What happens when karate, tae kwon do and jujitsu are rolled into one? They become a new sport called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). MMA is a relatively new sport that is quickly becoming popular within the United States and on campus. Competitors from different martial arts backgrounds are allowed to compete for the MMA championship. These championships are known for having few rules and letting just about anything go, which can become dangerous for those participating in fights. However, it’s not solely a sport for the brave and mighty—it’s for everyone. “MMA seems like it would be violent, but it’s not,” junior Nick Talbott said. “It’s very calming and stress-relieving.” Students can use MMA to release their anxiety by fighting and doing exercises. MMA also helps students see things in a new light, which can be useful when solving a problem or just during day-to-day events. “I feel like at the end [of class] I come away with new knowledge,” Talbott said. “Not just about how to fight, but how to look at things differently.”

In classes, students learn how to box, grapple and how to fight both while standing up and lying down. At West Coast Karate in Palo Alto, the facility Talbott attends, students with varying levels of experience learn MMA from skilled instructors. Classes are held everyday from 7 or 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. “It’s a way to stay out of trouble,” junior John Farhat said. Farhat has been taking MMA classes for a year and looks forward to the daily classes. “It’s different each day; some days we play Thai boxing, a game that’s a mix of muy thai and boxing, and other days we learn things like grappling,” he said. Students are generally taught in group lessons, but are able to request private lessons if desired.

However, some people are not as enthusiastic about MMA as Talbott and Farhat are. “[MMA] will certainly gain more popularity but, and I hope I’m wrong, someday someone’s going to get badly hurt or killed for the championship,” U.S. Studios of Self-Defense’s Karate Instructor Gary Flickinger said. Flickinger believes MMA is a rough sport that has caused many injuries, but acknowledges that professional fighters are paid for the risk they take depending on the outcome of their match. Fighter salaries can range from $3,000 to $250,000 per fight, but “there are so many MMA fighters that by the time you’re 26, 27 or 28 you are already too old to compete.”

Though MMA can be a short-lived career, Farhat believes it’s more useful to know than other forms of fighting. “It trains you both physically and mentally,” Farhat said. “[MMA] is like a chess game. If someone does something you have to be able to counterattack.” Whether or not MMA is a stress reliever or a deadly sport, sophomore Arielle Greif encourages people to take classes for the purpose of learning self-defense. “We live in a bubble,” Greif said. “People are going to move [all around the world] and in those places people are not going to be so nice. Even four months of training is reassuring.” In the fighting ring, MMA goes beyond self-defense and becomes entertainment. MMA is broadcast through pay-per-view television and is a popular sport to watch. Its pay-per-view buy rates have become higher than those of boxing and it has gathered a crowd of fans that follow professional MMA fighters’ every move.

The rapper Ice Cube and the International Fighting Championship (IFC) have even launched a new television channel devoted to MMA called My MMA Network. It is broadcast on Ice Cube’s Internet Television, UVNTV.com. Spike Television has also broadcas a new reality TV show about MMA called The Ultimate Fighter. Due to partly the publicity and partly the public appeal, MMA is carving out a place for itself in mainstream America.