Grass Roots MMA in the Land of the Network

Grass Roots MMA in the Land of the Network

Published on May 17, 2012 by The Editor in F3 Championship, ONEFC, Opinion

What does the future hold for grass-roots events in the land of the ONE FC network?

 (this article will be based on what I have observed recently in Malaysia purely because that is where I am based)

There are a small number of ‘grass roots’ events held in Asia. In a good number of these there is no big plan, no aim to create an MMA empire. Mainly it is about trying to market the sport of MMA to possible gym members and to bring more people into the sport.

It is often about a gym giving a chance to its young fighters to try out their skills and see how they measure up. The majority of these fights are low quality affairs and due to the obvious problems often badly mismatched. The MMA press (Especially the copypastas)  largely ignore them and a lot of the fighters fight for nothing more than some food or drink, sometimes not even that.

Yet recently many of these small events (in Malaysia) have had their fight cards decimated often at the last-minute as gyms have withdrawn fighters.

The main rumors that have flown around are that the people behind ONE FC have told the Gyms who are part of the ONE FC network that they are not allowed to have their fighters in events outside of the Network. On the face of it these blocks on fighters seems to be very petty and possibly even damaging to the grass-roots part of the sport. It looks like the biggest Asian MMA organization is bullying the little organizations that pose NO threat at all to their dominance.

One of the biggest things that I thought that the ONE FC network promised when it emerged was a new golden age for Asian MMA, a chance for everybody good enough to find a path though to the ‘big show’ but what does this recent attitude mean?

One such affected event is this weekends F3 event to be held in Johor Bahru.

The fight cards for these events are very difficult to tie down anyway. There are often no real contracts and of course in most cases little money, sometimes not even travel expensive, so fighters pull out right up until the event for all sorts of bullshit reasons certainly not associated with their gyms telling them not to fight, why they do this is their own business, it’s sad that they seem to accept fights that they seemingly never intend to take part in. Maybe it’s an ego boost.

But that’s not the conversation at hand. Are ONE FC being heavy-handed with the fighters who it’s claimed are pulled at their insistence? I have to say on the surface it looks that way. I know for instance of a past event where a network gym was going to send three debutant fighters to fight and a couple of days before they pulled out and the story was that ONE FC was behind it. Recently, somebody within ONE FC confirmed indeed they were behind it, but then they also explained why.

I have heard in the past few days two different versions as to why these situations are happening.

One is from somebody who is involved with F3 and the other from somebody involved with ONE FC.

One claims that people from network gyms actually can fight at these events providing they do not fight under that gyms name, while, the other explained that it was much more about the fighters wellbeing, explaining that there is usually at best basic pre fight medicals and often none and that the medical cover at the events is lacking. Further to that if there is any serious cuts or worse there is no fighters insurance in place and no follow-up cover if the fighters have to miss work etc.

Both of these answers actually make some sense although of course one contradicts the other.

But let’s look at what both of these answers mean:

If the first answer is the one then I guess there would be no problem. After all, just because you train at a certain gym does not grant the gym exclusive rights to your services. Certainly, if you are a paying customer they should have no say at all in what you do.

However, if you work for a network gym, i.e. are paid more than a simple teaching fee, well, maybe then you need to get it straight with the gym before you start working for them what their rules are, and then you can have a written agreement as to who you can fight for etc. With a written agreement there can be no question marks as to what the situation is. That way nobody can complain. After all the gyms are not managing the fighters until they stump up a management contract and I have to say if they do that I cannot imagine many fighters being willing to sign.

On to the second answer, well, really it’s very hard to argue with. However, are we saying then that if these smaller events organize all this medical cover and insurance cover that they could take fighters from with-in the network? That would be interesting.

The Conclusion:

It remains that grass-roots events are needed, so many of the people who take part in these events will never be good enough to move up the ladder, it’s a sort of clearing house to find out those who are serious about becoming fighters over those who like to pose in the gym. so where do we go from here?

I personally think that all these people need to speak to each other and try to get some kind of agreement as to a way forward. ONE FC if they wish to be the kings of Asian MMA should aim to help the grass-roots and that should also mean making sure the smaller organizations are providing the fighters with all the support and care they need. That, may mean that ONE FC have to help with these events in some way shape or form because without grass-roots how is MMA truly going to grow in Asia?

I am not blaming anybody here, I don’t know the answer beyond Asian MMA needs grass-roots events and because of its size and power ONE FC should aim to find a way to ensure a healthy grass-roots, it should be the leader.

I have certainly spoken to representatives from ONE FC in the past about a way to both help grass-roots MMA in Asia and benefit ONE FC and I am sure there are many other good ideas out from others there that would benefit everybody involved.

ONE FC hope to become the MMA leader in Asia and the way to do that is to better communicate with all areas of the sport in Asia whether within the network or not. After all the health of MMA in Asia is the most important factor and the biggest threat to MMA in Asia or ONE FC’s dominance is not those other organizations. It is in providing a clear trail through from beginner to championship belt, it is the strength of MMA and what will lead to a growth of  it’s fanbase in the area.