| There has been much outcry over the recent | | | | UFC and other "reality" fighting events are compared |
| popularity of so called "reality fighting" such as UFC | | | | to boxing (or any other contact or physical sport like |
| (the Ultimate fighting Championship), KOTC (Kings of | | | | rugby, American Football, horseriding, skiing etc) the |
| the Cage), Extreme Fighting, Shoot, Pride and | | | | results speak for themselves. |
| Pancrase. | | | | Not only has there NEVER been a fatality associated |
| Typical comments from a perspective of ignorance | | | | with "reality fighting" there has also never even been |
| include; | | | | a serious crippling or permanent injury to the fighters. |
| "bloodletting for our amusement" | | | | It was a serious travesty when the boxing |
| "brutal and bloodthirsty streetfighting with no rules" | | | | community succeeded originally in having UFC banned |
| "legalised brawling encouraging violence" | | | | on the gounds of safety when you look at the |
| The reality is that modern "extreme" or "reality" | | | | number of deaths and permanent injury to many |
| fighting is a contact sport with rules to protect | | | | boxers! |
| competitors and is basically a blend of boxing, | | | | It has been said recently that the reason there has |
| kickboxing, wrestling, judo and other martial arts | | | | not been a fatal injury (yet) in "reality fighting" |
| which have been around for a long time, so why the | | | | competitions, is because of the relatively few |
| outcry all of a sudden? | | | | competitors when compared to boxers, however this |
| Many cynics believe that, as usual, it all comes down | | | | was recently tragically disproved with the first death |
| to money! In recent years boxing, once one of the | | | | of a female boxer with a total only 2,200 female |
| most lucrative and popular spectator sports, has | | | | boxers registered. |
| been suffering dwindling audiences and poor | | | | The cumulative blunt trauma injuries caused by |
| pay-for-view results. The last thing boxing needed | | | | repeated punching to the head with competitors |
| was a serious competitor like the UFC for instance. In | | | | wearing heavily padded gloves is without doubt the |
| fact many boxing pundits lambasted the UFC in the | | | | biggest cause of fatal and permanent injuries to |
| early days convincing many that it was too | | | | boxers - this simply does not happen in "reality" |
| dangerous and brutal to be licensed - they succeeded | | | | events as competitors wear either no gloves or very |
| in having UFC competitions banned in many US states | | | | lightly padded gloves which will not allow fighters to |
| on this premise. | | | | punch to the head round after round without hand |
| The reality however is somewhat different, when | | | | injury. |