Mundine challenges McGregor to fight as doctors hit back at bare-knuckle claims

Doctors and medical experts have expressed concern over plans to launch a bare-knuckle fighting event in Brisbane, disputing claims the practice is safer than other combat sports such as boxing.

On Wednesday, former boxing world champion Anthony Mundine announced Australia’s first large scale bare-knuckle event to be held in Brisbane in September, calling the sport “the purest form of fighting” and “safer than boxing”.

He also appears to challenge UFC superstar and bare-knuckle league co-owner Conor McGregor to a boxing fight in a video on Thursday. The Irish fighter made an unsuccessful bid to stage a similar event in Perth earlier this year.

Former boxing world champion Anthony Mundine believes bare knuckle fighting is safer than other combat sports such as gloved boxing.Credit: Neesha Sinnya

Australian Medical Association board member Professor Paul Griffin said this downplayed serious risks, and described the practice as “brutal, outdated and dangerous”.

“The objective of this so-called sport is to knock your opponent into unconsciousness,” he said.

“In a best-case scenario, participants will suffer cuts, bruises, and potential damage to the soft tissue, tendons and ligaments in their hands. Sprains and fractures can occur, including facial fractures.

“In a worst-case scenario, someone could suffer a traumatic brain injury – particularly with repeated exposure to knockout blows.”

Griffin added it “beggars belief” that “people would choose to expose themselves to danger for the sake of money or personal glory”, particularly at a time when contact sports are taking concussion and brain injuries more seriously.

“We have had successful campaigns against coward punches and ‘One Punch Can Kill’ – and yet promoters of bare-knuckle fighting want to promote it,” Griffin said.

Fighters attending the event on Thursday had varied reasons for getting involved in the sport.

Heavyweight boxer Ricky Rowles-Brown said boxing helped him get sober and “figuratively and literally saved my life”.

Muay Thai champion Brad Walton said competitive fighting “changed his life” after a rough upbringing led him to drugs, incarceration and homelessness.

Former rugby league player turned professional boxer Curtis Scott said boxing was a motivator after his professional football career ended.

“I’m a competitor, and when the rugby league door closed, I needed something to keep me motivated and keep me on track,” Scott said.

“Boxing has given me a lot of purpose [and] a lot of discipline.”

Scott shared Mundine’s sentiment that bare-knuckle fighting could be safer than other combat sports.

“There’s a lot of pride in boxing where people want to see how tough they are, and they take a lot of shots.

“With this [bare knuckle fighting], it’s going to be short and fast … you either knock out your opponent or give them a nasty cut, or you’re going to break your hand, and I’m assuming it’ll be over from there.”

Mundine’s World Bare Knuckle Fighting is not the first to attempt a large-scale event in Australia, with US-based Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, co-owned by McGregor, applying for a fight night at Perth’s RAC Arena earlier this year.

While AMA’s WA president Michael Page called it the “human equivalent of dog fighting” and warned against the proliferation of more sports that could cause head injuries, the state’s sport minister said she saw no difference between bare-knuckle boxing and UFC cage fighting.

The event was ultimately scrapped by the state’s combat sports authority who said the proposal did not meet its criteria.

Queensland has no such regulatory body, or specific legislation governing boxing-related competitions.

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