‘MMA is our generation’
By Jessica Brown
Although it’s still illegal in many states, local trainers and fighters say the sport of mixed martial arts is more popular than ever, and will soon overshadow more traditional forms of fighting.
“Boxing is your grandfather’s sport,” said Scott Rose, a professional fighter who has studied mixed martial arts for nearly 20 years. “MMA is our generation. In five years or so, we’ll rival stuff like the Super Bowl for audiences.”
The sport found popularity in the U.S. after the first Ultimate Fighting Championship was televised on pay-per-view in 1993, but its history dates back thousands of years.
The birth of MMA is widely attributed to the Greek, who called it “pankration.” The World Pankration Federation’s Web site says it “was considered the ultimate combat sport of ancient Greece” and was used to train armies in hand-to-hand fighting.
Modern-day MMA fighters train using techniques from boxing (including kickboxing and Muay Thai), wrestling (including Greco-Roman and Judo) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to get ready for competition. They’re considered some of the fittest athletes in the world, but Rose said many spectators still think of MMA as nothing more than a “blood sport.”
“We try very slowly to educate them,” he said. “There are pages and pages of rules that we have to follow.”
“They’re just uniformed or misinformed,” Rose added.
Nonetheless, he said the situation has improved for fighters since the 1990s, when the U.S. public got its first glimpse of MMA.
“Fifteen years ago when this stuff really started in North America, it was illegal everywhere. It was more of a spectacle,” Rose said.
He said the sport is still being perfected, but is becoming more widely accepted as it gets more media coverage.
“It looks like fun,” Rose said. “The more people are becoming aware of it, the more they want to try it out.”
Last December, Rose, 27, competed in the first-ever professional cage fight in Tijuana, Mexico.
In a cage match, two fighters compete inside a metal cage that somewhat resembles a boxing ring in size. In professional competitions, a cage cannot exceed 32 square feet, whereas a boxing ring cannot exceed 24 square feet, according to the World Boxing Association’s Web site. As in boxing, fights are monitored by a referee, who stays inside the cage at all times to stop the fight if one fighter becomes unable to properly defend himself.
Fighter Jonathan Romero, 31, of Oceanside, was set to fight Rose in a cage match April 14 in Tijuana. An injury sidelined Rose, but at press time Romero was scheduled to face Brazilian fighter Iure Silva Leal instead.
Romero, who began studying martial arts when he was 8 years old, says announcers and television programmers often make televised fights more dramatic to entertain viewers.
“I don’t think it’s a blood sport. We have rules in place,” he said. “But in televised fights it’s more of a show because that’s what the crowd wants to see.”
Rose said although televised fights are good for showing people how competitions are won or lost, there is much more to MMA than beating people up and winning titles.
“There’s a lot of technique and a lot of training,” he said. “In a lot of situations it’s as much about heart as anything.”
Marshall Hamil, who teaches MMA in Carlsbad and Encinitas, said he agrees with Rose. He said the sport is attractive because almost anyone with a good work ethic can be competitive.
“Certainly talent is involved,” Hamil said, “but you don’t have to be the biggest or the smartest guy out there. If you wanna do it, you can.”
Hamil, who fought professionally for six years, won an International Kickboxing Association Heavyweight Championship in 1998. He said MMA is definitely on the rise, and will only continue to grow as more people learn about it.
“I think it could really take off and take over traditional boxing,” he said. “I think people are starting to realize that it’s here to stay.”
Romero said Rose and Hamil are right.
“It’s got no place to go but up,” Romero said. “It’s unbelievable how much it’s already grown. It’s only going to continue to grow.”
Hamil, who has trained and fought for nearly 30 years, said he hopes to see more changes as the sport goes mainstream.
“What I’d really like to see is announcing the score after each round,” he said. “I think it would be helpful to fighters and to the trainers who are telling their guys to hold on, that they’re winning the fight.”
Rose said such a scoring system is on the way.
“I have no doubt that will happen as the sport progresses,” he said.
Under the current system, most MMA fights are decided by three judges. The judges award 10 points to the winner of each round, and the loser of the round can receive nine points or less. In most cases, three rounds are fought, but certain title fights are sanctioned for five rounds. The score is not announced until the fight is over.
In addition to the scoring changes, Rose said corporate sponsorship and better pay for fighters are on the horizon as well.
“The fighting sports haven’t really started paying people enough so it can be our livelihood,” Rose said. “One of the most interesting thing about mixed martial artists is 95 percent of us work nine to five.”
But Rose, who recently spent eight months in Thailand perfecting his defensive techniques, said his reasons for studying MMA don’t include making a fortune anyway.
“It has to do with testing myself and constantly trying to improve myself,” he said. “I’ve found something I have a passion for and I feel obligated to do it.”
Rose isn’t the only fighter who is driven by more than the salary.
“I’ve always loved competition,” said Romero, who posted a 23-0 record as an amateur fighter. “MMA gives me the chance to go out and prove to myself and everyone else that the style of martial arts I study is superior to the rest.”
Romero said he wants people to know mixed martial artists are not bloodthirsty fighters, but ordinary people who practice the sport as a way to push themselves harder in life. “Normally when I’m out at a pub or something and I tell people I’m a cage fighter, I get the looks like ‘you gotta be kidding me. You don’t strike me as that kind of person.’
“But what most people don’t know is we’re genuinely nice people,” Romero said. “We’re businesspeople and college grads who are successful at what we do, just like anyone else.”
JUNE 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
A Need Indeed
If you saw the ultimate Fighting Championships on Spike TV for free on Saturday, September 8th, 2007, you should be happy that you didn’t pony up any money for a pay-per-view card. Yes, there were some good fights. Yes, the fighters are talented and entertaining. And yes, the fight game is far from being truthful and forthcoming. We need a scoreboard. I have been saying this for years. If there is some sort of legacy that I could leave to a sport that I have given my life to, it would be having a scoreboard posting the judge’s results after each round.
Matt Hamill was robbed. He beat Michael Bisbing like a bothersome little step-brother. It wasn’t even close. Hamill had better stand-up and ground skills. But because the fights were in the United Kingdom, the judges gave the fight to Bisbing, the local hero. It was a disgrace. What other sports allow for such a biased and intrusive outcome? Well, figure skating comes to mind. Remember the scandal at the Olympics with the pair from Canada?
Back in 1999, I had a fighter in the Light Heavyweight Division of The International Kickboxing Association. He was fighting for a title in California and the five scheduled rounds were a bloodbath. The guy’s name was Derek “The Tornado” Galanis and he was fighting Isiah “Cornrow” Savage. Although Savage was a really tough guy and had beaten Galanis by knockout in the first round earlier in the year, this particular fight belonged to Galanis. He had won all four rounds handily going into the fifth and final round.
In the corner I reminded Derek that he was winning and not to do anything foolish. I told him to play with Savage, keeping a nice jab in his face and continuing to use a push-kick to keep him at bay. There was no reason to go for a knockout or try to earn more points with fancy spinning moves like Derek favored with his spinning back heel kick. During the competition, with about a minute to go, Derek landed wrong on his left foot following a push-kick. He spent the remainder of the round hobbling around the ring while Isiah tried to knock him out.
Well, the judges thought that somehow Savage had hurt Galanis and they awarded the decision to him. I couldn’t believe it. We were jobbed in the worst way and wrote a letter of protest to the California Athletic Commission. The problem was that we were in the hometown of Savage, just like Hamill was in the hometown of Bisbing. Scoreboards tell the truth, judges don’t. Even if a judge is practicing some funny business, the fighter and the cornermen would know what to expect in the latter rounds after seeing a score posted previously.
It is wrong to job and rob a fighter of his effort and skill. A scoreboard posting following each round would let the competitor know what they had to do to overcome blind eyes of bad judges. Derek “The Tornado” Galanis remembers his being robbed daily, and I’m sure that Matt “The Hammer” Hamill does too.
Matt Hamill was robbed. He beat Michael Bisbing like a bothersome little step-brother. It wasn’t even close. Hamill had better stand-up and ground skills. But because the fights were in the United Kingdom, the judges gave the fight to Bisbing, the local hero. It was a disgrace. What other sports allow for such a biased and intrusive outcome? Well, figure skating comes to mind. Remember the scandal at the Olympics with the pair from Canada?
Back in 1999, I had a fighter in the Light Heavyweight Division of The International Kickboxing Association. He was fighting for a title in California and the five scheduled rounds were a bloodbath. The guy’s name was Derek “The Tornado” Galanis and he was fighting Isiah “Cornrow” Savage. Although Savage was a really tough guy and had beaten Galanis by knockout in the first round earlier in the year, this particular fight belonged to Galanis. He had won all four rounds handily going into the fifth and final round.
In the corner I reminded Derek that he was winning and not to do anything foolish. I told him to play with Savage, keeping a nice jab in his face and continuing to use a push-kick to keep him at bay. There was no reason to go for a knockout or try to earn more points with fancy spinning moves like Derek favored with his spinning back heel kick. During the competition, with about a minute to go, Derek landed wrong on his left foot following a push-kick. He spent the remainder of the round hobbling around the ring while Isiah tried to knock him out.
Well, the judges thought that somehow Savage had hurt Galanis and they awarded the decision to him. I couldn’t believe it. We were jobbed in the worst way and wrote a letter of protest to the California Athletic Commission. The problem was that we were in the hometown of Savage, just like Hamill was in the hometown of Bisbing. Scoreboards tell the truth, judges don’t. Even if a judge is practicing some funny business, the fighter and the cornermen would know what to expect in the latter rounds after seeing a score posted previously.
It is wrong to job and rob a fighter of his effort and skill. A scoreboard posting following each round would let the competitor know what they had to do to overcome blind eyes of bad judges. Derek “The Tornado” Galanis remembers his being robbed daily, and I’m sure that Matt “The Hammer” Hamill does too.
The Mentality of a Fighter
As a former kickboxing practitioner who was lucky enough to win a heavyweight title belt, I have found a few things that successful fighters have in common. I now coach many men, women, and children, both amateurs and professionals, and although each may have a different style of fighting, they all have the same temperament if they are winners. I sat down with some fighters recently and discovered many similarities. This created an opportunity for me to write about something I love and to dispel some myths.
Of the five people that were involved in the discussion, four had college degrees and one was presently attending Loyola University. That cemented the fact that not all fighters are meathead dropouts for me. I’m not saying that college is for everyone, nor that one must attend school to be successful, but that perception prevails in America and most people think that fighters are a little dense from getting their brains rattled.
I also found the fighter’s other occupations interesting. One man was a teacher, another a children’s behavioral counselor, another a commodities broker, the woman in the group was a physical therapist, and the college student was majoring in dance choreography. Their interests were varied but their collective hearts were swollen with a love of competing in the ring.
Each of us in the discussion had trained earlier in the day. It is something that we need to feel alive. Anyone can stand in front of a mirror and look tough punching and kicking. Most anyone can run or hit a heavy bag. Most everyone should be able to do some push-ups or sit-ups. But when you talk to real fighters about their training regimens, the diversity and complexity is fascinating.
The first thing to understand is that a fighter is expected to perform at a high level for multiple rounds. This can range from a few rounds for an amateur to twice that many for a professional. So this involves an amazing capacity to endure punishment and a tremendous desire to win. Training involves a great deal of sparring. I have always said that you are only as good as your sparring partners. If you train with a bunch of chumps, chances are that you will fight like a chump.
Fighting is not for the light-hearted. You are going to get hit and it hurts. That was another common thread with the people that I talked with, the ability to withstand pain. I don’t mean in a masochistic way, but in a sense of trial by fire, enduring what one must to achieve their goal. It’s a sense of knowing that when you step up on the stage, you feel that you have trained harder, smarter, and are willing to give more than your opponent.
If you have never been punched, kicked, head-locked, etc. the best way that I describe the feeling is sprinting until your lungs feel like they want to burst and stopping suddenly to catch your breath. But when you are fighting there is no stopping. Every bit of contact takes something out of you and you have to will yourself forward with your conditioning and pride.
I can teach someone a jab or round kick or spinning back elbow or rear naked choke, but I can’t teach someone how to have a good chin. You either have one or you don’t. You will get hit, it will hurt, and whether or not you can hang in there is genetics or will. Fighting is not for everyone assuredly, but it is an art form and the athletes are not only in exceptional physical condition, moreover they are mentally tough. The best example I can think of is the upset of Mike Tyson by Buster Douglas. Tyson had a bunch of his friends in the corner that fateful night in Japan, not professional corner-men. If you have ever seen that fight, when his so-called “trainer” is talking to him, he kisses Tyson on the lips! I have worked hundreds of corners and you have a minute to administer water, advice, and solace, but there is no time for kissing a fighter when the other person is trying to knock them out.
A fighter fights because they can, and because they love to. And because it is the purest form of expression that they know.
Of the five people that were involved in the discussion, four had college degrees and one was presently attending Loyola University. That cemented the fact that not all fighters are meathead dropouts for me. I’m not saying that college is for everyone, nor that one must attend school to be successful, but that perception prevails in America and most people think that fighters are a little dense from getting their brains rattled.
I also found the fighter’s other occupations interesting. One man was a teacher, another a children’s behavioral counselor, another a commodities broker, the woman in the group was a physical therapist, and the college student was majoring in dance choreography. Their interests were varied but their collective hearts were swollen with a love of competing in the ring.
Each of us in the discussion had trained earlier in the day. It is something that we need to feel alive. Anyone can stand in front of a mirror and look tough punching and kicking. Most anyone can run or hit a heavy bag. Most everyone should be able to do some push-ups or sit-ups. But when you talk to real fighters about their training regimens, the diversity and complexity is fascinating.
The first thing to understand is that a fighter is expected to perform at a high level for multiple rounds. This can range from a few rounds for an amateur to twice that many for a professional. So this involves an amazing capacity to endure punishment and a tremendous desire to win. Training involves a great deal of sparring. I have always said that you are only as good as your sparring partners. If you train with a bunch of chumps, chances are that you will fight like a chump.
Fighting is not for the light-hearted. You are going to get hit and it hurts. That was another common thread with the people that I talked with, the ability to withstand pain. I don’t mean in a masochistic way, but in a sense of trial by fire, enduring what one must to achieve their goal. It’s a sense of knowing that when you step up on the stage, you feel that you have trained harder, smarter, and are willing to give more than your opponent.
If you have never been punched, kicked, head-locked, etc. the best way that I describe the feeling is sprinting until your lungs feel like they want to burst and stopping suddenly to catch your breath. But when you are fighting there is no stopping. Every bit of contact takes something out of you and you have to will yourself forward with your conditioning and pride.
I can teach someone a jab or round kick or spinning back elbow or rear naked choke, but I can’t teach someone how to have a good chin. You either have one or you don’t. You will get hit, it will hurt, and whether or not you can hang in there is genetics or will. Fighting is not for everyone assuredly, but it is an art form and the athletes are not only in exceptional physical condition, moreover they are mentally tough. The best example I can think of is the upset of Mike Tyson by Buster Douglas. Tyson had a bunch of his friends in the corner that fateful night in Japan, not professional corner-men. If you have ever seen that fight, when his so-called “trainer” is talking to him, he kisses Tyson on the lips! I have worked hundreds of corners and you have a minute to administer water, advice, and solace, but there is no time for kissing a fighter when the other person is trying to knock them out.
A fighter fights because they can, and because they love to. And because it is the purest form of expression that they know.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Another Opinion
Down Goes Michael Vick
It was inevitable. Dog fighting is not tolerated in a country that spends billions, yes, billions of dollars on their pets. (See, the Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley leaving ten million dollars to a dog in her will).
What does this say about our society? We tolerate horses being whipped to the finish line with cold hard steel in their mouths and a jockey kicking and screaming on their backs; and we call it the sport of kings.
We tolerate rodeos where every animal is kicked or strangled or slapped or punched and we televise it as humane.
We have whole television channels devoted to hunting and fishing. There are grown men hiding in the ground to blast geese out of the sky as they lure them with decoys and fake calls. There are grown men hiding in trees with deer urine lathering their bodies as they wait to shoot a big buck at two hundred yards. And we give Michael Vick grief because he fought dogs? Oh, or because he executed dogs with no lust for fighting?
Turn on your televisions again ye hypocrites. Watch those crashes in NASCAR. Watch those classic knockouts in boxing. See a guy get beaned on purpose in baseball. Laugh as a player gets knocked silly in football. Enjoy the hockey players dropping their gloves to make a statement. See a slap-fest on every possession in basketball.
Then tune in and enjoy all of those fishing shows. Yeah, sure, catch and release. How about I hook you in the mouth and drag you underwater and stay there talking while you gasp for oxygen? Please don’t kid me about what is humane in our society.
I own two Pit Bulls. I don’t actively fight them, but I have seen them defend themselves and they know what they are doing. They have also defended my family and I appreciate that. I have no desire to roll them for money or to prove anything. But I do know that pound for pound that they are the best at what they do. I own them because they fear no dog.
As a much younger man I used to fight in the ring. Training required dark early morning runs in unsavory neighborhoods where I lived at the time. After being attacked by a Great Dane, I bought a Pit Bull, and will never own a different breed.
So yes, I have made an active choice to fight man on man in the ring. I have won and lost. We shook hands afterward and many times shared pitchers of beer. My eldest son plays hockey and I have seen him fight on the ice. My younger son plays football and practices MMA and I have seen him take a beating as well as administer one. My wife yells at me from spitting distance almost daily. The point is that we are a violent society. Nature is inherently violent.
To crucify Michael Vick might just be considered a hate crime. Don’t think for a moment that this might not be racially motivated. Whoopi Goldberg, Emmitt Smith, and Stephon Marbury have stood up for Vick. I guarantee you that if Brett Favre had been fighting dogs as a good old boy in the South, things would be different. I also guarantee that more white folk fight dogs than black folk do.
I don’t care that people fight dogs. If a dog has no try in him, he’ll lie down right away and the fight is over in my opinion. Yes, dog fighting is a felony in all but two states in the Union, Wyoming and Idaho, go figure. The fact remains that we are humans born of bloodlust. We crave competition, often to the death, even if we don’t admit it. I just think that it’s wrong that the hypocritical American public is crucifying Michael Vick.
It was inevitable. Dog fighting is not tolerated in a country that spends billions, yes, billions of dollars on their pets. (See, the Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley leaving ten million dollars to a dog in her will).
What does this say about our society? We tolerate horses being whipped to the finish line with cold hard steel in their mouths and a jockey kicking and screaming on their backs; and we call it the sport of kings.
We tolerate rodeos where every animal is kicked or strangled or slapped or punched and we televise it as humane.
We have whole television channels devoted to hunting and fishing. There are grown men hiding in the ground to blast geese out of the sky as they lure them with decoys and fake calls. There are grown men hiding in trees with deer urine lathering their bodies as they wait to shoot a big buck at two hundred yards. And we give Michael Vick grief because he fought dogs? Oh, or because he executed dogs with no lust for fighting?
Turn on your televisions again ye hypocrites. Watch those crashes in NASCAR. Watch those classic knockouts in boxing. See a guy get beaned on purpose in baseball. Laugh as a player gets knocked silly in football. Enjoy the hockey players dropping their gloves to make a statement. See a slap-fest on every possession in basketball.
Then tune in and enjoy all of those fishing shows. Yeah, sure, catch and release. How about I hook you in the mouth and drag you underwater and stay there talking while you gasp for oxygen? Please don’t kid me about what is humane in our society.
I own two Pit Bulls. I don’t actively fight them, but I have seen them defend themselves and they know what they are doing. They have also defended my family and I appreciate that. I have no desire to roll them for money or to prove anything. But I do know that pound for pound that they are the best at what they do. I own them because they fear no dog.
As a much younger man I used to fight in the ring. Training required dark early morning runs in unsavory neighborhoods where I lived at the time. After being attacked by a Great Dane, I bought a Pit Bull, and will never own a different breed.
So yes, I have made an active choice to fight man on man in the ring. I have won and lost. We shook hands afterward and many times shared pitchers of beer. My eldest son plays hockey and I have seen him fight on the ice. My younger son plays football and practices MMA and I have seen him take a beating as well as administer one. My wife yells at me from spitting distance almost daily. The point is that we are a violent society. Nature is inherently violent.
To crucify Michael Vick might just be considered a hate crime. Don’t think for a moment that this might not be racially motivated. Whoopi Goldberg, Emmitt Smith, and Stephon Marbury have stood up for Vick. I guarantee you that if Brett Favre had been fighting dogs as a good old boy in the South, things would be different. I also guarantee that more white folk fight dogs than black folk do.
I don’t care that people fight dogs. If a dog has no try in him, he’ll lie down right away and the fight is over in my opinion. Yes, dog fighting is a felony in all but two states in the Union, Wyoming and Idaho, go figure. The fact remains that we are humans born of bloodlust. We crave competition, often to the death, even if we don’t admit it. I just think that it’s wrong that the hypocritical American public is crucifying Michael Vick.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Sometimes....
I wonder what awaits one after their death. I have an opinion for myself, hence my profile for this blog. I believe that we are all carbon fodder in the energy continuum...(Copyright Hamil 2007)
I don't know your joy but I believe that I can understand your pain.
Pain is relative.
I don't know your joy but I believe that I can understand your pain.
Pain is relative.
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