Uncaged!

June 15, 2008

Television executives took notice last year. More 18-35 year old males were paying closed circuit fees for mixed martial arts (MMA) than watching the World Series for free on major network TV.
By the time this article hits the stands, cage fighting will have made its major network debut on CBS. Locally, MMA bouts have been at the Leelanau Sands Casino and will be at the Kalkaska Kaliseum, June 21 at 8 p.m.
Cage fighting and mixed martial arts are synonymous. MMA started in a boxing ring. Then an additional rope was added to the ring in an attempt to keep the fighters from falling out of it. It was called “pride fighting” and became an instant success, filling stadiums in Japan.
The cage was developed in the United States at the turn of the century, and now fighters can stay in the fighting area and the country at the same time. The rules are simple. A fighter can win by submission (involving a series of chokes, arm bars and generally ‘crying uncle’). Submissions occur when the fighter taps out or the referee decides that the fighter has taken enough punishment.
Like boxing, the fighter can score a knock-out. In the event that a fight ends when the rounds are up, the judges issue a decision. There is no kicking or stomping when a fighter is down, no eye-gouging, no small joint manipulation, biting or head-butting. Knees, punches, kicks and chokes are permitted.
The real sign that MMA is here to stay appears in the form of gyms that are opening to train fighters for the cage. Northern Michigan is no exception. MMA fighters are training in Alpena, Indian River, Kalkaska, Traverse City and Gaylord.
“NWK (New World Karate) is booming,” says Larry Burns, father and partner to World Karate Champion Zack Burns. “We are busy working locally and networking globally.”

EXPLOSION OF INTEREST
Health clubs that normally cater to the middle and upper classes are entering the fray. Radio advertising for the Fitness Factor in Traverse City calls out to all those interested in MMA, to join “York Ash and Team Inferno,” who will be fighting at the Kaliseum next week.
Apparently, CBS executives weren’t the only people in the baseball business to invest in MMA. Premier Fitness in Traverse City not only has the biggest indoor baseball center in the north, but also has entered the MMA business. The sign “Swing Inc. Hard Locks MMA” hangs over the door of the baseball center as they await the mooing sound of the cash cow.
Martial arts schools and boxing gyms that developed MMA are overfilling with new students and the natural course of competition has evolved. As opposed to continuing with fighting and working full time jobs, former students are becoming teachers because interest in the sport has exploded.
“I think that it’s tough competing against former students, but at the same time it’s flattering to know that my knowledge lives longer than my life,” says Kevin Shoults, owner of Seng Ni Academy. Shoults is a ju-jitsu master and a fourth degree Tae Kwon Do black belt who has trained hundreds of students.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I retired from professional boxing in the mid ‘80s. In 1992 I got a call from a friend who instructed karate. He was going to try a mixed martial arts tournament and had a black belt student who wanted to test his skill against a boxer.
After knocking the karate fighter out in the second round, the positive result did nothing but reinforce my boxing elitism. When asked about the fight, I said, “It was easy. It was like shooting fish in a bucket.”
The truth of that fight wasn’t that boxing was superior to cage fighting, but that I was a better athlete than my opponent. In my mind, the fight was difficult. There’s so much going on in cage fighting that one’s peripheral vision must be a little wider than it is in boxing, and the footwork needs to be different.
I noticed something that was true about MMA then and today. Most bouts end before the allotted time expires, and this is good because most people don’t like judges or lawyers. When opposing styles conflict, it sometimes gets ugly, but it’s always stressful and entertaining.
The fights are bloodier than boxing.
GO DOWN SWINGING
The events of 9/11 changed my thinking in all areas of my life, including cage fighters. I started to think, “These MMA guys would do the heroic thing, just like a true fighter would. They would put up with a little blood and stop the terrorist armed only with box cutters, from hijacking a plane.”
What I teach about fighting goes like this: “If one is going down (and even if ‘down’ is synonymous with death), it is much better to go down swinging than to do nothing at all.”
This is the true nature of self-defense and this is what we teach. In that regard, I have found MMA fighters to be good students.
Mike Tyson accurately calls boxing “the hurt business” and his definition works for MMA too. My gym, Trigger Boxing, has been in the hurt business for years.
Boxing can be considered the rock-and-roll of American violence. Brutality that normally appalls us somehow becomes acceptable and even appealing. Brutality that was once only the property of pugilism has now transformed itself to cage fighting. It seems the post 9/11 age has replaced the rocker with the rapper and the boxer with the cage fighter.

WRESTLING ROOTS
Some cage fighters don’t get their start in a gym or the do-jo. They start wrestling in high school with the dream of NCAA wrestling. But today, wrestling scholarships are gone. In fact, since the advent of Title IX funding in the ’80s, only a couple of dozen colleges have competitive wrestling at all.
Yet, these wrestlers are intense athletes who have introduced the “ground and pound” technique to MMA.
Now, disenfranchised wrestlers have a home in the cage. They can join everyone else who is not big, quick and talented enough to play the guaranteed money sports of football and basketball. Their chance for glory lies in the wild world of MMA. Count on it: cage fighting will probably be around for a while.


Khaos @ The Kaliseum

Why are thousands of people attending live cage fights, while millions simultaneously are watching it on TV? Does the acceptance of mixed martial arts (MMA) mark the end of civilization?
I talked to some of these guys and their coaches training for their upcoming fights at the Kaliseum in Kalkaska on June 21.
Brook Fessenden, 27, is married and lives in Mesick with his wife and two kids Tristin, 9, and Kyan, 2. Brook works hard at his construction business and seems like a normal busy father. His kids sit on the floor in the gym with their toys as their dad whales away on the bag.
Why cage fighting?
“I can’t watch it without wanting to do it,” Fessenden says. With almost a religious conviction he adds, “Should have done it a long time ago.”
Chris Franks, 22, never finished high school at TC Central and now works full time. “I was never a team player and I like to compete,” he says.
Franks’ stand-up fighting has improved dramatically; combined with the knowledge of ju-jitsu that he learned at Seng Ni, he should be entertaining to watch at the upcoming fight.
Team Inferno has been in Traverse City for less than a year. The team is coached by professional MMA fighter York Ash. According to ESPN Sports, Ash has recorded 15 professional fights and has been involved in MMA for the last decade.
After watching the York Ash video on Youtube.com, it’s clear that York comes to fight. The way Ash puts his guys through training, it’s apparent that they will be fighting hard also. Justin Haughn is 5-1 in MMA. Rhyan Glezman, Brett Evans, Eric Myas, and Bill Stouffer are the other Team Inferno fighters who will be appearing on the June 21 card.
“Why do you want to do mixed martial arts?” I ask the fighters.
Most every one of them had the cliché answer; “It keeps me out of trouble.”
It would seem that if one were rational, then keeping away from fighting would be the logical answer. Maybe they realize that some ass whippings last longer than others. Prison can take years to recover from, and other troubles such as addiction last a lifetime. I think the real reason that everyone’s buzzing about it is because cage fighting is heroic. And after all, the world could sure use some more heroes.