Issue 029

September 2007

Remember, our favourite letter gets a FO T-shirt, so don’t forget to

include your contact details in your letter / email. Our postal address is 6 Charlotte Square, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 4XF or you can email us at [email protected] 

Love your mag and really look forward to it each month. It’s great that there’s a mag that not only covers the sport I love but the lifestyle that accompanies it. It gives your publication a depth that others lack.

Recently Grant Waterman’s articles on violence have particularly caught my attention. This is a criticism I have frequently heard levelled at both the sport and myself as an individual. I have found this criticism extremely frustrating, as I have always known that this isn’t the case, but have had difficulty articulating the true nature of what we do to those outside our circle.

A violent person as I see it, is an individual who attempts to force their own personal idea of the world onto others, be it psychologically, ideologically, verbally or physically. Sadly our world is full of them (although I have met very few in martial arts). That is the very reason that I, and many others I know started to train in the first place.

In life we are never in control of our environment but we are always in control of our reaction to it. We need to learn the skills to apply ourselves in violent situations, and combat sports are the ideal place to do it.

Inside the ring or the cage we can practice our skills and test ourselves in a controlled, respectful and positive manner, without losing the ability to distinguish ‘the knife from the wound’. No-one is forced. So where is the violence? The detractors of MMA don’t seem to be able to distinguish between a legitimate sporting contest, a pint pot in the face ‘down the local’ or a brutal murder.

To these people I say; that if you have different methods of coping with the violence of life, then great if they work for you. However before you jump on your moral high horse and condemn my way of life, because it scares you: think! Consider who the violent person really is in this situation. By attacking me (us) you are only contributing to the very same problem you claim to be addressing.

Regards,

Jonathan Santry, High Peak

First off thanks for all your hard work on Fighters Only, I love the magazine and its a superb read. I train in MMA myself but not to the level that I ever thought I’d appear in Fighters Only. 

However, imagine my surprise as I opened the double page spread from issue 28’s ‘Money Shot’ with Samy Schiavo in Cage Rage Contenders in Dublin, and saw myself and my brother in the front row seats in the background. It’s an amazing photo (hats off to photographer) and I was wondering would it be possible that one of your guys could send the picture onto me. It would take centre place in my gym. I know its probably a big favour to ask but I’d appreciate it immensely.

Thanks,

Padraic, via email. 

Thanks for the comments Padraic, we’re glad you liked the picture – it was certainly a spectacular shot! The image should be with you by the time you read this. Thanks for the support and we hope you continue to enjoy the mag. 

I have been reading your magazine for half a year now and I thought it was about time I wrote in with a few comments and suggestions although somehow I don’t think this will get letter of the month! In general your product is excellent - entertaining yet informative; professional yet personable. Therefore, as a fan, I want to get my petty problems out of the way at the beginning. 

As a rule, any magazine will have a few typos and/or spelling errors in any one edition but your August edition was riddled with them (for instance I would never ever question Ian Freeman’s knowledge of the sport, but he called Sakuraba Sakaraba), it really detracted from an otherwise quality product. I read that you were having a hectic time switching offices so I hope this was the cause, we don’t need ignorant detractors off MMA pointing to your mag saying “Even the journalists can’t spell”.

As for suggestions, would you ever consider producing bi-weekly? Other fans would probably agree that it is a long wait for the next issue of FO! I enjoy the Training and Recipe section too, ever thought of producing things like Eating Plan templates for fighters? I know it is a dicey situation when trying to get advertisers but how about a review of supplements? How about a Q and A page as well as the letters page, where fans new to the sport can have questions answered, or even long time fans can ask you guys some behind the scenes stuff, or clarification on old rumours?

Allyn Mills, via email. 

Allyn, thanks for your comments – we’ll hold our hands up and yes we allow the odd typo to go through once in a while, for which we apologise. Thanks for the suggestions, we’ll be sure to look into them. We are an ever-changing product and if we see a gap for the sort of things you mention, who knows, maybe we’ll stick it in. 

From the Forums

Dana White tests positive for anger

You know Dana is pissed as fucking hell over this last batch of positive tests.

:Posted by Mathew Battle