Too extreme?

Two fighters enter the chained-in ring The crowd jeers and roars and cheers. The fighters not only punch each other, they also kick, wrestle, and scratch each other without mercy. As one fighter is doubled-over in pain, his opponent kicks him in the face, pounding him onto the sweat and-bloodsoaked mat He can barely move to tap his hand on the mat three times to signal his surrender to the referee. The crowd awaits two new opponents in the sport of extreme fighting.

In a regular boxing or wrestling match, gouging, kicking, and scratching are illegal. But in extreme fighting, anything goes. Extreme fighting is the controversial new sport recently legalized in New York but banned as too brutal in most other states.

Extreme fighting's promoters maintain that the sport is an exciting and entertaining contest that is as safe as any other contact sport, such as boxing or football. Since the sport first appeared in the United States a few years ago, supporters say, no one has ever been killed or seriously injured, as in other sports. Two doctors must be at each match in case of injury.

New York lawmakers legalized the sport, says promoter Robert Meyrowitz, because "they realized the sport was safer than they thought and that our medical requirements were equal to those of wrestling and boxing."

Extremely Dangerous

"I happen to be a boxing fan," says New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, "but this goes way beyond boxing. This is people brutalizing each other." The mayor hopes to ban it from his city. "It's horrible," he says.

The American Medical Association agrees. Past AMA president Dr. Lonnie Bristow issued a statement last year applauding Missouri's ban of extreme fighting and encouraged other states to follow suit. "They're blood soaked public spectacles," she said.

What do you think? Should extreme fighting be legal? Why or why not?