MMA Saved My Life
Ihave been involved in one combat sport or another for 27 years, from tae kwon do to boxing, kickboxing to muay thai, and even tried my hand at MMA once; an adventure which left me a guest of the Japanese medical system after getting knocked out in a cage fight in Kyoto.
Now that I have retired from fighting, I have moved into coaching and have worked with beginners through to some of New Zealand’s best strikers.
As an insecure kid in a dysfunctional home environment, martial arts provided me with the healthy outlets I needed to navigate the difficult years of being a teenager and young adulthood.
With slogans on T-shirts and tattoos on my body, I pay homage every day to the fact that getting into fighting literally saved my life. I would not have made it out if it had not been for martial arts.
Where I could have gone down the road of alcohol and drug use, crime and generally selfdestructive behaviours, I instead poured my attention into training. I spent untold hours running at 6am before school as a boy, then before work as a young man. Before I found my calling, I could not wait to finish the day at whatever deadend job I was doing and make it to the gym. Five or six days a week I trained twice a day. The selfdiscipline that I developed – first as an amateur and then a professional fighter – I took into my studies when I decided to return to university as an adult.
I never applied myself at high school, but what I learned in the gym about dedication and commitment I took with me into higher education, and was successful in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Now that I am embarking on writing a master’s degree thesis, I will be drawing from the time management skills and self-discipline instilled in me by my coaches.
At the same time, I run a gym and get to give the young people who come through there the same gifts of community, dedication, and self-discipline my trainers gave me. I am grateful to be a small part of this generational transfer of not just combat skills but life skills.
The little story of my life is far from unique. In 2018-19 I contributed to a research project for Unesco (United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation), Youth Development Through Martial Arts: Selected Good Practices.
From disadvantaged neighbourhoods in America, to rural Thailand, to Madagascar, to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and refugee camps in Africa, we discovered programmes using martial arts. Whether the hard forms such as muay thai (one of the key striking styles utilised in MMA) or the softer styles such as judo were taught, they were positive developmentally for those who practised them consistently.
Across the globe, combat sports were shown to be an empowering tool for youth development.
For people such as
Israel Adesanya, an immigrant from
Africa who was bullied at school, martial arts and fighting has provided a path to international superstardom and professional success. I remember seeing Israel in one of his very first times in the ring, still wearing shin pads as a novice.
At a small in-house fight night, he strutted and krumped in the ring, handling his opponent easily. Like everyone else in the room that night, I knew he was going to be something special.
When I read Martin van Beynen’s recent
Stuff article criticising Adesanya’s welldeserved Halberg award, I rolled my eyes.
Singling out the MMA industry for macho posturing is wilfully ignoring the countless bad examples we see in the media from participants of all sports. These are cultural issues, not mixed martial arts ones.
If we don’t want famous people saying bad things, then targeting the songs on the radio or our teenagers’ Spotify playlists would be a better place to start, given how music permeates culture. I mean, let’s look at the larger drivers of societies rather than an individual. Porn Hub, anyone? Alcohol advertising in sport?
If you want to critique society by all means, please do, but don’t be myopic and focus on one extremely talented and hardworking individual.
It is the perfect example of the tall poppy syndrome Adesanya called out in his Halberg acceptance speech.
Not everyone is going to enjoy golf or rap or art or dancing or poetry.
Some of us find our pathway in life through the age-old traditions which martial arts and combat sports provide, and we should applaud role models like Adesanya who, in his own words, is giving ‘‘the young generation coming up — someone they can relate to’’. Let’s not throw cheap shots from the sidelines, let’s come together in these divided times and embrace greatness, the pursuit of excellence, overcoming adversity, and developing an indomitable
will.