Exercise mats covered the floor, punching bags hung from the ceiling and Eminem’s rhymes played in the background. A dozen students gathered in Ritchie Coliseum for the first practice of the university’s newly established mixed martial arts club, looking for a combative recreation outlet.
“We want to advertise the club for interested people at all different levels,” said aerospace engineering graduate student and club member Jonathan Geerts. “It’s important that everyone feels comfortable here.”
Although members now have a regular practice time and space, establishing the MMA club took years to achieve. Because of the potential physical danger members could endure, the group had to take extra precautionary measures to adhere to Campus Recreation Services’ policies, making it an extensive and lengthy process. The members will practice Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, both of which are considered combative sports.
“Any type of combat or fighting – including grappling and sparring – must be preapproved and is limited to being held in a structured, supervised and scheduled activity space,” said CRS Associate Director Brent Flynn, who added the Eppley Recreation Center is not an option for an MMA practice site. Instead, the group rents out the martial arts room in Ritchie Coliseum.
Additionally, Flynn said the club had to secure insurance and have a certified EMT or athletic trainer on site at every group practice before gaining formal accessibility to their facilities.
These costs totaled about $1,300, which three founding members fronted so the practices could begin. But Brian McGough, the club’s president, felt providing the funds to jump-start the club was worthwhile because of student interest in MMA.
“Mixed martial arts is such a popular thing around here – people are really into it,” said the junior government and politics major, who took over the club’s official creation when another student opted out of the duty about a year ago.
That popularity, however, may be due to the stereotyped theatrical trend of combative sports.
“I think [MMA] gets a bad rap because of UFC and how bloody and gory those fights get,” said junior psychology major and club member Micah Colston. “That’s not what the sport’s [all] about.”
Colston and other club members said they want to provide an inviting environment for those interested in learning about the various fighting techniques, even though the risk of injury is always possible.
Sam Thompson, the group’s athletic trainer and a university alumnus, understands the preventive measures necessary to ensure the safety of club members, especially those new to the sport.
“When the guys grapple, there’s always the risk of somebody having a fracture or a dislocation or something like that, so they would need somebody to be able to recognize that and assess the severity of it so it can get handled appropriately,” he said.
But some members said the measures are overly cautious compared to other potentially dangerous club activities on the campus.
“I think it’s stupid how this is considered so dangerous because we have a wrestling club here, we have a boxing club here, and it’s the same kind of contact,” said sophomore kinesiology major Rui Ponte. “If anything, wrestling and boxing train harder because those sports actually compete with other schools, and it’s more dangerous.”
Although no combat sport practice takes place in the ERC, both the wrestling and boxing clubs are able to practice in a public health school training facility.
Flynn attributes this discrepancy to published information regarding the accepted protocol of collegiate wrestling and boxing clubs, meaning the organizations can be managed more appropriately. There is no similar guide for MMA, Flynn said, so university officials must remain vigilant.
But for now, the MMA club wants to build membership and recognition on the campus, seeking to teach other students about the art of combative sports.
“Hopefully if we get some money together we can get a real good trainer to come in to help us get better too,” Ponte said.
MMA club practices Tuesday and Thursday from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. in Ritchie Coliseum’s martial arts room.
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