ONRA:February28th,2010

Hafa adai.

Congrats to Team Countershot’s Joshua “The Hedgehog” Alvarez for a victory in Hawaiian mixed martial arts competition in 808 Battlegrounds this past Friday.

The Korean Top Team is running a weeklong MMA training camp at Trench Tech Purebred Saipan; Mariana Islands MMA pioneer Tetsuji Kato is relocating from Saipan to San Diego; Rollapalooza 5 is inviting Guam BJJ athletes to compete in the Philippines on March 13. But on the same day, Guam wrestling will be holding its qualifiers for the Micronesian Games in the freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s divisions; Jesse Taitano is preparing for his return to professional shooto on March 22. All the while, Guam combat sports continue to make headlines in local media.

In yesterday’s paper, we were toured though some of the lows and highs of the realities that, in part, define our island’s mixed martial arts environment. On one hand you have a familiar fighter-athlete who has been going through sincere struggles to advance forward thousands of miles away toward one of the world’s most prestigious and difficult venues of competition. And on the other side of the paper, an MMA representative unfortunately makes headlines by wreaking multiple cases of havoc unsparingly on our island soil.

These articles adequately support statements that exist on both sides of the fence of MMA’s position and role in Guam’s community.

Mixed martial arts definitely didn’t invent violence and it definitely didn’t invent overseas competition; however, our island’s long embrace of such an interesting conversational topic, has placed our figures onto the podiums of public thought and opinion.

Regardless of our extended efforts, it is difficult to thoroughly label MMA as viable sport when such incidents of extreme and unwarranted violence take place by any of our island’s MMA industry celebrities. It makes a viewer question how people might be selected to be at the front door of such opportunity as an athlete when they might fall so short on their duties as citizens.

With all the authority the Guam Unarmed Combat Commission is seeking to gain over a fruitful sport and hard-pursued venture it had little part in building, part of the spotlight for now can be shared with it on how it might offer its resources to help the industry to deal with this type of situation or any other situations of fighter-athlete misconduct on one hand and of assisting local fighters in overseas ventures on the other.

Even if our fighters were the very best at this sport, what service do we provide with positive campaigning, with professional athlete or venture sponsorship solicitation, when the end product we bring to the table serves as a detriment to the bigger picture?

Guam has proven to love mixed martial arts competition. In our small and fast-ricochet community, if we want it to be around for a while and serve the island positively, then we have to make very conscious efforts to be strategic and conscious of how we go about doing it.

Technique knows no prejudice. The skills offered in training can be really dangerous, you know, in the hands of some. You could really instill terror, but we should also remember that these same skills can not only defend against this terror, but the wisdom offered in proper guidance could all-around better prevent it from even starting.

As advocates of MMA, for longevity purposes, we should do our best to convince and not deceive the island of the legitimacy of mixed martial arts development here in the Marianas. At a time where our athletes are more formidable than ever, at a time when the MMA world is calling our name, and at a time when, despite our imperfections, people still believe in us, we need to work diligently to properly channel all the rising talent away from the focus of competitive martial arts as legalized violence and more into that of sport; for a stronger foundation in an athletic and community-serving framework of growth, of responsibility and in all its added strength and, most importantly, its positive influence. Of course, again, easier said than done. But nevertheless important.

Without this effort, we will find more trying roads ahead. And all this development will be missing out dearly on its full and true potential.

Thanks for dropping by.