Students train with former champ as MMA fighters

By in Sports,

ADAM MANISON

Former Governor George Pataki perfectly articulated the essence of MMA fighting as a sport that is“barbaric.”

“Ultimate fighting takes place in steel cages and allows punching, kicking and choke holds. Marches end with knockouts, submission by a fighter or a referee’s or doctor’s orders,” according to the Daily News.

MMA fighting is considered so barbaric that it is illegal to hold competitions in five states, including Connecticut and New York.

However, MMA training is legal in Connecticut, and three University of Hartford students were eager to train with former World Extreme Cage fighting Heavyweight Champion, Brian Olsen, at New England MMA and Fitness Center (NEMMA).

Olsen knows all too well how barbaric MMA fighting can be; the former world champion was dealt an illegal kick to the neck while on the floor during a fight with Mike Kyle. The illegal hit nearly busted his face completely apart, as his opponent continued to attack him while referees struggled to pry him away.

Now Olsen shares his expertise in wrestling and MMA fighting experience to teach young fighters, interested in transitioning from a “brawler to an artist,” as Hartford student Sam Nadeau describes.

Nadeau (4-4-1) is preparing to fight his tenth amateur MMA bout on April 9 in the Premier Fighting Championship 5, hosted by the University of Massachusetts.

Hartford junior Charlie Goldman and senior Matt Wyman also train with Olsen at NEMMA every week.

Although Olsen and his students love the sport, all agree that MMA fighting is truly barbaric. Incredibly, understanding the brutality and risks involved in MMA doesn’t stop the fighters from stepping into the cage. There they stand toe to toe with a flesh machine, trained to ground and pound it’s opponent to the end.

It takes incredible courage, drive and dedication to be an MMA fighter in any capacity, and these three Hartford students have what it takes.

Nadeau described the emotions of a fighter in the cage, “You’re nervous, anxious, you’re, well it’s really hard to relate the feeling to anything else because it’s just so different,” Nadeau said.

“When you step into the cage, the adrenalin rush is crazy, it kind of puts you in a primal state, but there’s no other feeling like it in the world,” Nadeau said.

While Olsen acknowledges that fighters who come to train with prior wrestling experience may have an edge over other trainees, he emphasizes that a fighter’s work ethic and drive determine success.

While many may feel that MMA is too violent and dangerous to be legalized across the country, the consequent self-discipline, personal strength and humbling experience of MMA as described by Goldman and Nadeau are invaluable life skills.

For Goldman, Nadeau and many other budding fighters, MMA is not only an integral part of who they are, but also the foundation for who they will become as they work towards winning fights, titles and enjoying the sport.

  • Fzgpqlfe

    “MMA fighting is considered so barbaric that it is illegal to hold
    competitions in five states, including Connecticut and New York.”

    This is factually incorrect, not to mention extremely misleading. MMA is only unsanctioned in five states (keep in mind it was unsanctioned in all 50 states ten years ago, before the current “Unified Rules” were sanctioned in New Jersey in 2001). It is now sanctioned in 45 of the 48 states with an athletic commission as well as the District of Columbia (Wyoming and Alaska have no athletic commission, although small-time MMA events are held regularly in Alaska). In Vermont it is not sanctioned by the athletic commission but it is also not expressly illegal, and MMA shows are held publicly a few times a year there (as opposed to illegal “smokers” in NY state). It is only expressly illegal in New York and Connecticut, and with Connecticut House Bill 5269 still active, at this rate New York may be the loan holdout by the end of the year.

    “Ultimate fighting takes place in steel cages and allows punching,
    kicking and choke holds. Marches end with knockouts, submission by a
    fighter or a referee’s or doctor’s orders,”

    This is true, but what people generally imagine from this is far worse than the reality.

    MMA’s safety record according to a study by Johns Hopkins has been shown to be far better than boxing as well as a number of popular non-combat sports. The Journal of Combative Sports that lists boxing and MMA deaths online (although it has not been updated since 2007) has a list of boxing deaths that dwarfs those among MMA over the last 10 years. In MMA the fact that you can end a match with a limb submission or a carotid artery choke are to its benefit as far as the risk of head trauma compared to boxing. Chokes may sound dangerous but the fact is it’s not the windpipe but rather the carotid artery being choked (attacking the trachea is illegal in MMA). You would need to have to block blood to the brain for 5-6 minutes before damages sets in and usually people are unconscious in under a minute and 49 times out of 50 they will tap out before they go unconscious in the first place. Furthermore a semi-competent referee will stop the fight within seconds if someone goes to sleep rather than tap. A study in Japan of 30,000 judo practitioners who used the technique failed to find a single significant injury stemming from it.

    While it’s true there is less protection on the gloves, allowing for harder punching (fingerless gloves by their nature cannot be as padded as boxing gloves), there are also no standing 10 counts in MMA. If someone is knocked loopy they are not given 10 seconds to get to their feet and recover as in boxing. The fight is over. The fact that MMA fights are usually shorter than boxing matches (3 x 5 minute rounds except for Championship fights which are 5 x 5 minute rounds) also helps.

    Finally while bouts usually do take place in a “steel cage” (some also take place in a boxing ring), the cages are designed to be safe and in the larger promotions they are vinyl coated. Participants are not allowed to ram opponents into the side of the cage or use it for leverage, they can merely push off of it. Generally it’s considered safer than a boxing ring since you can’t fall out of a cage.

    P.S. Just so you know, Mike Kyle is well known as a total bastard in MMA and not typical of high-level MMA fighters at all. I’m not saying MMA fighters are saints but very few are like Mike Kyle.

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