Attending MMA Events

AlSalzman

Have you ever attended a live MMA event? Which organization? How was it?


I went to my first "live" event this weekend - not a PPV, an actual fight card. I'm not 100% clear on who was in charge of everything, but I believe that it was promoted by "Mad Wolf Promotions" and the actual fights were organized by a group known as "Art of War Fighting Championship." I think all the bouts were amateur, and there were a variety of bouts - 3min rounds, 5min rounds, and a couple of grappling-only matches (special guest ref... Chris Lytle! How cool would it be to have Chris Lytle to ref your first grappling match?).

I was pleasantly suprised... they'd rented out a large conference center at a local hotel and set the ring up in the middle. They'd hired professional caterers, a DJ, had an actual ringside doctor and EMS checking the fighters after each bout. It was all very well-done and above-board.

I'm wondering now if I had an unfairly low expectation because my former instructor used to mercilessly slag MMA every chance that he got.

istalkzombies

I've attended quite a few, Jeremy Horns Elite Fight shows and Showdown both local shows to Utah and got to see guys like Court McGee, Rad Martinez, Jordan Smith, Steve Siler, Travis Marx, Ty Lee, Shonie Carter and quite a few other guys compete and lots of special guests like Jens Pulver, Joe Riggs, Rich franklin, Matt Hughes the Tapout crew (including Mask) "Big" John McCarthy. The events are always well done here ive never been to a badly done one. I'd have to say the most embarrasing thing ive witnessed (other than people leaving once the main event is over and not staying to hear the fighters post match interviews) is when some kid obviously did little to no cardio training and puked about 3 minutes into the first round, I was like really dude?

AlSalzman

Yeah, that puking thing happened at this event... the guy I went to see grapple completely controlled his opponent for the first three-minute round, then the guy barfed in a bucket before the start of the second. He then proceeded to flop to the ground and obviously couldn't go on.

That strikes me as one of three things happening - the guy is either getting awful training advice from his team, he's ignoring good advice from his team ("Go run, fatty!" or "You are too out of shape to fight!"), or his coach is saying "OK, so you think that you're in fight shape, huh? We'll see about that..." .

fatty_to_fitty

I've been to about five now all in the UK of course. By Sprawl n Brawl in Birmingham and The AMMA Fighting Championships in Wolverhampton and our club ran our own prize fighter event last June in Derby.

Good events, proper doctors, good security and some brilliant fights. I've seen some top names fight at them too like Jeff Monson. Also Vaughn Lee who recently joined UFC fought at sprawl n brawl the sport is big in Birmingham. I've seen a lot of blood and some knock outs but no one has been sick... yet.

Gary1977

Yes, I went to UFC fight night in Charlotte,NC back in March of 2010. I'm also going to see Jon Jones smash Rashad Evans in Atlanta come April!!!!:drinker:

neekz0r

Amateur MMA events are quirky beasts.

It's not unheard for some of the more .. unscrupulous ones to grab people off the street and ask them if they want to fight. They usually do this to fill up the fight card, because most amateur fighters cancel out a few days prior. It's also very common to see guys who think they are tough sign up. They'll sign up with a discipline as "street fighter" or something ridiculous like that.

What was the slag your instructor was throwing at MMA?

AlSalzman

Where to begin...
1) Striking w/ 4oz gloves allows anyone to look like a great boxer (he never did explain why great boxers don't just KO everyone the face when they try MMA, though...);
2) MMA is a sport, not self-defense... too many tough guys learn "MMA" and have no real self-defense ability (he supported this with some interesting demonstrations of eye-gouges, throat strikes, and downward elbow demonstrations - all illegal in MMA but quite effective against wrestlers & BJJ types);
3) The "McDojo" aspect of new MMA schools... too many, too new, anyone and everyone is suddenly an MMA gym;
4) The knucklehead/toughguy culture that seems to permeate many MMA gyms (in his defense, we had several examples of this show up at our school and not last very long);
5) Allowing recurring strikes to the head of a downed opponent was just asking for Pugilistic Dementia...

And on, and on, and on...

neekz0r

Huh. Well, here would be what I'd tell your instructor:

1) What is that supposed to even mean? Boxers don't wear gloves to protect them against getting knocked out, they wear gloves to protect their knuckles and wrist from getting broken due to the power of their punches.

2) It is a sport, no doubt there. However, early days it had a LOT less rules. As in, the only rules were "No eye gouging" and "no biting". Yes, you could fish hook, and yes you could groin strike and elbow. All of them were ineffective against BJJ.

3) McDojo? MMA schools? Ironic. Besides, it's pretty well known locally whom is an actual MMA school and whom "teaches MMA from a ____ perspective"

4) They don't tend to last long at MMA gyms either. That's probably why they came to yours.

5) Contrast to boxing, where they let the person get up and fight for more rounds? You take a lot less strikes to the head (max of 5 or 6 before the ref stops it) in MMA then in boxing.

Interesting instructor, indeed.

irridia

Imho boxing is boring, in fact I hate watching a match that goes too long standing up unless it is really interesting. Early days were brutal and there were no weight classes and no time limit. Watching Gracie was like watching an andaconda!

Concussions are more serious in Basket ball. and MMA is crazy safe becuase they do a base line before you fight and then scan after fights as well.

how many boxer's break their hands? I've never actually heard of any.
how many mma fighters? I've lost count. so yeah, heavy gloves are for hand protection and the entire focus of the mma bout is not the head with occasional, body shot like it is for boxing.

fatty_to_fitty

I'm going to BAMMA this weekend. It's a UK event, will let you know how it goes! If you are from the UK look it up.

Tat2dDom624

The only one i've been to is UFC 78, Evans vs Bisping. But in December K-1 (non MMA) is coming to NYC, and i'm gonna try and attend that.

bagge72

I've been to a ton of local MMA events, and have fought in a bunch as well, and there are some crap *kitten* shows out there, but when you get a good one, it really is a fun event to go too! Definitely keep going to more. Your instructor sounds a little funny, he just seems a little jealous of all of the attention MMA is getting, but he does have maybe one or two good points. MMA like Crossfit does have a gym opening up on every corner, and you really have to do some research to make sure you get a good one. Other than that besides what the fighters do to their body to prepare for a fight MMA is a very safe sport as long as you have taken all of the precautions. I would love to see your instuctor go up to my BJJ coach though, and try any of those things to see what would happen haha. He is a former world champion, and multiple time Pan-am champion, and there is no way your instuctor would be able to get his hands close enough to his face to try those things. That and a good MMA fight is taught to defend most types of martial arts, we are taught the best way to counter a move is to not get but in it!