UPDATE: Damn. I knew this story was too good to be true. The BBC story made me think it was real. Oh, well. Apparently this is an old hoax (dating back to 2005). But I hadn’t seen it yet:

The Cambodian Midget Fighting League (or CMFL) is the premise of an Internet hoax that was widely circulated around the Internet beginning in May, 2005. A fake BBC news article was created for the purposes of a prank within the author’s group of friends, although it leaked out to the general Internet.

The hoax was particularly significant as the article was taken on face value by a good deal of British Newspapers and Magazines. Some newspapers referred to the incident as a tragedy, but – interestingly – some magazines, notably ‘lad’s mag’ FHM, reported it as news, but did so from a humorous angle. Whether wittingly or not, the hoaxers had drawn attention to the callous nature of the British press.

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This is quite possibly the most bizarre headline I’ve ever read:

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

The only thing more bizarre than the headline is the story itself:

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

Tickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.

The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.

Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will “… take on anything; man, beast, or machine.”

This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted.

An African Lion (Panthera Leo) was shipped to centrally located Kâmpóng Chhnãng especially for the event, which took place last Saturday, April 30, 2005 in the city’s coliseum.

The Cambodian Government allowed the fight to take place, under the condition that they receive a 50% commission on each ticket sold, and that no cameras would be allowed in the arena.

The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back.

Sihamoni was quoted before the fight stating that he felt since his fighters out-numbered the lion 42 to 1, that they “…could out-wit and out-muscle [it].”

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

You think?