In a grand move of political point scoring over good policy, the Western Australian coalition government has legislated that it will ban the use of ‘The Cage’ in all sporting events (read: MMA) from March 1st this year.
The move comes despite the advisory body employed to help the government make a decision recommending they keep the cage.
That is not to mention the overwhelming cry from the majority of fighters who all say they want to keep the cage.
The farcical nature of this decision was basically confirmed when Terrence Waldron, the WA Minister for Sports, all but admitted the new law was not due to safety, but to image concerns, while appearing on talkback radio last month.
The adoption of these laws, which are also active in Victoria, means that from the start of next month any MMA bouts will needs to take place in an inferior boxing ring setup with ropes instead of wire cage walls.
Not only do rings provide a far less entertaining and fair stage for MMA, they create numerous safety issues not present in the cage.
Real life examples include injuries from falling through, being thrown over or getting tangled up in the ropes.
Ironically, while this law wants to fool the public into thinking the government is making things safer by not exposing fighters and crowds to such a ‘barbaric’ structure, it is actually making MMA far more dangerous.
Don’t get me wrong, the cage isn’t the best look for the sport, however it is by far the most practical structure for MMA to take place in.
As I said before, this law is all about political point scoring over actual good policy; if the government was actually concerned about ‘cage fighting’ they should have banned MMA outright.
They had the opinion of numerous experts and chose to ignore it so they could look like they were doing something in the eyes of an uneducated public.
Therefore the only solution is to expose this hypocrisy and lack of public understanding.
Tell your friends, write to your local MP (especially if you live in WA or Victoria), or just let people know that MMA is just as safe as rugby league or AFL.
And most importantly let people know that while the cage may not be the best look, it is actually by far the safest option when it comes to hosting MMA.
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