The Life of MMA in the UK

The first Mixed Martial Arts even to be held in the UK was organised by Lee Hasdell in 1997, since this event UK MMA has been at a stand still until recently then the likes of Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy and Grant Hathaway have made massive strides into the UFC. Although the Uk seem to be a million miles away from the US in terms of events and awareness of the sport itself, that’s what we need to remember MMA is a sport and produces some of the greatest athletes but still in the UK its seen as a brutal sport for the thugs of a generation…how wrong those people are if they had a chance to come down to any local gym and spent time with the coaches and the fighters your see some of the finest athletes in the UK and most dedicated coaches around.

A major probably we have in the UK regarding MMA in general is providing facilities for training and events, any landlord or council staff that hear the words Mixed Martial Arts assume were all be there bare knuckle boxing for money, recently my coach has purchased a unit and has had a number of problems getting starting due to the Council claiming it’s a bad influence and will take away jobs in the area, if anything it will supply jobs and get a lot of kids off the street and using there energy more constructively.

Also we lose a lot of good fighters due to the lack of funding, if you don’t fight at the UFC in the UK you need a full-time job so a lot of fighters have trouble juggling the two together its hard enough getting punched in the head let alone after a 10 hour day in the office, if the Uk want to make the same strides that have been made in America people are going to have to stand by the sport and starting backing it, its one of the biggest sports in the world now and destroying most other combat based sports standing in its way. There is a lot of events run in the UK like UCMMA, Extreme Brawl, Adrenalin FC and BAMMA all these events show case all the up and coming fighters in the UK but have trouble keeping them once they have shown the skills to move up and take on the world, Why cant the UK be in the position to attract the worlds best? We are turning into a production line for the big events. This sport shouldn’t be behind closed doors these events should be televised every weekend and fought in the biggest venues in the UK, we shouldn’t have to wait for the UFC to come back we should be looking forward to our big events not looking out for local events advertised on fish and chip shop doors!...MMA is a major part of a lot of peoples lives and with the right backing we can compete with America and Japan, we could have the next GSP and Anderson Silva’s fighting in small events in the UK complete unknowns because the UK are to scared to embrace one of the biggest sports around, a sport that could change a generation from “Miss-lead youths” to “Athletes”.

An issue that also needs to be addressed in the UK is the retail awareness, in my local area there is not one MMA shop the closest I have is a body building shop that sell the odd piece of tap-out clothing in large or extra large sizes, when it comes to the large fighting brands like Tap-out, silver star, full contact fighter etc the UK are missing out financially more then anything else not supply fighters in the UK with these brands send us onto the internet to import are own training equipment and clothing from the US or individual sites in the UK. In my local area I know over a hundred fighters weather it be MMA, K-1, BJJ or free style wrestlers and they all have the same issues with equipment, every town should have a MMA store I had family visit Las Vegas recently and luckily they brought me back plenty of training equipment and they told me all about the stores that are scattered around Vegas, I know it’s the “Home” of fighting and they obviously have a big history in providing some of the major fighting events on a regular basis and are expected to be the Mecca of MMA, but it couldn’t have always been like that? When did it turn from a small business into taking over the market and why can’t the UK follow suit?

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A sentence that makes me shudder every time I hear it “New MMA gym opening”. Over the past few months in the UK I have witnessed a large number of new MMA clubs starting due to the “Alex Reid Effect” the man is a gentleman and a warrior and has put MMA on the map in the UK more for his relationship then his fighting abilities, over the last few months I have visit a number of new gyms to my shock some of these MMA clubs are trading under false pretends advertising themselves as MMA clubs and solely teaching Karate or Tae- Kwando and NO ground game?. This becomes evident to the student when they decide to join another club, and try to spar with a trained MMA fighter and they get picked up and smashed to the ground and has no ground defence. I understand a lot of people would like to cash in on the buzz around a new sport but claiming to be an MMA club when you’re a Karate club is morally wrong.

At my club we have a lot of students between the age of 14-16 who complete regularly in K-1 and GI/NO GI events and they are taught correctly and safely, I’ve seen a transformation in a number of these kids strolling into the gym asking to be taught “Ground and Pound” and “Flying Arm-Bars” to well rounded athletes, I have a 2 year old daughter and nothing would make me happier then her wanting to learn BJJ or another martial art not just to stay fit and to keep her out of trouble but to teach her respect for others and discipline. In my eyes everyone should try it once because it’s a real eye opener my first experience with MMA was 9 years ago when I was training and there was a “Cage Fighter” training in the same gym and he gave me my first experience of Rolling. I’ve been hooked ever since and if im not training im watching it or reading about it, but that does not stop people assuming you’re an animal or a thug for doing it, every time I tell someone I do MMA they pull the same judgemental screwed up face and that normally follows “why would you do that?” and I normally answer with “because I love it, and so would you if your tried it”. The problem we have In the UK is the word Cage Fighter! It puts people off instantly but the thing is im not a Cage fighter…I don’t fight cages?... I’m a Mixed Martial Artist. I really think that if this sport was not fought in a cage and just solely in a ring it would be accepted into the family home with open arms. Unfortunately for the prudish majority its not it’s in a Cage and that’s where it will stay because that’s how god intended

In summary MMA in the UK is getting better and growing year by year thanks to a lot of hard work put in by local promoters and fight teams, and the rise of Michael Bisping into a major middleweight contender and Dan Hardys valiant efforts against GSP is attracting a lot of interest and creating a big fan base in the UK. Unfortunately in the UK MMA is acceptable as long as its keep at arms length away from the main stream sports events. Maybe Dana White will come to the UK and form a new organisation and blow the UK public away and there will be a huge UK organisation opening doors for up and coming fighters and new business opportunities for UK fight cloths designers like GnP clothes for fighters made by fighters.

We can always hope.

By Damien Shury
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer