Why MMA should be/not be a sport?

OR you can use your own opinions and do your own homework.

@rangerr I think that’s a great suggestion.

Do your own damn homework. That is how you will learn!

Comment; Capitalize “I” whereever it appears in a sentence and not just at the beginning.

Use apostrophe in “people’s” to show ownership of “opinion.”

“Please” starts a new sentence; therefore place a period (.) after “straight.”

Use “I hope” instead of “hopefully,” which is an adverb that means “full of hope.”

“A link” is fine rather than “like a link.”

You will not be able to prove your thesis. You may be able to marshall facts and figures to support it.

15 pages is either long or short but never “small.”

That was a masterfully sloppy question. Congratulations. Does being kicked in the head repeatedly cause brain damage?

(This is mean of me, I know, but you get my point, I hope.)

I think it is a legitimate part of homework for such a paper to conduct a public opinion poll and report its results. Of course,doing so here is a completely unscientific way to poll, and therefore not of much good other than to quote some of the opinions offered.

I firmly agree with the comments @gailcalled about drafting your question with proper punctuation and rules of style, particularly when it is about writing a paper.

Now, my vote on making MMA a legitimized sport as in adding it to the Olympics is give it a few years. Let’s see how many participants get long-term brain damage from traumatic brain injuries. What is the serious injury rate vis-a-vis other professional sports, and what is the death rate. Professional boxers fight with heavily padded gloves and still many of them end up talking like meatheads after a few years in the ring getting their bell rung. The gloves MMA fighters wear give very little padding. They mostly help prevent fighters breaking their own fingers and knuckles. So it is almost like bare-fisted boxing, and we phased that out because it was too brutal.

We left gladiator combat behind back with ancient Rome and I don’t view a return to something similar in a positive light.

If @afghanmoose hadn’t said anything about asking the question because it was related to homework, no one would have hesitated to answer (wink, wink @afghanmoose).

I agree with @ETpro – I think MMA is currently too violent to be considered legitimate. No one goes to the Olympics to see someone’s teeth litter the field (Or maybe they do, I don’t know). I think it definitely needs to be… polished a bit before it becomes considered legitimate.

@gailcalled gave you the most valuable advice you will get. The information in your paper might be perfect, but if it is delivered like you delivered this question you will still most likely fail.

I know I am handing @afghanmoose a ton of free research, but I hate that people speak so negatively of MMA and tout unsubstantiated opinions as fact.

@ETpro As a mixed martial artist I can tell your assessment of MMA being more dangerous than boxing is commonplace, but very wrong. Compared to Football and Boxing MMA is safer. What a lot of people don’t understand is that gloves (boxing, MMA, etc) sole purpose is to protect your hands, not your head.

In boxing the fighters score points over the course of 10–12 rounds by punching each other, sometimes to the body, but mostly to the head. In MMA fighters wrestle, box, clinch, etc to score points and do it over the course of a mere 3 rounds (5 for championship fights). At the and of the day a boxer gets hit in the head many times more than a MMA fighter. Even linemen take worse punishment to their heads.

Another thing to take into account is the ring or cage when referring to MMA. Because the image of two men stepping into a cage to fight is so extreme most people tend to look past any reason other than shock value for its existence. The truth is that a cage during a clinch actually provides added support to the fighters neck and head, reducing neck injury. Essentially the cage provides a service similar to that of a head rest in a car accident, rings however do not offer any support.

Football Deaths Per Year: 10 to 20

Boxing Deaths Per Year: 10

MMA Deaths in the Past 20 Years: 1

Study from Johns Hopkins – http://augustafreepress.com/2007/10/05/is-mma-safer-than-boxing/

Vancouver Sun – http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/groundandpound/pages/mma-vs-boxing-which-is-more-dangerous.aspx

MMA Writers – http://www.mmawriters.com/Article/MMA-Is-Safer-Than-Boxing/33

Unified MMA Rules – http://www.state.nj.us/lps/sacb/docs/martial.html

@Judi I didn’t say don’t make it an official sport, I said give it time for evaluation. Yes, it’s been practiced for a while now but with nowhere near the frequency of play that the other sports you mention have been. Compare over an equal time the likelihood of serious injury or death per hour of participation. Then you are making a meaningful comparison.

I could easily show that far more people die in accidents walking down a sidewalk than in mountain climbing. That certainly does not mean mountain climbing is inherently safer than walking down the sidewalk. It means way more people are exposed to whatever risks there are on sidewalks than are exposed to the risks of mountain climbing accidents.

@ETpro At this time MMA has surpassed Boxing in both casual practice and as a mainstream sport so that in itself should make the statistics regarding deaths relevant. Football of course has far more participants than both MMA and Boxing so your are partially right.

I still think you are missing the most important points, looking past the data on deaths, MMA is still proven to be safer. Small gloves play no role positively or negatively, the stage (cage/octagon) is actually a tool for safety and most importantly the constant impact to the heads of opponents is greatly reduced by the fact that grappling/ground game is just as important as stand-up (punching/kicking). All of what I have stated is fact, you have stated opinion, MMA is safer than most people believe and if you refuse to accept factual argument than there is nothing more to say.

@drClaw I’m not set in my ways on this. If we have enough data in hand already to prove ultimate fighting is safer than boxing, and boxing is good enough to qualify as a sactioned, recognized sport, then I see no reason to exclude ultimate fighting. It is most definitely fun to watch, better than boxing and a more realistic contest of what a real fight is like.