No doubt about it, mixed martial arts is violent.
But as much as it is about hand-to-hand combat, it's about strategy, technique and the kind of endurance that very few athletes really understand.
Sure, I found myself wincing, covering my eyes and yearning for the end of the round several times during Saturday night's Throwdown Elite's Showdown IV. But I also found myself in awe of their ability to adjust to another person's strength, their ability to defend themselves, and ultimately, their ability to take an untenable situation and turn it to their advantage.
I had some notions about what MMA was before I went this weekend and most of those have changed after watching the bouts and talking with the fighters.
First, it is not, in any way, shape or form, an unrestricted, free-for-all without rules or regard for human life. Believe it or not, anything does NOT go. Their goal, when they step in the Cage, which I'm sure is part of the reason some wince even without witnessing a fight, is not to hurt, injure or maim their opponents.
In fact, it is, like many sports, about testing themselves, about pushing their own limits and exposing their own weaknesses. And like every sport from tennis to football, it is about finding a way to win.
"It's still amazing how many people think MMA is not a sport," said Steve Faragher, who is a co-host for "The Cage" radio show on 1280 AM on Tuesday and Thursday nights. "They only see the violence, and they look past all the other aspects of the sport."
That's the biggest part, the part that requires fighters to learn a variety of techniques. MMA fighters train in wrestling, boxing, jujitsu and other sports in an effort to gain an edge in the cage. That variety is what makes the sport so interesting as some rely heavily on wrestling, while others look like text-book boxers. The challenge for the athletes is deciding what discipline to use when.
Josh Burkman grew up playing football and baseball at Cottonwood High School. He played college football at Dixie and was headed to the University of Utah to play football when he opted instead to enter into an MMA competition.
"I went downtown to try it, lost, but went home, dropped out of school and started training full time," he said. "I gave up a scholarship; my parents thought I was crazy."
But they supported him as he moved to Las Vegas to train in a boxing gym. Now a popular and successful UFC fighter, Burkman said he loves MMA because of the competition and the lifestyle associated with it.
"It helps me live a healthy, active lifestyle," Burkman said. "I love the competitive aspect of it."
Mixed martial arts is hugely popular in Utah and growing at rates that make other sports envious. Even in tough economic times, MMA gyms are attracting more than enough clientele.
"It's almost like when times are tough, that's when fighters gain popularity," Burkman said. "People admire their toughness. Whether it's the guy who just lost his business or a guy who just lost his job with GM, people are struggling. And they respect getting to see that in athletes that they admire."
It is also a release, an escape and that may even become more important when daily life gets darker.
"It's exciting," said Steve Siler, who successfully defended his featherweight title. "Two guys competing one-on-one, no excuses about how it ends."
Faragher has been a fan since the sport was born in 1993.
"I started watching it when it was not good, when there weren't rules," he said. "I was at a friend's house and I happened upon MMA … There was this 170-pound fighter named Royce Gracie, and because there weren't weight classes, he was beating up 300-pound guys because he knew submission techniques. I thought, 'This is cool — a small guy can defend himself against a bigger guy if he knows what he's doing.'"
Faragher said if detractors understood that MMA is not just street fighting, they'd have more respect for the sport and for those who train up to four hours a day to compete.
"Only about 10 percent of the people who were fighting on the street can walk into MMA and be successful," he said. "Most people who just want to fight aren't dedicated enough to put in all the training, in all of the disciplines, necessary to compete."
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com