I came across this today on Netscape. I find it interesting that this issue isn't adressed more often by those who are MA "hobbyists" like me. By "hobbyist" I mean we are not professional prizefighters! I recall an earlier thread on injuries where someone posted they had sustained retinal detachment whilst sparring with light contact, and I have had a skull Fx from accidental contact in Ippon Kumite.

 

I do think that this issue illustrates the fallacy that to do MA implies one must go full out and that the only way to train well is to sacrifice teeth, etc...

 

Any thoughts?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/06/17/toughman.injury.ap/index.html

when you wrestle a gator there ain,t no good end.....i think you are right about the teeth etc. But the pain and crying I have seen well that is anoyher story....Good Luck

People tend to forget that there is an inherent physcial risk in what we do. And don't really think enough about those risks and what level of training and sparring they want to do.

 

People may disagree with me but there are many different reasons to train. And to train to go full contact and learn how to beat the stuffings out of someone is not the only reason to train.

A person should not train in martial arts unless he is aware of and accepts the risks involved. And he should not do sparring unless accepting the risks. Same thing with all things in life. If you don't want to risk getting into a car accident, don't get into a car. There's always a risk, and you have to decide wether or not to chance it.

Maybe we should go back to training as in the 60&70......pulling our punches....on the street their is only pain if you quit...Good Luck

Who trained like that in 60&70s? In my style, more rules were added after that! I study a full contact knockdown karate style, which no longer allowes bare-knuckle face punches or grappling, but they were both allowed in the 60s. And see how Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Bruce Lee and their pals trained in the 60s: full contact!

IMO, it comes down to common sense. We all know what to expect when we train and spar. If you do not want to get pounded by your training partners establish the amount of contact beforehand. If you dont desire to get a beating do not enter full contact tournaments. I personally would not even consider fighting for prize money. Many of us do not train to become ring fighters we train for the physical, mental, and recreational benifits. Not all MA want to be kings of the ring. Life is not feudal Japan. We are not warriors or Samaurai. WE are just regular people , husbands wives and students wanting to learn not hurt poeple. In that poor womans case she had kids to take care of her and she and her husband should have shown better judgement. The promoter of the fight event should also be held liable as the fight should clearly been stopped early on due to a gross mismatch in size and weight. If one fighter is clearly dominating the otherand the other is getting mercilessly beaten, it should be stopped.

 

It really is a crime and a shame things like this happen.