All mixed up
Martial arts training ground attracts crowd in Plainfield
Whether it's Saturday Night Fights on CBS or the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship taking place at the Allstate Arena on Oct. 25th, Chicagoland is buzzing with excitement over the fastest growing sport in America today: mixed martial arts.
The immense popularity of mixed martial arts has made household names of fighters like Randy 'The Natural' Couture, Fedor Emelianenko, Anderson 'The Spider' Silva, BJ Penn and the infamous Kimbo Slice.
No matter whether people love or hate the sport, everybody seems to have an opinion about it.
On Oct. 13, Cross Fit Training Center in Plainfield held its grand opening to a crowd of more than 200 people. The training center is home to Force Wrestling and Team No Ego MMA. Nearly every inch of the 9,000 square feet of matted training area was occupied by pairs of athletes, ranging from 10 years of age to 45, practicing various Jiu Jitsu and grappling techniques.
Much like the way mixed martial arts has evolved from the perceived blood sport days of the early 1990s to the highly sanctioned combat sport of today, Cross Fit has seen a steady progression from its original wrestling format to true mixed martial arts training - which includes kickboxing, judo, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling and combat conditioning.
Head coach Dennis Hughes admits that the No. 1 question that he hears from parents is, "Will my kid get punched in the face?"
Coach Hughes is quick to point out: "Sparring is only about 10 percent of training. I am finding that high school age kids would rather do mixed martial arts than wrestle. All of the kids in my program play football and opted for mixed martial arts instead of high school wrestling. I think it's because of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Spike TV."
In addition to the multitude of young athletes training at Cross Fit, many adult athletes have become interested in mixed martial arts training. For many of those adults training at Cross Fit, the original attraction was the humble attitude displayed by the coaches of Team No Ego.
Coach Kane Henneke explains the origins of Team No Ego as "a half dozen to a dozen guys who were real good at wrestling, boxing, kick boxing, Jiu Jitsu and grappling all came together to learn from one another.
"We came together without ego. We came together just to learn and make ourselves better every day. We all wanted to get better at the sport of MMA because we loved the sport. You never stop learning; that's where it all came from."
Coach Henneke believes that the Team No Ego concept of continued growth through learning is the essential building block that has allowed Cross Fit to thrive.
One of the main goals of Team No Ego was to create an environment where amateurs felt equally at home learning the combat sports as those who have made the adrenaline-fueled leap to becoming a professional fighter. Besides being the home to highly ranked heavyweight headliner and Chicago police officer Mike Russow, Cross Fit has become the breeding ground for up-and-coming professionals like Craig Kaufmann and Brent Mehrhoff.
In addition to the spacious amount of matted area, Cross Fit also houses the inaugural Combat Sports International fight cage in the United States. Due to the considerable costs involved, Cross Fit was able to secure the cage with the assistance of local fight promotion company Mayhem Promotions. Being committed to building a local base of fighters, Mayhem Promotions believes facilities like Cross Fit are producing some of the best fighter prospects in the Midwest.
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