Violence in MMA / Big breaks for rugby

There has apparently been no formal complaint against coverage of mixed martial arts for television, just vocal criticism of the violence of the sport. Television news programs have been trying to blow the story up, as it impacts revenues from high-rating coverage, and since UFC 113 is around the corner. In the last three years, UFC has been generating better live attendance than many boxing matches, and pulling in bigger pay-per-view audiences against a majority of world title fights. Apparently, there are some who find the matches too violent and feel the sport is not well-regulated.

“Seventeen years ago, when the UFC was created, it would have been right to ban it, because it was banned in 50 states,” explains television sports analyst and sports historian Ed Tolentino. “But as of Feb 2010, Wisconsin had become the 43rd state to allow MMA showing and events. The rules of MMA also evolved, which has been in existence since 1900 in Europe and Japan. This April, MMA-UFC debuted in Abu Dhabi. It would be regressive for us to ban it. We should just regulate and check the proliferation of copycat, poorly-regulated MMA shows.”

In the beginning, mixed martial arts had no weight classes (like professional boxing), and allowed eye-gouging (like scripted pro wrestling matches). Now, there are limited rounds, special gloves, weight classes, strict judging, tougher medical requirements and heavy screening. Even the MTRCB has confirmed that there have been no formal complaints against any mixed martial arts broadcasts. In the 1960’s, when Bruce Lee was introducing jeet kune do at karate tournaments, he repeatedly said that it was his dream that one day, all martial arts would be showcased in a universal tournament. Again, he was ahead of his time.

Perhaps critics are comparing mixed martial arts to boxing, wherein only fists are allowed, and thicker gloves are used. But look at it this way, Thailand has an abundance of muay thai competitions, and elbows and knees are used as much as fists and feet are.

Even pro basketball team owners in the US initially had fears that television coverage would dwindle their live attendance, mistakenly fearing that people would prefer to watch on television than go to the venues. But in the case of MMA and UFC, the explosion of media has created many venues for their events to be seen. Over the next few years, the sport will undergo more changes, as it tries to court bigger audiences and improve its safety procedures. It has also given opportunities for athletes from many martial arts like Greco-Roman wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu and so on to earn a living. And although Filipinos mainly compete in the lower weight classes, some have already broken into contender status in the US, and that continues to fuel the growth of its audience.

And besides, who is to judge what is too violent or not in the sports arena?

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The Philippine National Rugby Union team is poised to break into the highest echelon of the sport within the next few months. Three years ago, the Volcanoes started at the very bottom, level 5 of the Asian Five Nations (A5N) tournament. Each year since then, our team has consistently won the tournament and been promoted one level. This year, our first in Level 2, we are hoping to break into level one among the best teams in the region. From April 1 to 7, the Philippine National Rugby Union men’s team joined an elite training camp in Sydney, Australia. Thirty of our players trained and played with top professionals from the New South Wales Waratahs and Australian teams. Program director Matt Cullen and new head coach Expo Mejia were also able to find four more quality Filipino players who attended the camp.

“The new players will definitely give the Philippine team a very good chance of winning the Asian Five Nations Division 2 championships this June in India,” Cullen says. “The Philippines will have to defeat Thailand, India and China to win this tournament, but I have no doubt we can topple these teams at this year’s event. The Philippine men’s rugby team has not lost a game in two years, and we were also ranked fifth in Asia at the Rugby 7’s in 2009, meaning we stand a very good chance of winning a medal at the Asian Games in November.”

Training sessions in Australia were conducted at the Victoria Army Barracks field, also a training venue for the Australian Wallaby team. Waratahs coach Chris Hickey spoke to the players and expressed his admiration for their accomplishments in the A5N, and wished them luck in this year’s tournament.

Afterwards, the Volcanoes trained with coaching staff of the Australian team at Kippax Field, and the players again learned new plays and techniques from experienced international coaches. On the third day, they proceeded to the University of New South Wales, and went through each of the skills of the forwards and backs in grueling sessions that exposed the players to new limits of exhaustion.

The team will be in Manila on May 26th for final preparations for the A5N, driven to come back with nothing less than elite status in Asia.