“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
– E Hemmingway
Ernest Hemmingway surely didn’t attend an extreme fighting competition and I’m certain when he made this quote, he meant “real sports” occasionally meant bloodshed. If he had, he would have clearly modified his pitch especially after the bloody competitions last week in Bristol.
Depending on who you talk too, extreme fighting is a polarizing sport for those who have seen it. Either you like it or you don’t. It’s one of the fastest growing competitive sports and it’s also one of the most violent too. Young fighters meet in a caged ring and battle out three five minute rounds in fast-paced gladiator combat. The gloves aren’t thick like they are in boxing and unlike “professional” wrestling. This is the real deal…and it’s brutal. The State of Tennessee doesn’t allow organized contests like the one last Friday night in Bristol (at least not right now). That’s why we were over the line for Friday Night Fights.
Click for pictures..
One of our guys at GoTriCities, Sam McConnell is an extreme fighting fan and he works out with the Stateline Martial Arts group out of Johnson City. He got us all talking about the sport because it’s big business gaining plenty of momentum. I’m an old boxing fan, but the state of professional prize fighting is so dull and professional wrestling so absurd, this new battleground brings back a sense of one-to-one competition where guys meet fist to fist.
It’s not a tough man competition, but you better bring a dose of “bad-ass” with you when you step into a ring like this. This competition is grueling and the object is to force your opponent to submit (Tap Out) or knock him out. You can kick, a punch, hold your opponent to submission, whatever it takes to bring him down. One of the few things that make this civil is the fact the referee responds quickly to the fighters before things get out of hand (most of the time).
One of the reasons why Tennessee may consider allowing extreme fighting is the ticket price. The Friday Night events had a $45 ticket price and this show, like the others was sold out at the Holiday Inn convention center at Exit 7 in Bristol, VA. The parking lot was crowded when drove in this past Friday. Lora Taylor drove me to the fights in her Lexus and Jared and Matthew followed with all our gear – three video cameras and a couple of SLR cameras.
GoTriCities has been working with State Line group recently and we are promoting their fights as we gear up to work with their web-site. That’s why we wanted to bring in all the gear. We’re planning a great new website and have other ideas for the video work including working with local metal bands to provide the soundtrack. We met some of the promoters out front and they were nice enough to rush us past the crowd into the convention center which was consumed by a black round cage.
The first problem was the realization that we didn’t have a camera stand to catch action inside the ring. We thought that would be in place because their last video production allowed videographers to shoot over the top, but our footage tonight would have plenty of cage in front of the view. We set up one video camera in the rear to capture the whole stage and fan action and Matthew and I made our way from the red corner and blue corner following the fighters from their workout rooms into the ring.
By the time the first fight started the convention center was buzzing with the spectacle of extreme fighters. These guys are focused warriors that look intimidating through the camera lense. I was working the red corner tonight and clicked off several photos. There’s plenty of brands too. Monster Energy Drinks had a strong presence at this ring as well as Bachman Bernard Automall, Davis Recycling, Smith Brothers Harley Davidson, Stir Frye Cafe and a few others.
Blake Bowman was right next to me while I was swinging the camera in and out of the black mesh fence. He’s a fighter with the UFC and one of two extreme fighting celebreties in the convention center tonight. I met a number of the fighters in the warmup rooms and their eyes almost seemed entranced as they got ready for their individal bouts. I was also surprised to learn that many of the fighters on the card tonight were from Knoxville, Athens, Atlanta and other cities in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
I grabbed a beer and settled in for the first round of contenders and the action was dizzying right from the first bell. The first fighters lunged into their skulls with fists swinging and there were very few moments of inactivity. The fight was over quickly too as one athlete lay unconscious on the floor. Much like boxing, when the opponent is weakened, their competitors consume them with a barrage of punches and the referee stops the fight as a TKO or when the other fighter submits or is unconscious.
Sam explained to me later that there were a couple of WFC fighters floating in and out of the rooms. These fighters appear at events like this and add some street credibility and give the fans something to talk about. When the bell rang, there were often trainers or other managers yelling with intensity trying to get their fighters to heed advice which is usually garbled by the tangled arms and legs inside the ring.
Fortunately, there were a few intermissions tonight that gave everyone an opportunity to catch their breath and satisfy their thirst at the open bar. It was clear to me though that as the night progressed, the fighting got more intimidating too. At one one point before the beginning of one of the main events, a fight broke out in the convention hall and Lora and Matthew dived toward the swaying crowd. I never understood what really happened, but Sam explained later that some of the fighters come from rival gyms and I’m sure there’s some smack talk in between bouts.
The last fight of the nights were for two title belts – a 185 pound title fights and a Heavy Weight match with Ovince St. Pruex and Daniel Crockett. Preuex used to play foortball with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but he seems to have found a new calling as an extreme fighter out of the Knoxville Martial Arts Academy where he trains. Right before his bout, he also gave me some of the intimidating shots of any fighter of the night. I noted later that when I was taking his picture, his eyes were surreal, like dull metal staring into the yellow flourescent lights before they called his name from the red corner.
His opponent, Daniel Crockett was evidently a local fighter. His rainbow colored buzz cut was intimidating before he got in the ring, but seconds after the bell ring, Ovince pummeled him repeatedly to the floor. The decorative hair was nothing compared to the bloody nose and beating that he took in the ring. I will credit him with fighting all three rounds with Ovince, but he walked into the ring with a panther. By the end of the match, there was blood on the floor, all over both contestants and Pruex looked like an embattled warrior as he held up his wrist and gloves with his new heavyweight belt as Lora grabbed some of the best up-close photography for the night.
Some people were kidding me about satisfying a testosterone imbalance as we led up to Friday Night Fights. I can understand that. This is not a delicate social outing. Instead, it was an exciting, dangerous and thrilling event and the fans enjoyed every minute. It’s head-to-head combat that’s real, gritty and you got to have plenty of gonads to step into the ring with some of these fighters. I’m glad the sport has started to organize it’s rules and most important that there is a responsible referee, professional organizers and more important – emergency medical services were standing right outside the door with an ambulance ready to go.
Extreme Fighting continues to grow and culture more fans and we wish Stateline Martial Arts the very best as they continue to stage fights like this every so often and we look forward to working with them on future promotions. If you’ve never seen a fight, watch it on TV, but if you like the scent of blood and looking for a thrill, grab your friends for a night ringside. It’s something you will long remember.