Piano? Soccer? Nope - Ultimate Fights Expand to Include Kids

[underpants]

Eli Lindsey, eight, top, spars with Gage Bloomer, eight, during practice at Garage Boys Fight Crew in Carthage, Mo, on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Lindsey and Bloomer train at the facility in southwest Missouri for ultimate fighting events.
(AP Photo/Mike Gullett)

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j0i6-DJeEQpXKJiVx2054FBCPnlQD8VLOI802

CARTHAGE, Mo. (AP) — Ultimate fighting was once the sole domain of burly men who beat each other bloody in anything-goes brawls on pay-per-view TV.

But the sport often derided as "human cockfighting" is branching out.

The bare-knuckle fights are now attracting competitors as young as 6 whose parents treat the sport as casually as wrestling, Little League or soccer.

"We're not training them for dog fighting," said Bloomer, a 34-year-old construction contractor. "As a parent, I'd much rather have my kids here learning how to defend themselves and getting positive reinforcement than out on the streets."

Supporters of the sport acknowledge that allowing fights between kids sounds brutal at first. But they insist the competitions have plenty of safety rules.

"It looks violent until you realize this teaches discipline. One of the first rules they learn is that this is not for aggressive behavior outside (the ring)," said Larry Swinehart, a Joplin police officer and father of two boys and the lone girl in the garage group.

The sport, which is also known as mixed martial arts or cage fighting, has already spread far beyond cable television. Last month, CBS became the first of the Big Four television networks to announce a deal to broadcast primetime fights. The fights have attracted such a wide audience, they are threatening to surpass boxing as the nation's most popular pugilistic sport.

[EnviroBat]

1. Hmmm, stinks of republicanism.

"Gage?" Nice name for a future brown-shirt. Oh,and I'm sure that he won't use any of these tactics outside of the gym. His daddy, Larry "Swinehart" told us so.

What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

[Taverner]

2. Cool

I don't watch UFC, but with the proper precautions this could be great for self esteem

[Godhumor]

3. I see this as the same as taking martial arts or wrestling as a kid

Done right, I don't see what's wrong with this.

[Orsino]

4. If we teach kids to box, I'm not sure how to draw a line to exclude Ultimate Fighting.

But how is it taught? What do the kids learn about violence?

[HughBeaumont]

5. Dumberica: Where Life Is One Big COMPETITION!

And if you aren't NUMMER ONE, you kick some ass until you ARE!!!

"It looks violent until you realize this teaches discipline. One of the first rules they learn is that this is not for aggressive behavior outside (the ring),"

Absolutely amazing and astounding, the optimism is. Violent sports teach discipline? Yeah, never understood that one. All it teaches you is how to be more violent, which I suppose prepares you to successfulley thrive in Dumberica's bully-first-before-anything-else-has-been-tried culture.

[Sabriel]

6. I've taken head shots with head gear on, and it's not fun

You can still get concussed with those things on. Great for scrambling 6 y.o. brains.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. kids are the new dogs?

seems like a pretty violent sport to let kids into.