Thais, quite rightly so, don’t like having too much western culture, or at least the ‘wrong kind’, destroying Thai values. That is why it is so surprising that an organization promoting a fighting genre called “Mixed Martial Arts” or MMA, has been allowed to stage a tournament in Bangkok this weekend.
Nothing more than a free-for-all caged fight, where two men beat each other to a pulp using moves that would never be allowed in any legitimate sport, mixed martial arts should be banned in Thailand.
The first MMA tournament in Thailand was, of course, organized by a wealthy western promoter, who is trying to tap into the Thai fighting scene. But, instead of doing it with a legitimate sport where fighters follow rigid rules, fight for the beauty of the sport, and love the long tradition of it, like many Muay Thai fighters do, he is doing it with a barbaric sport that uses rules from many different martial arts to create a “new sport”.
Regardless that MMA isn’t a ‘sport’ at all, it’s a free-for-all.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to garner support for this ‘sport’, the MMA tournament in Bangkok this weekend offered prize monies up to $1 million dollars — an amount that would attract many Thai fighters, but should it?
Absolutely not.
MMA is currently illegal in many Canadian provinces, as well as illegal in several U.S. states including New York. One of the reasons for the bans are the deaths of two MMA fighters who died as a result of injuries sustained in the MMA cage.
It is also widely known in Europe to attract a Mafia element, and to attract a so-called ‘bad element’ to fights. That is why MMA has also been banned in Serbia, and will likely be banned in several other European countries if an anti-MMA campaign has its way.
As for Thailand, if it continues to allow MMA fights in the Kingdom, MMA will do nothing more than attract the type of westerner Thailand is constantly saying they do not want.
After all, MMA is not beneficial to Thai values, and definitely not beneficial to the Thai sport of Muay Thai.
Besides, mixed martial arts isn’t a ‘sport’. It’s a throw-back to barbarism and would fit better in Mad Max’s Thunderdome than it does in modern day Bangkok.