Mixed Martial Arts in Thailand: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
If you’re an MMA fan, the year 2012 is going to be a good year for you. A number of MMA stars are signed to participate in Bangkok’s DARE Championship’s MMA tournament in Bangkok in January 2012; those expected to participate include Daiju Takase (best know for submitting middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the opening round of a match), Brandon “BK” Kesler, Krysztof “HAJA” Hajtalowicz, and Arnaud “THE GAME” Lepont. This DARE event will be held in the Insomnia Club on Sukhumvit.
On the darker side of the sport, Phuket’s development as an MMA training base is being tarnished once again by out-of-control fighters giving the sport a bad name. Last year Lee Aldhouse was in the news for the murder of an American soldier in Phuket; Aldhouse is currently in the midst of Thailand extradition proceedings. Most Recently, Phuket authorities are engaged in a manhunt for MMA fighter Allen “The Lunatic” Browing (his professional fighting name, not our personal opinion), who reportedly started a brawl at a Phuket bar and then continued fighting once he’d been taken to the hospital for treatment of several injuries, before fleeing.
The Hypocrisy of Attorney General Eric Holder
Three years ago, the American Department of Justice brought a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party, after the party stationed armed men wearing NBPP uniforms outside that entrance of a polling station in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008. Though the armed individuals allegedly threatened voters and poll-watcher with weapons and intimidated voters, senior officials at the Department of Justice ordered Department attorneys to drop the case, despite the fact that the NBPP’s offense had been a gross violation of federal law.
While the executive branch of the US government was, it seems, content to ignore voter rights violations three years ago, these days Attorney General seems to have made the issue one of his top priorities. Holder’s words and deeds are under intense scrutiny for matters other than rights violations, however, he has declared that he is concerned that state law requiring voters to show photo IDs will suppress minority turnout and violate voter rights. We find Holder’s preoccupation with the issue of voter rights somewhat humorous, given that we feel his attention should be focused on slightly more pressing issues.
On December 8th, Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he denied that the government-sanctioned sales of US guns to Mexican drug cartels has contributed to drug-related violence on the US-Mexico border, rather that leading to cartel arrests. Holder also denied having prior knowledge of the Fast and Furious Operation, though a video interview with President Obama in March proves otherwise:
New Dog Food Donations Video
Check out our footage of part two of our coverage of the dire situation faced by Thailand’s canine flood victims! We received a generous donation of 600 kilograms of dog food due to our earlier video of pets in the Thailand floods, and we distributed the donations to three shelters that focus their care giving efforts on aiding disabled or abandoned dogs.
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