Children as young as eight have been filmed fighting in Mixed Martial Arts at a city social club, and the story has made national news over the past day.
First discovered by the LEP, the story has now been covered by national newspapers including the Guardian, the Metro and the Telegraph. The event has been defended by the Labour Club owners, but has been condemned by many including the British Medical Association, who said in a statement:
“Cage fighting among young children is particularly disturbing, especially as they are not even wearing head guards.
“There are many other sports, such as athletics, swimming, judo and football, which require discipline but do not pose the same threat of brain injury”.
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “Lancashire Constabulary has now looked into this matter fully and there are no issues for us to pursue.”
The sport has become popular through minor celebrity Alex Reid, and it combines a mixture of different martial arts. Contestants are allowed to punch, kick, wrestle, knee and elbow each other to win. Many media outlets have referred to the sport as cage fighting – this is in reference to the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion “World Extreme Cagefighting”, but MMA is a fully regulated contact sport.
Below you can see a video from Sky News that documents the fight.