Organized Crime and MMA

Damn it feels good to be a gangster

Using this logic, and I use the word logic begrudgingly, then you wouldn’t want baseball in your city because John Dillinger liked it.

Thanks for ruining the great American past time for me Zak! Geez!

I’m ashamed of my city right now.

And when did Organized Crime and Gangs start being synonymous again?

I hear mixed ultimate fighting brings in a bunch of tatooed n’er do wells. And then the whores come in!

Can someone do a “Dana White as Suge Knight” photoshop?

the ruffians, the rogues, the trouble-makers, and people from Philadelphia.

Here in Calgary there are certain gyms (MMA/BJJ) that are regarded to have a lot of gang members training so I guess I’m not surprised when a statement comes out suggesting that MMA events here can have gang ties.

The last regional fight promo here had a large police presence likely due to the large biker/gang presence at the show, this was my impression from where I was sitting.

I find it funny that no one referenced how boxing has deep organized crime roots.

You think that it’s coincidence that Vegas and boxing became synonymous?

The line between gang members, criminal gang members, and wannabees can be hard to see. I’m sure to a guy Sgt. Bill Whalen, anyone in an affliction t-shirt is a suspected gang member.

….nor do I believe they would be attracted to UFC events, where there is security, police, and not much privacy (unless they get a suite.)

It’s a pretty silly write-up. Though a council member does suggest it be reguilated by Sport B.C. before the city even considers allowing MMA.

Overall though, Vancouver is a pretty silly place when it comes to events. Dubbed the “no fun city,” we locals tend to go nuts whenever something is on. Stanley Cup Finals? Riot. Guns’N Roses no show? Riot. Monster trucks? Near riot. Annual Festival of Lights Fireworks dispaly? Total gong show, if not random acts of violence, and this is supposed to be a family event! It’s silly, but in the end, I am confident having the UFC in town will not be any different than any other testosterone driven event.

However, gang ties to the local MMA scene are there and while it is something to watch out for, that’s not a problem inherent with MMA. It’s a problem inherent with gangs and their tendancy to latch onto the underground scenes, which is where MMA is currently due to lack of regulation. The faster they regulate MMA, the better.

as they used to do with boxing. All the time people have to distance themselves from theirs past to pursue a sport. Marvin Harrison just got in trouble back home in philly, now no team will touch him. Kimbo slice used to run with a not so kosher crowd. At matches you see large groups show up to support their friend or a fighter of the same nationality. I was at a boxing match with a Dominican vs a PR’ican and honestly, the best fights were in the crowd!

Extreme Fighting Championship?

I hear that gang members enjoy restaurants as well. Those should be disallowed.

…is for the cops to put gangstas they find in the ring with the pros. Anybody’s tough with a gun…run your mouth with Brock Lesnar frothing at the mouth 20 feet away from you, scumbag.

On the more positive viewpoint: while learning MMA could just make these psychopaths more dangerous to the average person, it could also help them learn discipline, honor, intestinal fortitude, and perhaps help them become better people. Martial Arts as whole does that.

Vancouver is a very expensive city in which to live, so the sorts of young people to whom they’re referring here tend to live in adjacent cities (Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey). That Vancouver might try to social-engineer their way around organised crime sounds a lot like them.

..Cadman’s basically saying that, right now, after his council de-regulated the sport in 2007, gang members are involved in MMA.

So surely the solution is to REGULATE IT so that you can lose that element?

Then again, he’s not real bright. Logic not a strong suit.

Honestly, even coming from Vancouver I can’t get too mad at that article. After you see the exact same thing two billion times it tends to lose its emotional outrage element a little.

Gang crime is to Vancouver what terrorism is to the United States right now. It’s an incredibly hot topic that has near unanimity in its opposition. Very, very few people from the States or Canada would say that terrorism or gangs are a good thing for the community. Public officials are obviously very aware of this and use this opposition as an “ends justify the means” tool against whatever can conceivably be tied to gang or terror. Police brutality? It’s so gangs can’t get the leg up! Marijuana? It funds gangs and terror! Civil rights at the airport? Ha!

The real question is whether Krzysztof Soszynski will dare venture into the Vancouver airport if a UFC comes to town.

The worst parts of Van city have more homeless people than gangsters.
This is a classic example of the Canadian government not being able to make a decision and losing a great financial gain in doing so.

That picture is of East hasting st. in Van. Its riddled with homeless people,crack \meth heads, a typical crazies. worry about them looking for a job not some gangster shooting up a ufc event.

But…. we do like a good riot after public events but i also dont remember any gangsters rioting after the stanley cup finals just some dudes with bad canuck’s jackets and even worse mullets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Il3UlV2ars the riots in vancouver in 1994

Vancouver, and Canada as a whole have a much bigger gang problem than most people know. This is due in large part to the fact that most of these gangs are foreign, (Lebanese, Hatian, Italian, East Asian etc.) and Canada has one of the largest immigrant (and illegal immigrant) populations in the world. What’s worse is that people have become so hyper-sensitive in Canada, that when reporting on gang activity, the media never mentions the ethnicity or ethnicities of the gang members involved for fear of lawsuits and other forms of rebuke. Gang members from poor countries come here, claim refugee status, and continue their gang activities. What’s worse is that (like in America), illegal aliens cannot be convicted of crimes. Sometimes they are deported, but most of the time, little or no action is taken whatsoever. These gangs fight against one another for control of the drug, prostitution, extortion rackets. They see MMA as yet another thing to control and make money from. With so many gangs in contention, it’s no big surprise that the police are worried about violence.

OJ likes golf and he’s a murderer. Have you seen the soccer hooligans?