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Journalism of Courage
The Full Contact Championship brings Fight Club to Mumbai and gives its contestants some hope for future battles.
If prashant Kumar had a penny for every time someone asked him if Fight Night,officially known as the Full Contact Championship FCC,was legal,he wouldnt need sponsors to fund it. The fourth edition of the event,recently held in Mumbai,and organised by the Mixed Martial Arts Association MMAA,seemed right out of Fight Club a ring without rules.
The MMAA is a government registered body and the FCC is a perfectly legal,internationally recognised sport that will soon be included in the Olympics, says Kumar,president of MMAA . Most of our participants are state and national level gold medalists in their respective sports kickboxing,martial arts,wrestling,etc. MMAA hopes to organise these events once every two months.
These are professional athletes trained for years in different fighting techniques. For instance,Sangram Parke who participated in the 65 kg category is trained in kickboxing,wushu traditional Chinese martial art and kushti. His opponent,Nilesh Parab is an ace grappler and mixed martial arts fighter. The beauty of the sport lies in identifying which martial art a contestant employs against an opponent.
Kumar,once a professional fighter himself,hopes to increase interest in the sport so that he can help the athletes,many of who come from small towns in Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and Punjab,make a living from it. By organising the FCC,I hope to give these athletes the encouragement to continue practicing the sport. Were also in talks to make it a recognised event that will send its winners to international tournaments, says Kumar.
