You've probably heard the joke in a B-movie somewhere: "I know karate! My hands are registered as lethal weapons!"
But, for at least one mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, that statement is actually true. Texas authorities believed that the hands of Jamal Parks were so dangerous because of his involvement in MMA that they charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after Nov. 2013 incident in which he beat up friend Juan Angel so bad that he went to the hospital.
Check out the details:
Testimony on Monday revealed the fight started at Parks' apartment, where the two were hanging out. At one point, Parks threw Angel through a dry wall. The deadly weapon in this case, according to Assistant District Attorney Bill Vassar, was the suspect's hands. He also had a machete in a case, but did not use it to harm Angel.
A machete? Who carries around a machete in a briefcase?
Perhaps more alarming, Parks also beat up a female police officer when she arrived on the scene, testifying in court that she was fighting for her life.
Judge Wayne Salvant said he believed Parks was on drugs during the assaults, sentencing him to six years in prison with credit for time served.
As the sentencing took place in Fort Wayne, a reporter asked local MMA fighter and former UFC combatant Travis Lutter what he thought of designating somebody's hands as deadly weapons.
His response:
"How do you make the distinction? How effective I am? How good I am at my job?"
Well, at least we know Michael Bisping is safe from such future prosecution.