Should Children Be Allowed to Compete in MMA?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ค. 2024
- Go to drinkag1.com/hard2hurt to get started on your first purchase and receive a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 and 5 travel packs. Thanks to AG1 for sponsoring today’s video!
AG1 is a Foundational Nutrition supplement engineered to fill the nutritional gaps in your diet and support your body’s nutritional needs across four pillars of health: Gut health, Immune support, Energy and Recovery! It’s packed with 75 vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced ingredients and combines the perfect amount of micronutrients, absorption and taste to jumpstart your daily routine. AG1 is available in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.
You can buy tickets or order the pay per view for Fight For It 16 at store.atlanticmma.com use code icymike for $5 off!
Follow Mike:
Facebook: / icymikep
Twitter: / icymikep
Instagram: / icymikep
My Kit: www.kit.co/icymikep
Podcast: icymike.podbean.com/
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on them, hard2hurt receives a small commission. This helps support the hard2hurt channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thanks for supporting us and stay hard2hurt. - กีฬา
Go to drinkag1.com/hard2hurt to get started on your first purchase and receive a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 and 5 travel packs.
The biggest problem with putting kids in high risk or high stakes situations, is that they're not fully developed yet.
1) If anything happens with them, they may not develop properly. Especially mentally; childhood experiences are those which you tend to be your foundation for the rest of your life, and thus are very formative
2) Because they're not fully developed yet, they may not be able to make a fully informed decision yet without regretting it later down the line
3) They may not have the ability to cope properly if anything bad happens
If all of these objections are accounted for appropriately, I've got nothing against child fighting
That said, sports can be so so good for kids
I think this topic is very interesting and i think there would be a nice solution for this. The trainer should speak with the parents of course. He should also speak with teachers of the kid as well as friends of the kid. The parents should do the same with the trainer, with teachers and with friends. Lastly you should need a doctors approval of the physical ability to withstand the stress as well as the possible damage. Last but definitely not least the kids own opinion should be heard by trainer teachers parents and even the doctor. Maybe this would make it too complicated but in my opinion this would be an optimal way of gathering the neccesary information for a decision like this.
My main concern was early concussions/CTE but this rules set has addressed that. And I love that the ref will stop the fight if they aren't intelligently defending a submission. This is probably the best setup I have seen for kids to compete aggressively but as safe as possible. And these two young ladies are BEASTS!
Look at some of the thai guys, most of them started at age 8. But how they spar in muaythai in thailand is different from how they spar in boxing in thailand. In boxing, they fucking go for your head
@@muayboran6111those Thai kids (the ones that aren't forced to drop out because their bodies can't handle it) are still growing up with several health issues and retiring in their early to mid 20s. It's not healthy.
@@leonardomarquesbellini not to mention the national human rights commission put out a study about Thai children, who compete… since these are full contact fights and they fight for money…. Very often being the financial support/breadwinners of their family.
Those kids are often so learning impaired. They struggle to complete high school, not just because they are usually from poor families, but it’s in no doubt from brain damage.
Thailand has a rich history of this there’s more than enough of a sample size to have studies for this, how many Thai fighters who fight professionally in Thailand have finished university with a masters degree not that many.
@@Wingzero90939 yeah, that's sad to hear, but not really surprising. There's still a lot of people that have trouble accepting sports in which the real objective is causing enough damage to the brain your opponent passes out is dangerous for people's brains. Doubly so for children that are still developing.
This reminds of when my daughter was six years old, my family wanted her to go into beauty pageantry. I asked her how she felt about and she told me that she definitely 100% wanted nothing to do with it.
Omg, you would have thought I committed child abuse from how my family freaked out when I told my daughter she didn’t have to go if she didn’t want to.
And she never went. I saw that a lot when I worked for the school district, parents making their kids go into competitions when the kids weren’t really into it. Made me sad.
You're a great parent and I hate hearing of situations where kids are pushed into things!
I remember my parents always made sure to let me know that I could do whatever I wanted and would let me start doing a sport or compete if I wanted to, but since I never felt like it they never pushed it onto me either and I just was a really active kid in nature, I was always out playing with other kids and did parkour during my teen years.
There's definitely a difference between making sure your kids stay active, does not become lazy and potentially unhealthy to just placing them into whatever activity and forcing them to do it without any say at all.
My boxing coach started at 8 and captained our Olympics team. Forced to retire in his 20s after failing a brain scan, now in his 40s and noone can understand him talk
Now I'm intrigued, what's your coach name, was he force to retire because of a bad knockout or was accumulated damage. Did he had access to good medical treatment?
Because boxes usually fight young to scape poverty and get exploited more than it should.
Fuck man boxing is so brutal which is why I stuck with muay thai (idk if it’s better or not)
@@alias0449it's better in that there are a lot more targets in Muay Thai than boxing. That's a double edged sword though my friend. There's also a lot more weapons. A kick to the head can be way more damaging than a punch. I recently was at a local Muay Thai show and saw some get sent to the shadow realm with a round kick to the heads.
Careful who your train with.
@@alias0449 In terms of sports the 2 that aren't worth doing to me because of the sheer amount of brain damage is boxing and football.
@@reyvagabond3344recurrent light damage while growing up is infinitely worse for CTE than getting bad knockouts as an adult.
I would be concerned about parents pushing their children into it, or children doing it to appease someone else. Kids get pushed into different sports all of the time, so not sure "they can do it if they want to" works.
And sure, you get hurt in different sports, however, skating or playing football isn't quite the same as being punched in a fight and I feel like that can have some negative side effects mentally. Positive too, but still feels a bit iffy
Exactly 👍🏻
I agree
I agree with your statement except the American football part people get knocked out and is b y far the leading brain damage sport and thats manly accrued in practice not the actual game MMA is safer than boxing
So about 30% of MMA fighter develop brain problems while 70% of foot ball player develop brain problems now I don't know about over all who ends up worse in this aspect they both suck
I mostly agree, true points. But!
My worst injuries have been from skateboarding and horses(only time knocked-out). My teeth got horribly chipped in highschool basketball.
Boxing and BJJ: Almost Nothing. I sprained my big toe on the mat once. Definitely a sore trachea or stiff neck. Most physical endeavors are more dangerous.
If I remove my bias for loving martial arts, the first thing that comes to my mind is, even if they seem like willing participants, that this seems a lot like child exploitation. I think if we removed all the fanfare, the spotlights, the dramatic entrances it would come across a lot less creepy. Children participate in martial arts competitions and have for a very long time. I was competing at 5 years old. But this seems like child pageantry.
Maybe, but if we're looking at this as a part of preparing them for a career as a fighter, all of those aspects are part of a real fight. Take it away, and they might as well just be sparring in the gym.
The better question is, why would you want to prepare you little kid for a career in fighting, above all other options? It's not glorious, it's not intelligent (only a fraction of a fraction of fighters actually make a living, and the rest go home with less money than a full time McDonalds worker, but with a lot more CTE. @@moreparrotsmoredereks2275
as someone who started with taekwondo and judo, the amount of spectacle there's in combat sports like boxing and mma is so weird to me. the promotion photos were they look angrily at each other, the dramas around the sport...
like, common, is everyone a moron here or what? it's a fucking competition not a war. that guy you're fighting is just an opponent, not an enemy. you guys are doing sport or acting? is it a combat style or the glitters and choreography of pro wrestling?
all of the shit they throw around fights just look stupid and has no place in any sport. and that's part of the reason so many people who are not familiar with fighting see combat sports as barbaric. compare this shit to competition in any asian martial art, compare it to any other sport, and boxing and mma look like the wanabe-gangsta kids in the corner of the classroom... and it has nothing to do with the violence or the techniques, just the context and presentation.
i might have a biased image though, perhaps it's mostly an american thing, i trained mma, but didn't compete yet. perhaps in europe it's much less of show...
Absolutely 💯
@cypobos I completely agree. Taekwondo and Karate to a lesser extent gets pooped on constantly on these channels however I believe for kids they are better in so many ways for middle school aged and younger. I look at it like a more athletic version of Boy / Girl Scouts. When you think of BJJ/MMA you just don't get that same impression.
head, bone, joint injuries as a child can have a major impact on how a child develops and the "end result" adult they become. traumatic levels of violence at an early age, only factoring bodily harm, is usually a bad idea, imo.
not only that but also they could be stunting there growth by damaging there growth plates in there body. If they do anything it should be training till maybe 15 to 16 but even then it still would have the same problems but at least an teenager has the ability to understand there situation more than a 9 or 10 year old.
so no football, soccer, baseball, hockey, tennis, swimming, diving, no sports in general at school, also no dancing. because all of those things can cause a head, bone, or joint injury. and have a major impact on how the child develops and the adult they become. football and hockey got to be banned asap all that traumatic levels of violence, hitting people and tackling them. why cant football players just tag the other players to let them know they got them. that way they wont have a chance at getting a head or broken bone injury. we got to ban fighting in hockey, that just makes the child wanna fight at school and in the future as an adult. no playing at the park also since they can fall and hurt them self the same way. both sports have the players wear all that protection that should tell us right their that we need to ban those sports for being to dangerous.
@@SRMNoteonly in mma is the express purpose harming the opponent. Stopping acting the moron before you become one.
Literally wrestling has 9 year olds cutting weight to go get slammed around on mats. Them kids will be banging their knees up and down a basketball court just for warmup.
@@edrichlouw1790no they can do mm but they don't need to spare hared it's bad and training need to be just right
As a father myself, any sport that has a high risk of serious joint injury or concussion is a hard no until they're 18 or older. Their brain development is far more important to me than their ability fight. However, I do want them to learn how to fight, so light contact striking and wrestling, provided medical experts say it's relatively safe, are options I'll look into.
I agree with you but i am curious about your opinion on skiing
@@Gabiman66all about the trail
@@opdarager4997 fair enough 👍
I recommend BJJ. Low to nonexistent chance of concussions. Joint injuries/ACL tears are common in most sports, and is not unique to submission grappling. I personally destroyed my knees, ankles, and fingers playing basketball throughout childhood. If you successfully promote a healthy "tap early/ tap often/ train more often" attitude, you avoid the major risks with jiu jitsu. They also will develop great confidence (basically becoming bully-proof), which will lead to social and academic victories as well.
I understand your concern, though. Obviously, there are different strokes for different folks. Wishing you and yours a healthy, active life.
@strucka I'd like to hear how you learn to be bully proof in BJJ? I think that is a BS argument. How is BJJ going to stop some kids from posting an embarrassing video of your kid and spreading it around? This isn't the 50's bullying today isn't some kid beating you up for your lunch money (it's electronic these days anyway) it's mental/social abuse.
Full contact MMA? Not until they’re 18. MMA under this rule set? Sure. Seems safer than football to me
Yeah personally the level of agression was a bit to high for a competition with children participating
I personally think 16 and older is an ok age
100% agree with you on this, Mike. I'm a therapist and I often see kids and adults whose biggest problems, not just in athletic endeavors, but in their lives, period, are rooted in the absurd expectations, demands, and judgments that their that parents impose/d on them. Broken bones heal a lot faster.
I was a heavy kid doing judo so they sent me against guys 2 or 3 years older than me though the same weight. They destroyed me and it almost destroy my interest in sport in general for years. Now I am back in combat sport but I have lost litterally a decade because of this.
"I don't care about concussions." That's sadly where you lost me. Concussions/hits to the head are exponentially more dangerous for children, because their brain is still developing. If you're fine with children getting hit in the head, that's like advocating for children drinking heavy liqueur or smoking weed. It's irreparable damage to their developing brains that can lead to them not being able to learn, to keep memories or to empathize with others (just to name a few risks). If these two girls hadn't been allowed to hit above the chest, I'd have no problem with this. Bruises and broken bones also happen during soccer or ballett.
I've read soccer concussions are extremely common. Small ones from simple ''heading'' practice can accumulate over time. Then there is kids football. This is like TBI class.
I'm not going to advocate pre-teen Muay Thai or the like, but I think our western culture is a bit backward on this standard.
People say stuff like this and then let their kids play every other sport where concussions are just as, if not more common. Soccer kids run into each other and get concussions all the time. And dancing has one of the most abusive cultures of any sport so to act like that is better is wild.
precisely , concussions are huge. No head gear in these fights is all bad.
They weren't allowed to hit in the head, that was mentioned multiple times in the video.
@@handsomestik Gear has its limits too, however. It won't stop our brains bouncing around the inside of our skulls.
My grandfather was a boxer and started when he was around 8 or so. That made an enormous difference. He was a golden glove and turned professional before the war. I started later and while I felt I had natural talent for it, there was no way I would ever get to the level he reached because all his movements were so intuitive and ingrained. That said, having done all this stuff myself, my main concern is head injuries and brain damage over time. Also I have seen some of random and bad injuries at competitions, which give me pause about young people doing this stuff. Ultimately I think it is up to individuals and their families (been to boxing gyms where you had kids sparring and competing and while it looks rough, many of them were there instead of in gangs and getting shot, so I don't think this is as black and white as people make it sometimes). But when I consider my own nephews and nieces and tend to be a lot more against them getting their heads smashed like I got mine. If parents and kids are going to do this I think they really need to understand what it means and what the risks are
Rocky. Wilder.
Of it was up to the individuals we would have this as a question. All the pros are the best bc they started as kids and their parent low key abused them now image its fighting.
@@kinginyellow3100 I am sure that kind of abuse does go on. But I know in the case of my grandfather, he got involved in boxing without his parents awareness until he was like 16. And you see plenty of young people get involved in martial arts and boxing because they want to be there. Again, I see this is not always a black and white issue. But I do have concerns about things like head trauma (which is pretty hard not to get if you are in something like boxing). Not sure what the stats are on MMA
I mean there's probably weight classes, so you won't get huge discrepancies also in the younger age ranges the damage they are actually capable of doing with gloves on is minimal. My main concern is actually the potential for exploitation, but that's more to do with the culture around MMA and the like.
I think mma is too much. Their bodies are still developing, it could create permanent injuries especially CTE. Maybe 15 to 18 for full contact, standard rules.
This fight was well handled but and here is the sizable BUT I do not trust enough promotions, corners and referees to handle this properly. And that is where problems will start to arise when there is someone incompetent or not in the right headspace in one of those roles and then that will put the kids at unnecessary risk
My problem with kids fights is the same as with kids beauty pageant or ballet kids. It's not about the kids, but as Mike says. It's the adult audience. It gives me a weird taste in my mouth. Somethings wrong about adults watching kids fight.
Of course there's a danger element in it. But so is there in kids soccer. And again, whose the problem? It's mostly the parents watching and behaving like idiots. 😅
I do not think children should be competing at this level in martial arts the level of violence is a bit to high for my taste
@@definitlynotbenlente7671 I actually agree some ward with your stand. But that said, then again the same could be said with American football, rugby or even horse riding or ballet. Any high impact, high performance sports.
Children training martial arts is not that much, an issue for me. It's the high intensity of sports.
@@definitlynotbenlente7671 so it returns to my view, on how adults structure the sport kids participates in, for me.
some kids learn to fight and they become too confident that they start doing some messed up stuff. its good to teach your son to defend himself. but better teach him whats right and whats wrong. i'm a 15yo who trained kickboxing. i was too confident i got in realll big trouble
Yeah, sorry, no. Changing for tickets to watch children beat the shit out of each other is fucked up.
‘But they’re really good at it and they can’t hit each other in the face’. Fucking no. The opportunity for exploitation is unreal. This could get terrifying quick if it gained even the slightest mainstream acceptance. Regardless, this is just bad for your soul to watch. Absolutely not, keep it in the dojo until their 18.
Agreed 100%. 👍
Yep. Gotta think of what the industry would be. Think of every time you've heard of sketchy behavior, exploitation, doping, cheating, gambling, and the incentives for all that in any competitive sport.
Also i do not think kids should be fighting wait until they are 18
@@definitlynotbenlente7671 agreed here, especially with their bodies physically developing.
I think the rules set for this was impressively geared towards safety. As to when, honestly, it's going to depend on the kid. Some of them have the mentality and composure young, some don't. These two definitely have it. If there was any wavering on the drive to compete like this, if it isn't there 100%, I would wait.
Don’t know hey….I’d think I’d rather wait for their brains to develop a little more before consistently getting walloped because the damage is done through training mostly, not the final match.
I don't know why but it feels uncanny to me watching little kids fighting like that. I think one reason is that everything here screams professional adult mma fight, from the cage, the commentators, the whole quality of the production, and in the midst of all this, you see two little girls fighting... and it feels weird😂
Plus, I think the fact that they are that good makes it even more weird for some reason...
Yeah. The ruleset seems pretty safe but what's happening around the ring is very disturbing.
I was a hapkido kid. It was the 90s so still pre-MMA takeover. We couldn't full contact spar, or use weapons (both requirements for black belt) until 16. Judo style sparring was allowed. Still, both ways are safer than pee-wee football imo.
The question isn’t whether or not those two kids are ready to fight, it’s whether or not the average mouthbreather kid and their parent trying to relive their own fantasies are ready for MMA.
I would modify the adult rules, increase protective gear and forbid pay... so parents don't exploit their children.
I don't think this should happen until these kids are in their teen years though a hard ban is a tough position to take. Lots of training , lots of evaluation of the individual. It's not whether or not they'll get injured, the problem is the mindset. Discipline, how they handle taking a loss vs having fighting ability so that they do not become a bully. Competition can be a double edged sword on this.
I'm all for children (below 5-16) learning and training martial arts. However, the moment hard sparring or actual competition is involved the potential for brain damage and broken bones is too much. Especially for someone who's too young to be making informed and potentially life-shattering decisions for themselves.
With brains that underdeveloped and a body that fragile it seems like it's just waiting for tragedy to strike. Imagine a takedown lands at the wrong angle on one of these kids and they break their neck or a limb. Imagine one shoots a takedown as the other one throws a knee and cracks the other one's skull.
For adults, these are all risks of competing that they fully understand and are willing to risk for the sport. For children, there's no way they could fully comprehend what they're risking.
I'm a little biased as I've done martials arts, etc since I was 6 (and did sparring/comps from that age too) but I think if the kids want to do it, are being trained properly and its under a ruleset like in this video (no head strikes, different submission rules, shorter rounds, etc) it should be all good.
I think I have more issue with it being part of a PPV, having ring girls, commentary, etc - I don't think kids need to start adding that kind of pressure and performativeness to their martial arts journey at that age. It seems exploitative to me (in the same way something like a child beauty pageant is) and I don't think you're mature enough to deal with all that extra stuff just yet - maybe once you're 16, 17 + it could be a thing, but at this young of an age I think it should be more family and friends focused, gyms coming together, etc than a full PPV experience.
In my opinion a kid should be at least 14 before full-contact striking. They should have at least started their growth spur, which for most people is even later. People love to hate on point fighting and semi-contact but it is perfectly fine to develop good balance and coordination and imprint the correct basic motions.
That looked better than like, 80% of the heavyweight fights I've watched.
These girls are clearly enthusiastic about competing, and showed remarkable skill and presence of mind throughout the match. More power to them! You know any boy that tries to pick on them in school is going to quickly regret it.
HELL NO
I work for a governmental institution supervising schools and teachers and I can confidently say that in most cases regarding children the real problem are parents. The parents are sometimes willing to ruin their children lives for the sake of chasing their own agenda. This whole show is a theatre for adults to show off their children and if pay is in question this will make things even worse.
I was a kyokushin practitioner from a young age too, but it is different. There was no money in line and the training had to be softened for the safety purposes.
Sadly it is a hard no for me.
Kiddos fighting seems questionable, Team.
I don't think that they cage fight as a problem in itself. The kids attitude, however, is a bit scary. When I was a kid some 40 years ago, most of the fights (at school or street) I saw looked more like boxing and wrestling. If the fight went to the ground they wrestled. If it was standing up they'd strike but if you knocked down your enemy, they waited until they got back up to start swinging again. MMA gains popularity and you see kids now ground and pound and have no off switch. You've got a kid who obviously isn't doing well and the aggressor jumps on to them and starts pounding until someone pulls them off or they get tired, after which the latter there's a lot of damage done. These MMA kids without the right upbringing are dangerous. They can fight, they know it and are cocky. Todays' sports climate, especially fighting, lack humbleness and there's a lot of chest thumping. So I'm a bit conflicted with this. Cage fighting...meh...ok. But that training MUST come with teaching mental control.
Great point.
MMA athletes often act arrogant and without control (to sell matches) which influences anyone watching.
The idea of how to carry yourself in a match gets influenced.
Most martial arts and combat sports have those rules about bowing etc in place for a reason and to avoid athletes turning into skilled thugs.
Also in most cultures and back in the day attacking a fallen foe was considered completely honor less while in MMA this is considered normal.
Idk man they seemed to have an off switch as soon as they heard the bell
@anakinskywalkerscat7061 different on the street. But you see it in the cage too, you can see your opponent is out before he hits the canvas and yet they jump on and start pounding. Some fighters see it and hold back but man, there are a lot that would bust faces in on an unconscious guy. That's not cool.
@@chadlpnemt a good question is what kind of behavior does this encourage or glorify?
Striking a downed opponent used to be something that only psychopaths and criminals did.
Today it's considered almost acceptable
I think training a martial art inherently will instill discipline in the practitioner. The people getting into street fights overwhelmingly are not martial artists, they're random people with egos and/or anger problems.
Dude. This was awesome. Honestly I haven't been huge into MMA in the past.....but watching your channel is starting to change that. Mike, I didn't know this was possible, or that this existed, at this age. It's so inspiring and uplifting on so many levels. Girl power, baby! I loved this. Really. If that was my daughter in there and fought like that, I'd be so proud, I'm crying rn thinking about it. My view of this sport changed today. 😊 Yes, kids SHOULD fight in MMA lol
That was awesome! The composure these girls have is ridiculously impressive.
Under these rules, yes. Maybe once they hit teen years add the ground and pound after a few fight. We had to fight tooth and nail for kids mma in FL. My kids took waaayyy more damage amateur boxing and doing BJJ tournaments.
Maybe more of an issue with BJJ, but joint damage before the growth plates form can be disabling. This was explained to me by the surgeon who replace my right hip. I think a lot of research needs to be done on what is and is not acceptable risk.
Those kids were almost literally unbelievable, I'd love to know at what age they started training.
Wow this was amazing, these girls showed some serious fight knowledge and composure which is super impressive for their age. 👍👍
I almost pity any bullies foolish enough to try to pick on these kids.
Wow those two are talented for their age
No. They are just talented.
No. Just no. That a kid "wants to" is completely, completely irrelevant. Kids aren't able to make that kind of decision.
My kid wants to watch ipad all day. Not a chance. That's what makes me a parent. I say no to bad ideas the kid is wildly enthusiastic about.
Those girls are going to be dangerous when they're older if they keep going
Stupidest question ive ever seen. Simply from a health perspective you should not be taking shots to the head on a consistent basis even as an adult. What that those types of hits can do to a developing mind can reduce quality of life drastically
That ending gator roll was inspiring!
Props to the kids and to the coaches!
Great video Mike. What a good fight and love the commentary. In my opinion it is often the parents that are the worst offenders. Doesn't matter the sport, they just always seem to have something to say and are always the expert. Just my 2 cents
My primary concern regarding kids in combat sports is about concussion on developing brains, followed by the relationship dynamics between family members when a kid is in any competitive sport, combat or not. So if those things are addressed to a reasonable degree, and the kid truly wants to, then sure.
Those girls are gonna go places! Their skill and heart really impressed me. Wow.
Wow, sad. The decline of society.
I think it should be more accessible in the public school system, or community rec programs honestly. I got into wrestling, and then Muay Thai when I was about the same age as these girls, and I loved it. Most of the guys I grew up with did too, karate, tae kwon do, boxing, etc, it all helps you learn about what you're capable of accomplishing when you're at an age where you're supposed to be doing just that. Personally, I'd be happy if they had boxing or wrestling or something taught in PE classes, I think some big benefits could come out of it for a lot of kids.
I live in Thailand, kids fight here, little kids grow up fighting in the ring....occasionally they die as well
That gator roll at the end of round 3 was perfect. 100% behind kids fighting in a cage if they're truly gifted like these two.
@@jackieliles4665 you granddaughter is a beast, whoever is raising her is doing something right.
I think this is really great! I was curious why they had no head gear, but now understand that hits to the face were not intentional/allowed. Like any sport, this should fully be ok. It’s good for these kids not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. I hope more promotions pick up on this.
First gut reaction is not to let kids fight in MMA, but then, kids fight in the street anyways. This is probably WAY safer.
These little Ladies are better than i am!! Great Work!
Back in the good old days, kids worked as chimney sweeps and crawled down mine shafts with a stick of dynamite. The little crotch goblins are tougher than they look.
Awesome. Find your passion and go for it. Nothing else matters. Wish I learned that at a younger age.
Oh man, those girls are gonna be DANGEROUS by the time they hit 20.
As a parent of both girls and a boy. It makes me uncomfortable.
Love u bro your vid with jesse was the game....
I started competing at 14 yr old full contact Karate and American kickboxing at 145 lb division in Tx. For 1994 to 1997 I don't know if they should be doing it that young but that should be up to the termination of their parents and their trainers but they both did a very good job competing with one another and they showed a lot of sportsmanship afterwards I think 14 yr would be better but that's just my opinion
Also, her parents train with my husband and myself. My husband helps coach her. She absolutely wanted to fight and she’ll be back to fight again. Her parents would never force her into it. Ellie, her brother and sister enjoy training!! My son will be fighting in Winston-Salem on the 16th!! His first mma fight was with Fight For It, they’re an amazing promotion. Can’t wait to see you there. Be looking for Eli the Jedi.
The next generation of fighting is gunna be nuts
Those kids are braver than me stepping in the ring. Legends. I hope they have great careers ahead of them
Wow that fight was better than most ufc fights
I watched that fight in person. It was insane.
I've taken Tae Kwon Do and Okinawan Goju-Ryu. I know the former is popular nowadays - or it was before 2020 - but we had a lot of kids in Goju-Ryu. Higaonna sensei loved teaching, especially children, and they responded to that.
A lot of people in the comments have talked about the rules and all that to keep children especially, from concussions, which is great. If not for that, I'd say don't let them compete in the martial art as a sport.
I mean, I kind of lean that way anyway, and it's the primary reason I left Tae Kwon Do.
If those 2 girls continue in MMA and they are that good now. Imagine when they are adults competing as pros. MMA has a bright future forsure.
Training is fine, sparring is fine but actually fighting?
I do not think minors should be fighting wait till they are 18 train and sparring is fine
legit more skill than you see in some WMMA UFC fights
I would have loved to coach my kids through competition, but they never wanted me to, so I didn't. I absolutely gave all kinds of emotional support from ringside.
I don't know know, Mike. It may be in risk of child exploitation. Like in Thai Boxing, I've heard about that risk since early 2010s.
If it's handled this well with the ruleset and sportsmanship EVERY TIME and the child approached their parents about wanting to do it? Sure. No way it's more dangerous than football. I know parents and children's sports, though, and there's no way it's going to go down this way every time.
This is very impressive
I think hitting the bag as much as you want plus some rare light sparing is fine for striking training when youre young, you can go about as hard as you want for grappling and strength and conditioning work
Agee 💯. I have experience coaching youth FB. The hardest part was trying to coach up kids that clearly didn't want to be there, but their parents where trying to live vicariously through their kids. Was just awful.
The no head contact rule changed my mind completely on kids MMA. My big concern with fighting period is CTE and joint damage but American Football scares me more than this did at any moment. Those young ladies KILLED IT I wish my amateur debut looked half that good.
Better cardio and ring awareness than i have as a grown ass man
No, kids should not be beaten up by their peers. Let them play with Lego, Barbie, whatever, but not be violent to eachother.
Good question
I'm torn. If I had the chance to study MMA as a kid, I'm sure I would've wanted to compete. But on the other hand, I'm already starting to feel the wear and tear of 15 years of martial arts training, and I can only image what extra mileage would've done to my brain and body. I don't think there's ever gonna be a satisfying answer to this until they figure out how to prevent CTE or violence falls out of fashion.
The statement about expectations is really important, well said.
"When you can't punch the head, Mount isn't a good position." SO interesting!
I think this rule set minimizes the long term damage from fighting. However, this seems like it would set them up for future failures as they get older and the rules are more relaxed. I'm not in this culture, so maybe that is addressed as they age. The only other concern I would have is managing the ego that comes with success in solo sports. I guess that up to the the coaches and parents to manage. Great video, Mike
That takedown where she just pulls the leg to the point the foot just rolls over her toes, great move. I've seen a bad toe accident in the gym that way by grown men. Someone caught a back leg front kick pulled it back and went for a right hook. The bloke's toe was dislocated and his nail was split. Bit bad in the gym but could see someone using it in MMA. Its like one of those light bulb moments when Roundtree just booted someone in the body.
I think what matters most is the the fighters need to understand and accept the risks. If they do, then I think it's okay.
As the founder of Sony, Masaru Ibuka, said regarding when a child's education should begin: "Kindergarten is too late".
A.J. Liebling made a similar point about boxing. The same idea is relevant to MMA.
Im worried about any sport getting in they of them going to school and being children.
As a young father of a 8 month old I cannot wait to have a training buddy. My father never pushed me in self defence but as it wasn’t something he was into but I will strong encourage my son to be a warrior. (Of course as long as he enjoys it)
I'm a casual fan and I know jack shit about fighting but seeing those two girls go at it is just amazing.
No, no it shouldn't. Anyone who says yes should have their kids taken away. Grappling is the most I'd allow, but even getting slammed/thrown hard can cause a concussion/CTE. BJJ/Wrestling/Judo until they turn 18 or 25-26 (when the brain finally stops developing). I sound overly paranoid, but I just don't want kids being punch drunk by the time they're 21-22.
no. thats fucking crazy.
As a parent I think kids should be able to dip their toes into adult pursuits.
There need to be guard rails but I see no problem in exposing kids to challenges including fighting. Let the kids try it. They'll know pretty quickly if it's right for them.
I am skeptical about this if it's under 15. I think it shouldn't be a full contact fight till 15, but semi contact. But the great thing you said, that applies to any age and any sport, is that kids should compete if they want to and not because of any other reason. And also we should support our kids to do things what they really strive for and not telling them what to do. I am a parent, and I am strict about bad things and bad behavior, but I let my kids choose and try things they like, and only like that they will be able to find them selves in life and be capable grown people.
Amazing fight all around, so much good technique and poise. But what about kids at BJJ tournaments?
I went to a wushu competition and the sanda matches had kids as young as i think 7 or 8 up to teenagers before it got to the adult level.
Honestly it was fine. At the younger ages the genders were mixed up until it got to middle school ages and the kids dont really hurt each other that much especially because they wore chest protectors.
I think the problem comes with the spectacle of the fight being added onto the match. Like with the walk outs and cheering for kids to fight. Like the mma environment is cheering you on to beat each other up and it gets a little weird when you unintentionally reinforce that onto a kid's match. Not saying everyone feels this way or percieves it this way, but that may be the issue down the road.
This already happens with kids in thailand, albeit to a much more gross degree, what with the gambling and everything on kid's matches (idk if that happens with mma kid fights, i sure hope not) but this is what i would be most worried about. No problem with kids scrapping a little, but you just gotta remember that its kids fighting.
Allowed? Yes. In my opinion. Encouraged? Maybe. I don't know
I grew up in Miami and youth football is crazy competitive. You have elementary-age teams that are practically semi-pro and of course they feed up into the highest quality high school football in the country. As you say there's pluses and minuses to it for all the kids involved. I agree with you the risk is in the obsessive parenting -- but thats true in every sport. I saw way worse parenting playing competitive tennis than I did playing football.
All that said, I think I would probably say traditional martial arts until high school, then you can try MMA. I'm not sure there's that much logic in that position, but it seems instinctively right to me.
I mean at 15-16 people should really not be treated as kids anymore. Kids means before 10yo. At 16 they’re teens, pre adults. You can’t treat someone like a kid till they’re 18 then suddenly adult. Legally 18-21 w/e that’s for simplicity of the laws, but in reality starting at around 14 people should be treated as equals by adults (explaining, talking, interacting etc). So yea I think fighting is fine in specially since they don’t really have enough power to really do that much dmg with striking. More dangerous with the grappling since you can pop something without even realising it.
And also a big part of the discussion is the referee, you shouldn’t have them fighting with a top notch referee that’s paying attention and ready to stop it rather earlier than later. I’ve seen a clip where a kid would of gotten his arm broken because the ref was sleeping and a parent had to intervene (and even that was a bit late)
No, it's not ok.
And no, they shouldn't.