Cage The Violence
MMA Can Change Lives
Here at AdvocateAaron.com you will constantly read about my love affair and adventures in the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). My passion for this great sport was born when I observed the power martial arts can have on a young person and his outlook on the world.
Growing up, I was consumed with the usual competitive sports as well as helping to advance community initiatives that aided the world around me. When my family began training in Martial Arts, I felt like I stumbled onto the perfect combination of athletic endeavor and community activism. You see when studying a martial art, no matter the discipline, you are studying age old philosophies that require the participant to interact with the surrounding environment; sometimes that interaction takes the form of self-defense, but often times that interaction is making peace with and aiding that environment. Martial artists display the power that discipline, physical fitness, and an open spirit can have…simply put, I was hooked for life!
In 1993, as my family’s martial arts studies progressed, I learned of a new sport based on the eight oldest forms of physical combat: Karate, Sumo, Boxing, Grappling, Jiu-Jitsu, Kung Fu, Judo, and Muay Thai. It was then called “Vale Tudo”; Portuguese for “anything goes”, and it was promoted under the name “The Ultimate Fighting Championship”. The idea was to find out which of these disciplines would prove to be the most effective when practiced in an environment as close to reality as possible, using only experts in each of these areas of combat study. To honor the traditional forms of martial arts, the contests were held in an octagonal cage and participants weren’t required to follow any particular set of rules; honor and sportsmanship would play a bigger role than adjudicated rules. In witnessing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom, Royce Gracie, prove that size did not matter nearly as much as technique by winning the contest three out of the first four years I had finally found my ultimate sport!
As my passion for these new athletes grew I found myself diving deeper and deeper into the philosophies of all forms of combative sports. Despite the wide variety and range of disciplines, I learned that one recurring theme bound all of these arts together: improve yourself by improving others. I was surprised to see that the study of combat was not meant to make a person more lethal, rather it was meant to be a cerebral test of skills, when these skills were mastered they would lead the practitioner to the understanding that violence is cruel and unusual behavior. A respect for the damage one can inflict teaches one how NOT to inflict said damage. This was the basis of this new sport: teach the practitioner what they did not know, had not mastered, so they could continue their growth. The sport we now know as MMA evolved from this basic concept and its complete misunderstanding.
A few years after the “The Ultimate Fighting Championships” were created a massive political movement raised against the sport, culminating with Republican Senator John McCain (R-AZ) describing the sport as “human cock fighting”. The movement to ban this misunderstood sport was strong and successful in eliminating it in many states. The sport was seen as violent and destructive, when its nature was the exact opposite. When you become a fan of MMA or a true student of martial arts you begin to see the technique rise to the forefront when others see only blood and bruises; you see that violence lies outside of the octagon, not within. When I watched an MMA contest I saw men and women testing their skills; whether it be how the hips turned from underneath to begin a triangle choke or how an athletes feet must move in combination with his/her hands to deliver a well placed strike, I saw the activity as an athletic event.
In stark juxtaposition, I saw how many people in my own community were being battered and violated. THIS was the true definition of “violence.” A living, breathing, and bleeding example of how power can be used to destroy; in this case, it was the destruction of a human being. I then knew that MMA and violence were two ideas that should never be used in tandem.
Fast forward to today and we have a brand new sport in MMA, complete with an accepted set of unified rules and weight classes. We have a sport that is growing faster than any other as Americans look toward a competition that tests the cerebral as well as the physical! We have all of this tremendous growth and opportunity, yet I still see many, many examples of true violence within my own community. To me, the fit is a natural one, use this sport and its tremendous power…boil it back down to its roots…and use it to raise awareness of what violence really is in our world. The athletes who take part in this amazing competitive endeavor are spurred by a common goal: respect. Whether it is the touch of gloves prior to each contest or the way an athlete often times helps his defeated foe back to his feet, MMA feeds off of and displays respect between humans constantly. In my work with abuse victims, I know the first thing we strive to rebuild is the respect they have in themselves and the respect they deserve back from the world around them. It is a natural fit: use MMA to affect change in our communities.
Today I am proud to be co-owner of the Xtreme Fight Championship, an MMA organization promoting the sport to all corners of this country and abroad! At the XFC, it is our mission to help the people of our country by raising awareness and giving back to groups who help battered women find a safe place to run or calm the fears of a young child so horribly terrorized by an abusive parent, so that we can restore the faith and respect these victims had stolen from them. MMA is a passion of mine that you will be hearing about time and time again, and that passion is rooted in the very simple philosophy that governs all combat sports: improve yourself by improving others.
