Eugene Oregon seeks to ban MMA

Cage fighting ban considered

EUGENE (AP) — Eugene City Council members say they’ll ask citizens whether the city should prohibit cage fighting, in which fighters combine techniques
from boxing, wrestling, kickboxing and martial arts.

“We should ban it completely,’’ Councilor Betty Taylor said Monday as the council agreed to hold a public hearing on the fighting.

Councilor David Kelly said he happened by cage fighting at the Lane Events Center and found it to be “the most brutal and dehumanizing’’ event he had ever
witnessed. But council member Jennifer Solomon said banning cage fighting would only send promoters to nearby communities.

Eugene resident Jason Georgianna, who promotes cage fights, said his fights are less dangerous than extreme fighting, which has no rules. His cage fighters
are prohibited from striking their opponents’ groins, throats and spines, he wrote to councilors. Nor can they bite, gouge eyes, pull hair or use head butts, he said.

Georgianna said Monday he was glad that some councilors want to learn about cage fighting because “it’s a very misunderstood sport.’’

He said he wouldn’t necessarily oppose regulations because some unscrupulous promoters are giving the matches a bad name. “I would like to move toward regulating
the sport on a state level,’’ he said.

Via: Canvas Chronicle

Now let me just say a couple of things. I'm sort of not surprised by this coming from Eugene Oregon. Afterall, there are more than a few people in the town that are like The Batfrisch crazy lady click Here for more, but that's really not my point.

The point is, and this may surprise people just a little bit, I don't have a problem if a city chooses to ban MMA.

I know, you're stunned, but before you storm off and stop reading let me finish.

I don't have a problem with it because this is a democracy and people can choose any form of entertainment they want or don't want in the city that they live in. If the city council votes to ban it and enough people in Eugene aren't happy about it then they'll elect different people to the job. Although we here in the country have got a funny feeling that most citizens of Eugene won't even notice or care if its banned.

I said that I had no problem if the city chose to ban it because it has every right to do so. However, this does not mean that I am in favor of them banning something that they have no knowledge of. So in other words I don't care if they sit down, study the sport watch some fights, interview some experts and then decide that they don't want it in their city. That's cool with me, that's an informed decision but I've got a hunch that's not what is happening in this case or most cases where this comes up. So, I don't have a problem if a town bans MMA but I do have a problem if they do so as simply a reactionary measure because a person or a small group of people don't like it.

Here's the money quote to me:

Councilor David Kelly said he happened by cage fighting at the Lane Events Center and found it to be “the most brutal and dehumanizing’’ event he had ever witnessed.

First of all, I have to wonder how you just happen upon Cage Fighting in the first place. "Well, I was out wandering the streets late at night, its what I do, and the next thing I know I took a wrong turn and...and...and, it was horrible, oh won't someone think of the children?" I don't know how it happened, but we'll just assume that he stumbled upon it one night and he didn't like it because that's sure the way it sounds.

Now we here in the country think that councilman Kelly needs to A. Watch more TV and B. Get out more. I'm sorry, but I've seen reality TV shows that make me want to resign from the species and it doesn't get more dehumanizing than that. As for brutality, I've seen more of it on the football field than inside the cage. I've also seen more brutal forms of entertainment in the movie theater or on DVD, so clearly at least in my opinion this guy leads a pretty sheltered life.

But whether that's true or not, the fact is that his quote is reactionary. He happened upon it, found it the most brutal and dehumanizing thing he had ever seen and for him it ended right there. The article makes no mention of this, but we here at the Old Country Corner are willing to bet that he didn't go home and research this form of entertainment or its rules on the internet.

Fact is, you're always going to have people that feel this way about MMA. Just like you're always going to have people that think that Disney is evil and hotdogs cause cancer. People are just looking for a Boogeyman and they're just not always smart enough to realize that he can be watched on Smackdown every week.

So to restate our position the Old Country Corner is not against bannings if they result from well-informed decisions but the next time we see that happen will be the first. Gee, I wonder why that is?