Promoter Paul James defends the controversial sport which requires ‘skill and athleticism’.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) or, as it is sometimes called, “cage fighting”, is an intense combat sport which converges the art of striking, grappling and submission techniques into one form.

FX3 “X”treme Brawl regularly holds events at Rivermead complex in Reading and we are currently ranked as one of the leading MMA events throughout the UK and Europe.

Full contact sports are sometimes wrongly dubbed “unsafe” and classed as “glorified violence”.

However, this is not the case and  unfortunately those who feel the need to condemn mixed martial arts usually do not have a clear understanding of the sport, the stringent safety measures we all adhere to and the high level of skill and athleticism shown by the professional athletes.

This type of competition, hand to-hand combat, is one of the oldest spectator sports known to man, dating back to gladiatorial times.

MMA is, however, a relatively new sport.

The Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) were established in 1993 and experts from different styles of fighting were matched against each other.

By combining different disciplines such as ju-jitsui, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling, a new breed of fighter was born.

In less than a decade, MMA has  gone from being a novelty spectacle to a worldwide phenomenon and has become the fastest growing sport in the world.

FX3 pride ourselves on being one of the forefronts of UK MMA and as the sport has evolved we have incorporated more than 30 mandatory rules and regulations into our events.

Fighters now wear specially designed gloves to protect the hands, as well as wearing a gum shield and a groin guard at all times.

Fights take place within the 27ft steel octagon designed for the fighter’s safety and also to produce a realistic setting for combat.

Recently there has been a lot of bad publicity surrounding the sport as certain events have been promoting children fighting inside the cage as young as 10.

FX3 would like to make it clear to all our supporters and fans that this is something that we 100 per cent have no involvement with.

As an organisation we have no problem with children competing, however it should be kept to events specially run for children and not on events classed as full contact or extreme cage fighting.

All the fighters that compete at FX3 are at the pinnacle of their career. We have some of the best athletes in the world including top names such as Michael Bisping, Paul Daley, Emmanuel Fernandez, and many more.

This is not something that someone from the street can just walk in and do, you need to be at a certain level of professionalism and a lot of these fighters train and compete full-time.

Safety is of paramount importance and we always ensure that we have a fully qualified doctor with advanced resuscitation qualifications in attendance at all times, with two paramedics and an ambulance on standby as well as a highly reputable referee inside the cage with the fighters.

The bouts can be stopped at any time.

The referee can stop the bout, the fighters’ corner staff can stop the bout, the competitors themselves may stop the bout or the on-hand doctor can call a halt to proceedings.

In addition there are many forms in which a competitor may be awarded a victory. Like many other contact sports a knock-out will automatically stop the bout, a submission from a lock or hold will also result in a victory or a points decision at the duration of the bout. This would be down to the judges outside of the octagon as to who they felt was more dominant and pressed the action for more points.

The sportsmanship shown between two fighters is second to none and we have fans of all ages, including families, that enjoy coming to our events.

FX3 will continue to grow and bring some of the best fighters from around the world to Reading.

Our next event is scheduled for Sunday, June 22, at Rivermead complex in Reading.

The fight card will include 15 professional bouts including Jeremy “Bad Boy” Bailey, Sol Gilbert, Brad Pickett, Sami Berik, Tom Watson and many more as well as two world title fights, tickets are already selling fast. 

For more information please visit the www.fx3.org.uk or contact (0118) 947 4576.

What are your thoughts on 'cage-fighting'? Leave us your comments.