LAHAINA — Police have counseled two Lahaina high school students involved in a mixed martial arts-style fight that was videotaped and posted on the Internet last week.

A video of the fight, on the Web site YouTube, shows the boys wearing shorts and T-shirts and throwing punches and kicks on a basketball court as a crowd of people watch. At the end of the video, which lasts 1 minute and 45 seconds, one boy is shown lying on the ground and cradling his head.
The fight occurred earlier this month on a playground in Lahaina, said Capt. Charles Hirata, commander of the Lahaina Patrol District.
"We have talked to both of the boys involved," he said. "We want to let people know that with this type of fighting, you can obviously see that there's a possibility of receiving some pretty serious trauma to the head.
"We encourage people to report when they see fights starting, give the police a call."
He said he hoped the Web posting wouldn't lead to copycats.
"Unfortunately, this type of medium doesn't really discourage this kind of thing," Hirata said.
While he hadn't seen the video, mixed martial arts professional fighter Brandon Visher of Kula said he has heard about similar fights, which have nothing to do with the disciplined sport.
"Those kind of fights are a totally different thing as opposed to the professional mixed martial arts fighting," Visher said. "Most of the professional fighters don't go out there and try to get into street fights. The people that are doing that kind of street fighting without any rules may be trying to prove themselves to other people."
Visher, who has fought professionally since 2003, around the time the sport began becoming more popular in Hawaii, said he usually trains five days a week and does other activities such as running, swimming and weightlifting on weekends. Earlier this month, he won by a knockout in his debut in World Extreme Cagefighting competition in Las Vegas.
For matches, Visher said mixed martial artists wear protective gear, including small gloves and mouthpieces.