FOR the most part, this violence is a quiet affair. That dull thump is the sound of a fist meeting flesh. The short, sharp slapping sound a foot kicking against a thigh. And that whooshing sound? That is air being pounded out of lungs. Strangely, there is no yelling or shouting. No bluffing.
This is combat science at work. Every blow is a cold and calculated move that is a testament to the control wielded by the thinkers, not thugs, that execute them. Beneath what appears to be the unbridled savagery of the sport known as mixed martial arts, there’s a rhyme and reason.
Above an army disposals store on the Nepean Highway in Cheltenham, one of Melbourne’s premier mixed martial arts stables conducts a brutal training regimen that conditions its fighters how to fight smart.
The club, Adrenaline MMA and Fitness, is the project of five-time Olympian Cris Brown and is quickly proving itself to be a key player on the Victorian fight scene with a swag of wins.
Brown, arguably the nation’s most successful wrestler and a mixed-martial arts fighter with two wins, one loss and one no-contest, is a coach, mentor and friend to the young men who line up to test their courage up to five times a week. He attributes the meteoric rise of mixed martial arts to the establishment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The championship, known among the masses as UFC, was established in 1993 as a way of determining which martial arts style was the most superior. The advent of the competition is tied to the evolution of mixed martial arts, which soon became the standard for the competition.
“It’s every boy’s dream, and every guy who watches it wants to do it. And this gives them an opportunity,” Brown says.
Mixed-martial arts competitions are now organised around the world on local and national levels. In the seventh months since Adrenaline MMA and Fitness opened, the mixed-martial arts class has grown to about 50 students — the fastest in the gym.
The goal of mixed martial arts is to knock out an opponent or to force them to submit using a choke-hold or joint lock, or win via a judges’ decision.
Mixed martial arts is demanding: the fitness and high-skill set required to fight for 15 minutes with two minutes of rest in between rounds is enough to floor even the most competent athletes. Fighters must be well-rounded in three sports: kickboxing, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Brown is unlike many of the coaches on the Australian fighting scene. While a high number refuse to let their students train at other gyms out of pride, or perhaps fear that they will be exposing trade ‘secrets’, Brown openly sends his fighters to other experts or holds seminars with world-class coaches.
Being a wrestler, he believes his students should learn any advanced kicking or punching with the best. But the grappling aspect of the game, which Brown excels in, is held in-house.
In addition to representing Australia in wrestling for about 16 years, Brown also holds a black-belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which takes about a decade to achieve.
He can throw people, break their joints or crush errant windpipes as easily as he breathes — something he imparts to his fighters, who, as a result, have become known for their grappling skills.
But just because they have the skills does not mean they use them erratically. Every technique has a time and place.
“If you’re not controlled you will not last one five-minute round. Your fitness level just wont take it. These are very controlled athletes,” Brown says. “Jumping into a ring and facing someone is just an art in itself. Anybody who has ever done it will know that it’s something they’ll never experience anywhere else. I’ve been to five Olympics. I’ve never experienced anything like the first time I fought.”
At the end of March, Glen Waverley’s Aidan Aguilera won his third mixed-martial arts fight using the skills Brown has imparted. The 22-year-old motion graphics artist and editor is a testament to the intellectual nature of the sport.
“There are guys who go in there and just swing for the fences and rage, but they don’t get very far. It takes more than that. It’s not just about the violence because if someone’s just coming in there bringing violence, eventually they’re going to come across someone who’s better (than) them technically,” he said.
Aguilera has been training in mixed martial arts for seven years. “I honestly believe it makes you a better human being if you take it the right way. It forces you to confront fears and weaknesses yourself and you can’t lie to yourself about it while you’re in there. There’s plenty of guys who do afterwards … but while you’re in there, if you’re lying to yourself, you’re going to get hurt.
“It’s a pretty crazy experience. You’ve got to focus on what you’re doing otherwise you can end up getting hurt because at the end of the day, you’re playing a game with your health. I guess it’s just kind of overcoming your own doubts while simultaneously defending yourself.”
Aguilera spends most of his evenings at Adrenaline, constantly conditioning his body and honing his skills. Most of the fighters, like Aguilera, follow the adage, ‘Train hard, fight easy’. Monday nights, run by coach Travers Grubb, are the worst.
“Travers takes Monday night… and he does it for a reason,” Brown says. “He just gets in there and he flogs the hell out of them. They have nightmares over Monday. It gives you the rest of the week to really work on your techniques and everything else, but you really (have) that day to throw up.
“If they’re going to fight, they’ve got to have that base. Every minute in a fight is like a week’s training. You cannot substitute that match fitness.”
As Jordan Cameron walked from the change room to the ring at his most recent fight, for the first time everything was not a blur. “I was there, I was myself, I just felt normal,” he says.
Cameron has a record of four wins, zero losses and a draw. The ring has become an extension of the gym and no longer makes him apprehensive. As one of Brown’s proteges, he is the epitome of his coach’s fighting philosophy.
“There’s strategy to it,” he says. “It is a bit of a brawl but there are tactics to it. You have to be smart. You’ve got to know when to fight, when to relax, when to catch your breath and when to turn it into a brawl.”
And if your senses escape you? “You’ll end up getting bashed or you’ll get tired and you’ll probably lose.”
The 22-year-old nursing student is constantly in training. “It’s become my purpose in life,” he says. “If I have a day off, I just feel lost.”
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