Issue 032

December 2007

Welcome to a new world, one where the smartly-dressed businessmen stood next to you in the morning commute could be capable of choking you unconscious should you take exception to his newspaper flapping against you, where the clerk at the bank could slap a killer heel hook on you if you continue to complain to him about the charges as a result of the unfettered use of your overdraft.

Are there really professional people out there with the kind of skills needed to fight in the world’s toughest combat sport? Yes, there are – welcome to the secret world of white-collar MMA.

While the bulk of the mainstream press would have you believe that mixed martial arts is the bastion of the street thug, the truth is that this sport is heavily populated with a surprising number of white-collar workers, office men and women who have a secret life away from their desk on the mat or in the cage.

The most traditional of combat sports, boxing has always attracted participants from society’s lowest socio-economic groups. Boxers often come from poor upbringings, using the local club as a way of keeping out of trouble, and many professionals used the sport as a means to fight their way out of poverty.

MMA is full of white middle-class males with a solid level of education, and as such the options to earn a living in an alternative way to their chosen sport. Until recently, the financial rewards for being a successful MMA fighter were almost inconsequential. Fighters, especially the white-collar guys, could earn more in a week in their day job than most promoters were offering as fight purses.

Everyone has their outlets, whether thrill-seeking adrenaline sports, traveling to far-off places or simply having a laugh with your friends. It seems that for some people, MMA offers all of these and more. But still, when there are numerous adventure holidays and so on available, why are well-to-do people picking up the gloves and getting down and dirty on the mats? 

“The stress of work probably led me to fight,” says Mustapha Al-Turk, who recently lost a close decision to Cage Rage heavyweight champion Tengiz Tedoradze.

Al-Turk worked as a pharmaceutical salesperson prior to going full-time as a MMA fighter. “I used to work for quite a reputable pharmaceutical company. Basically I used to do presentations, I used to take doctors and consultants out for the evening. I used to entertain, I used to give talks on allergy, cardiology, asthma, and I’d hopefully get sales out of it.” 

“There was one year when I must have done over 100 meetings, I worked so, so hard, so, so hard for the year and just squeezed through the appraisal. I just thought this isn’t worth it; this really, really isn’t worth it.” With professional sales being such a high-pressure field, Al-Turk chose the altogether non-stressful (!) sport of MMA as a substitute. 

Mustapha’s lack of satisfaction in his job left him looking elsewhere for something to do, but what about when you actually like your job? Cage Rage veteran and London Shoot fight team member Francis Heagney (3-2-0) balances his job as a city broker for a major financial institution. 

A regular day at work for Francis begins at 6:40am and runs through to about 6:20pm. As soon as he leaves the office he heads over to the gym, something he makes sure to do five nights a week. If you’re pulling in twelve-hour days in a busy job, surely the last thing you would want to do is jump in the gym and work out for a couple of hours? For Francis, it’s essential. “I just love competition, stuff like that – that’s basically it! I’ve boxed and done stuff all my life, I don’t relate it to my job or anything like that.

“It’s definitely a stress reliever. I’m sitting in front of computer screens all day, I can’t go home and sit and watch television.”

If you’re investing that much time and energy into a ‘hobby’, then competing is a natural progression, for Francis at least. “When you train really hard, you might as well kind of test yourself in competition, there’s no point in training really hard the whole time. It’s only when you compete that you push yourself to the edge.” 

Leigh Remedios became the first lightweight fighter from the UK to fight in the UFC, way back in 2002. He did so while still working as an assurance engineer, and his two very different careers have absolutely no bearing on each other. “I know some people see it differently, but what could be more awesome than getting into a cage and having a fight?

“I can only speak for myself, but I don't think the 'white collar' has anything to do with it - I happen to be good at engineering and I love fighting. [It’s] just a coincidence in my case.” 

The simple truth is that at the top level it doesn’t. There comes a time when a fighter will decide to make the sport their full-time job and try and take it to the next level, or keep it as a hobby and enjoy moderate success at a lower level. There are simply not enough hours in the day to train, work and have any other type of life. 

Rich Franklin wasn’t teaching maths while training for either of his championship bouts with Anderson Silva, but there are a number of MMA athletes who still compete regularly at pro and hold down their day jobs. As Leigh explains, “When I started fighting at a higher level, it became really difficult, because I was having to travel to London to get the coaching I required and it had to be outside work hours. I was constantly exhausted, as all I did was work and train, with no time for rest days. Now that the sport is bigger and you can find training pretty much wherever you are.”

As everyone knows, training for a fight or even for fun can be tough on the body, and even if you don’t compete you’re still likely to pick up regular injuries, occasional cuts and plenty of bruises in sparring. Being the guy in the office who does ‘that cage fighting thing’ is not always viewed positively.

White-collar mixed martial artists will tell you stories of the black eye they had to explain away to a client, or the split lip that prompted them to lie to their boss. Be assured, sparring sessions have and will be pre-empted by the words “I can’t spar hard tonight, I’ve got a big meeting in the morning.” 

“I’ve got a black eye at the minute,” confesses Francis, although he’s completely open with his boss and his co-workers about his participation in MMA. “Everyone kind of knows. Everyone knows that I do boxing, or something like that. But I used to play rugby and I used to get smashed up every single weekend. I only get a black eye every three to six months, so it’s not too bad! I want to big up my boss… because he’s probably reading this! My boss is great!” 

On the flip side, Mustapha Al Turk wasn’t so open in his work and would even have to resort to drastic measures to try and hide his black eyes. “I used to put makeup on if I had a really bad black eye. They used to know that I would wrestle, but I used to wear makeup to cover to any serious bruises.” 

Even if you are sporting an injury, a white-collar worker is less likely to need to take time off to deal with it and therefore not risk loss of earnings. As Leigh points out in characteristic matter-of-fact style, “That's the beauty of a White Collar job, you just sit at a desk. It’s not like I would need to carry bricks up a ladder with a sprained ankle.”

“I told them what I did up front. I found it actually improved my success rate in job interviews, because I stood out from ‘Johnny Boring’. They remembered the kid who did that cage-fighting stuff. I was (once) changing jobs within the company and the interviewer asked about my work life and then about my home life. He said it was pretty evident that I was far more passionate about MMA than coming to work. Well of course, what a stupid comment. MMA is awesome, and work is called 'work' for a reason.”

For those who are more pragmatic about things, the love of MMA doesn’t necessarily mean it overrides the need to have a stable income. Now married and with two children, Leigh has found that money has a new value and that to go back to risking keeping his full-time job for a sporadic income would be too much. “If I was to fight again, it would have to be for a purse that realistically compensated me for the time off work.”

Mustapha Al-Turk was one of the ones who did make the break. He quit his job to train MMA full-time, but how has it affected his life? “It’s a lot better- it’s a lot more interesting, more fun,” he convincingly answers. 

“I was working so hard and I wasn’t getting anything out of it – so I started focussing more towards fighting and letting go of the work. Eventually, I let go of the work 100%.

“I’m my own boss. Money’s a bit tight, but it’s not all about money. When you come to die, you don’t sit and think to yourself, I should have worked harder – you think, I should have done this, should have done that, and I don’t want any regrets.” 

White-collar fighters

Rich Franklin (22-3-0)

UFC middleweight star Franklin used to be a maths teacher – but he couldn’t calculate the solution to the Anderson Silva problem. 

Heath Herring (27-13)

The ‘Texas Crazy Horse’ worked as a programmer prior to his career in first Pride and now the UFC.

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic (22-6-2)

The kickboxing policeman currently holds a seat in the Croatian parliament –would you dare debate with him? 

Elvis Sinosic (8-10-2)

Elvis is an IT Support officer for a major international accounting firm by day, and he’s the ‘King of Rock and Rumble’ by night. 

Rory Singer (12-7-0)

He was the clean freak in the TUF house, and rightly so – this former lab technician and researcher was training to be a nurse before he joined the UFC. 

Joe Lauzon (15-3)

The 7-1 underdog who knocked out former UFC Champ Jens Pulver in 48 seconds used to work as an IT network admin. Makes you think twice before yelling at IT support when your email isn’t working. 

Charles McCarthy (10-4)

The American Top Team-trained UFC vet is an IT buff and worked as a programmer at one point.

Kenny Florian (7-3-0)

The lightweight with the razor-sharp elbows used to be a senior project manager for a translation services company. We don’t know what that is, but it sounds impressive. 

Eric Schafer (7-2-2)

Schafer still works as a Lab Technologist screening biological samples for infectious diseases. Could he be the first to bring biological warfare into the Octagon?

Top five excuses for having a black eye at work

• “You’d never believe it, but I had this bizarre accident while doing some DIY”
• “I had one too many beers at the weekend and I fell over and landed on my face”
• “For some reason I thought today was fancy dress – I’ve got the rest of my ‘Rocky’ outfit in the car but when I saw no one else was wearing theirs I left it there.”
• “I did it playing Rugby. Fighting? Don’t be silly, I’d never do anything as barbaric and dangerous as that!” 
• “The first rule of Fight Club is… Wait, I’m not allowed to talk about it”