UFC and contact martial arts for kids

Just watching Sunday (Channel 7).

They have UFC-style fighting for 8 year old kids on Indian reservations in USA. Banned in most US states.

As UFC gets bigger, I suppose there will many more parents doing this with kids, and claiming how natural it is for little kids to belt the crap of each other.

its an interesting one, i am trying to get my boy interested in MMA or a martial arts of some form at the moment he is 4.5, main reasons are for disapline, respect, develope hand eye skills etc etc, however i dont think there is benefit of doing full contact combat sports at such a young age, even though i competed in many a judo comp from the age of 5 it is completely different to full contact MMA.

if there was some for of head protection and bigger gloves if its possible such as in amatuer boxing matches then this is a different story...

Neddysmith said:

its an interesting one, i am trying to get my boy interested in MMA or a martial arts of some form at the moment he is 4.5, main reasons are for disapline, respect, develope hand eye skills etc etc, however i dont think there is benefit of doing full contact combat sports at such a young age, even though i competed in many a judo comp from the age of 5 it is completely different to full contact MMA.

if there was some for of head protection and bigger gloves if its possible such as in amatuer boxing matches then this is a different story...

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There are actually a lot of studies that prove heavier gloves and head gear lead to higher levels of brain damage then light gloves/no head gear.

basically a concussion is the bodies natural defence mechanism against neurological damage, by using head gear/20oz gloves you get prolonged blows to the head but deny the brain the opportunity to protect itself.


i read one article where there was a study on boxers who spent alor of time as amateurs been in much worse shape neurologically them those who turned pro early.


Just pointing ting out wrapping the tikes in padding could be the wrong thing to do.

letting tikes get involved in combat sports is fine, benefits outweigh the negatives inmo, plus the strikes to a kid from a kid of similar weight aren't really going to fuck them up to bad.

long term head knocks do take a toll, have had friends who had to give up fighting competitively cause of damage from knock outs.

I really like watching MMA but even if I had my time over again I don't know if I would get into it.

Knocks to the head are never good and continuously getting knocked in the head even without getting KOed is very bad for the brain.

Listening to a MMA podcast and they where talking about meeting Evander Holyfield and he now basically has a minder telling him what to do and say.

It's not as bad for the elite as they are getting paid well for it. It's the lower end battlers that are getting minimal cash for what they put their body through.

Both Holyfield and Ali fought well above their natural weight. Both built careers on the ability to "take a lickin and keep on tickin". Ali now has Parkinson's Syndrome (not Parkinsons Disease) from all the knocks he took in training, as well as in fighting.

MMA is safer for the brain than Boxing thats for sure. But you've only got a certain amount of KO's in you before you're fucked up. Every head knock is doing damage.


That being said theres nothing quite like the joy of getting punched in the head and punching some other fucker in the head with boxing gloves on.

Those MMA kunce.

Stiffy said:

Both Holyfield and Ali fought well above their natural weight. Both built careers on the ability to "take a lickin and keep on tickin". Ali now has Parkinson's Syndrome (not Parkinsons Disease) from all the knocks he took in training, as well as in fighting.MMA is safer for the brain than Boxing thats for sure. But you've only got a certain amount of KO's in you before you're fucked up. Every head knock is doing damage.That being said theres nothing quite like the joy of getting punched in the head and punching some other fucker in the head with boxing gloves on.

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Your right Heavyweight sluggers seem to fair the worst, lightweights seem far less retarded on the whole at the end of their careers

The problem is concussions or ko's shouldn't be the gauge. Not getting ko'd is far more dangerous. The guys with iron jaws are the ones that end up with a cooked brain box. Look at grid iron players it's repeated knocks that don't put you out that fucks your shit up. The NFL had to put aside 8 billion I think it was by order of court to treat injuries for former players who are likely to develop ongoing problems from brain injuries

Re above post the courts said 8 billion probably wasn't enough money see below article

http://www.traumaticbraininjury.net/federal-judge-refuses-to-approve-nfl-brain-injury-settlement/

Brick said:

Your right Heavyweight sluggers seem to fair the worst, lightweights seem far less retarded on the whole at the end of their careers

The problem is concussions or ko's shouldn't be the gauge. Not getting ko'd is far more dangerous. The guys with iron jaws are the ones that end up with a cooked brain box. Look at grid iron players it's repeated knocks that don't put you out that fucks your shit up. The NFL had to put aside 8 billion I think it was by order of court to treat injuries for former players who are likely to develop ongoing problems from brain injuries

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yep, and all that spoils a very enjoyable sport (Boxing). Spoils a lot of other enjoyable sports too!