MMA strikes hard in Alberta

Corey Lautischer has waited two and a half months for this night. After weeks of rigorous training; Monday to Friday, day in and day out, coupled with a steady diet of plain rice, oats, chicken, broccoli, eggs and almonds, he will get his chance to prove why in the end it should be his hand raised victorious. The 25-year-old fighter sits in a small changing room behind a large curtain, underneath the arenas bleachers. He is not alone. With him are several other fighters who, like himself, have something to prove.

Outside the stands are slowly filling, drinks are being served. Ringside dinner tables are being privately catered by chefs who cook behind the scenes on the arena floor with portable steam tables, grills and convection ovens. Another group of fighters sit in a very similar room across the arena floor behind the opposite set of bleachers. But Lautischer, along with the others, are not only fighting an opponent, they’re also fighting a mentality. A mentality that doesn't escape even some of the fans inside the building itself. They do so because although Edmonton might be home to the second highest concentration of sanctioned MMA fights, second only to Vegas, there is a lingering mentality that he and those like him, are not respectable athletes. It’s a battle Lautischer is more than happy to fight.

Hayabusa MMA

Luke Harris, 33, is a professional MMA fighter as well as the owner of the well-known Hayabusa gym located in St. Albert, Alberta- a community west of Edmonton. The gym hosts some of Alberta’s best up and coming mixed martial artists, including Lautischer, and offers training to those seeking skills in a variety of mixed martial arts: karate, wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu, boxing, and muai thai.

While the gym seeks to attract professional fighters from all across Canada it also offers classes to regular martial arts seekers as well as children. As a former professional Judo competitor Harris teaches Judo to young children, the youngest being three years old, but also through the sport, discipline and respect. Children learning judo and karate at a young age is nothing new, but learning from professional MMA fighters in a professional MMA gym is and while the parents of the children are not worried, some taking part in classes themselves, stereotypes continue to linger.

“That’s the misconception about MMA and the aggressiveness being any different than all the other martial arts; it’s the same,” explained Harris when asked whether MMA training can lead to violence.

“The people fighting in MMA, who have passed their medicals, are the fittest people out there,” said Harris. “We fight at a professional level, like professional hockey, not everyone will reach this level.”



Common misconception

The professional sport of MMA has been taking a beating amongst traditional sports analysts and fans who have dismissed the sport as nothing more than senseless violence. Some still do not recognize MMA as a legitimate sport despite the impressive knowledge and technique involved. This mentality is supported at the government level as major states and provinces like New York and Ontario are still on the fence in regards to legalizing the sport. Commissions are set in each state/province to help regulate the sport and keep it as safe as possible. These commissions control who fights whom, making sure that no one fighter is stacked up unfairly against another. That would be dangerous.

Mike Froese, 39, has been training in mixed martial arts for six years, now training at the Hayabusa gym. Froese scoffs at the criticism saying that MMA is a dangerous sport and that it attracts only the uneducated and blood thirsty.

“What would be dangerous is taking an unskilled fighter and putting him up against a skilled fighter,” said Froese in a post-training interview. “That’s where the commissions get involved.”

“Fighters are responsible for selling tickets, on a local level we’re the ones who bring the crowd in,” said Froese. “We’re all athletes of the sport so we respect each other, the respect level is huge, it’s just business in the ring.”

Froese, Lautischer and Harris have all fought and lost in their professional careers. Losing changes a man, it humbles them. While MMA and boxing have been compared at exhaustive lengths it is important to point out that while boxing has been legalized and featured in movies and T.V shows for decades, MMA is just earning the same notoriety. The exact number of fighters who have died as a result of boxing is unclear (sherdog.netputs the number at 70 between 1998-2006), but what is clear is that only two MMA fighters have died during the entire history of sanctioned MMA.

Another point to be made is that all three Hayabusa fighters have won their matches as a result of submission, offering the major difference between the two sports.

“When you look at boxing the majority of the hits are head shots,” said Froese. “In MMA, head shots are just a small part of the game.”

Fight Night

Back at the Expo Centre in Edmonton, Aggression MMA 5 is well underway. Patrolling the area are five policeman accompanied by an upwards of 15 security guards. Lautishcer is featured in the second bout, dispatching his opponent in 25 seconds, choking him to the point of unconsciousness. This is where the safety of the sport gets called into question.

However at ringside there are three trained physicians on scene who respond admirably and quickly revive the fallen fighter. Behind the giant curtain that divides the ring from the backstage, away from the eyes of the fighters and the fans, stands an ambulance and two EMS paramedics. Ryan, one of the paramedics who asked only to use his first name, has worked well over 20 MMA fights as well as the CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo). Never once has he been needed during an MMA event.

“No one has got to the point where the physicians have needed an ambulance,” explained Ryan. “We stay backstage and away from the action. Just like cowboys at a rodeo they [fighters] don’t want to see us.”

The safety measures undertaken by the physicians, paramedics and even the fighters themselves ensure that while the sport may be violent in nature, it is not just an excuse to go out and hurt another man.

“It’s mostly misconceptions through the media,” explains Lautischer. “It’s like any other sport, there’s camaraderie amongst the guys and there’s a lot of personal growth involved.”

When asked what it will take to convince traditional sports fans that MMA is indeed a legitimate sport Lautischer, Harris and Froese all agreed on the same single word: time. The only question left is how much time it will take.

Luke Harris celebrates his victory at the Expo Centre in Edmonton, AB for Aggression MMA 5

Mukai Maromo focuses on his opponent Kurt Southern at Aggression MMA 5 at the Expo Centre in Edmonton, AB. Southern earned a submission victory (triangle choke) over Maromo in the first round.

Tim Hague grapples with Travis Wiuff at the Edmonoton Expo Center at Aggression MMA 5. Hague knocked out Wiuff in the second round.

Tim Hague squares off with Travis Wiuff at the Edmonoton Expo Center at Aggression MMA 5. Hague knocked out Wiuff in the second round

All photos taken by:Trevor Robb