Mixed Martial Arts fighter Robert Riley Photo by Richard Gintowt
Monday, May 15, 2006
When Robert Riley steps inside the cage for his first official Mixed Martial Arts match on June 10, his opponent could outweigh him by five to 10 pounds and have a completely different set of skills.
No worries, Riley says. That’s the reason he got into MMA in the first place — to emulate the underdog superpowers of former Ultimate Fighting Champion Royce Gracie.
“I saw this tiny little guy get locked in a cage with guys outweighing him by a hundred pounds and just take on all comers,” Riley says of Gracie, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu master who beat the daylights out of meathead challengers en route to winning the inaugural 1993 UFC competition.
“It just seemed like it wasn’t even real; like he knew some ancient mystical way to defeat these people,” Riley recalls. “They knew that it was great drama to have little Royce in there beating up these bar-fighting Goliaths ... After that, everybody who was serious about martial arts wanted to do Gracie jiu-jitsu.”
Riley, 24, has been one of those wannabes for the past six years. His martial arts repertoire includes jiu-jitsu, judo and Muay Thai — all studied with intention to become the sort of well-rounded MMA fighter that can kick the crap out of any opponent in any situation.
“I’d be watching these UFC videos and they’d transfer over to my dreams,” Riley says. “All of a sudden, I’d wake up in the middle of the night thrashing around trying to put some hold on a blanket.”
A cage of their own
For enlightened tough guys like Riley, MMA is the ultimate challenge.
The fast-growing sport attracts wrestlers, boxers, kickboxers and a wide array of martial arts practitioners thanks to its most-anything-goes rulebook. For audiences, it’s the perfect combination of bloodsport and drama. For fighters, it’s a chance to see which techniques work best in real combat situations.
Photo Gallery
Mixed Martial Arts
Robert Riley and Lance Yoder demonstrate moves.
According to Lawrence-based fighter Darryl Clark, MMA represents the next step of martial arts evolution.
“The history of martial arts has largely been to study one set of techniques to work under one condition,” says Clark, a kung fu expert who coaches Riley. “MMA is a sporting event where there is no particular style taught — it’s whatever works in the ring.”
Clark, 36, participated in about 40 MMA matches in Champaign, Ill. before retiring from competition and moving to Lawrence last year. He has set a goal of opening an MMA school in Lawrence by Sept.1.
“I think most martial art practitioners, after they spend enough time with it, would like to pass it on to others,” Clark says. “Having multiple instructors from multiple disciplines would allow students to pick up the broad picture.”
The school would be a welcome addition for aspiring Lawrence MMA fighters like Riley, who train on mats in city parks and recreation centers. By Clark’s estimate, only six local fighters are currently training for MMA. That could change, he says, if Lawrence had a MMA hub instead of forcing fighters to commute to Kansas City and Topeka.
Mixed martial arts master Royce Gracie takes on a kung fu specialist (voice-over narration explains technique and strategy)
Flying Triangle Choke demonstration
MMA master Rumina Sato's Flying Armbar
A highlight real of Rumina Sato moves
Grappling Match: Fighter Extreme 5
“MMA in the cage is the means to gain that confidence that you could beat up anybody on the street,” Clark says. “I would say about 30 percent — including myself — enjoy focusing on the sport and that’s it. The other 70 percent are not only interested in taking it to the street, but generally come from the street.”
Clark says he will take on any aspiring fighter — women included — so long as they commit to becoming better individuals as well as better fighters. He doesn’t condone street violence, he asserts, and would not recommend MMA to those interested in self-defense.
“If you face an opponent bigger and stronger — and possibly armed — all that martial arts training is almost worthless,” Clark says. “Pepper spray — and possibly considering a concealed weapon — is the way to go, rather than spend 20 years of your life training for an unknown event.”
Mixed blessings
Under the tutelage of Clark and various teachers from the Kansas City area, Riley has been training for his first amateur bout. He’ll be one of two dozen fighters who participate in “Cage Combat 1” on June 10 in Topeka.
“Even if I lose this fight and every fight I ever do, at least at the end of the game I’m going to be able to say, ‘I gave it a shot,’” Riley says.
Robert Riley's role model, Ultimate Fighting Champion Royce Gracie, left, kicks Akebono Kazuyuki Fujita.
The underground MMA scene provides a stark contrast to Riley’s day job as a news clerk for the Lawrence Journal-World — writing obituaries, marriage announcements, the “On the Street” and such. Each night is spent training and sparring, leaving little time for anything else.
“I still have all the friends that I had before, but the relationships aren’t the same,” Riley says. “They’ll still call me up and want to go out and get wasted on the weekends, but they realize what the answer is going to be.”
For Riley, girlfriends come and go. More often than not, they opt for the latter.
“They want someone who’s going to be there, and I’m like, ‘I don’t care; this is what I want to do,’” he says. “The career of a fighter — even an amateur one — is only going to last so long. You’re going to get hurt, or you’re going to lose the bout to Father Time. There’s going to be plenty of time for everything else.”
TFC Cage Fighting
- When: Friday, June 9, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: Memorial Hall, 600 N. Seventh St., Kansas City, KS
- Cost: $30 - $100
- Age limit: All ages
"Cage Combat 1," mixed martial arts
- When: Saturday, June 10, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: Sports Zone, 3909 SW Burlingame Road, Topeka, KS
- Cost: $20
- Age limit: All ages
To win his match, Riley will attempt to put his opponent in a submission hold — a position so painful that he “taps out” to end the match. If the fight stays on the ground, it will likely play to Riley’s strengths: grappling and wrestling. If that strategy proves futile, stand-up techniques such as kung fu and Muay Thai could decide the match.
“You have your basic sportsmanship rules: no eye-gouging, hair-pulling, fish-hooking, head-butting — stuff like that,” Riley explains. “We’re also thankful for the no-kicks-to-the-groin rule. No one wants to take a shot to the pills.”
A decade ago, Riley says, MMA events were generally illegal and often forced underground. These days, most states — Kansas included — sanction amateur bouts.
“There were a bunch of neo-conservative Republicans that really did just view this as human cock-fighting,” Riley says. “I think it’s a sport that this area is ready for now ... The UFC has done a great job promoting it.”
Game on
Capital City Combat promoter Chris Jones says he wants “Cage Combat I” to be a forum for local MMA fighters to showcase their skills alongside kickboxing matches.
A fighter himself, Jones expressed frustrations with other area MMA events that require entry fees.
“The fighters are the ones doing all the work and these organizations and promoters are the ones getting all the money,” he says. “A lot of these guys aren’t even local — they’re coming from Kansas City and Nebraska.”
Jones says his goal is to match fighters evenly so the bouts aren’t too one-sided.
“The old UFC thought it was funnier to see a boxer fight a grappler, or a kickboxer fight a wrestler,” Jones says. “I want to see more of a chess match as opposed to a one-sided blowout, because then people come down and go, ‘Good god — that was terrible.’”
The MMA field has become much more competitive in the decade since Royce Gracie became an instant celebrity, Jones says.
“I feel like kickboxers, boxers and wrestlers have the best chance of coming in and adapting pretty well to this type of fighting,” he says. “Now that so many guys have cross-trained, it’s anybody’s game.”
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Posted by imurkryptonite14 (anonymous) on September 15, 2007 at 11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
hey my name is joey uhm i did some research found out your opening an mma school in lawrence if so or if you already did id like to to know the location im interested in becoming a student im experienced in mma just looking to better my skills
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Posted by davefoo (anonymous) on November 8, 2007 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
im looking for a place to train around lawrence.haveyou opened a gym or where is the closest gym to train in mma.
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