Update on my MMA article

Yesterday morning, I sat down and re-constructed by MMA article that was denied publication by the opinion editor of the Monterey Herald. As he insisted, I re-constructed the article down to 200 words (more like 260) and took out the offensive word "ignorant." I promptly emailed this to him Saturday afternoon and even left him a voice mail to make sure he knew I sent it.

Here is the revised article, which I don't think he can find anything to be offended by this time:

"The Herald’s editorial “No Excuse for Cage Fighting” and the Halfpenny’s opinion pieces each had unsubstantiated statements about Mixed Martial Marts (MMA) or cage-fighting.

There has never been any connotation between MMA and gang violence and to even suggest or put the two in the same sentence is an oversight. Did the Halfpenny’s stop to think that people watch MMA because they enjoy it and not because they are used to gang violence?

As for the editorial piece, to say that the commission “pretends” to protect fighters is an error, especially when one does research and discovers fighters are given both pre-and-post fight drug tests and are medically suspended anywhere from 7-60 days, win or lose, after a fight, depending on the severity of their cuts or injuries.

In addition, fighters are subject to CT scans and neurological evaluations before being cleared to fight again. Maybe if boxing had these same regulations years ago, Muhammad Ali’s quality of life today would be better.

As for it being too violent, any sport has violence in it, including the more acceptable sports. In football, players launch themselves at full-speed to hit another player as hard as they can. It is perfectly acceptable in baseball for a pitcher to hit a batter with a 100 mile-per-hour fastball in the spirit of standing up for his teammate. Hockey has men chasing each other on skates with sticks in hand and fighting is seen as part of the game. Boxing features two individuals continuously punching each other in the head, trying to knock each other out.

Am I the only one noticing a recurring theme?"