With the new fascination behind Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), it’s no surprise that there are a few new gyms where people can train for these fights, as well as become professionally ranked.

Though there are a handful of these new gyms and dojo’s in Greenville, such as Tier 1 Fitness, the home of Death Grip MMA and the teams newest professionally ranked fighter, James “Blackie Chan” Jones Jr.

Fearless Fighting and All-American Martial Arts Academy is another MMA dojo that has been in Greenville for 11 years. Their newest dojo is located on Evans and 5th streets.

Tier 1 Fitness has a ring-style venue where fighters can train in a professional area for fitness as well as to put on the gloves and spar.

Ron Cooper, head coach of Death Grip MMA, is a former Army Special Forces soldier, and makes for sure his fighters check their pride and attitudes at the door.

“Everyone is a constant student of this sport and is in a constant state of becoming,” he said. “No one walks away from this knowing everything. They’re constantly learning and adapting.”

Brandon Johnson and Neal Woolard, owners of Tier 1 Fitness, just celebrated a successful first year in business and are happy to host Death Grip MMA.

“One of the main differences with MMA, as opposed to boxing, is that in boxing you know you’re going to take hits to the head and body,” Johnson said. “In MMA, you could take hits everywhere on the body, as well as be involved in wrestling, Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and so forth.”

According to Johnson, the sport is more about absorbing as little damage as possible and inflicting as much as possible in the shortest amount of time, whether body kicks or submission moves, as well as blocking punches and leg sweeps.

MMA incorporates the best elements of all kinds of martial arts, as well as wrestling, and puts them in one arena of competition.

“If anyone specializes in only one form of martial arts, they’re going to see that they won’t last long in a match as someone else who has a little knowledge of everything,” Johnson said. “That person who knows a little bit about everything will have more of an advantage over the opponent who specializes in only one form of martial arts.”

Jones started training in 2009 and really enjoyed it and wanted to do it full time. He’s always trained in boxing, but when he joined Death Grip MMA, he began to train in Jiu Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Muay Thai, which includes more complicated movements, holds, grips, strikes and kicks. All of which are just as effective, if not more effective, than boxing and Tae Kwon Do.

“However,” Jones said, “in MMA you need to know all of them.”

Jones met Cooper about two years ago and wanted Cooper to train him. He previously trained in Tae Kwon Do and boxing but he was looking for more.

Cooper added he doesn’t let anyone go right into a match until they have trained with him for 12 consecutive weeks.

“Basically, they’re just road kill for those first three months,” he said. “The reason being is because people see it on TV and think it’s cool and want to do it. I want them to train for 12 weeks to see if this is what they really want.”

Roughly 90-percent of the people that go to Cooper quit before the first four weeks. Of that 90-percent, more than half of them quit within the first five days.

“It’s tough,” he said. “They get here and train like we do, but then they realize it’s just not for them. And there’s nothing wrong with that. This is not for everyone.”

Jones said that training is actually the hardest part because they train for hours at a time, go eat, then go back to the gym and train for a few more hours.

MMA was not always in Jones future. When he began training with Cooper, he was a student at East Carolina University. Since that time, he earned his bachelor degree in Management Business Information Systems in May 2010, all the while, achieving the rank of Professional MMA Fighter with Death Grip MMA.

Jones had his first professional fight in Dec. 2010 in Wilmington.

Training five hours a day, five days a week, Jones said has prepared him. He thinks positive and sees himself competing on the next level and ultimately wants to fight in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).

Training for Life

Both Johnson and Woolard incorporate CrossFit training ą essentially, constantly varying functional movements at higher intensity ą to their clients and MMA fighters in top shape.

“It’s designed to move large loads and to be functionally strong,” Johnson said. “It’s about going the distance without tiring significantly.”

CrossFit training incorporates many functional movements that people are already accustomed too, as people rarely encounter anything that involves a bench press.

“”We concentrate on many functional movements that people will need to use that will benefit them in everyday life,” Johnson said.

Some of the exercises involve moving tires, kettlebells, running, jumping, Olympic lifting, overhead jerks and many more functional movements.

“It’s training that won’t make you skinny and weak, but will make you strong and healthy,” he said. “We have lots of women in here that are tiny, but can lift two and three times their body weight over their heads.”

Johnson said one of his clients is a prison guard who attributed CrossFit to saving his life when a door shut and he was locked in a room with an inmate who was acting out.

“Men are more afraid of failure than they are of death. And we can push people to a level they never thought they could achieve,” Johnson said. “And Death Grip MMA can compete in an environment that is very well controlled and focused.”