History & Revival of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in Today’s Sporting World

Portrayal of MMA in the media
News about MMA has reported that there are ‘fight clubs’ forming all across Canada. In these ‘fight clubs’, participants meet at a specified location (parks, school yards, alongside remote highways) to engage in one-on-one brawls, drawing parallels with the movie Fight Club. To further the issue, these participants are recording themselves, and then posting it on the Internet. This issue is controversial since some of the participants are still minors.

Martial arts instructor Joel Posluns of Vancouver, who has practiced aikido for almost four decades, points the finger (like many others) at the UFC, blaming it for “sensationalizing aggression, pervert[ing] traditional martial arts, and glorif[ying] violence … [where] the entire emphasis is on beating the other guy into a pulp.”

David Purdy, Roger’s Vice President and General Manager of Video Services, disagrees. He notes that “there’s a perception of MMA and UFC as appealing to an uneducated crowd, but the reality is that it spans the entire spectrum of our customer base … . There’s a code of honour in the sport; it’s about honour and courage.”

This sentiment is supported by Neil Forester, who has been practicing martial arts for nearly twenty years and is one of the owners of Grant Brothers MMA and Boxing Gym in North York, Ontario. When asked about the violence that the media perpetuates about MMA and whether or not it is an issue, he responds, “Not really. As time passes and the general public learns more about the sport and sees its many positive sides, these arguments become less and less relevant.” Neil also reminds us that the ‘fight clubs’ that are springing up all over the place have been around for years and started back when the hype was surrounding WWE Wrestling. He states, “That’s going to happen whether there is MMA or not.”

For Master C.H.W. Mignon, Head Instructor and co-owner of Doggpound MMA in Brampton, Ontario, it’s about understanding the sport. He has been practicing martial arts for 30 years and has held several titles including Canadian Kick Boxing Champion and National Karate Champion. He emphasizes that MMA is completely different from “going to a bar and drinking and getting punched out because you’re intoxicated,” which seems to be the reputation the media has given MMA.

Instead, MMA is about training and having the self-discipline to work towards an end goal in a controlled environment where rules do exist and are implemented.

The main consensus amongst the advocates of MMA has been simple: rather than assuming that the sport is all about violence, take the time to educate yourself about MMA, learn about it, and maybe even try it because MMA is all about self-discipline and determination, just like any other sport. Violence is not the purpose of MMA – that is only the part that is being built up in the media.