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[Warchief]

wo fighters identified as Michael and Stephen are given the rules — "no kicking to the head, otherwise it's all game" — before they begin a grueling fight.

Wearing lightly padded, mixed-martial-arts-style gloves, they trade blows, each landing a few before they fall to the ground, grappling each other.



As they wrestle back onto their feet, Stephen punches Michael in the back of his skull.

"Watch the back of the head," someone in the background shouts.

Stephen gets in a hard punch, sending Michael into a fury. The fight will be over in moments.

Michael lands a spinning backfist and Stephen falls to the ground, covering his face.

While it may sound like something from the national Ultimate Fighting Championship, these types of fights are going on in local backyards.

The fighters? Most are teenagers from Clarksville and Montgomery Central high schools, according to their MySpace pages.

A handful of these types of fight videos are posted to a MySpace page for Rebirth Fighting Championship — a local group that holds unsanctioned fights.

Local certified trainer Ron Dayley of the SSF Academy on College Street said he's afraid these fights could spell doom for the teens involved and the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting itself.

"These kids are going to get hurt — they have no real training and there is no medical personnel on hand during the fights," Dayley said. "They have no concept about how far to push the hold or lock before they hurt someone."

The fights

Of the fight videos posted on the page, most of the matches are carried out with standard boxing gloves, though the most recent videos are of fighters using MMA-style gloves.

"I see one kid punching the other on the ground — the kid getting punched isn't trained to know to keep his head up, so when his head hits the ground, his brain is bouncing around inside his skull," Dayley said.

One fight, labeled a boxing match, occurs between a teen identified as a "13-year-old sensation" and a much larger 18-year-old fighter.

The 13-year-old is declared the winner after he lands several hard blows.

There also is a video of two young girls trading blows with boxing gloves.

The site is run by a teen who identifies himself on his MySpace page as a 16-year-old Clarksville High School student who calls himself "The General."

Dayley said he located a bulletin posted on MySpace promoting an upcoming fight at The General's home — the main event involving someone Dayley said is a former CHS wrestler.

The fight is being promoted for today — a day where kids are off from school for Presidents Day — and the bulletin advertises T-shirts, drinks and food for sale at the event.

The legality

Dayley said holding events, even sanctioned ones, is currently illegal in Tennessee.

Tennessee Code Annotated 39-17-1102 — referring to fighting, sparring and other "brutal sports" — reads, "It is unlawful for any person or persons to engage in what is known as prize fighting or boxing with or without gloves, or in other brutal sport or exhibition, whereby bruising, maiming or other serious bodily injury may result to the boxers or participants."

The code also reads that "all persons engaging in the sports or contests designated in this section either as principals, aids, seconds or backers, commit a Class C misdemeanor."

An assault charge, however, may not be possible unless the alleged victim were to press charges.

"In order to have an assault, you'd have to have a victim," said Clarksville Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Cheryl Anderson.

'Bad buzz' for MMA

Besides the danger to the teens involved in the fighting, Dayley said the fights can also hurt the sport itself — a ton of money is being spent in lobbying to have sanctioned events legalized.

"It's the thing where a kid gets hurt, and it becomes bad press," Dayley said. "I'm really for getting it sanctioned in Tennessee ... in Kentucky it's legal, but there is no sanctioning body — any promoter can put it on."

Dayley said he also fears parents attacking him because of these backyard fights — he said he's even denied several teens training because of their involvement in backyard fighting.

"I don't want to be training someone who goes out and does these types of fights in their backyard," Dayley said.

The sport

Dayley, who said he has an intense love for the sport, said that, in a controlled training environment, the benefits of the sport are endless.

"I have had kids that went to the same school and hated each other and became friends due to the fact that they started training together," Dayley said. "It's a great way to gain confidence and, believe it or not, it will make you a less aggressive person outside the gym."

As for the safety, Dayley said being schooled by a certified trainer lessens the possibility of injury.

"It's actually quite safe if you are trained correctly," Dayley said. "It's a sport, but it's a dangerous sport if you are not trained right and not supervised."

Inside Dayley's training facility on College Street, several young people practice locks and grapples — some sporting protective mouthpieces.

"We have about nine professionals training out of our school and maybe 20 or so amateurs," Dayley said.

With adults, striking is a part of training, but thicker boxing gloves are used for beginning training. Professionals then graduate to the thinner, MMA-style gloves seen in the Internet videos.

There is also a program for younger kids, Dayley said, which is totally sport-oriented, much like amateur wrestling, involving no striking.

Is your child fighting?

The warning signs that your teen may be participating in backyard fights is obvious, Dayley said.

"If these kids are coming home bruised up, you're going to see it — it'll be obvious he's been in a fight," Dayley said. "Even when I train them, they're not getting banged up because it's controlled."

If they start talking heavily about fights they see on television or start using fighting terms, that may be a sign as well, Dayley said.

The Leaf Chronicle - www.theleafchronicle.com - Clarksville, TN






These Kids Deserves a Hard Whip, this Backyard fights can definitely hurt the Sport and it can bring MMA in a bad Image again to the eyes of other ppl. esp to the MMA critics and haters

[baba]

These are adolescent boys. They compete each and every year against slugs for the dumbest creature on the planet award. They will always find a way to be stupid, dspite any influences.

When I was in 10th grade, a bunch of us would put of these thin cheesy boxng gloves and have "garage fights" where anything except ball kicking was allowed. We seriously hurt eachother. Why? Because we were moronic adolescent boys.

I remember some 16 year old ghettoblaster from Cleveland who crushed a retarded kid's skull in with a cinderblock for no other reason than he had just seen the Terminator and figured it would be a cool thing to do.

In sum..... adolescent boys=retarded. Period.

[POINDEXTER]

Those kids need to chill.

[MYboyBISPING]

First there was backyard wrestling (which when I was a stupid kid was involved in some f'd up shit) and now backyard mma not surprising. Its always gonna be a mainstream problem it just sucks. But I can't be a hypocrite because I did it as a kid too.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by baba

These are adolescent boys. They compete each and every year against slugs for the dumbest creature on the planet award. They will always find a way to be stupid, dspite any influences.

When I was in 10th grade, a bunch of us would put of these thin cheesy boxng gloves and have "garage fights" where anything except ball kicking was allowed. We seriously hurt eachother. Why? Because we were moronic adolescent boys.

I remember some 16 year old ghettoblaster from Cleveland who crushed a retarded kid's skull in with a cinderblock for no other reason than he had just seen the Terminator and figured it would be a cool thing to do.

In sum..... adolescent boys=retarded. Period.

Agreed People in general are stupid. Throw in Testosteron and adolescence and there is bound to be trouble.

The way I see it, MMA can't be held responsible for this shit, just like Boxing can't be held responsible for bar fights. MMA as a sport has no way of controlling what individuals do, that is the responsibility of the individuals (or in this case their parents)

[jlruthven84]

Originally Posted by Clint

Agreed People in general are stupid. Throw in Testosteron and adolescence and there is bound to be trouble.

The way I see it, MMA can't be held responsible for this shit, just like Boxing can't be held responsible for bar fights. MMA as a sport has no way of controlling what individuals do, that is the responsibility of the individuals (or in this case their parents)

Exactly. This'll draw some bad press, but generally it'll probably blow over.

[2mcgrath]

i knew it wouldnt be long before these types of fights got noticed,ive always said and still will say these fights are very bad for the sport of mma.and i do not agree with these types of fights

[peno]

Originally Posted by Clint

The way I see it, MMA can't be held responsible for this shit, just like Boxing can't be held responsible for bar fights. MMA as a sport has no way of controlling what individuals do, that is the responsibility of the individuals (or in this case their parents)

Good point. I remember all the kids on my block getting boxing gloves on what seemed like the same xmas. We would beat the piss out of each other. Kids where crying, parents where getting called but you know what? No one ever got seriously injured. There were more injuries from sled riding and back yard football games than our silly little boxing fights. Granted that was before the internet and myspace and the peer pressure that comes with that but kids are kids. I got in fights when I was a kid, my dad got in fights when he was a kid and so on and so forth. I doubt this will effect MMA. It could be worse, kids in Iraq are fucking shooting ppl.