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Did you realize that it is illegal to hold a Mixed Martial Arts match in New York State? Karate, Judo, Wrestling, and Boxing are all legal in both organized professional and amateur venues. But mix the disciplines together, and put the contestants together in the octagon, and the cops are going to roll.
It seems that the problem isn’t the sport, the potential for real criminal (read: gang) mischief, or the fact that MMA matches are fun to watch that upsets the government of New York. It seems to be just the violence that they don’t like. And this should be an alarming trend to those of us who enjoy playing games where the whole objective is to “run, hide, shoot many bad guys, repeat.”
I love watching MMA almost as much as I enjoy playing first person shooters, maybe even more. When I am watching a bout, I know that I will not be worried about the reports that are due, having to go to meet my girlfriend’s family, or eventually having to find a real job so I can pay back my student loans. When there is a bout to watch the only thing I am concerned with is getting to see a pair of highly dedicated and trained fighters putting it all on the line in a sport that they have dedicated themselves to.
But isn’t it violent? Heck yes it’s violent! But it is far from being violent for the sake of violence (for that I have this year’s newest crop of FPS games). MMA is not simply about beating the heck out of your opponent, it is about winning against your opponent. Which in turn is the basis of all sports.
Fighting sports are the oldest of athletic competitions. The oldest Olympic event is wrestling (no, it isn’t the Marathon. The marathon just gets a lot of press.) Somewhere in the depths of time, after the last of the mastodon leftovers were put away, two guys around the campfire began discussing who was the toughest.
The way to find out wasn’t with a footrace (besides, it was dark out there away from the fire, someone could trip and then wind up as a snack for a saber-toothed tiger!) Finding out who was the fastest would come later, when it was time to run away from the angry mastodons, but finding out who is the toughest took place right there by the fire with a wrestling match. Whoever won probably didn’t win anything but bragging rights. The best hunter probably made the other decisions. But the best wrestler, the best fighter, held a special spot in the tribe.
