A New Look at a Growing Sport

Final News Story:

The “Iceman” Chuck Liddell and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, no, these aren’t new villians in the Marvel Comic books. These men fight for the UFC and beat people up for a living.The fights aren’t staged and rehearsed and it’s no holds barred. Recently, the UFC gained a national spotlight by taking the cover of Sports Illustrated.

There has been an explosion in the past two years of mixed martial arts fighting. Mixed martial arts are a combination of kickboxing and grappling. With the emergence of other fight leagues like the IFL (International Fight League) and Pride Fighting League in addition to the ubiquitous UFC, mixed martial arts have become a sport for the masses. The differences in the leagues are that in the UFC the fighters can use grappling or wrestling type moves as opposed to pride fighting which is more of a boxing match where kicking is allowed. The UFC also uses small gloves that provide little cushion upon impact so basically it is a bare-knuckle, street brawl. The Pride Fighting uses 10 oz gloves (as opposed to the 12 or 16 oz gloves used in sparring) and Pride Fighters are usually proficient in Muay Tuai or Kempo Karate.

Muay Tuai kickboxing is part of mixed martial arts and is sometimes called “dirty” boxing because you can kick as well as punch. The Philadelphia MMA is led by Brad Daddis who has been fighting Muay Tuai since the age of 15 and fights with the Militech Fight Camp. Daddis trains his fighters to be tough and relentless in their fighting style.

Recently I attended what is known in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as a “smoker”. A smoker is more or less an exhibition fight. Fighters will use smokers to tune up for tournaments or other competitions.

The smokers consist of three two minute rounds. During the fight headgear, 16 oz. gloves and shinpads are used as well as a stomach pad to prevent unnecessary injury.

Nathan Nadeau, a student of the LeBow School of Business, trains at the Philadelphia MMA academy and recently had his first fight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGRfr5kJ3e4.

Nadeau is entering his ninth month of training and is a level blue belt at the academy. Through his hard work and dedication he has progressed through the ranks fairly rapidly.

At the smoker, Nadeau faced an opponent from the Cherry Hill, NJ academy of MMA and was victorious in a decision after three rounds.

In the onset of the fight both fighters came from their respective corners and circled around sizing each other up.

The first round was a flurry of jabs and knees with a few kicks. Being that this was an amateur fight the punches and kicks lacked a certain crispness but the excitement of a fight was still there. Both fighters landed a few shots respectively but no one ran away with the fight.

In the second round, the Cherry Hill fighter began to tire near the end of the round and Nadeau took advantage and landed a few well placed knees. The fighters locked up a few times and needed to be broken up by the referee. The fight was starting pick up as the fighters became more comfortable in the ring. Near the end of the second round Nadeau began landing more knees and was controlling the tempo of the fight.

The third round and final round began with the ring of the bell and from the onset Nadeau showed more tenacity and heart than the other fighter. In the final round both fighters appeared exhausted but Tosti appeared to be more so than Nadeau. This was the round that proved Nadeau to be the winner over Tosti. Both fighters showed dedication and heart towards a growing sport but in the end there has to be a winner and loser in a fight and Nadeau was declared the winner by decision in the three round bout.

MMA is a sport that I was unfamiliar with but have since grown to like. The competition, tenacity and athleticism make in unlike any sport out there today and as it gains popularity it will continue to gain the admiration of its fans.