Mix Martial Arts in schools, what difference could it make in student lives?

¨Mix Martial Arts: the art of focus, discipline, and respect.¨ This is how a 3-degree black belt in taekwondo describes the sport of Mix Martial Arts. 

Mixed-Martial-Arts (MMA) has been a global sport just as soccer and baseball are, but MMA is known as a violent sport by many, even so MMA has grabbed the attention of many people. 

UFC fights has be on the rise for years now, with fighters such as Tom Aspinall, Sean Strickland, Conor

McGregor all are names people know, under the leadership of UFC President Dana White, the UFC has grown MMA, and has pushed it into mainstream sports media.

But where does Mixed-Martial-Arts go from here and what benefits does it have?

MMA is already considered a sport, with boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo, and wrestling, all of them in the Olympics. After MMA joined the Olympics, what would be the next step for Mixed-Martial-Arts, what about including MMA in High school and college athletics. 

In the last 10 years, Mixed Martial Arts (especially the UFC) has gained a tremendous amount of popularity, mostly with young people ages 14-25, a grand amount being highschoolers. However when it comes to having MMA in school it becomes controversial from both sides. Many would say that MMA is ¨too violence¨,and ¨ too dangerous ¨.

MMA is a sport that many believe to be too violent and not meant for kids ¨It’s a violent art, and people could get hurt easily in the arts if you’re serious about it. And back in the days, mixed martial arts was really street fighting.¨ Roweshea Burruss a former MMA fighter. 

But if MMA is ¨too violence¨ and ¨ too dangerous ¨ then why is it also considered the art of respect and discipline?

¨Discipline in the martial arts. It keeps you calm. It keeps you direct. It keeps you focused in everyday life. That quick temper keeps you in a steady peace.¨ former Mixed-Martial-Arts fighter Mr. Burruss described MMA as something that can help you in life beyond MMA itself. 

Many people watch UFC now of the big name fighters like Conor McGregor, Islam Mahkachev or Alex Pereira. Those who see these big name fights, transcribe all MMA fights to be fights that end up bloody and hurt all the time.

However, by the audience looking at UFC fights of amateur and fighters who are just starting out they will see that most MMA fights are not full of blood and injuring each other. 

UFC is a form of entertainment and is made not only to demonstrate the true art form that is Mixed martial arts in its purest form, but to also give the audience a show and bring in huge pay-per-view numbers. There are high-octane fights, heavy in action, and full of excitement. UFC is a form of media to be used to make money. It doesn’t show what MMA is without the camera.

Mixed-Martial-Arts fighters wear protection during training they wear shin guards, headgear, elbow pads and sometimes fighters wear belly pads. In tournament like taekwondo, they use foot pad and hand pads when fighting in tournaments while a belly pad is used to protect the stomach when fighters plan on throwing kicks to the stomach, most often used in Muay Thai training.

According to the National Library Of Medicine 22.9 to 28.6 per 100 fight-participations suffered an injury of some sort during their fight. The most common injuries are skin lacerations, minor fractured bones, and concussions. 

When comparing these numbers to high school and college football injuries, the numbers are not what you thing 

According to PubMed, high school and college football have approximately 12 deaths yearly from school football, there are at least 300,000 injuries per year, With about 14 out of 15 injuries ending up in the emergency room with indirect systemic causes being twice as common as direct blunt trauma. The most common causes are cardiac failure, brain injury, and heat illness.

An argument for this counterpoint is people play high school football more than MMA fights.

This is true, but the numbers for Mixed-Martial-Arts in comparison to football are considerably different. Comparatively, seven people in the history of the sport have been recorded dead from participating in an MMA competition. 

Hence, if high school football isn’t too dangerous for minors, then why would MMA be too dangerous for them, considering they both report similar statistics.

Personally, I see no reason why MMA shouldn’t become a high school sport.

MMA is not just about fighting, like football is all about getting the ball to the end field, MMA is more than just the body but is also about the mind. The Refs are on top of things and stop the fights immediately when they see the fighter is not defending himself any longer. 

It is not only about hurting the other opponent, but to learn discipline and a winners mentality.

¨Well, you have to be fit. You have to exercise. You have to be mentally, mentally focused on the arts, learning the forms, learning techniques, learning skills, learning how to control what you do and how to do it. Know when to use it, when not to use it. The respect with one another and students and your teachers.¨ 

Mr. Burruss gives his insight into how Mixed-Martial-Arts is not just about fighting but is also about the mind and the focus on you, for later in life. 

Mixed-Martial-Arts not only helps with self-defense but also teaches students how to keep a calm mind and a force of mind not just in MMA but also in school when working on school work.

If Mixed-Martial-Arts was in school it would be a lot like wrestling. The fighters would fight together and train together, but they would all have their own match up and fights.

Fights would be set up where students would face off, with other students from another school, whichever team wins the most matches wins the competition. 

Mixed-Martial-Arts should be added to high school because as dangerous as it is made out to be, the benefits of Mixed-Martial-Arts outweigh the bad.