[Rowan]

Sorry if posted before couldn't find on search. This is a BBC news artcile from 29th June so might already know about this but here you go guys.....

Call to ban cage fighting event

Mr Blackman said cage fighting has no place in modern Britain
A cage fighting event at Wembley Arena is facing calls to be banned because of its "ultraviolent" nature.
Bob Blackman, London Assembly member for Wembley, north London, said the "medieval human blood sport has no place in modern Britain".

Mixed martial arts combat is big business in the US and has grown in popularity in the UK in recent years.

Wembley Arena said the event will go ahead and measures were in place to ensure the safety of participants.

No protection

The tournament, called Cage Rage, combines elements from Thai Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and freestyle Wrestling.

Each fight consists of three five-minute rounds taking place inside a cage ostensibly to stop the fighters falling out of the ring.

There is a full set of rules, and each bout is refereed.

Mr Blackman called on Wembley Arena to cancel the event as a gesture to local residents.

"The 'sport' of cage fighting offers no protection to its participants and it excites the worst sides of human emotion in those who watch it," he said.

A statement from Wembley Arena said it took the "utmost care to ensure the heath and safety of all participants, visitors and staff at any event staged at the arena".

"The 'sport' of cage fighting offers no protection to its participants" - Yeah other then the mouth guards, cups, gloves and extensive fair rules...


"it excites the worst sides of human emotion in those who watch it," For this one, read my sig. This guy is a Hippy, he should be an anti war campaigner before starting on MMA. Or maybe be anti religion because thats the biggest cause of war. That pisses me off...

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5130202.stm

[Plastikman_Eire]

Getting a feeling of deja vu, i read nearly the exact same statment months ago just before WCFC was held in wembly. This is prob some tabloids just rehashing the same old rubbish.

[angel of death]

Yeah its been here before, but thats not the point!

I reckon the guys just trying to ride the back of the MMA hype in the UK. Its an ever growing sport, and he wants to make a name for himself trying to be the one who stops it.

The guys an idiot, and he's not going to stop it. Cage Rage will go ahead as normal in the UK.

[Ozpride]

All these wankers trying to stop MMA have probably never watched a whole event before and think the fighters are bums straight off the street or jail birds

[Plastikman_Eire]

MOst i imagine are basing it on early UFC's when semaphore were running the show and there wasnt really any rules.

[TTP]

You always get idiots sticking their oar in on things they don't understand. They've been doing it with boxing for years.

[SalamandraNinja]

Even the early UFC provided protection against eye gouging. So the douche would be wrong even about that. Although barely.

But, he's not going to get it stopped. The jesture of good will to the people around the arena would actually be more of a punishment than anything. Isn't boxing often cited as a good thing as it keeps people off the streets, training for something, etc? How would this be any different... bla, bla... He'll do nothing.

[Old_Fogey]

Bob Blackman is nothing but a self-serving publicity seeker. A typical wannabe politician. In fact, if you watch this video, you will see that people like Bob Blackman make MMA a lot MORE DANGEROUS that it was in the old real NHB days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GxKwV2_MBk

By the way, when I say dangerous, I mean danger of DEATH, not danger of injuries.

[Rowan]

Just annoys me when they have a sub headding in bold "No Protection" without even backing the statement up. They might aswell say that they are given knives to fight with at this rate.

[sidechoke66]

i have emailed bob blackman and expressed my thoughts to him about his coments. just tried to educate the man