On the internet, a video of an MMA class showing a teacher delivering violent kicks to young children is causing outrage. According to the teacher, interviewed by France Télévisions, his students are “very eager for this moment”. The sequence is particularly shocking. Children about ten years old facing their MMA coach. The man shouts his instructions and delivers a violent kick to each of them in the stomach. In the video, one of the children wipes away tears. Shared and reposted on social networks, these images provoke reactions, between outrage and anger on social media: “How horrible and brutal”, “But this is not okay, super dangerous, get your children out of there”, “Those who criticize the coach should rather complain to the parents. They know these training sessions very well.” We spoke with the man in the video, owner of a private MMA club near Lyon (Rhône). He stands by his actions. According to him, the children are prepared and none have ever been injured during his sessions. “It seems violent, but at the moment I push the kid, he pretends to take off and it looks violent. Yes, let’s be honest, it’s a violent sport. Today, 8-year-old children are very advanced compared to our time. They have social networks. No, they are not surprised. They are even very eager for this moment. It’s a part that lasts 30 seconds in a 1.5-hour training session,” explains Yom Yidikes, MMA instructor in Villeurbanne (Rhône). The session often takes place in the presence of parents. Guillaume Descoqs has a son who participates in these sessions. “As responsible parents, if we were bothered by any unhealthy aggressiveness, we would withdraw our children. Our children are stronger, they are more confident in the playground. But outside, it’s energetic,” he believes. We showed the images to a representative of the MMA federation. For him, the method used is not suitable for a child audience. He advocates for a playful learning approach without violence. “Here, the strikes are performed under control. So I don’t think there is an intention to harm them. I think there is an intention to perform, as we said, this impressive gesture, but which may not necessarily have an educational purpose. These are practices today that are no longer used on these audiences,” affirms Lionel Brezephin, MMA manager within the French boxing federation. The discipline is still young in France and is trying to structure itself. The Lyon coach admits that he wants to provoke with his videos, in order to generate interest for his club. French MMA Federation.
