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I competed in dozens of full contact matches before the age of 18 and never once was required to wear head gear. It wasn't prohibited and people did wear it, but it wasn't required. I was required to wear head gear the very first time I stepped into a boxing ring though for a very specific reason. Boxing with weighted gloves, even with head gear, is dangerous. I didn't end up with a broken nose until I started boxing either.

Amateur Boxing, football, and hockey, all require head gear and all end up with more concussions than MMA fighters.

Mixed Martial Arts are just martial arts that actually teach people to fight...and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes violence is the only solution. I know that goes against (idiotic) modern sensibilities but there you have it.

I suspect the article was overly melodramatic, even then it isn't really being very well read by a lot of people. Having already heard a "conservative" (male) talk show host have a full blown case of the vapors this morning over this article causes me to despair for our cause. He actually compared it to roman blood sports. Because obviously the children are slaves and fight to the death and their corpses are fed to lions. /s
That anyone can actually get this upset over a sport that statistically is safer than many other sports on the basis of a single article with absolutely not one shred of supporting evidence demonstrates the power media has even over conservatives. This talk show host actually claimed on air that children routinely get broken noses, have their arms or legs broken, or get "choked almost to death", when I know for a fact that this simply doesn't happen in any organized matches.

I can't speak for what barbarians do with their children, however that isn't MMA any more than it's boxing or WWF wrestling.