I believe the only way to capitalize on the MMA is through your martial arts fitness program. If you watch the MMA TV shows, like the one on Spike TV, you’ll see more of the training than the actual fighting. This is unique to MMA. No other sport focuses on and shows so much of the athletes training like MMA does. Why? Because it’s what I’ve been saying all along. People love to watch and train like a fighter, they just don’t want to get hit.

Watching a MMA fighter train is interesting. Seeing them punch and kick the mitts and heavy bag and do a little sparring is fun to watch. This jazzes the general public and I bet the average person thinks about getting involved in MMA while they are watching the training. As soon as the fight starts and someone is getting crushed, the average person enjoys the fight but thinks twice about getting involved. Nobody wants to be grounded and pounded.

Something I learned a long time ago is that if you have a martial arts ad that has a photo of someone getting drilled with a sidekick, the average person doesn’t see himself or herself as the person throwing the kick. They see themselves as the guy on the end of the kick.

This is why I think MMA is a great opportunity for martial arts fitness programs like the Ultimate Body Challenge (UBC). The media is doing all of the work for us. Look at the shape the MMA fighters are in. They’re probably in the best shape of any athlete and they do it with martial arts fitness training. The point is, the MMA is currently featuring all the things we do to get someone in shape in our fitness programs. The media has made martial arts fitness training a very cool activity; an activity that the average
person would love to do. The challenge is having a program that emphasizes the results of martial arts fitness training on the average person’s waist size, and not just on learning how to fight.

Like I said before, there are many people who are going to have success with a MMA program because that is who they are. But, unless you want to climb into the ring and work on becoming a famous MMA fighter, you might want to look at the fitness aspect of the MMA as a way to capitalize on its explosive growth.