I’ve known two people from South Dakota and both prefer to live in third-world countries instead of their legal state of residency. That’s an absolute fact, and it essentially sums up the culture in the Dakotas. Living out there is as boring as you think it is. Your perception of the boredom surrounding South Dakota is not exaggerated. The term ‘night life’ doesn’t exist in South Dakota, Google it if you don’t believe me. The fact is, if you don’t like killing defenseless animals with a rifle, there is no redeeming value in the state and now with MMA banned in one South Dakota town, things seem to be even more depressing.
According to The Republic, Watertown, South Dakota has voted to ban MMA within city limits due to a bar fight that occurred back in March 2011.
Residents of Watertown have voted to end mixed martial arts events in the city.
KWAT radio reports that Tuesday’s vote was 841 people favoring the events and 1,228 people opposing them.
The City Council in May voted 5-3 to allow MMA events, a form of fighting entertainment that some label as barbaric. MMA opponents gathered enough petition signatures to force a citywide vote.
The guy charged with murder, Jerrin Stulken, was only formally trained in Tae Kwon Do. Sure you’re probably assuming the only mildly-logic approach would be to ban Tae Kwon Do in Watertown (which is slightly less of a farce than banning MMA), but the police that arrived at the scene claimed it was more of an ‘assault’ than a ‘fight.’ The bartender at the establishment in question dropped some knowledge on Keloland reporters shortly after the incident, but it appears his quote has been removed from the website. Fortunately, The Underground saved the original article in question.
Randy Leddy, a bartender and part-time fighter with the Disciples team, said the incident speaks to public misconceptions about his sport. He thinks alcohol explains more about the incident than mixed martial arts.
“It’s very frustrating for me that it has to be linked to MMA,” Leddy said. “The cage fighting community had nothing to do with it – it was two individuals and liquid courage.”
We’re not sure how many deaths occurred in a bar due to disagreements over — the Oakland Raiders nor do we know how many beatings have been handed down by Manchester United fans. Regardless of the number, those examples are still not congruent to what actually happened in Watertown, South Dakota. A bar fight went horribly wrong, and the blame was placed on MMA. The more reasonable course of action would be to ban alcohol from the city, a substance that has contributed to an innumerable amount of deaths on a daily basis. So this is really it, egh? MMA will be used as society’s scapegoat? Well, I guess it’s just the future that we’re all going to live with.
Here’s the original South Dakota news broadcast of the of the bar fight which led to city-wide ban of MMA in Waterstown, South Dakota. Incredibly illogical. clip.
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