Proposed mixed martial arts ban dealt a blow
By Michael Holtzman
Wed Apr 30, 2008, 08:17 PM EDT
Fall River - With Mayor Robert Correia trying to squash a controversial sport the state’s declined to regulate, the City Council Tuesday threw a haymaker on his plans to ban “ultimate fighting.”
After hearing a dozen protesting advocates of what’s loosely called mixed martial arts – from trainers to parents to participants – the council voted a “leave to withdraw” on Correia’s draft ordinance.
Rather than continue discussion within its ordinance committee, the council said, in effect, “we’re not interested.”
“People came from all over the state and their voices were heard,” Correia said, criticizing the council’s action. “I don’t know who spoke for the children of Fall River last night.”
“It appeared that the only option was to totally ban mixed martial arts, and I don’t feel we had any interest in doing that,” said Councilor Cathy Ann Viveiros after proposing not to bring the draft law to their ordinance subcommittee and ask dozens of protesters to return.
Viveiros said she was particularly impressed by parents saying MMA was “working well as an alternative sport,” teaching their children discipline, self-protection and self-respect.
She also felt re-assured the combination of mixed martial arts and “grappling” – which includes submission holds – was safe after hearing youth versions prohibited striking opponents.
“Please don’t bridge the gap between ‘Ultimate Fighting’ and my kids’ program,” Tim Gillett, owner of Gillett’s Mixed Martial Arts and Ultimate Training Academy in Fall River, said.
“At no time in any of these matches have kids under 18 been hit in the head as part of the sport,” Gillett, 37, also a substitute city middle school teacher, told the council.
Ultimate Fighting is a brand name that promotes the MMA adult fights generally involving fighters 18 and over, said Joe Cuff, vice president of the North American Grappling Association in Connecticut.
NAGA’s president, Kip Kollar, spoke out against the proposed ban, bringing a poster advertising the New England grappling championship scheduled June 28 at B.M.C. Durfee High School. It says samurai swords will be given to first-place winners.
NAGA sanctions the tournaments the Gillett studio has participated in. Children as young as 6 or 7, have excelled in competition, said the owner, who said their success may have prompted recent attention on Fall River.
“Nobody’s died from it,” Kollar said, stating more serious injuries result from children playing football and soccer.
Correia, further criticizing the council, said, “I don’t want Fall River to be known as the ultimate fighting place. We need a public debate.”
He cited the $300,000 annual grants the city received for gang prevention. “What kind of mixed message are we sending our children?” he asked.
Advocates said the number is multiplying, with Michael Varner, a Randolph center owner, saying, “It’s the fastest-growing sport in the world.”
The state, after a lawsuit, stopped regulating MMA fights in 2005, and no rules are in place prohibiting minors from contact fighting, published reports said.
It was a front-page Boston news story earlier this month that prompted Correia’s proposal. “It is atrocious that in today’s society we are encouraging our children to be more violent in a society that does not need any more violence,” he wrote the City Council.
When he, Viveiros and council President Joseph D. Camara were asked if they had seen Gillett’s Web site, none had.
Among the online graphics includes a boxing stick figure with the message: “When punching them in the face just isn’t enough.”
Another, of two male adults in a hold titled “triangle chokes,” reads: “There is a special kind of satisfaction in knowing that the last thing your opponent will remember before blacking out is the smell of your b---s.”
Those describing the sport to the council presented a far less violent or vile approach.
Fred Melco, a city police officer who practices MMA, said it’s the adults that compete in fights, while children enter “grappling tournaments” using a point system and submission like judo, boxing and kickboxing.
“It’s a sport and everyone’s missing the concept of it,” Anna Maria Moitoso of Woodman Street said, describing how her high school son won two high school wrestling matches before beginning MMA training with Gillett. This year he won 23.
Catherine Lambert of Detroit Street described how her son, born with club foot, “learned how to defend himself” and gained self-respect.
Council Vice President Pat Casey smiled and nodded when Gillett, recognizing her, asked if she’s a black belt karate expert. Casey emphasized the “total respect” found in martial arts. She said the “Ultimate Fighting seen on TV… is bizarre,” adding, “They’re linking that to all of this… and that’s totally false.”
Casey, Viveiros and Camera each said they planned to watch matches at Gillett’s center.
“I voted to get rid of it (the ordinance),” Camera said, “but I was thinking – and I think my colleagues were thinking – that we will revisit it.”
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Originally Posted by GeneChing
