Issue 024
February 2007
By Hywel Teague.
Hands up who loves mixed martial arts. I do, I can still remember my first encounter with the sport, many years ago, and the thrill I felt watching the most exciting form of combat there is. It took me a while, but a few years later I did some research, bought a few videos, and found myself somewhere to train. I properly fell in love with the sport after first getting a taste of life on the mat, as opposed to that in front of the TV screen. It wasn’t long before I was training a couple of times a week. I bought books, magazines and DVDs to fuel my growing passion, and all I could think about was MMA.
My newfound hobby became less of a distraction from the daily rigours of life in an office, and evolved into a way of life. I wore the shirt (and the bruises) with pride, and I ate, slept and dreamt MMA.
I’m not alone in how I was suddenly taken with this wonderful sport. Mixed martial arts has a way of drawing a person in. Sometimes it can be a good thing – there are plenty of stories of athletes who credit professional fighting as a form of salvation from a potentially dangerous lifestyle or circumstances. Many an unfit person has found that the physical fitness earned from their training has given their lives and their health a boost, not to mention their confidence and self esteem.
On the flip side, it can also be a negative thing for some. Some people become so enamoured with the sport they fling themselves headlong into it. They tell everyone they meet they are a ‘fighter’, they spend every waking moment doing something related to MMA and they quite literally wear the t-shirt.
But hang on, how does that differ from my own ‘healthy’ example of falling in love with MMA that I mentioned at the start of this article? To answer the question, it comes down to a number of things, namely motivation (not lack of get-up-and-go, but the real reasons why one is involved in the first place), emotional attachment and desire.
Some people have addictive personalities, and it’s not something they can help. Disorders like these are hardwired in to a person, and can be extremely debilitating. Whether it is drugs, exercise, food, sex or collecting nick-nacks, its very easy for some people to overindulge.
Some MMA fighters have had very public battles with addictions of varying sorts – Mark Kerr, the subject of the film the Smashing Machine, overdosed on pain killers as his drug use spiralled out of control. Mikey Burnett, a veteran lightweight who made a comeback from the wilderness only last year, revealed he had been battling a lengthy addiction to drugs and alcohol.
The moment you allow something to consume you, you are in danger, and MMA can be just as dangerous (if not more so) than any other addiction. If you’re wondering how and why people get this way, it’s simple. Participation can lead to obsession, and obsession can quite easily become an addiction. Body builders have a saying that “obsession is a word lazy people use to describe the dedicated”. They like to justify their unnatural interest in their pastime by declaring it better than sitting on a sofa eating fried chicken. Hang around gyms long enough and you’ll hear similar maxims from those who train MMA, especially fighters.
Look at certain personalities within the sport and you can see who is addicted to the life of a fighter and who isn’t. ‘Rampage’ Jackson is infamous among trainers and coaches for his hatred of hard work in the gym, describing himself as a big softie in training. He fights because he has to put food on the table for his children and its what he is good at, not because of some inner thrill.
Unfortunately you get the impression that in MMA, just as in boxing, there are some who simply exist to be a fighter, and they cannot allow themselves to be anything different. Telling themselves “one more time” over and over, they threaten retirement but never come through with their promise of hanging their gloves up. Instead, they hang around far past their prime, fighting as shadows of their former selves and risking themselves a serious injury or worse.
One fighter who seems to have finally gotten this message is Ken Shamrock, thankfully now retired after we questioned his sanity for continually challenging Tito Ortiz. Kazushi Sakuraba, who has endured some horrific beatings, seems determined to come through with his wish of dying in the ring, although hopefully he will be suspended from fighting before this can happen.
The risks of staying in the business past the point of safe return are too great and too damaging to everyone involved. While MMA athletes are often able to compete into later life more than in other sports, this doesn’t make it OK for every ageing fighter to continue stepping into the ring. These fighters need to be told ‘enough is enough, its time to call it a day’.
