Shaq Fu Comes to The Octagon

While trade talks between NBA teams were in negotiation for Shaquile O’Neal recently, the famous NBA star had his sights on entering the increasingly popular sport of mixed martial arts. Shaq called out the MMA fighter responsible for knocking out Jose Conseco recently in an MMA match in Korea May 26, 2009. Whether or not this fight happens, it will help keep the increasingly controversial sport in the limelight.

Tale of The Tape

Shaquile O’ Neal who stands 7’ 1” and weighs 340 pounds is an avid kung fu fan and also honorary U.S. Marshal and a police reservist for the Los Angeles and Miami Beach Police Departments. His opponent who he challenged is Hong Mon Choi a Korean MMA fighter who stands 7‘ 2” and weighs 330 pounds and who gained fame by knocking out Jose Conseco in less than two minutes during the Dream 9 Super Hulk Tournament in Yokohama, Japan.  As of now, there is no decision on whether or not this fight will happen.

Celebrities and MMA

Mixed Martial Arts has become very popular thanks to the efforts of UFC and its Ultimate Fighter franchise. Once considered a fad, it is now believed by supporter as a legitimate sport with several sanctioned amateur and professional leagues around the world. While no deaths have been linked directly to the sport, many feel it can be very dangerous, especially since there are a lot of underground fight clubs cropping up where young fighters practice beating the snot out of each other. Most of the illegal matches offer very few rules, no protective gear, and have been reported to cause serious injuries and even deaths. While leagues like UFC do not approve of these underground competitions, they don’t disallow these fighters from becoming MMA professionals.

Also, a lot of youth leagues are popping up offering MMA style kickboxing sanctioned under adult MMA guidelines which are deemed questionable when applied to matches for children. Some of these matches have children as young as seven years old. Some try to defend this practice by referring to karate and other youth martial arts programs, but those matches offer a point system for determining a winner while with youth MMA you can still achieve a victory from knockout or submission.

As the sport of mixed martial arts is growing and becoming popular, it should really think long and hard about what image it wants to represent to the world. By allowing celebrities to fight, the sport does get a lot of media coverage, but at the same time it makes the sport look like a joke. Other major sports leagues like the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL don’t allow celebrities to just walk on the field and play and MMA should also learn from these leagues in order to maintain the legitimacy the sport has already had a long and hard road to achieve this or else it will just be considered the fad it was once accused of being.