There are times when chasing the dream of cagefighting is better left alone. Sean Gannon, a Boston police officer, seared his own butt to the third degree in his precinct when footage of his gym fight with Kimbo Slice made headlines in 2004; now The New York Post reports that a NYC firefighter collecting disability is smashing heads in his spare time.
"It is completely different than running into a building that is on fire with a smoke condition and toxins in the air," he told the paper. One “source” put it more succinctly: “He’s scamming the city.”
Giuffrida isn’t doing himself many favors by claiming he’s too ill to perform one grueling activity at the same time he’s doing something even more physically taxing, but he does have a point: chemicals, smoke, and other irritants that could irritate his lung ailments aren’t usually present in grappling competitions. And the Post, which is as objective as a criminal defense attorney, sells him out by declaring NAGA “almost no holds barred.”
He might have fewer friends in the department, but I say that anyone risking their ass to that degree is entitled to stretch the system. A pension shouldn’t sentence you to life on a couch.