MMA:Born with congenital amputation, Kyle Maynard has been denied competition license

**Boyd** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:26pm

And as much as I love sounding like one of the evil nuns from the first act of an inspirational Disney sports movie, an enormous part of life is recognizing your weaknesses as much as your strengths. You work around your disadvantages, not plow ahead pretending they're not there. Or, in the case of Maynard, whoring the ruleset to create a profoundly awkward battle for your opponent.

That said: I would give anything in the world to fight Kyle Maynard. Anything.

**money** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:31pm

I agree with SHJ. His condition requires that the rules be modified so he can compete and that is not fair to whoever he's fighting. I think it's awesome that he can compete in grappling but the simple fact is that he can't adequately defend himself from punches/kicks from a standing opponent means that competing in MMA is unrealistic.

**Rivington** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:37pm

Yes, he should clearly only fight people with a similar condition in a new sport with rules tailored to their disabilities.

Call it nubmission wrestling.

**Red512S** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:47pm

You're going to Hell Rivington. :)

And if this guy wants to do everything that full-bodied people can do, he needs to deal with their rulesets, not make his own and set conditions.

Dave

**Devil** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:48pm

Originally Posted by Boyd

So let me understand the gist of Maynard's argument: MMA is safe for quadraplegics because he's going to exploit a series of loopholes in the ruleset so that his opponent will only be permitted to punch him in the stomach and choke him, assuming he could find an opponent comfortable with the idea of beating up a humorless congenital amputee perpetually ejaculating a ceaseless stream of self-help cliches all over the mat.

Whenever I hear a Kyle Maynard article I always think of a very select type of patronizing jock from high school, the Aryan poster child with a great feigned love for everyone. The kid who wore his varsity jacket out in public but insisted his real future was in some specific, dispassionate business, the sort of fellow who not only believed in hard work, but told people he believed in hard work. Someone who could quote selected passages from the select works of Donald Trump and Robert Kyosaki, a sort of insane reverence for faded ideals and pale constructs and chaotic banality. Someone who would actually read Who Moved My Cheese?.

The great thing about these people is they always, always die in car crashes on prom night or graduations, and their mortality rate is astoundingly low. Most descend into alcoholism before 20 and are seldom heard from again. Maynard survived that pitfall. He can't drive and at 125, probably gets loaded off a couple Bacardi Breezes. Worse yet, all the special praise and attention lavished upon him for BEATING THE ODDS by not THROWING HIMSELF DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS made his already bloated sense of self-entitlement swell out of control like an untreated tumor until it lead to a series of increasingly self-aggrandizing books/lectures/seminars, placing him in exactly the wrong field of work for someone with permanently deranged self-esteem. At this point, is it any wonder he thinks fighting MMA is a realistic goal?

The amount of venom you feel towards a crippled kid who doesn't fit neatly into your idea of how crippled kids should act is pretty pathetic.

**HappyOldGuy** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 2:49pm

Originally Posted by devil

The amount of venom you feel towards a crippled kid who doesn't fit neatly into your idea of how crippled kids should act is pretty pathetic.

Devil is being far too kind.

**Feryk** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 3:06pm

Originally Posted by Red512S

You're going to Hell Rivington. :)

And if this guy wants to do everything that full-bodied people can do, he needs to deal with their rulesets, not make his own and set conditions.

Dave

Exactly. You don't see him claiming he can be a firefighter because fires won't change the rules to suit him.

Unlike Boyd, I think it's great that he wants to do something, even if it is tilting at windmills. At least he's not at home crying about how disadvantged he is, and how the rest of us owe him something. However, in this case, he is wrong. He shouldn't be allowed to fight.

**Devil** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 3:09pm

I agree he should not be allowed to fight. It's wrong to bend rules in any sport to accomodate individual competitors.

**Chizilds** · Posted On: 8/15/2007 3:13pm

I'm not taking anything away from the man because quite frankly, he has done something I don't think I ever could.... but his limitations are obvious. It would be like him wanting to compete in swimming.... I'm sorry, but somethings aren't meant to be.