| There has been much outcry over the recent | | | | fighting events are compared to boxing (or any other |
| popularity of so called "reality fighting" such as UFC | | | | contact or physical sport like rugby, American |
| (the Ultimate fighting Championship), KOTC (Kings of | | | | Football, horseriding, skiing etc) the results speak for |
| the Cage), Extreme Fighting, Shoot, Pride and | | | | themselves.Not only has there NEVER been a fatality |
| Pancrase.Typical comments from a perspective of | | | | associated with "reality fighting" there has also never |
| ignorance include;"bloodletting for our amusement" | | | | even been a serious crippling or permanent injury to |
| "brutal and bloodthirsty streetfighting with no rules" | | | | the fighters. It was a serious travesty when the |
| "legalised brawling encouraging violence"The reality is | | | | boxing community succeeded originally in having UFC |
| that modern "extreme" or "reality" fighting is a | | | | banned on the gounds of safety when you look at |
| contact sport with rules to protect competitors and | | | | the number of deaths and permanent injury to many |
| is basically a blend of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, | | | | boxers!It has been said recently that the reason |
| judo and other martial arts which have been around | | | | there has not been a fatal injury (yet) in "reality |
| for a long time, so why the outcry all of a | | | | fighting" competitions, is because of the relatively |
| sudden?Many cynics believe that, as usual, it all | | | | few competitors when compared to boxers, |
| comes down to money! In recent years boxing, once | | | | however this was recently tragically disproved with |
| one of the most lucrative and popular spectator | | | | the first death of a female boxer with a total only |
| sports, has been suffering dwindling audiences and | | | | 2,200 female boxers registered.The cumulative blunt |
| poor pay-for-view results. The last thing boxing | | | | trauma injuries caused by repeated punching to the |
| needed was a serious competitor like the UFC for | | | | head with competitors wearing heavily padded gloves |
| instance. In fact many boxing pundits lambasted the | | | | is without doubt the biggest cause of fatal and |
| UFC in the early days convincing many that it was | | | | permanent injuries to boxers - this simply does not |
| too dangerous and brutal to be licensed - they | | | | happen in "reality" events as competitors wear either |
| succeeded in having UFC competitions banned in | | | | no gloves or very lightly padded gloves which will not |
| many US states on this premise.The reality however | | | | allow fighters to punch to the head round after round |
| is somewhat different, when UFC and other "reality" | | | | without hand injury. |