Worlds 1st Wheelchair MMA fights to take place in UK

Professey Chin

Not a headline I was ever expecting to see

Hard on the heels of the closing of the Paralympic Games 2012 this past weekend comes the topical and no doubt controversial revelation that a promotion is to stage MMA fights between wheelchair-bound fighters for, as far as we know, the first time anywhere in the world.

“The Wheeled Warriors group and the Ultimate Cage Fighting Championships have joined forces to put on a series of bouts with fighters in wheelchairs and also amputees under MMA rules. It will take place later this year in South Yorkshire,” Fighters Only was informed today.

Colin Woods, head of Wheeled Warriors, said: “I have the pleasure to announce that after much discussion “Wheeled Warriors and the UCFC have agreed to join forces. This is for the benefit of both the fans and physically-challenged fighters across the globe.

“We have come together to bring both amputees and wheeled fighters into the ring to compete just like any other. I had the pleasure to attend as a ringside spectator to the UCFC’s most recent endeavour - UCFC 4 – which had 13 bouts of amateur and pro MMA action on the card and featured special guests from the UFC Ryan Badar and Clarence Dollaway.

“It is clear this concept is well-received and ahead of its time as very few would expect something of its kind to come to fruition so soon. To conclude, this is a great collaboration which surely will improve sports and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Both sides are gaining opportunities.”

The fighters will compete on specially-made wheelchairs that are adaptable to various sports such as basketball, football or even as an off-road vehicle for activities such as mountain-biking. Designed by SporTech DSC, they can also be used for both MMA and boxing.

Wheeled Warriors is the brainchild of Colin Wood who is determined that disabled people enjoy the chance to fight in MMA and boxing alongside able-bodied sportsmen and women. His dream is to see both MMA and boxing accepted into the Paralympics.

Wheeled Warriors now has branches in the United States, Hungry, Brazil, Canada, Australia and South Africa. It says it “will be setting up wings in many more countries in the near future.”

Wheeled Warriors are currently looking for sponsors for their fighters.

Fighters Only

Jason McCabe

Initially my gut feeling is this is wrong but on reflection why should disabled people not be allowed the chance to compete

Not sure how much I would enjoy watching it till I saw some footage

El Guapo!

Seems kinda strange but good for them I suppose. No reason for them to be left out just because of a disability.
But how is it mma? Surely it'd just be boxing. I can't really see how they'd be able to do anything else other than box.

dave1982

America done something along those lines a few years ago, made for some uncomfortable viewing

scudzilla

Bit ridiculous IMO, sure disabled people should be able to do most things an able bodied person can do, but MMA?? How the fcuk can they even call it MMA? Won't be any ground game, unless you're gonna have 2 wheelchairs rolling round the mat. And the winner, by Rear Wheel Puncture is Fighter A :rolleyes::rolleyes:

p to the e

My fear is that people would flock to it in droves purely as some sort of side show carnival which would completely undermine its purpose.

cowzerp

I doubt they'll be in the chairs-most likely wrestling and ground n pound.

scudzilla

cowzerp wrote: »

I doubt they'll be in the chairs-most likely wrestling and ground n pound.

That would be the sensible option, but this is America we're talking about...

Professey Chin

scudzilla wrote: »

That would be the sensible option, but this is America we're talking about...

Its in the UK

scudzilla

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

Its in the UK

Well that's even worse :pac::pac:

dave1982

Called doglegs

View at your own discretion

Labelled as pro wrestling but mma rules really

El Guapo!

^^
Jaysis! :eek:
That's just wrong. That looks to have mentally disabled people taking part. That's terrible. I've no problem with physically disabled people having a go if they want to........along the same lines as the Paralympics.
But mentally disabled people fighting in a ring or cage for entertainment purposes is horrifying.

Kurz

Dean09 wrote: »

^^
Jaysis! :eek:
That's just wrong. That looks to have mentally disabled people taking part. That's terrible. I've no problem with physically disabled people having a go if they want to........along the same lines as the Paralympics.
But mentally disabled people fighting in a ring or cage for entertainment purposes is horrifying.

What about "special mma" like the special olympics then? Surely it would be discriminating to not allow that.

El Guapo!

Kurz wrote: »

What about "special mma" like the special olympics then? Surely it would be discriminating to not allow that.

But it's a full contact sport which shouldn't be allowed for people with mental disabilities such as the athletes in the Special Olympics.
Boxing isn't allowed in the special Olympics. Neither is taekwondo.
The only contact sport permitted in the Special Olympics is Judo as far as I know. And even that is stripped down and chokes and arm locks are banned.

dave1982

Once this guy is not involved i,ve no problem with it

Mellor

Dean09 wrote: »

Seems kinda strange but good for them I suppose. No reason for them to be left out just because of a disability.
But how is it mma? Surely it'd just be boxing. I can't really see how they'd be able to do anything else other than box.

I assume they'll include some submissions, seated if they must be. Without sterotyping too much, wheelchair bound athletes are often have very strong upper bodies, the clinch position could factor in. Maybe clinch to guillotine, darce, necktie subs?

cowzerp wrote: »

I doubt they'll be in the chairs-most likely wrestling and ground n pound.

Thought so too, but says they'll be in special chairs for sports

Dean09 wrote: »

^^
Jaysis! :eek:
That's just wrong. That looks to have mentally disabled people taking part. That's terrible. I've no problem with physically disabled people having a go if they want to........along the same lines as the Paralympics.
But mentally disabled people fighting in a ring or cage for entertainment purposes is horrifying.

Dean09 wrote: »

But it's a full contact sport which shouldn't be allowed for people with mental disabilities such as the athletes in the Special Olympics.
Boxing isn't allowed in the special Olympics. Neither is taekwondo.
The only contact sport permitted in the Special Olympics is Judo as far as I know. And even that is stripped down and chokes and arm locks are banned.

I completely agree with you that disabled people fighting for entertainment purposes is awful. But I'm not sure if I agree that full contact sports shouldn't be allowed for anybody with a mental disability. I don't it is as black and white as that.

El Guapo!

Mellor wrote: »

I completely agree with you that disabled people fighting for entertainment purposes is awful. But I'm not sure if I agree that full contact sports shouldn't be allowed for anybody with a mental disability. I don't it is as black and white as that.

I agree, it's not just black and white. There are varying degrees in the severity of mental illness and that would need to be closely evaluated before allowing the sport to take place.
But no matter what the mental illness is, I can't see the general public ever accepting mentally ill people competing in a full contact sport such as mma or boxing. Allowing strikes to the head could do serious damage to certain people with such illnesses. I'm not a doctor so I don't know the ins and outs of it but I'm sure it's not good.
Either way the public won't accept it so I think the safest way around it is to just not allow it altogether.

Plastikman_eire

Mellor wrote: »

I assume they'll include some submissions, seated if they must be. Without sterotyping too much, wheelchair bound athletes are often have very strong upper bodies, the clinch position could factor in. Maybe clinch to guillotine, darce, necktie subs?

.

Short of a fighter leaving his chair and jumping into his opponents lap, I can't see how fighters could get close enough to finish any of those subs though, surely the chair restrict distance too much?

RoboRat

Either way the public won't accept it so I think the safest way around it is to just not allow it altogether.

And unfortunately some people will view that as discriminatory.

RWCNT

Dean09 wrote: »

But mentally disabled people fighting in a ring or cage for entertainment purposes is horrifying.

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/414745/Downs-Syndrome-cant-stop-Garrett-Holeves-UFC-dream/

I read this a while ago and it got me thinking. If they have the mental and physical capacity to learn the skills then I don't see why they should be excluded if they want to take part.