Should we let kids fight?

Critics Targeting Kid’s MMA

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting is as popular as it controversial. Some states have outright banned Ultimate Fighting, although the UFC is fighting back.  Critics say it is overly violent and kids may emulate it. Like everything that isn’t completely safe, the nanny-staters are crying for government regulation, now targeting kids MMA.[contextly_sidebar id=”624e4cf4d0b9169cfd55c01c47e21f43″]

Fighting is sport, and like many sports, it has intrinsic value.

Boys will fight, and proper discipline is the best way to handle that.  Trained fighters, whether they be boxers or martial artists, are taught self-discipline and restraint. Serious fighters are health conscious, regimented athletes. While the sight of violence may disturb some, violence is often inseparable from sports. In many ways it is simulated tribal warfare which appeals to us on some visceral level. Like a video game or a violent movie, it serves as a release; a safe way for man to get in touch with his inner primal self and let him roar.

Even though some people may decry it, physical competition is natural for men. 

For many it is a natural desire to battle and compete. Fighting is one of the oldest tests of physical endurance. From wrestling and boxing, to Irish street fighting, and martial arts. Americans like to fight, and have always seen fighting as symbolic of personal struggle. This is why Rocky Balboa is an American icon.

Video: Rocky Training Montage  

If MMA is too violent, how long until boxing and hockey are deemed too unsafe to allow for children… or adults? 

Pressure on the NFL to curb concussions has already caused the league to shorten the distance a team kicks off from. The result has been a season where most kickoffs fly uneventfully out of the other team’s end zone. To put it simply, it has made the game less exciting in the name of safety.  South Park even satirized the NFL’s new rule in an episode entitled “Sarcastaball,” where parents wind up taking ridiculous steps to make football safer.

But the NFL changing its own rules and a sport being regulated by government are two vastly different things. If government continues to regulate sporting activity all they will be doing is creating a black market. Isn’t UFC fighting preferable to underground fighting? As much as Americans love the movie Blood Sport, it isn’t a reality many would be comfortable with.

Video: Blood Sport, Jean-Claude Van Damme Trains 

Today more and more effort is given to preventing children from engaging in sports, or to make those sports somehow safer.  This is completely understandable, as it is only natural for a parent to protect their children.  But a bird that is kept in the nest may never learn to fly.

It is only natural for boys to want to watch and even partake in wrestling, karate and MMA fighting. It’s as natural as it for them to want to see explosions, monster trucks, football and baseball.  Nothing can take that out of males, it is engrained. Trying to will only cause one of two things:  Either they will suppress that primal being until it explodes one day, or they will kill it, and killing it has consequences. That primal side is the one that stands up for what is right when it isn’t popular.  He’s the one who defends himself and others when they’re in danger.  He’s the one who will stand up for innocence.  He’s the one who will fight to survive against all odds.

Or we could continue down the path that leads to this:

WATCH: Heroic boy punished for stopping knife-wielding attacker at school. 

Kids MMA Session


 About the Author: Keith Farrell is a frequent contributor to The Libertarian Republic and founder and president of Spirits of ’76 nonprofit organization.  He graduated with a BA from the University of Connecticut in American Studies and Urban & Community Studies.  Follow him on Facebook.