Ultimate Fighting has been condemned as the human equivalent of cockfighting.
Opponents of the craze even forced promoter Sol Gilbert to change the venue of a live contest in Sussex, and Brighton and Hove Council has banned cage fighting bouts. However, similar events have been staged in London, prompting calls for a change of thinking. So should such fights be allowed in the city?
Sol Gilbert, a British and European ultimate combat champion, runs ZT Fight Skool, in Hove.
Ultimate Fighting - or mixed martial arts - has come a long way since its origins in 1993 when there were only two rules - no striking to the groin or throat and no eye-gouging. These days, fighters wear fingerless gloves, groin shields and gum guards. Fighters are given medicals before their bout and doctors and paramedics must be on hand during the fight itself.
The sport has been sanctioned by the British National Martial Arts Association, which has 250,000 members. It's not a couple of bouncers beating the hell out of each other. Fighters are in a cage for their safety, not for rubbing each other's faces like a cheese grater. Boxers often fall 6ft out of rings and that is very dangerous. There is a certain element of danger in any sport. But there are more deaths in fishing than in Ultimate Fighting. The gloves are bigger in boxing but you take more shots to the head and you are more inclined to get brain damage through repetitive head shots.
If a fighter goes to the floor in mixed martial arts, he has a way out by verbally submitting to the referee that he doesn't want to continue or he can tap the floor or his opponent. Mixed martial arts uses a lot of joint locks and chokes, so if a fighter thinks his arm or joint will be harmed he will tap out. The referee will separate them straight away and the person who has tapped will lose the fight. I do understand why Brighton and Hove City Council had worries about it, but we've put on more than half a dozen shows in Sussex and not had as much as a broken nose.
We've not been allowed to use the octagon, which is basically a ropemesh cage. The time has come for the city to allow the octagon. This is the fastest growing sport in the world and if you close your eyes it is not just going to go away. Brighton and Hove is being left behind the rest of the country and even other Sussex towns like Crawley.
You have to be a seriously conditioned athlete to fight fiveminute rounds consistently in all the different disciplines. This is not like white-collar boxing - this is a proper sport. For those who do not approve there is always the off switch on the television.
Dr Peter Maguire, a member of the British Medical Association's Board of Science.
On Saturday, an Ultimate Fighting event in London will showcase some of the most violent physical combat legally allowed in this country. A variety of competitions will take place, such as cage fighting and Ultimate Fighting, but whatever their macho names the contests will involve two people deliberately inflicting physical damage on one another, with risks of both long-term and short-term brain damage and other injuries, including fractured bones.
It should not be surprising, therefore, that the BMA has extended its call for a complete ban on boxing to mixed martial arts competitions, as the evidence indicates that they cause both short and long-term medical damage.
The BMA itself has been calling for a ban on boxing since 1982. Severe injuries are varied and fairly frequent in Ultimate Fighting. A ten-year study of 642 "matches" in the British Journal of Sports Medicine recorded that more than a quarter were stopped because of an impairing head impact.
Neck chokes and various other traumas resulted in the end of more than four in ten of the remaining contests. Unsurprisingly, joint injuries, fractures, whiplash and long-term brain injury from repeated head blows are also a threat to participants.
Boxing is hardly safer. Studies have concluded that acute brain haemorrhage and eye, ear and nose damage are commonplace. The long-term effects of both forms of combat are also clear. While supporters of ultimate fighting claim that no deaths have occurred in a bout - happily leaving aside the huge number of serious injuries already mentioned - it is clear that many exparticipants can run the risk of brain damage later in life.
Surveys by neurologists have shown that they encounter significantly more cases of serious brain injury in former members of the boxing profession than in any other sport. Although no corresponding data is available for ex-cage fighters, as matches have only been around since 1993, it is likely they run the same risk. Ultimate Fighting and cage fighting take boxing one step further because of their "no holds barred" approach.
When surveying this alarming roll call of medical risk it is clear boxing and Ultimate Fighting do not constitute a sport. The days of gladiator fights are over and we should not be looking to resurrect them. As doctors we cannot stand by while violent fighting tournaments are allowed to take place.
Large amounts of money can be earned by participants, promoters and others linked to Ultimate Fighting but no amount of money can compensate for permanent brain damage and premature death.
As a civilised society we should be campaigning to outlaw these activities.
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