Ultimate fighting kindergarteners

The mixed martial arts (MMA) combat sport of ultimate fighting may surpass boxing in popularity someday. No longer solely on cable, CBS will be broadcasting primetime cage fights. Now brawling youngsters are reportedly jumping into homemade rings to punch, kick and wrestle.

In southwest Missouri, twelve kids aged 6 to 14 years old from the "Garage Boys Fight Crew" wear protective headgear, shin guards, groin protection and martial-arts gloves. Trained by Rudy Lindsey, a young wrestling coach and professional heavyweight in mixed martial arts, kids fight two minute bouts. No elbow or head blows are allowed.

Some parents of the kids believe the sport is no more dangerous than youth wrestling and state it teaches discipline and self-defense. However critics contend MMA's twisting moves put too much pressure on growing joints. State law is mixed -- Missouri is the only state that allows youth fights, while many states cite misdemeanors for kid fighting and a few states have no regulations on the books.

I know very little about ultimate fighting, so my point-of-view is entirely amateur. But as a parent of a kindergartener, I'd rather enroll my son in a karate or tae kwon do class to get a taste of self-defense and self-discipline. I'll heed the advice of medical experts -- kids do enough damage to their joints wrestling in the backyard. When I was around kindergarten age I ripped my brother's pinky tendon in two after he bucked me off his back during "horsie."