Dr. Johnny C. Benjamin Slams Arguments Against MMA In New York

April 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

Noted orthopedic surgeon and frequent MMA commentator, Dr. Johnny C. Benjamin offered a fantastic argument against those whom oppose the legalization of MMA in New York. His full article/editorial currently runs on HuffingtonPost.com. Here is the direct link to the story. Here is an excerpt from Benjamin.

“Despite the negative comments of some sports personalities cited by Mr. Reilly, to the best of my knowledge (and a thorough online review) of past and current credible medical literature there exists no significant body of work that clearly establishes or even opines a causal relationship between MMA and the moral decay of our society, on any level. Despite cuts, scratches and bruises, MMA has never been proven to be any more or less harmful to children or adults than most other contact sports.”

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1 response so far ↓

1 Colleen Janicik // Apr 25, 2009 at 10:52 am

I am Sean Janicik’s Mom. Sean LOVED Jiu Jitsu and Brian McGlaughlin’s classes. I am unfamiliar with this sport, but have a strong desire to learn as much as I can. Cliff, Sean’s brother and I want to carry on Sean’s commitment and passion for Jiu Jitsu. Sean was killed in a hit and run in October 2008. Cliff and I have would like to help to legalize MMA in New York. Please contact us so that we can present a united front for the cause.

Off The Cuff... Edgar VS. Alvarez!

In early May, I was down at Almeida BJJ to shoot and produce a feature on Frankie Edgar tied to his photo shoot for FIGHT! magazine. That video will be on Fightmagazine.com soon. While working, I was lucky to witness one of the great sparring sessions in my day. Edgar was going toe-to-toe with Eddie Alvarez who was one week out from his fight V. Josh Neer. Now, I have known Frankie for some time, so I might be biased but he did seem to control the action. Standing, his fast hands and feet allowed him to get off first much like we saw against BJ and Sherk. Each man got a couple takedowns but the overall pace and forward movement seemed slightly in favor of Edgar. Now, in Eddie's defense, he may have been only seeking to work on one element of his game V. Edgar and only trying to react or setup something only he knew of, specific to the Josh Neer fight ... so in that respect, it was not a true test of each fighting the other under the same context. That said, there was not really anything off limits - it was vicious jab/right combos from Frankie followed, at one point, by a head over heel body-throw take-down from Eddie on Frankie ... neither giving an inch. It felt like the real thing minus the the bright lights and octagon. It seemed to get harsh a couple of times but that may have just been my read. In the end, hard core sparring at play. Two of the top-5 lightweights on the planet going after each other at 110% on a lazy Thursday morning in Hamilton, NJ. After the session, what did Edgar do... relax-no, he went to use a chainsaw and chop down small trees in a friend's backyard for three hours.