Has anyone else notice people trying to become fighters around their area?

[timmothy84]

I am not trashing people going in to MMA, but around my area which is southern ohio there has been a big urge of people trying to become cage fighters. Local shows are popping up everywhere at local schools, colleges, and gyms. I know of a few guys I went to school with who will be fighting in the near future with less than a few months of training. IMO I just don't think this is good for the sport. One example in my area that I hread was a guy that came out of the stands and fought in his rocky boots and jeans agianst a Kickboxer. It is just a matter of time before some local show claims a life. I was just wondering if this is happening around the country or the world. It's not uncommon to go to to a bar around my area and see guys saying they are a full contact fighter for a living. :) It's just becoming a little silly and embarrassing to hear it. Has anyone else notice this?

[heckyl]

its just that people see an opportunity. those not qualified will be weeded out. i would hope it doesnt result in a death or serious injury, but i dont see a real way to stop people from trying either.

[Chewbaca Joe]

"Has anyone else notice people trying to become fighters around their area?"

We are in the middle of a full blown fad. Of course every American on this board has seen what you are asking about. Probably folks from other countries as well.

[heckyl]

"Has anyone else notice people trying to become fighters around their area?"

We are in the middle of a full blown fad. Of course every American on this board has seen what you are asking about. Probably folks from other countries as well.

ill fight you Joe!

[Chewbaca Joe]

Sweet! The Tapout guys said they'd drive me down there and let me paint anything I want on my shorts! I can't wait to hang out with "Punkass"!

And beat up heckyl in an American Legion hall in front of 65 people. HAY IT'S A LIVING

[heckyl]

look out for my flying d'arce choke. im not saying im gonna land it. just look out for it.

=x

[machsaku]

it's happening in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri for sure. events taking place in a conference room at a 65 room hotel.

[miscmisc]

I doubt that's happening anywhere else. I presume it's a purely American phenomenon.

I don't think that's a good thing at all. In fact, a horrible thing.

[Chewbaca Joe]

I'm with you. I'm an obvious fan of the sport but what we've got going on with this fad is the stupidest shit ever. You should've seen all the lame t-shirts, hoodies and attitudes at the BJJ tournament yesterday.

[miscmisc]

I wish I could see all the stuff that's happening over there. Sounds real intriguing. I was in the US pretty recently, but it was such a short stay that I didn't have time to even get out of NYC.

Do you think it's just a "fad", Joe? There is something pretty addictive about this "real fight" shit. I don't know if you just have a problem with those lame people (which is unavoidable if you have any sort of fad), or if you have a problem with kids using the sport as an excuse to release their frustration/general angst. I'd have a problem with both. I'd have a problem with it if kids start doing MMA like they play baseball. That would actually make people like me who pontificated about the "legitimacy" of the "sport" for such a long-ass time kind of look silly. I'd feel like taking all those things that I said back, to be honest.

[timmothy84]

All it takes is a person getting a serious injury or even death at a local show and the media will go after it like blood in a shark cage. I mean MMA should have an official amateur division with more rules than the professionals divisions have. Have some sort of head, and shin wear for the fighters at the amateur level to decrease the risk of injury. Maybe thicker gloves or something.

[Titan]

I doubt that's happening anywhere else. I presume it's a purely American phenomenon.

I don't think that's a good thing at all. In fact, a horrible thing.

In Sweden, they'd not get permission to arrange local MMA events. It's difficult enough as it is on a national level to get it. I have, however, seen a huge amount of people that started taking MMA classes here locally. They're typically in the age 18-20. There's more people than I've ever seen previous seasons, and asking them, they pretty much all say they got interested because of the new movies like Never Back Down. Those movies got them interested in training and UFC and all that.

I suppose in some places, they skip the training part and jump right to the "cagefighting" part. :-)

[Global Honored]

Cage Fighting in 2008 > TaeKwonDo in 1988?

[Chewbaca Joe]

I suppose in some places, they skip the training part and jump right to the "cagefighting" part. :-)

EXACTLY the problem with the fad as applied to the participatory part of the deal. Example: Guy thinks he's tough and wanders in to unscrupulous MMA gym that just happens to be owned by an unscrupulous promoter. Kid is starstruck with the local talent and allows himself to be used as a punching bag for a couple months. He knows that MMA is the best thing you could ever do no matter what so he knows he should fight. Unscrupulous promoter man says "Hey kid, you got talent. You're ready to rock. They got the perfect guy for you over in Shelbyville and you're gonna get in that cage and throttle him. You train (ie: get beat up by) with (insert local talent/nationally famous name here) every day! Who do you think he's working with over there? That's right (insert name of guy from the next smaller town that 'everybody knows' is a bum) and he sucks. Plus you'll get a hundred and fifty bucks! This is a no brainer." Then the guy gets fed to a shark that breaks his teeth and jaw. Which then requires several surgeries and several years to (sort of) fix.

This has happened. It will happen again in a town near you (USA people) soon. It's fucking lame. And the problem is that people have no idea what martial arts are, let alone what it means to mix them up. And then they run into guys like the gym owner/promoter mentioned above (true story, you've all heard this guy's name) who tell them what it is but it's just all wrong. And then the wrong image gets glorified and promoted and you get kids (and adults unfortunately) that want to fight like Anderson Silva but go around behaving like Leben.

I meant to reply to miscmisc right now too but I've got people coming over in a minute. I'll be back.

[unicorn]

When K-1 started to be featured on tv in my place you could count out easy who was not becoming a fighter in my place - probably my mom (aged 75 at the time) and people in her "league". All the rest were either fighting or promoting. Admitting you have nothing more to do with K-1 than being a watcher was kinda shameful, it was like stating "I am not an alpha male". It lasted a couple of years, with the worst part of the bubble swelling in 2005. Nowadays all is so nice and smooth that, as a friend said, "It's almost not funny anymore", haha.

[Jarzi]

All it takes is a person getting a serious injury or even death at a local show and the media will go after it like blood in a shark cage. I mean MMA should have an official amateur division with more rules than the professionals divisions have. Have some sort of head, and shin wear for the fighters at the amateur level to decrease the risk of injury. Maybe thicker gloves or something.

In Finland we have pretty established system. Fights are either under Shooto or Finnish MMA federation rules which both require certain amount of amateur fights (headgear, shin guards, shorter rounds, no punching on the ground etc.) before being allowed to fight real MMA.

Of course there is no way to enforce anything but practically every event I remember in past few years has operated under either organizations rules.

[Atze]

In germany its comming but will never get big.
The scene here is one of the worst worldwide. Criminals, neonazis and other scum make up the majority of the spectators. Groundfighting gets boo'd right away because people dont understand it at all. They want to see blood and people getting hurt, preferably standing up. MAX was a cheap copy of TUF and it flopped hard. The same tough guy, slutty girl image the ufc sucessfully sells but with even less class.
At grappling tournaments you start to see the affliction shirts and my team starts pissing ourselves because its so ridiculous. Lots of lame, seen before tattoos at those events too.

[koquerelle]

The same thing seems to be happening in Montreal too. Seeing guys like GSP, The Crow and Horodecki make good money certainly convinced many people mma was the way to go.

TKO even had something similar to Kimbo. An ex-hockey goon with no mma experience became a headliner. Shit like that makes some people think they can step in a ring and be the next champion.

[Soulrise]

There's definitely an increase in people training to become fighters around where I live (Bay Area, California). I think it should be an expected growing pain for the sport. If you look at any of the 3 major sports in the U.S. (American football, basketball, and baseball) all three have major participation from amateurs who don't have a chance in hell at ever making it as a professional but still strive for that level out of sheer hope, desperation, or delusion.

As MMA becomes more popular and more folks are exposed to the sport, I think there will naturally be more people who want to get involved. Let's just hope that the surge in participation is handled responsibly.

[Grant Ellis]

We have guys with tapout stickers on their trucks slamming on the breaks, getting out, and challenging my friends and I to fights.

IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN!

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!

[machsaku]

We have guys with tapout stickers on their trucks slamming on the breaks, getting out, and challenging my friends and I to fights.

IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN!

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!

I didn't know you lived in Iowa....

[timmothy84]

I just hope the fans don't turn out to be like Redneck Nascar fans. But that is what it feels like.

[gols]

We have guys with tapout stickers on their trucks slamming on the breaks, getting out, and challenging my friends and I to fights.

IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN!

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!

Seriously? What do you do?

[Grant Ellis]

http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/img/facepalm.jpeg

... then keep driving

[miscmisc]

I meant to reply to miscmisc right now too but I've got people coming over in a minute. I'll be back.

I've been kind of waiting for your reply, Joe... :)

I advocated the legitimacy of MMA on the condition that it is not for everybody. Far from being for everybody. It should be basically for a certain type of geeks. Geeks with physical ability, who are prepared to be really, really into it and have a great deal of common sense.

I'm not even one of those who are qualified under MY regulations.

I can't endorse this movement of legitimate sport = everyone participates in it, precisely because I know how attractive MMA is to many kids, and how dangerous MMA actually is regardless of what they say or WHAT I SAID for all these years. I think I know American kids, which is precisely why I foamed at my mouth trying to sell MMA to so many people over there saying that it would be such a massive, massive hit in the US if marketed properly. It either has already happened or is happening, and although my contribution on practical terms was zero compared to Spike TV and the UFC, I almost feel as if I was a Dr. Frankenstein.

What do you think of this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/sports/othersports/18mma.html?hp

I think it's fantastic. But at the same time, I'm a wee bit scared.

[miscmisc]

In Sweden, they'd not get permission to arrange local MMA events. It's difficult enough as it is on a national level to get it. I have, however, seen a huge amount of people that started taking MMA classes here locally. They're typically in the age 18-20. There's more people than I've ever seen previous seasons, and asking them, they pretty much all say they got interested because of the new movies like Never Back Down. Those movies got them interested in training and UFC and all that.

Damn, there is something wrong with your country's education system, which everybody says is brilliant, if those horrific movies can influence so many! lol

As for my country, Fight Club had so much influence on so many people, because when that movie came out, MMA in an organized form was already here. But at least that was a bloody good movie, lol.

[Ookami Shippou]

I know so many kids from HS, most of whom never did any sports, now doing MMA.
I'm in Pennsylvania, and Amateur MMA just got legalized here. However, these kids are going to New Jersey, where they are holding events almost every week.

It becomes a case like what Chewbacca Joe mentioned, except the only guy getting paid is the promoter because it's Amateur. So many events are letting these kids who train out of their garages fight. You know something's wrong when an 18 year old kid comes in and his two cornermen are his buddies (who probably arent even 18). In New Jersey, you need 5 amateur fights and you can go pro. I know one scrub who's trying to do this. Last I heard, he fought in Virginia, got KTFO and they had to put him on oxygen.

I have nothing against small gyms and clubs popping up, as long as they're operated by people who know what they're doing. And not everybody can be trained by world-class fighters, so if the trainers have some sort of legit martial arts background and are competing to gain experience, why not? More power to them.

[Atze]

^That is nothing new. Dont you guys remember those KOTC guys with Streetfighting as style who had casual shoes on?

[Ookami Shippou]

Shad Smith

I wonder what he's up to

[MZN]

Shad Smith

I wonder what he's up to

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/magazine/23martial-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&th&emc=th

About half a year old. Read all seven pages, and be amazed. It covers both Shad Smith and this topic....