Thread: Is MMA a sport?
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Old 07-19-2009, 06:16 AM   #25 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru
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How can someone go on about ultimate tests of strength, bravery, skill and manliness, and honourable and scientific contests of toughness, strength and agility, and yet say something like this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Famous View Post
I see people actually talking about a guy having a black belt as if it was some kind of great achievment! there are 15 year old girls who have blackbelts in karate!
(You do know that 15-year-old girls are trained boxers too, right? And, hey, did you hear the recent new about the 16-year-old who sailed solo around the world? It's amazing what one can do with strength, bravery, and skill.)

I see nothing wrong with being a boxing fanboy, but when you let it blind you to the understanding of other martial arts, then you will miss out on the reality of other forms of combat training.

My SO earned her brown belt (one rank below brown) when she was a teenager. I have little doubt that she could knock just about anyone on their ass if she wanted to, male or female. She is strong, quick, and skilled, and it is tempered with an uncanny discipline. I would say that she is as strong as many men.

If you think karate training can simply be passed off as something that "even grlz cn do!" then you have little hope of understanding any martial art outside of boxing. Sure, you can earn a black belt in 2 years if you wanted to, but you can only do this at the cost of an unwavering dedication to rigourous training. The same can be said for becoming a master of yoga. Take a closer look sometime at what these disciplines are capable of accomplishing. They're nothing to scoff at. I've seen pictures of 70-year-old men literally bending over backwards.

This whole MMA vs. boxing debate is a bit off for me anyway. We are talking about sport, right? Most sports consider contact, fighting, or other forms of aggression as justification for penalization if not disqualification or suspension, if not banning. What does that say about fighting as sport? To me, it says that there is little difference, in the grand scheme of things, between boxing and MMA when considering the viability of either activity as being a "sport."
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Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 07-19-2009 at 06:35 AM..
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