A judge, who sentenced an inmate to nine years for a fatal beating of a prisoner in Maple Ridge, British Columbia has blamed our MMA-obsessed society for the murder.
Justice Robert Crawford had the following to say when sentencing Alexander Dinu Tanasescu for his savage beating of Blair Thomas Cody almost three years ago:
“When I was a young man, when you knocked someone down that was the end of the fight,” Crawford said in his ruling.
“While it may not be appropriate for me to say this, I have had great difficulty watching some of the mixed martial arts where boxing and wrestling and other skills are mixed and they fight in a cage, but there has been a marked improvement in the rules.”
“In the hands of the professionals who do this for a living I think it is quickly recognized when a man is in a no-win position and they tap out, but I am seeing too many cases where people come to court and someone has been put to the ground and then the boots put to them,” he added.
“It is not so much a comment on Mr. Tanasescu as it is about the society he is living in and (how) the old rules are forgotten.”
The altercation took place hours after Tanasescu arrived at the Maple Ridge correctional facility. After the pair of inmates exchanged words, Tanasescu floored his adversary with a right-hook.
According to video surveillance, the 30 year old prisoner repeatedly kicked the inmate until he was left unconscious in a pool of blood. Cody was rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital and passed away almost a year later.
When a horrific tragedy takes place, the loved ones of the victim seek answers and people find something to point the finger of blame at.
When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher during a rampage at Columbine high school in 1999, it was shock rocker Marilyn Manson who became the scapegoat, his provocative lyrics pointed to as the reason for the youth slayings.
Manson is hardly alone – Ozzy Osbourne was pinpointed for a teens suicide, AC/DC were blasted after serial killer Richard Ramirez left a hat with the bands logo at a kill site and metal giants Slipknot have been blamed for a double homicide, just to name a few.
And if it’s not satanic metal that is ruining the youth of the nation, it’s video games.
The recent Sandy Hook shooting in Newton, Connecticut has re-ignited the debate over gaming violence in youths.
It had been over a decade since Columbine yet the witch hunt continues , with violent video games like Call of Duty taking the blame.
Instead of hanging your guilt on video games, music or in this instance MMA, how about a little accountability?
Mixed martial arts has a violent aspect to it, there is no denying that. Fighters do get knocked out or submitted. However, and society seems to completely ignore this fact, the fighting ends there. More often than not the athletes, and I stress the word athletes, shake hands and go on their way. We often see adversaries become friends or training partners after a bout because of the bond they share and passion for the sport.
Tanasescu has been in trouble with the law since his early teens, if you think that he got the idea of stomping Cody’s forehead until it was a bloodied mess by watching a PRIDE tape you’re kidding yourself.
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