CAGE-FIGHTING HAS LONG existed on the fringes of sporting respectabilty, struggling to win credibility from a sporting public often unresponsive to its unique brand of organised brutality.
But today, the sport’s mainstream rehabilitition took a serious turn for the worse after video from a British cage fighting event, showing eight-year-old children participating in a multi-round bout, surfaced online.
The first fight on the card of a recent “Reps Retribution” event, the fight between Luca Deeley and Kieran Mackinson took place in front of an audience of hundreds and featured, in addition to bombastic live commentary, its very own scantily-clad ring girl.
Responding to the more grotesque aspects of its staging, including the fact that the children don’t appear to be wearing protective clothing, the British Medical Association has branded the footage “disturbing”.
In response, the event’s organiser has claimed the children were experienced fighters and that their parents were in attendance.
