Making a Case for Mixed Martial Arts
By Miguel Soberanis
Boxing, wrestling and karate have been the most popular forms of combat sports for centuries. Dating back to the gladiator games in ancient Rome, fighters have sought a way to entertain crowds and test their physical abilities.
Mixed martial arts is the latest form of combat sports to gain popularity.
Mixed martial arts, or MMA as it is commonly known, is a fast growing sport that has a worldwide audience. “Everything goes…that is the main idea,” said Laszlo Huve, co-owner of Camp Undefeated, a Manhattan training gym for MMA.
“Anything [that] involves combat but it’s at a competitive level,” said Adam Shores, a professional fighter and trainer at Fighthouse NYC, another Manhattan training facility. “It’s a sport/combat sport,” said Mr. Shores, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian Ju Jitsu and kickboxing
“MMA breaks down into two major parts, its stand up and ground fight,” said Laszlo. The stand up part includes the boxing and kick boxing, but fighters can use wrestling and Brazilian Ju Jitsu to quickly turn a stand up fight into a ground fight.
In MMA, fighters wear lightweight gloves and they fight inside an octagon shaped, chain linked ring. Rounds last five minutes and usually range between 3 and 5 rounds. Today, head butts, eye gouging, biting, low blows and kicking a down opponent are not allowed. But in the early 1990s when the sport began airing on pay-per-view there were no rules at all.
Some states including New York have banned the sport because of its rough image and history of violent and unsanctioned fights. After all the original motto of MMA was, “There are no rules!” The New York Legislature deemed the sport too violent in the 1990s. U.S. Sen. John McCain once labeled the sport as “human cockfighting.”
The sport is working hard to shake the old image it created many years ago.
Video: Training for Mixed Martial Arts
“You weren’t really having athletes in there, it was more guys doing it as a side thing,” said Mr. Shores about the quality of fights previously televised on pay-per-view bouts in the early 1990s. Many fights featured burly men who would beat each other brutally for the sake of entertaining the crowd.
Opponents of the sport say it is too violent and inappropriate for prime time television or live venue events.
But the athletes involved in the sport feel they are misunderstood and that the sport is being unfairly judged.
“Any full contact sport is violent,” said Mr. Shores referring to other nationally accepted sports like football, boxing and hockey. “I think in lots more ways hockey’s much more violent,” added Mr. Laszlo.
According to an article in The New York Times, MMA events in the state of Nevada, where MMA is legal, the worst injury in 500 regulated fights has been one broken arm. There have not been any deaths or serious injuries.
In 2001, Ultimate Fighting Championship was sold to a man named Dana White. Mr. White’s plan was to clean up MMA’s image by regulating the fights. His plan worked. Since the UFC started working with state sporting commissions it has grown into a worldwide business that has transformed MMA into a global phenomenon. Dangerous strikes and tactics have been eliminated. The level of athleticism has increased thereby decreasing the chance of injury.
Supporters of the sport claim that boxing is more dangerous yet it enjoys the privilege of the entire country’s acceptance. The logic is that boxing matches can last up to 12 rounds and allows fighters to take hundreds of headshots. The affects of brain trauma due to repetitive strikes are evident in the life of Muhammad Ali, a legend of the sport who suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
“I don’t understand why boxing has been around and has been allowed to be practiced for years yet MMA [in] every state has their little laws about it,” said Shores. “I just think it’s very hypocritical.”
Mr. Shores is alluding to the perception that the New York State Boxing Commission plays a major role in keeping MMA illegal in New York City. Many people believe that the commission is scared to lose its fan base to MMA.
Supporters of the sport say New York City would benefit financially if fights were allowed in major arenas like Madison Square Garden. “New York City would make a ton of money if MMA was legal here. People would come from all over the world to see fights and they would stay after and spend money in hotels and retail stores,” said Aaron Fisher, a trainer at Camp Undefeated.
Others say that if New York and the few remaining states allow MMA, the sport would become unified and a proper fighting commission would regulate it. “The more regulated the more rules there are…the easier to control “so called violence’,” said Mr. Laszlo.
“I want to emphasize this it’s not about the aggression,” Mr. Laszlo said about the sports goals. “MMA is like a physical chess game.”
Mr. Shores shares a similar point of view. “Once you understand the game you see how technical and methodical it is.”