by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Feb 28, 2011 at 11:20 am ET
Spike TV officials today unveiled the official 14-person welterweight cast for "The Ultimate Fighter 13."
The long-running competition-reality series debuts March 30 on Spike TV with heavyweight contenders Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos as coaches.
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported earlier this month, UFC officials eliminated the "elimination round" from this season of the show, so the fighters won't have to win an opening-round matchup to secure their spot on the cast.
The cast includes notables such as Nordin Asrih, Shamar Bailey, Myles Jury and Charlie Rader, who all have at least nine professional fights. The fighters come from the U.S., England, Germany, Mexico and Canada. (See the full list and biographical information below.)
"TUF 13" production began this past month. The 14 fighters will be split into two teams and compete in a tournament format. Producers again will use "wild card" picks to give a pair of eliminated cast members a second shot in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
The seventh, eighth and ninth seasons of the show saw the use of the elimination round, and "TUF 11" then saw the implementation of second-chance wild-card entries. Beginning with 32 fighters instead of 28, the show allowed two cast members who lost in the round of 16 to be handpicked by UFC president Dana White to fight for the final spot in the quarterfinals. The wild-card format, which eventually allowed Kris McCray to post a runner-up finish on "TUF 11," returns this season despite the loss of the elimination round.
Although initially expected to feature both welterweight and middleweight fighters, producers recently chose to go with a cast of all 170-pounders this season.
Name: Charlie Rader
Age: 29
Trains: New Orleans, La. (Power MMA)
MMA record: 16-5
Name: Javier Torres
Age: 25
Trains: Las Vegas, Nev. (Team Tompkins)
MMA record: 3-0
Watch Brock Lesnar's assistant coach Fred Roach from the elite gym Combat Submission Wrestling in Fullerton, CA explain Brock Lesnar's training.
We think Brock Lesnar should spar with big, tough heavyweights and spar consistently to improve his ability to handle strikes. Whom would you recommend he spar with to improve? Start with Josh Barnett who trains at CSW.
UFC Fighter Sean Sherk's Intense Simulated High Altitude (Low Oxygen) Gas Mask Workout performed by us at The Los Angeles Fitness Expo, Jan. 2011. We found it to be much harder than running near the highest peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains at Sandstone Peak (3,111 feet). This is part of the National Park Service near Malibu (see video below).
The information below is from their website:
Elevation Training Mask helps condition the lungs by creating pulmonary resistance, your diaphragm is strengthened, surface area and elasticity in the alveoli is increased.
Elevation Training Mask will help get your breathing under control and help with lung stamina, it can be used during running, cycling (stationary for beginners) and other workouts.
If you train with less oxygen you can eventually go on for longer! Elevation Training Mask is great because it regulates how much air you can breathe in, making it so that you breath less oxygen, in turn making the air thinner (due to the low oxygen intake it's similar to altitude training).
Following are the changes that significantly boost Athletic Performance when using Elevation Training Mask.
· Increases in Lung capacity as your lungs have to work 9 times harder to get the oxygen in
· Increases anaerobic Thresholds
· Gas exchange becomes more efficient
· Energy Production levels rise
· Mental and Physical stamina increase
· Mental Focus gets better
The Benefits
Elevation Training Mask mimics the effect of High Altitude Training. When top athletes want to improve in their performance, they go to high altitude levels to train, and when they come back to sea level to race, they are performing much stronger, faster, and have more endurance due to the type of training they have been doing prior to the event.
With reduced oxygen consumption the human body changes in several ways. The production of red blood cells and new capillaries (small blood vessels) increase the transfer of oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. An important natural hormone involved in this process is EPO (erythropoietin).
GMT is also fantastic for anyone suffering from asthma, as most asthmatics tend to over breathe, with the gas mask on they will learn to control their breathing, and some say it can even cure it if done on a regular basis.
Blood
Blood is an 'aqueous body fluid'. In other words it is water containing a whole range of substances. It is contained in a complex network called the vascular system and is pumped around the body by the heart. Blood has two main functions. It: provides defense against disease transports compounds, ions, and some elements to and from other tissues and cells.
Red blood cells and haemoglobin
Oxygen is one of the substances transported with the assistance of red blood cells. The red blood cells contain a pigment called hemoglobin, each molecule of which binds four oxygen molecules. Oxyhemoglobin forms. The oxygen molecules are carried to individual cells in the body tissue where they are released. The binding of oxygen is a reversible reaction.
Hb + 4O2 Hb.4O2
The four 'disks' in the diagram of hemoglobin are the parts of the molecule where the oxygen molecules bind, while the four folded 'sausage shapes' represent polypeptide chains.
At high oxygen concentrations oxyhemoglobin forms, but at low oxygen concentrations oxyhemoglobin dissociates to hemoglobin and oxygen. The balance can be shown by an oxygen dissociation curve for oxyhemoglobin.
at relatively low oxygen concentrations there is uncombined hemoglobin in the blood and little or no oxyhemoglobin, e.g. in body tissue
at relatively high oxygen concentrations there is little or no uncombined hemoglobin in the blood; it is in the form of oxyhemo globin, e.g. in the lungs.
Note Historically oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations are expressed as partial pressures (measured in kPa), also called oxygen or carbon tension. The amount of oxygen held by the hemoglobin, i.e. its saturation level, is normally expressed as a percentage.
Oxygen dissociation curves can be used to illustrate Le Chatelier's Principle which states that a system in dynamic equilibrium responds to any stress by restoring the equilibrium. For example shifts in the position of the curve occur as a result of the concentration of CO2 or changes in pH.
Hemoglobin can also bind carbon dioxide, but to a lesser extent. Carbaminohaemoglobin forms. Some carbon dioxide is carried in this form to the lungs from respiring tissues.
The presence of carbon dioxide helps the release of oxygen from hemoglobin, this is known as the Bohr effect. This can be seen by comparing the oxygen dissociation curves when there is less carbon dioxide present and when there is more carbon dioxide in the blood.
When carbon dioxide diffuses into the blood plasma and then into the red blood cells (erythrocytes) in the presence of the catalyst carbonic anhydrase most CO2 reacts with water in the erythrocytes and the following dynamic equilibrium is established
H2O + CO2 H2CO3
Carbonic acid, H2CO3, dissociates to form hydrogen ions and hydrogen carbonate ions. This is also a reversible reaction and undissociated carbonic acid, hydrogen ions and hydrogen carbonate ions exist in dynamic equilibrium with one another
H2CO3 H+ + HCO3-
Inside the erythrocytes negatively charged HCO3- ions diffuse from the cytoplasm to the plasma. This is balanced by diffusion of chloride ions, Cl-, in the opposite direction, maintaining the balance of negative and positive ions either side. This is called the 'chloride shift'.
The dissociation of carbonic acid increases the acidity of the blood (decreases its pH). Hydrogen ions, H+, then react with oxyhemoglobin to release bound oxygen and reduce the acidity of the blood. This buffering action allows large quantities of carbonic acid to be carried in the blood without major changes in blood pH.
Hb.4O2 + H+ HHb+ + 4O2
(Hb.4O2 is sometimes written HbO8.)
It is this reversible reaction that accounts for the Bohr effect. Carbon dioxide is a waste product of respiration and its concentration is high in the respiring cell and so it is here that hemoglobin releases oxygen.
Now the hemoglobin is strongly attracted to carbon dioxide molecules. Carbon dioxide is removed to reduce its concentration in the cell and is transported to the lungs were its concentration is lower. This process is continuous since the oxygen concentration is always higher than the carbon dioxide concentration in the lungs. The opposite is true in respiring cells.
Figure 2:17 The Bohr effect and its consequence on oxygen tension. When blood is less alkaline, more oxygen is released from haemoglobin and received by the tissues.
^ Murray, Robert K.; Darryl K. Granner, Peter A. Mayes, Victor W. Rodwell (2003). Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry (LANGE Basic Science) (26th ed.). McGraw-Hill Medical. pp. 44–45.
^ ab Voet, Donald; Judith G. Voet, Charlotte W. Pratt (2008). Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 189–190.
^ Olson, JS; Gibson QH, Nagel RL, Hamilton HB (December 1972). "The ligand-binding properties of hemoglobin Hiroshima ( 2 2 146asp )". The Journal of Biological Chemistry247 (23): 7485–93. PMID4636319.
UFC Fighters Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin negotiate the loser's stakes for their UFC 126 bout - Loser gets a tattoo of the winner's choosing. What would you pick for the loser? Would Rich Franklin pick "Run Forrest Run!" with a picture of a young Forrest Gump running with leg braces?" Pick winner & tattoo here and/or at www.Facebook.com/MMAMaxim
Should Forrest Griffin get a Losing Rick Franklin to tattoo this picture?
UFC 126 The Spider defends his title against a UFC legend, as Anderson Silva returns to the Octagon to take on Vitor Belfort - plus, former champions Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin go head-to-head and rising stars Ryan Bader and Jon Jones collide! UFC 126 - Saturday, February 5, live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas - UFC Fight Club presale starts Thursday, December 9 at 10am PT
Both Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort Use Equipment We Distribute. Who will win and why (factoring in Silva and Belfort's past injuries)?
The MMA Awards and Saturday Night Live (SNL) have parodies of the product known as the "Shake Weight" for good reason. First, they are marketing their device as generating tremendous results with extremely fit male models. Yet barely any range of motion is displayed in their ads. Second, studies on vibration by the American Council on Exercise (a non-profit and internationally recognized fitness think-tank) show their claims are misleading and not backed by scientific research. Yes instability works stabilizer muscles but sand bags, resistance bands, gymnastic rings, BOSUs, kettlebells, and the products by Stroops are a much better option yielding substantially improved results. Third, have you ever seen a jack-hammer operator get fit just be operating that equipment? Fourth, you will be laughed at and should leave the shake weight to people who want to pretend to workout.
Stroops and some other great training products were recently recommended in Issue 39 of TapouT Magazine by Fred Roach from Combat Submission Wrestling (CSW) in Fullerton, CA.
Whole body vibration (WBV) training is a technology that is currently being utilized throughout the world yet the full extent of its benefits is still pending further investigation. While there have been some studies to support the notion that WBV exercise could potentially serve as a good supplement to a sensible diet and exercise program, at this point in time the limited amount of scientific evidence surrounding this type of training makes it difficult to fully support or refute the numerous claims that are being made regarding its relative effectiveness.
The technology
This type of training is performed on a WBV machine (which varies from one manufacturer to another), consisting of a vibrating platform that the exerciser either sits or stands on. The thought is that the rapid mechanical vibrations will cause the muscles to reflexively contract, stemming from Newton's second law of motion where force equals mass times acceleration. It is important to note that not all WBV machines are created equal, as machines can differ in a number of areas including two of the biggest variables, which are the number of vibrations per second (known as frequency) and the depth of the vibration (known as amplitude).
The claims
Over the past few years the hype surrounding this type of training has dramatically increased as more and more marketing claims are being made regarding the many health and fitness benefits that WBV exercise provides. From toning muscles to improving balance and strengthening bones, the message being given to consumers is that that these health and fitness benefits, along with a slew of others, are possible with just a few minutes of WBV training per day, done in place of 60 minutes of “traditional” exercise.
The research
Many of the research studies that have been conducted on WBV training have specifically looked at the benefits that this type of training can have for individuals with specific conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, as well as certain populations, such as deconditioned older adults and postmenopausal women. The findings of these such studies support the notion that WBV exercise may in fact have positive effects on strength, stability and bone density specifically in individuals with specific needs and/or limitations. However, more research is needed to substantiate these claims, especially as they pertain to the “average” apparently healthy adult. There are also still many unanswered questions surrounding the exact training protocols, such as what is the optimal vibration frequency and what is the optimal duration for WBV training to potentially elicit such results.
The bottom line
While there are some benefits to WBV training, the reality is at this time the research (or lack thereof) suggests that it is best to utilize this type of training as supplement to, not a replacement of, conventional exercise.
THE COUNTDOWN TO SATURDAY'S MAIN EVENT CONTINUES WITH PREMIER OF EPISODE 2 OF COLLISION COURSE: THE PATH TO DIAZ vs. NOONS II
STRIKEFORCE Welterweight World Champion Nick Diaz vs.
Former World Champ & Devastating Striker KJ Noons
Premier of Episode 2 of Collision Course: The Path To Diaz vs. Noons II
Episode 2 introduces the intense training camps of Noons and Diaz, giving fans a rare look inside the Cesar Gracie camp that is home to Diaz. In exclusive, behind-the-scenes interviews, both fighters and their trainers discuss their preparation for one of the most highly anticipated rematches in MMA history. Noons takes a trip to Tijuna, Mexico to fight southpaw fighters with his trainer Kimo Show. Will they be good enough to simulate Diaz's talents?
In the main event of the world championship doubleheader, Diaz will defend his 170-pound crown against the last man to beat him - Noons - at the STRIKEFORCE: Diaz vs. Noons II event presented by Rockstar Energy Drink on Saturday, Oct. 9, at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
Diaz-Noons II is a grudge rematch that has been brewing since their first fight ended in bloody controversy nearly three years ago. Both Diaz (22-7), of Stockton, Calif., and Noons (10-1), of San Diego, Calif., have gone undefeated since their last meeting and bad blood between the brash fighters has only increased.
In the world championship co-feature, undefeated Sarah Kaufman (12-0) will defend her STRIKEFORCE Women's Welterweight (135 pounds) World Title against No. 1 contender Marloes Coenen (17-4).
Also on the card, former STRIKEFORCE champion and San Jose native Josh Thomson (17-3) will meet the world-ranked "JZ" Cavalcante (15-3-1), of Brazil, in a fight that could determine the next challenger for STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez. Another featured fight will pit top prospects Tyron Woodley (8-0) and Andre Galvao (5-1) in a welterweight throw-down.
We promote MMA and responsible weapons training as a way to combat terrorism just like Krav Maga evolved in Israel for self-defense. Just imagine a world where terrorists with box cutters on a plane get knocked out by a nice MMA (Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, BJJ, or wrestling) combination. We honor the passengers on Flight 93 airplane (such as Mark Bingham) who called their loved ones to tell them they were "going to get at the [terrorists] somehow." We remember a report after the attack that he had a wrestling background. So please no more bitching about wrestling. Just learn it like the Roman Gladiators because it is amazing form of combat!
They sacrficied their lives to prevent the terrorists from crashing the plane into their intended target. See http://www.september11news.com/Flight93.htm
We honor all the brave souls for their sacrifices during September 11, 2001 (9/11) and all those who work towards peace, nation building, and mutual respect.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not how he does at times of comfort and convenience, but how he performs at times of challenge and controversy." (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"Sometimes it is not good enough to do your best; you have to do what's required." - Sir Winston Churchill who successfully led the UK from a German onslaught during WWII.
UFC Former Heavyweight Champ, Shane Carwin announced today he has added a new coach: Amal Easton was the 7th person to receive his black belt directly from Master Renzo Gracie.
Amal Easton began his martial arts journey over thirty years ago with the study of Muay Thai under the tutelage of Ajarn Chai Sirasuti and Kru Doug Pandorf.
He has studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu extensively since 1992. After earning his Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine Amal moved to Rio De Janeiro in 1995. One of few Americans living in Rio de Janeiro, Amal trained and competed out of the Gracie Barra Academy for three and a half years.
Amal was only the seventh person to receive their black belt from legendary competitor and instructor, Renzo Gracie. Renzo and Carlos Gracie Jr. have endorsed Amal’s ability and authorized him to teach the art. Amal was the first American Black Belt National Champion in 2002, is a multiple Pan American and Worlds Masters champion, and one of the original American pioneers of the art.
Mitsuyo Maeda, who left Japan to travel to Brazil and became the original teacher of the Gracie family
Renzo is tough. We heard him say he wanted his arm broken by Kazushi Sakuraba rather than give up to remind him of his mistake.
Helio Gracie, one of the Guardfathers of Brazlian Jiu-Jitsu
Every great movement must experience 3 stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption. John Stuart Mill, famous philosopher of law) Reposted by our friends at MMA Canada.net at http://mmacanada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1213&Itemid=49
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is no different and is in all three stages depending on the jurisdiction.
***Sign our petition to allow MMA as a global sport at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/MMA Online Petition
Although, MMA is an aggressive sport and deemed barbaric by proponents of banning it, it is a relatively safe sport when compared to many other sports. MMA is based on ancient and modern fighting systems and philosophy. In 500 B.C. Ancient Greek pankratiasts often immobilized their opponent's arms in preparation for either a strike or takedown (referred to as trapping). See Jim Arvanitis' book,"The First Mixed Martial Art: Pankration from Myths to Modern Times."
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was allowed to organize MMA fights in Vancouver on June 12, 2010. Although, the UFC began showing fights in 1993, Vancouver would be just the second Canadian city after Montreal to host a MMA fight event like the UFC. The UFC reported the Vancouver event set a new record for the fastest sellout in history, selling out just thirty minutes after the ticket pre-sale started.
Shortly thereafter UFC President Dana White thanked Vancouver’s Mayor. Maybe former math teacher, Rich “Ace” Franklin who beat Chuck “Iceman” Liddell in Vancouver on June 12, 2010, can teach politicians how logical MMA is when boxing and hockey are allowed. MMA matches have been held in Japan since the 1970s and Brazil’s Vale Tudo (which roughly translates to “anything goes” in martial arts) since the 1920s. It was in the 1920s in Brazil when George Gracie defeated Tico Soledade. MMA continues to thrive in both these countries today. Japan has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world yet you can see elderly people and many women watching MMA in Japan. In contrast, Brazil's biggest cities with millions of people struggle with very high violent crime rates due to abject poverty not because of a love of MMA. We have spent over three weeks in Brazil and we have Brazilian friends who attest to this fact. Shogun Rua's manager even mentioned in a TapouT interview in Sept. 2010 that there is more demand for Rua's appearances in the U.S. than in Brasil.
Brazilian martial arts magazines from the past, vale tudo ("anything goes") with MMA legends like Marcos "King of the Streets" Ruas who we saw win live at UFC 7 in Buffalo, NY. Sign our petition below to allow MMA back into New York.
The UFC has implemented many safeguards (such as weight classes, padded gloves) since the 1st UFC held in Denver, CO in 1993. On June 20, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) held a fight in Canada for the first time with a competition in Edmonton. WEC uses approved 4-6 oz gloves and has 31 designated fouls and many rules. Unlike these other major markets for MMA in Canada, provinces like Ontario are rigidly adhering to Section 83 of Canada’s Criminal Code to ban MMA. This Section defines a “prize fight” as a “…fight with fists or hands between two persons who have met for that purpose by previous arrangement made by or for them….” There are exceptions in the Section that are not considered “prize fights” stating, “…a boxing contest between amateur sportsmen, where the contestants wear boxing gloves of not less than one hundred and forty grams each in mass, or any boxing contest held with the permission or under the authority of an athletic board or commission or similar body established by or under the authority of the legislature of a province for the control of sport within the province….” (emphasis added).
Ontario's recent decision to allow MMA should influence other jurisdictions in Canada to allow such regulated competitions for several reasons. First, MMA competitions such as the UFC generate colossal amounts of money that benefit local and global businesses hard hit by the economic downturn. Hotels, restaurants, bars, airlines, and car rental agencies are just a few of the businesses that would benefit. The UFC has estimated that bouts in Ontario could generate $4 million in tax revenues annually for the cash-strapped provincial treasury.
Second, the law is overbroad and unreasonably vague making it hard to comply with the law. It punishes not only the fighters (who engage as a principal in a prize fight) but anyone who advises, encourages or promotes a prize fight, or is present at a prize fight as an aid, second, surgeon, umpire, backer or reporter. Would a fighter’s manager in another country, who unknowingly advises an athlete who will be fighting in Ontario, be in violation of the overbroad and vague law? Presumably yes. There is no merit in penalizing surgeons from being present at fights when the purported purpose of banning MMA is to protect fighters. You can easily punish fighters without punishing medical professionals who are present to help fighters in the event of an injury. In sharp contrast to the law, medical professionals should be rewarded for being present even if a jurisdiction does not allow MMA because they are innocent parties trying to help people.
Ontario’s Premier Dalton McGuinty was quoted by the Toronto Star Newspaper on December 23, 2009 as stating "I'd want to hear from everybody – from police. Are these kinds of events taking place now in an unsupervised way? I'd want to hear from medical officials."
Third, other sports and events which are just as dangerous if not more dangerous are allowed. More athletes died rowing in 1982-83 and 2008-09 than in all MMA events at all levels in North America from 1993-August 17, 2010. See The National Center for Catastrophic Injury 2009 Research Study at the University of North Carolina http://www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/2009ALLSPORTTABLES.pdf. Yes, I will admit that does sound strange. This is why further study and technology to protect the fighters is the answer not accusations without study.
The law allows boxing if boxing gloves of not less than one hundred and forty grams each in mass and judo, tae kwon do, karate, kick boxing, and wrestling are all allowed. There are many sports and activities which are allowed that are clearly more dangerous (from a statistical risk assessment) and many would argue have similar social utility: boxing, football, rugby, hang-gliding, luge, downhill skiing, motorcycle and car racing. Many boxers have died and been injured and yet boxing is still rightfully legal. The story of the traggic death of Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim after fighting Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini is shown below.
Mancini and Kim met in an arena outside Caesar's Palace on November 13, 1982. In what many ringside observers described as an "action-packed" fight, Mancini and Duk Koo Kim were equal for a good portion of the early rounds. However, by the latter rounds, Mancini began to dominate Duk Koo Kim. Spent and battered, Duk Koo Kim went into round 14 with little left and Mancini dropped him. He got up, but the fight was stopped and Mancini retained the title.
Minutes after the fight was over, Duk Koo Kim collapsed into a coma, and was taken to a hospital. Emergency brain surgery was done there to try to save his life, but that effort proved to be futile, as he died five days after the bout, on November 18, 1982. The week after, the magazine Sports Illustrated had a photo of the fight on their cover, under the heading Tragedy in The Ring. To add to the tragedy, Duk Koo Kim's mother and the referee also committed suicide after his tragic death.
Boxing was not banned after this death or after any other death from a fight. Many reforms in boxing took place as a result of this death. The World Boxing Council (WBC), even though not the sanctioning organization in this fight, was the first one to add many new rules concerning a fighter's medical care before fights at their annual convention in 1982. WBC president Jose Sulaiman declared that, immediately after the Mancini-Kim bout, the WBC and their medical advisors had conducted a study that revealed that most fighters get injured more severely after round thirteen. Thus, the organization immediately decided to reduce the number of rounds in their championship bouts from fifteen to twelve. The World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) followed the WBC in 1987. When the World Boxing Organization (WBO) was formed in 1988, they implemented a twelve (12) round world championship bouts.
Apart from the round reduction, more comprehensive safeguards would be adopted like electrocardiograms, brain tests, lung tests, and other medical tests from just a blood pressure and heartbeat check before 1982.
Thus, we must continually study how to better protect MMA fighters and be proactive to avoid harm to the athletes and not wait for tragedy like the regulators of boxing.
The rules of MMA work and additional safeguards should be studied and implemented. There are no more serious injuries in MMA than in these other sports. Should the Olympic sport of luge be banned because an athlete died during a training session in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics? Of course not! Better safety precautions need to be studied and implemented like the Olympic Committee adopted after that luge accident. Yes, injuries happen but through study and technology the fighters can be better protected just like boxers and hockey players. Additional safety precautions should be assessed when necessary such as better padding on gloves to prevent hand injuries. Therefore, it is illogical that it is illegal when a sport has an interdisciplinary integration of a kickboxing, judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and other forms of martial arts with the right safety precautions.
In addition, fighting is not usually penalized in sports such as hockey and basketball. Watch this clip and watch the referees fail to stop the fighting in hockey.
Fourth, banning MMA encourages underground fights which are not regulated by official athletic commissions or associations and thereby increase the likelihood that fighters will be injured. Imagine underground fights like in the movie “Fight Club” which have less protection for fighters and staff than organized events like the ones held by the UFC, WEC, Bellator Fighting Championship, Pride FC, and Strikeforce with medical doctors present. Ontario’s Premier was also quoted by the Toronto Star Newspaper on December 23, 2009, stating "It's not the kind of thing I'd want to drive underground, in other words. So I'd want to bring a thoughtful approach to this." We are glad McGinty came to his senses.
Commissioner Ken Hayashi of the Ontario Athletic Commission (OAC) stated back in 2007 that there are an increasing number of MMA events taking place on Indian Reservations in Ontario: “Those guys are taking a big chance with putting on these shows. If someone gets seriously hurt there will be serious liability issues for those connected with the event and it will set the sport back several years in Ontario. Especially if it’s found that they’ve not done the due diligence that other professional athletic commissions are doing.” Commissioner Hayashi explained that medical testing such as CAT scans, electroencephalograms (EEGs), and full blood work (HIA, Hepatitis B and C), are required by most provincial commissions in Canada.
In 2006, a MMA event was held on the Oneida First Nation Indian Reserve just outside of London, Ontario. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) admitted that MMA competitions are a grey area under the law. At the time OPP Constable Doug Graham stated, “We will conduct an investigation and determine whether this event fits the definition of a prize fight and whether it would be in the public’s interest to prosecute. It’s a strange situation; we’ve never been faced with something like this.”
On April 26, 2007, Ohsweken Reserve –an Iroquois Indian reserve held the third Iroquois Mixed Martial Arts Championships (IMMAC), aka Rumble On The Rez (short-form for Reservation). An Ontario Provincial Police roadblock on the main highway was forcing fans to take a lengthy detour, which might explain why attendance is down slightly for this event, about 1,500 compared to the 2,000-plus who came out to the first two Rumble On The Rez fights in November and February.
On Saturday, July 10, 2010, an Iroquois Indian reserve held their Iroquois MMA Championships #8, entitled "The Comeback." Banning MMA pushes it underground to these less regulated venues to "comeback" again and again. Protecting the fighters is the very laudable goal these jurisdictions have used to justify these laws so allowing MMA and thereby preventing an underground fighting network will achieve this goal more effectively than an absolute ban.
Now That Ontario Has Allowed MMA After This Article Was Originally Written, Here is Showdown Joe Ferraro, Host of "MMA Connected" and MMA Analyst for Rogers Sportsnet at UFC 121 - Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez in Anaheim. With him is the top executive at UFC-Canada and former CFL Commissioner, Tom Wright.
Copyright 2010 MMA Maxim and MMA Fighting Words, All rights reserved.
Former UFC fighter and accountant, Chuck "Iceman" Liddel discusses his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 115 and his future with MMACanada.net.
