The Triangle Choke: The Heart of MMA
The sport of MMA has grown exponentially since the first UFC event in 1993. However, it still isn’t woven into the fabric of American sport. Although mainstream coverage has increased, the sport is still viewed as barbaric and only for blood thirsty fans by the periphery. This may be true in a sense as many fans watch fights not for the technical side but for the violent knockouts. Is that any different than other sports? Many fans watch football for the hard hits on the gridiron and NASCAR for the collisions on the track. The fact is all major sports have and need a combination of both types of fans.
Why am I fan? I started with the early days of the UFC and was simply in awe of this small Brazilian named Royce Gracie. Gracie walked through the tournament using his Jiu-Jitsu skills to defeat much larger competitors from other disciplines. As time passed, I fell in love with the sport and stars such as Vitor Belfort, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and eventually Rich Franklin in the UFC as well as such icons such as Fedor and Wanderlei Silva in Pride. Although my knowledge of the sport was growing rapidly, I still didn’t know what I was missing. Then on a warm Saturday morning in July of 2008, my perspective changed.
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Danny Woodruff works on grappling |
Roger Bowling, who will compete in Strikeforce in the near future, invited me to Team Vision to cover the team and participate in some drills and sparring. I’ll leave the details of the drills and sparring out for pride reasons but what I witnessed that morning forever changed my view of the sport. I saw very talented athletes competing against each other and more importantly working together. To describe the gym they practiced in as small would be similar to describing Tiger Woods as promiscuous; yet despite the cramped quarters, the fighters bled and sweat together in the steam filled cage. To the fighters, a glamorous gym isn’t important-aesthetics mean little; what matters is getting better, competing and teamwork. Since that day I have covered all types of events and have visited many gyms. Often, like most things in life, it’s easy to forget what draws you to something, why you love something; you simply do what you’re doing without drawing on your emotions or your passion. Recently, my love and passion for the sport was reawakened.
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I visited a small, upstart gym in Maysville, KY known as Iron Fist Gym. There I met with Danny Woodruff, who has competed professionally. Danny told me what the plans were for the day and as I typically do, I sat back and observed from a distance as to not interfere. My goal is to feel what is going on while going unnoticed so the fighters can work in normal fashion. On that day, I watched young and hungry fighters working intently on their grappling. They helped each other up, gave pointers and no matter how exhausted they were they continued to give 100 percent. To them, it’s not about boastfulness, glory or selfishness, it’s about hard work, discipline and the team. Although when a fighter enters the cage in competition his success relies completely on his own actions, as all fighters know, their team is what got them there. For those of you not fortunate enough to see the heart of MMA, the actual event isn’t what the sport is all about instead it’s what goes on everyday in training. What I have found is that MMA is the most team based sport there is. Not only do mixed-martial artists treat their coaches and teammates with ultimate respect; they do the same for their opponents. What is the heart of MMA? It contains the kind of core values that all people could benefit from. The young men at the Iron Fist Gym epitomized the heart of MMA- discipline, respect and teamwork.
Parents, if you want your children to learn things that will be useful in all aspects of their life both presently and in the future - send them to your local MMA gym. Not only will they learn the core values previously mentioned but they will also benefit greatly from the conditioning aspect of the sport.
By Scott Dryden
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer & Editor-in-Chief