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Saturday, Sep 14, 2013

Opinion: Louisiana and Breast Implants

By Jesse Heitz

I’ve been writing pieces for Full Contact Fighter for well over a year now. I’ve scribbled about a plethora of issues that concern Mixed Martial Arts. I’ve chattered about everything from the fight for legalization of MMA in New York, to when it comes time for aging fighters to hang up their gloves. It’s been an absolute pleasure to delve deep into the current of the MMA world.

No, this isn’t my final piece, nor is this piece some sort of resignation letter. This article is something entirely new. This isn’t centered on defending the sport’s honor or hyping an upcoming event. This article explores uncharted territory, a topic that goes well beyond the bizarre. Far beyond any of the rather strange topics I have discussed before.

This piece focuses on a new regulation passed by the Louisiana State Boxing and Wrestling Commission. The emergency statute passed by the aforementioned governmental body has taken aim at breast implants. That’s right, the commission passed an emergency 60-day moratorium on allowing women, or men for that matter, with breast implants to fight in MMA bouts or boxing matches unless they can obtain a note from the surgeons performed the augmentation surgery.

Commissioner Harold Williams, as reported by The Times-Picayune, stated the following,

“If they want to look good, then they don’t have to be in the ring,

Dr. Thomas Ferguson, a physician who sits on the commission commented on the risks of injury and the difficulty of getting a doctor’s note, stating,

“Those redo surgeries are more complicated and expensive,”

“I don’t know of a single plastic surgeon who is going to allow his artistic work to be messed up,”

While the commission mulls over the possible health effects of repeated trauma to breast implants, I’ll go ahead and weigh in from purely a fan’s perspective. In short, who cares? Is being presentable, perhaps even vanity, entirely incompatible with MMA or boxing? What happens if one of these fighters with implants had say, a double mastectomy that resulted from a battle with cancer? This is an absolutely absurd notion being espoused by Mr. Williams. It’s quite a shame that he’s in a position where he’s capable of setting policy.

Additionally, when entering a combat sport, where injuries are commonplace, would any surgeon regardless of their specialty enjoy seeing their patient hop into a cage or ring? Just a few years ago, Wanderlei Silva had reconstructive surgery on his face, removing scar tissue from his eyebrows and reshaping his nose. Should he have been barred from competing following his surgery? Here’s a radical idea, how about we let adults, the fighters, choose their own destinies so long as they can pass the relevant pre-fight physical. Perhaps focusing on a fighter’s attractiveness is of no concern to athletic commissions.

posted by FCF Staff @ 9:10 pm
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