Michael McCarthy (2006-07-31, USA Today) describes the phenomenon of fight clubs in the US where teenage children engage in brutal fights. He cites a few experts to make his case: deputy police chief James Hawthorn, Duke University professor Orin Starin, school superintendent Mac Bernd and even “Fight Club” author Chuck Palahniuk. In his closing statement, he chooses to quote Bernd: “It’s almost like the kids have created a completely different world we don’t have access to and don’t understand.”

McCarthy cannot hide is disgust. His word choice in the third paragraph alone includes: illegal… violent… bloody… pit… ringleaders… peddle. With his mind clearly made up, McCarthy opens his piece with the following:
“The video shows two bare-knuckle brawlers brutally punching each other until one slumps, beaten, to the ground. The fight doesn’t end there: The victor straddles the chest of his fallen opponent, firing rights and lefts into his face.”
This is an over-dramatized description of a pick up game of MMA. What McCarthy has failed to grasp is that MMA-rules fights have an inherent GNP element. He prematurely identified the victor.

Several years ago, I read about a group of kids that set up a gym in one of their garages. They trained, sparred and watched instructional videos together. Some of them went on to enter amateur events. I admired these youngsters for having the initiative to pursue their dreams.

So what is wrong with the kids in McCarthy’s article? The deputy police chief says there is a “lack of morality”. The Duke University professor notes a fascination for the “spectacle of blood and violence”. Other key sources list how many laws are broken and calculate a terrifying 99 years in prison if convicted with the worst crime.

Let’s get one thing straight right now. They are children. They don’t remember East and West Germany being two different countries. The World Trade Center has been absent from the NY skyline for about a third of their lifetimes. When the first UFC took place in 1993, they couldn’t write their own names. They might still get toys for X-mas. Violent toys, perhaps.

Teens, including the ones described in McCarthy’s article, have behavior patterns that adults can and should recognize. The first is imitation. Teens will imitate the adults they admire or find interesting. We’ve seen enough Austin Powers imitators, haven’t we? Teen girls don’t sing their own music into their hair brushes. The list goes on: clothes, hairstyles, catch phrases, sports jerseys, and so on. There are a lot of MMA fans and imitators can be expected. The next easy to recognize pattern is resisting authority. Teens aren’t dumb. They know teachers wouldn’t talk to adult students the way they talk to teens. Hence the vicious cycle of rule making and breaking. With adulthood approaching, their brains and peer groups urge them to make decisions without consulting an adult.

Are the children in McCarthy’s article criminals? Of course they are. A criminal, by definition, is someone who commits crimes. Laws are created for a reason. We don’t want a criminal to injure a law abiding individual. Beyond that though, we have laws to prevent people from injuring themselves. The law protects drivers from getting drunk, from driving at high speed and ultimately from crashing into a tree. The law protects people from becoming drug addicts. The law even protects children from rashly abandoning their educations. The problem with the law is that children see it as something to obey. Sadly, obedience is not their strongest attribute.

Let's stop painting these children as blood thirsty criminals who lack morality and have sick fascinations. They are probably good kids at heart who feel that consent between parties is enough to stage a fight. However, this line of thinking is naïve, irresponsible and thoughtless. In pro fighting, from the moment a KO takes place to the time a doctor is diagnosing the damage, the time is measured in seconds. These children are fearless and inexperienced. The venue is grass if they are lucky. With no standards in place, they may end up fighting on a sidewalk. No ambulance. No paramedics. No plans for the worst case scenario. These brats have removed every safety feature from the fight game. In short, they aren’t evil psychos. They are misguided fools.

Naturally, when tragedy occurs, the mother hens will look past the impressionable adolescent boys in search for someone to blame. Sorry Hens. The fight game is not at fault. Twenty years ago my first skydiving instructor said one thing that probably would have kept me from climbing rock faces without equipment: “Safety is not a form of cowardice.” If parents can make this one lesson stick, fight clubs will lose their appeal and be regarded as bum fights. Oh, and for heaven’s sake, put the kid in an MMA class where he can practice what he loves under the guidance of a professional instructor without the infantile sneaking around.

McCarthy has it wrong. Lawyers, judges and juries are not the solution. All we need is a diaper change.