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NYSAC Deputy Commissioner emeritus: MMA ‘brings out the worst in people’
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Today’s Lower Hudson Online presents a classic drive-by media piece that serves as the boilerplate template for anti-MMA screeds. Author Rick Carpiniello says that it is “Time to KO Ultimate Fighting before somebody gets killed.”
In order to justify his article, Carpiniello quotes Steve Acunto, deputy commissioner emeritus of the New York State Athletic Commission. He’s also co-founder of the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing. In other words, he’s an angry boxing legend who’s not thrilled about the rise of MMA.
Read on…
“I think this Ultimate Fighting, it brings out the worst in people,” he said. “I think Ultimate Fighting satiates the barbaric lust of people who would watch cockfighting, dogfighting, bullfighting, or anything that has the ultimate results of hurting somebody, very badly. Very badly.
“I’ve watched it. I’ve seen people removed from the ring in a stretcher because they’ve been struck behind the neck with a knee. They’ve been absolutely out of it. Very shortly, although it’s at its peak in Atlantic City right now, there will be some deaths from this thing. You can’t call it boxing. It’s not boxing. It’s not any one sport, per se. It a sport for hoodlums who kick each other, smash each other in the groin, do things that are absolutely barbaric.”
If you think MMA is going to get legalized soon in the state of New York any time soon, re-read what Acunto said. Then, there is the clincher from Acunto:
“There’s a lot of money in it, but I think it should be stopped in its tracks, like they should have stopped Adolf Hitler in his tracks. You’ve got to stop a bad thing before it catches on and overwhelms you.”
Acunto has just compared MMA to a primary mastermind of the Holocaust. Yes, he compared MMA to the person behind a historical event in which 6 million Jewish people were killed.
Despite Acunto’s old age, his shameful statements must be denounced publicly and in a strong fashion. He must be held accountable.
The e-mail for the AAIB is [email protected].
The HP of the New York State Athletic Commission is:
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/athletic/index.html.
E-mail the NYSAC at [email protected] or call them at 212-417-5700.
And shame on The Lower Hudson Online for even publishing such a factually-challenged article.
Update: Carpiniello has a blog entry on the article he wrote. He uses more quotes from Acunto, including this one:
“I think this Ultimate Fighting, it brings out the worst in people,” Acunto said. “I think Ultimate Fighting satiates the barbaric lust of people who would watch cock-fighting, dog-fighting, bull-fighting, or anything that has the ultimate results of hurting somebody, very badly. Very badly. I’ve taken this position which is adverse to what is going on in many states.
Carpiniello should not skate by from criticism at all. This is a full-on drive-by assault on the industry, and it’s clear that Carpiniello is not alone in New York on this. Acunto trying to tie-in dogfighting to MMA is really the next big challenge that MMA enthusiasts will be facing for years to come. This is the reason why I became so strongly vocal in warnings about it (because I could see it coming a mile away).
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Always the sign of a prize-A wanker is bringing up Hitler’s name in an argument unrelated to WWII or Facism. You don’t even need to engage them further.
I’m wondering if Mr. Acunto was present at the Beethoven Scottland vs. George Khalid Jones fight or even the Emile Griffith vs. Benny ‘Kid’ Paret third fight given that he has been a commission member since 1945. I don’t really think he should be trying to argue about the superiority of Boxing as a ‘humane’ sport when up until recent times you had tragic televised beatings such as Leavander Johnson vs. Jesus Chavez.
Tossing stones in glass houses is always fun…
To publish an article demanding the “others” be shut down” and declaring the “others” and their followers misfits and warhogs, worship the “homegrown” as the safe and only way, and then finish up by comparing the OTHER SIDE to Hitler? It totally blows the roof off the ironi-meter.
As for NYSAC, I’m sure there’s been many a grumpy old fort defending boxing front liner on the plentyful commissions who have already approved of MMA, but what exactly does Acunto’s title signify in terms of, for instance, veto-power etc? How would this particular commission decide to/not to regulate MMA?
Wow.
Does that mean High school and college wrestling breeds Hitler youth?
It’s denigrading to the millions of souls who died in that horrific event when they are linked to something as trivial as a sport.
Ridiculous.
Turns out that the 6mil # is a failed myth started in WW1 which got a jump start inWW2.
http://www.iamthewitness.com/Crucifixion-of-Jews.html
The true #’s which have been debated and reduced throughout history however are much less, which is good news for saddened Jews.
I do believe that lil’ Hitler Dana and his myth should be stopped!
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I am saddened because today is the first time I’ve seen holocaust rhetoric used in an MMA discussion. I suppose it was only a matter of time (see Godwin’s Law), but what saddens me more is the response of grafdog above. More than his use of one of the least convincing pieces of holocaust denial literature I’ve ever seen (if you’re going to shame the memory of six million innocents, at least do it with intelligence) is his comparison of Dana White to Hitler. Please don’t trivialize murder by comparing it to deceptive PR. You’ve done yourself, this website, and the sport of MMA a disservice.
Anyone (like Mr. Acunto) who irresponsibly throws a comparison to Hitler and the Nazis into the discussion doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s a common fallacious argument used by people who have no knowledge of a given subject. The man lost all credibility with that “comparison”.
Mr. Carpiniello’s article sounds tongue-in-cheek, so he doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously either. If MMA is as dangerous as “a gunfight”, then why is he being flippant and sarcastic about it? What a complete troll.
I am a big MMA fan, obviously since I’m reading fightopinion. The only area of MMA that scares me, as far as the possibility of death, is the slams and take downs. I fear that somebody is going to be slammed on their neck and then absorb the weight of their opponent from that position. I think fighters need to be more careful on their slams. The Randleman-Fedor slam is the kind of slam I am thinking about. I don’t know how Fedor didn’t get hurt.
I bring this up as this is the topic on hand. I don’t mean this to bring legitimacy to the poorly written drive-by article.
Fuck this loser. Who gives a shit what he says?
His life expectancy is Tuesday, anyway. He’ll take his moronic opinions with him. Good riddance.
Grafdog,
I’ve studied the Holocaust extensively, and the 6 million number is historically accepted FACT.
You linked to a site that declares the Moon Landing to be a hoax and that believes that the September 11 attacks were carried out by Zionists.
Please don’t peddle paranoid conspiracy theories as legitimate history.
Fightopinionreader, it is illegal to slam someone on there head/neck in US MMA. If that happened the fight would have been stopped, although probably restarted again after they found out Fedor was fine.
Fuck you, grafdog! You are obviously a complete idiot. Too bad we can’t meet in person; I’d love to try out my mma on you.
Fightopinionreader:
Look up Ukemi or “taking bumps”.
That’s what protected Fedor.
“…but what saddens me more is the response of grafdog above. More than his use of one of the least convincing pieces of holocaust denial literature I’ve ever seen (if you’re going to shame the memory of six million innocents, at least do it with intelligence) is his comparison of Dana White to Hitler. Please don’t trivialize murder by comparing it to deceptive PR. You’ve done yourself, this website, and the sport of MMA a disservice.”
Thank you, Mr. Day. Someone had to say it, and you put it in better words than I would have.
I gave you proper dap today, Zachary.
The irony here is I was just calling Armando Garcia Hitler last week. Oh karma, you’re one rough bitch.
I don’t know why people react angrily when they are told that “not as many people died as was first reported” in the context of ww2.
9-11 WAS an inside job. The towers all 3 of them were packed with explosives well before 9-11. The wtc building 7 fell in under 7 seconds. The other 2 towers fell in about 12 seconds @. These buildings did not simply fall down they were blown up from top to bottom, material was ejected sideways for hundreds of feet; violating a few laws of physics such as conservation of energy. The end result was a pile of small rubble with molten metal underneath it. Never in history has it been proven that a steel framed building has collapsed due to fire. Hydrocarbon fires don’t liquify steel. Buildings do however consistently collapse in the manner in which the wtc’s did when explosives are used.
Take a look at the video “9-11 mysteries” or watch one of the many other videos by typing “911 wtc collapse” on you-tube.
I have my facts straight in this matter. To attempt to refute them is a waste of time. And to crow and your facist remark why not use your eyes and brain and look at these facts before attempting to use your mma on me. Violence never solves anything…
9/11 an ‘inside job’… Disputing that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust…
Please leave the political conspiracies for elsewhere.
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