MMA - mixed martial arts training

In my last article, I spoke about what a lot of people over look. Fashion. In the fight world, this concept seems kind of far fetched but believe me, it is an important part to a lot of fighters. Professional fighters spend a lot of time worrying about what they wear.

Before fashion however, comes function, and in this business, that counts for a lot. There seems to be a lot of "fads" in mixed martial arts now that it is getting more main stream. Fighters pledge their allegiance to different brands of whether they are sponsored by them or not.

Gloves and shorts fall into this category. A fighter who wears a particular brand of fightwear without compensation is giving away free advertising, but can open up that fightwear company to the idea that they should be sponsoring that individual. At the last WEC show, the always generous crew from Outkast fightwear sponsored Shonie Carter on the spot and really took care of him.

I have also seen fightwear companies give shorts and product to brand new fighters, because everyone starts somewhere and that loyalty can pay off. Its not about winning or losing with these companies, they just want to see you fight your best fight regardless of the outcome.

What I like about these fightwear companies is that all of them train , usually pretty hard, and all of them have a thirst for the sport. These guys are taking financial hardships like everyone in the industry and are turning it into a positive thing.

One of the newer fightwear companies , Sprawl, took a long overdue idea and actually stepped up to make it happen. Board shorts are a popular style of long short most commonly worn by the surf crowd. These shorts have been around for a while in the mma community. They are cheap, and readily available. Sprawl took this popular short and made it grappling specific. These shorts are strong, comfortable and look sharp.

The Sprawl shorts are great for the shy guys who don’t want their inner thighs hanging all over, and the junk in their trunk hanging out. These shorts feel just as comfortable as vale tudo shorts, but cover more which can be useful. I myself hate getting of the mat, throwing on my pants and running down the hall to get water, a protein bar, or some girls phone number. With the Sprawls, you just walk off and on the mat, and you don’t ever have to change.

If you have a chance grab some of these shorts, in the future, it will be the standard for rolling attire. You heard it here first, your first word on mma trends from the states.

In my next column , I will be getting back to basics with an interview from the winner of the huge IFC light heavyweight tournament which will take place September 6^th at the Pepsi Center in Denver , Colorado.

Also, in upcoming columns I will be exploring more mma rivalries, and my first hand account of training at the newest caged training facility in California, Monster Island MMA in San Francisco , California.