to be 100%

Im telling the sky and bbc reporter to go check out the adccs

Theyre tryna make it seem as if this was a main event that adults paid for


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## Agentman

Theres two sides to this story.

First of all I think its wrong that kids are made a spectical in this way. The environment, the ring girls, the whole thing - this is no way to ligitimise MMA or push the debate that its a good thing for for kids to be involves in - which I believe it is. In a very sad way this isnt nmuch better than the idiot who came to the attention of the social services by recording his two kids scrapping it out a couple of years ago.

On the other hand theres a massive amount of ignorance here. This kids were basically submission grappling - certainly no worse or more dangerous than wrestling, judo or boxing - all olympic sports. Most of the criticisms seem centred around the use of a cage and as has already been said the average joe doesnt seem to appreciate the fact that the cage makes MMA safer rather than more dangerous.

Unfortunately in its battle for legitimacy MMA has to try and paint itself in the best possible light and this kind of stuff despite the very valid arguments of people like us who know our onions will generally fall on deaf ears. Were trying to convince middle England here, the ignorant masses who will never go out there and actually try to understand exactly what MMA is about, preferring to take their prompts from the likes of the BBC. Were going to have to play the game by their rules if were ever going to win the battle and that means no silly shit like this.


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## jh65a

What the report shows though is that not only are the general public considered lazy in the views and opinions following whatever is spouted to them. But also the journalists themselves feel that they have the right to talk on a subject that it is evident that they know nothing about. Something can not be called cage fighting when it blatantly not what is happening, the term cage fighting is synonymous with mma and so the conations that are associated with the term are that striking and grappling are involved. If a journalist did the same with football and rugby and said they were the same because they both involved a ball and kicking said ball, he would probably be sacked on the spot. Now while i have never actually done any training in martial arts, for various reasons such as being scared to take those first steps, it is pretty clear that most of what is said is complete bollocks. Things like lack of safety equipment is something that is again mixing the sports, you wouldn't use the same safety equipment in amateur boxing as you would in horse riding. What this article boils down to is that the British press see the world of mma as an invasion into the britishness of boxing and that the hypocritical view that is taken where they criticises mma in one hand but praise boxing on the other is something that is commonly seen among most papers.

Also i thought it was a charity event as well which seems to have been completely glossed over by the press.

it also helps if papers which do seem to have a mma prescence such as the telegraph have a listing for mma and not the ufc


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## Gintas Combat Watford

Check out ITV News at 10 tonight - Gintas Combat defends MMA and gives our side of the story!


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## JN9

Sorry Gintas I missed it... How did it come across? Anything like we'd have hoped?


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## Gintas Combat Watford

Yeah - they filmed and interviewed for over an hour and only showed 5 mins but the footage was of kids having fun and learning proper techniques etc so it def showed the true image. We said how mma is a great sport for kids and a good discipline etc etc so seemed positive


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## SanshouMatt

I've seen a loda of stuff on Twitter with people saying MMA is barbaric and that the UK banned dog fighting so why isn't this illegal... Madness, can't be arsed to get into a twitter war of words with keyboard know it alls.

Bottom line the promoter was a twat for putting kids in that environment but the public need educating about the positives of learning combat sports before we are going to get a general acceptance. Some of that is down to the media but we have to accept that the media in the UK loves ot stir shit, and create arguments and whip up public anger rather than presenting a positive story or message.


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## ginjaninja

lol Sanshou - that Gif animation in your signature quite accurately depicts what the general public in the UK think of us MMA fans.


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## SanshouMatt

@ginganinja LOL, I aim to please, or annoy, depending on your viewpoint!


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## ripper_reynolds

If we want the sport of MMA to grow, we need as much compertion as possible. Young children playing rugby,football basketball etc play in front of crowds with screeming perents cheering them on! The ground game is the hardest part to perfect, starting them young in compertions such as this where you have fully trained ref's, judges, & doctors around alows people to relax more and concentrate on their sport. I have competed in Jujitsu compertitions where young children are grappling under the same rules and atmosphire expect THE CAGE.

Ive seen 8 year olds cry playing rugby, football and JuJitsu. and Rugy is a much physical game than grappling.

The media have blown this out of the water!


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## Jimmy Taurus

IMO, This is just bad promoting.

Kids matches belong on separate events. And intelligent adults know this.

They usually appear on adult bills only to pad out the card as the promoter doesnt have the fighters/contacts to put on a proper adult show. Or knows these kids are bringing a load of family members and can sell a few tickets for them.

Meanwhile the rest of the crowd who have come to see some real fights complain and go to the bar.(and you lose some future punters,as people dont like being ripped off)

Also the worst behavior i see at shows is usually from the fighters family members. And this triples if it's a junior and you add alcohol !

Kids belong on separate events,period !

I totally agree that the rules etc were fine.Basically a grappling/no gi jiu jitsu match.

Had this happened on a mat in a amateur daytime event know one would have batted an eyelid. Which is exactly why that's where kids matches should take place until at least 14 imo.(as far as mma goes)

As for Thai n KB. Just use a sanctioning body/association whos rules follow ABAE guidelines as near as possible, and at least when you end up in court you have something official to fall back on.


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## Kunoichi

I still blame boxing for this - if no punches (at least from the neck up) were allowed, it wouldn't look as bad.

Sorry if I sound biased, that's because I am =P I don't see any beauty about it (aesthetically or otherwise)


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## jamie1977

easy on condeming the british public there mate , the uk is a big place and i for one cant stand alex reid lmao , i dont see the problem with the kids wrestling in the cage , at that event mma in the uk is nowhere near the scale it is in america yet , kids look upto their heros and want to do what they do , some kids want to play football for england and would jump at the chance if offerd , whats the differance . i have trained in martial arts for the last 20 years , my 10 years old son has been training mma with me for the last 2 years , he goes to all the shows with me and watches all my fights cage side , this is a sport and should b treated accordingly , ALL SPORTS SHOULD B FAMILY EVENTS , regardles of how it is promoted be that with cagegirls etc. when the kids " cage fighting " was first reported on the news it was everywhere first thing in the morn , by the evening it had been pretty much sweept under the carpet as this report outraged the british mma community because of lack of research !!!!!!


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## WILMO

jamie1977 - You hit the nail right on the head there mate, the way i personally see it, kids that are involved in martial arts, whether it be 'mma' or a specified art like JJ, muay thai, wrestling etc are essentially learning the fundamentals, the origins, history and above all discipline http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...QOVk5XUDw&ved=0CCcQvwUoAQ&q=muay+thai&spell=1and respect for each other, arts are not about killing, its all about control.

The alternative for kids would be either another sport or hobby or hanging out around streets with nothing to do but cause trouble and gain confidence to do that time and time again.

The problem lies with the media and the fact that alot (not all) of people who watch tv, read news papers are spoon fed what they should think and not actually intelligently think about their own views.

I think bringing kids into MMA, just like Taekwondo, Karate, Boxing is a brilliant idea so long as the rules differ to adult contact.


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