Do the names Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock or Royce Gracie ring any bells for you?
If not now, they will soon. They are pillars in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, a fighting performance style that is increasing in popularity in Memphis and across the nation.
In the early ’90s, the Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) popularized MMA in the United States by bringing competitors of various martial arts including karate, jiu-jitsu, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling together in what was billed as a “style versus style” tournament competition. The popularity of the spectacle has spread like wildfire.
There are several amateur MMA competitors around The University of Memphis campus on a daily basis, including Jonathan “Smitty” Smith, Ian Watts, Jeff Tidwell and Nathan Pang, who are coached by Jeff Mullen, a kickboxing, aikido, and judo teacher at The University.
MMA is the distilled combative form of the martial arts that produce the fantastic choreographed fights scenes of Hollywood action movies.
But don’t expect to see any of those incredible Jet Li moves at an MMA event. According to Mullen, “Muay Thai kickboxing basics and submission wrestling” are the foundation of MMA’s elite athletes.
MMA training is divided equally between standing- and ground-fighting techniques.
While Mullen would not say MMA was better than practicing the more traditional arts, he said individuals who practice MMA “are much more versatile. They are not limited by just standing like boxers or going straight to the ground like wrestlers.”
Surprisingly, competing in MMA is safer than it looks. While one could certainly consider MMA a “blood sport,” it is actually safer than boxing or kickboxing because most injuries in MMA are limited to bruises, abrasions, and lacerations. The main reason injuries are kept at a minimum in MMA fighting is the ability of fighters to “tap out” or quit without being viewed as cowards or weaklings.
“When a fighter feels that he cannot go on any further, either due to the punishment he has taken or fatigue, he can physically or verbally tap out,” Mullen said. “Boxers and kick-boxers can’t quit. Roberto Duran one of the best boxers ever, has a dark cloud over his career because he quit against Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980.”
The intensity of the sport promotes the fighters to risk injury for glory, said one competitor.
“I just like to fight,” said Jonathan Smith, a senior philosophy major. “Fighting one on one, not being dependent on other people is great, whatever happens in the ring you are responsible for.”
Smith along with other MMA competitors will fight at the New Daisy on Beale Street Friday at 8 p.m.
