Dewey's Diva
07-18-2006, 12:44 PM
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2006/07/07-18-06tdc/07-18-06dsports-03.asp
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 ]
Amateur training to join UFC
By Adam Michael
Collegian Staff Writer
Claustrophobia -- the walls are closing in and there is no way out. For some, it makes them panic, grow fearful, scratch at their surroundings and look for any escape.
But for Penn State senior Mike Fusco, his senses are heightened, and he remains unflustered. As he steps into the cage for his mixed martial arts match, popularized by its more dramatic names -- Ultimate or No-Holds Barred fighting -- his mind is pulsating with that feeling.
The amateur fighter forces his demeanor to change, and like the Incredible Hulk, he turns into someone that he absolutely isn't in his normal everyday life.
"Before I fight I don't like people patting me on the back. Some people like guys massaging their back but I don't like that kind of thing," Fusco said. "I'm not nervous, but about half an hour before I fight, putting my gloves on, getting my shorts on that's when it starts.
"You're not really being yourself. You have to put yourself in a mindset where you're going to go out and hit somebody. You kind of have to make peace with the fact that you may have to hurt him or he'll hurt you. That makes it doable."
Fusco didn't waste any time a month ago during his last bout in the ring. Battling back from two knee injuries, it was his first appearance in almost a year.
After having both anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) surgically repaired after training accidents, Fusco never thought about quitting.
"It happens," Fusco said, shrugging off the potential career-ending injury. "I don't think any guy goes into a fight 100 percent."
As the bell sounded, Fusco engaged his opponent, throwing a few crisp punches. His overanxious nemesis tried to grab at Fusco's upper body, but quickly found himself parallel with the mat as Fusco shot low and pulled his opponent's feet out from under him.
Less than 30 seconds later, the lanky challenger found himself buried with Fusco's crotch smashed into his chest. An arm bar would force the foe into a world of pain that ultimately ended in a submission.
A typical passerby would never imagine the rubber band flexibility and maneuverability that Fusco could unleash if they passed him on the street. Engaging in conversation or even shaking hands, he seems like any other 20-something student. Fusco is well built, but at 5-foot-7 and a weight fluctuating between 155-175 pounds, he doesn't appear overly threatening.
"He can humble you," martial arts teacher and friend Bruce Lombard said. "He's only 150 pounds but he could be going up against 200-220, but it doesn't matter when it comes to the ground."
Luckily for the public, he is as mild-mannered as they come. The several forms of hand-to-hand combat that he continues to learn as a member of State College Martial Arts Academy at Titan Fitness did not come without lessons in discipline.
"Mike is one of the most sincere guys I've ever met," friend and cornerman Tom Gates said. "He's been one of my best friends since I first met him and he's pretty much my instructor in the gym. He's a real genuine guy. He's always happy-go-lucky. He's a fun guy to be around."
The gym at Titan Fitness was built on the foundations of its creator, Bill Gephart. Gephart lost a personal battle with esophagus cancer three years ago, but his legacy at the gym has never been forgotten.
"I say his name every single day in this class," Lombard said. "Martial arts is about appreciating the arts to a certain degree, staying in shape and feeling comfortable about yourself. He held that very serious, knowing what martial arts was all about and showing appreciation to the people that were teaching it."
Entering the gym is like entering a scene from Million Dollar Baby. The scent of sweat, leather boxing gloves and wrestling mats fill the air. Body-sized punching bags hang from an overhead bar. To the right is a full-sized boxing ring and multiple aerobic machines. On the far side of the gym, a series of strength training machines and speed bags are scattered around. Above the first level in the far side of the gym, there is a loft, covered with a floor mat where students learn several different forms of combat.
This is Fusco's playground.
At the age of 14, Fusco first became interested in martial arts through watching movies with his friends. Because the gym did not accept students under the age of 15, Fusco had to find other ways to gain experience in fighting. Lombard said that Fusco would go to the Penn State wrestling practices and help out just to get more opportunities to fight.
Lombard said Fusco would call the gym anxiously every month or two to make sure that the rules hadn't changed. When he finally turned 15, Fusco had one more battle to win before he could begin to train.
As the son of two non-athlete medical workers, his parents were very skeptical.
"Partly, it's just like any other parent with an athlete," Fusco's mother Diane Fusco said. "We worry about him getting hurt. I'm sure I'd worry if he were a football player or baseball player or whatever doing his sport."
Through the years though, Diane Fusco's opinions of the sport have changed greatly, in part because the sport is not nearly as violent as the term "No-Holds Barred" may imply. A mutual high demand of personal values with Gephart made it easier to allow their son to take part in the sport.
"He was somebody that Michael really looked up to," Diane Fusco said. "[Gephart's] somebody that taught him a lot about self-respect, and I remember being impressed with him, and the other martial arts teachers emphasized that this was not for beating people up. This was only for competitions and self-defense, and it was never to be used for bullying anybody. They taught them to behave like gentlemen."
After winning the support of his parents and waiting for his age to catch up with his urge to fight, he finally joined the gym. Both Gates and Lombard said they remembered the scrawny Fusco, a 115 pound kid with wide eyes, expressing more enthusiasm than anyone else in the world. At the age of 15, he began to learn the art of Muay Thai kickboxing.
As the years went on, he added submission wrestling and boxing to his repertoire. His involvement with Gephart and submission wrestling gave him the opportunity to meet and work with Erik Paulson, the founder of submission wrestling.
Fusco said he saw Gephart as second father and was thrilled to be presented with so many opportunities.
"He spent a lot of his time helping me out, getting me ready for fights," Fusco said. "He'd travel a lot of ways to take me to fight schools to watch over me and make sure I wasn't getting injured. Coaching me technically, pushing me physically, letting me know if I was screwing up whether it was in the ring or doing something dumb in school."
When Gephart passed, it left a void in the lives of the fighters and teachers at the academy. Fusco was especially effected, as Gephart had been his only mentor.
"It was pretty quick," Fusco said. "He went from being a pretty solid dude to, well, the cancer took over his whole body in about nine months. It sucked a lot, going from seeing him being a house of a dude to a sick man in a wheelchair.
"One thing he taught me, be a good person. There's so many people out there that aren't really good people. But there's so many good people in this sport. It requires discipline and requires you not to mess up."
Continuing to fight without his tutor, Fusco has improved his record to 7-2 in mixed martial arts, but injuries have kept him off the mat throughout his career. During training, Fusco injured both his left and right ACL. The left went first, during a training drill. After five months of rehab though, Fusco came back and won one more fight.
Overcompensating for the injury, though, Fusco put too much pressure on the right leg and the other ACL went during another training session.
Eight months later, Fusco was back in the ring for the 30-second submission that has convinced him that he can get his career moving forward again.
"I tell you, it's a testament to his character," Gates said. "Kind of a symbol in a certain sense."
For Fusco, waiting the extra three months to ensure that his knees would be healthy enough to fight was not easy. He made an agreement with his parents to try to find a real job if he couldn't get his career in mixed martial arts rolling.
Fusco secured a promoter before the injury, but for financial reasons, they could not continue to support Fusco through the injury. After hearing rumors about his weight class being mentioned for the fifth season of the Spike TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter, he has looked into trying out. With only one more class left in the fall before his graduation, though, Fusco needs to find his groove and find it soon.
Because Fusco is still stuck at amateur status, he makes just enough to cover his traveling expenses and hotel. Lombard said that the only way Fusco will continue to improve at this point is to move to the elite professional status.
"To get to the next level you need to compete and train with guys that are better than you," Lombard said. "In this town, there's just not that many guys, they might be better in one or two things, but not everything."
For Fusco though, that decision will have to wait as he plans to fulfill the promise he made to his parents first.
"I'm trying to graduate and think about my pro career or else I've got to get a real job," Fusco said. "That's my dream. Whether or not that will happen, we'll see."
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 ]
Amateur training to join UFC
By Adam Michael
Collegian Staff Writer
Claustrophobia -- the walls are closing in and there is no way out. For some, it makes them panic, grow fearful, scratch at their surroundings and look for any escape.
But for Penn State senior Mike Fusco, his senses are heightened, and he remains unflustered. As he steps into the cage for his mixed martial arts match, popularized by its more dramatic names -- Ultimate or No-Holds Barred fighting -- his mind is pulsating with that feeling.
The amateur fighter forces his demeanor to change, and like the Incredible Hulk, he turns into someone that he absolutely isn't in his normal everyday life.
"Before I fight I don't like people patting me on the back. Some people like guys massaging their back but I don't like that kind of thing," Fusco said. "I'm not nervous, but about half an hour before I fight, putting my gloves on, getting my shorts on that's when it starts.
"You're not really being yourself. You have to put yourself in a mindset where you're going to go out and hit somebody. You kind of have to make peace with the fact that you may have to hurt him or he'll hurt you. That makes it doable."
Fusco didn't waste any time a month ago during his last bout in the ring. Battling back from two knee injuries, it was his first appearance in almost a year.
After having both anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) surgically repaired after training accidents, Fusco never thought about quitting.
"It happens," Fusco said, shrugging off the potential career-ending injury. "I don't think any guy goes into a fight 100 percent."
As the bell sounded, Fusco engaged his opponent, throwing a few crisp punches. His overanxious nemesis tried to grab at Fusco's upper body, but quickly found himself parallel with the mat as Fusco shot low and pulled his opponent's feet out from under him.
Less than 30 seconds later, the lanky challenger found himself buried with Fusco's crotch smashed into his chest. An arm bar would force the foe into a world of pain that ultimately ended in a submission.
A typical passerby would never imagine the rubber band flexibility and maneuverability that Fusco could unleash if they passed him on the street. Engaging in conversation or even shaking hands, he seems like any other 20-something student. Fusco is well built, but at 5-foot-7 and a weight fluctuating between 155-175 pounds, he doesn't appear overly threatening.
"He can humble you," martial arts teacher and friend Bruce Lombard said. "He's only 150 pounds but he could be going up against 200-220, but it doesn't matter when it comes to the ground."
Luckily for the public, he is as mild-mannered as they come. The several forms of hand-to-hand combat that he continues to learn as a member of State College Martial Arts Academy at Titan Fitness did not come without lessons in discipline.
"Mike is one of the most sincere guys I've ever met," friend and cornerman Tom Gates said. "He's been one of my best friends since I first met him and he's pretty much my instructor in the gym. He's a real genuine guy. He's always happy-go-lucky. He's a fun guy to be around."
The gym at Titan Fitness was built on the foundations of its creator, Bill Gephart. Gephart lost a personal battle with esophagus cancer three years ago, but his legacy at the gym has never been forgotten.
"I say his name every single day in this class," Lombard said. "Martial arts is about appreciating the arts to a certain degree, staying in shape and feeling comfortable about yourself. He held that very serious, knowing what martial arts was all about and showing appreciation to the people that were teaching it."
Entering the gym is like entering a scene from Million Dollar Baby. The scent of sweat, leather boxing gloves and wrestling mats fill the air. Body-sized punching bags hang from an overhead bar. To the right is a full-sized boxing ring and multiple aerobic machines. On the far side of the gym, a series of strength training machines and speed bags are scattered around. Above the first level in the far side of the gym, there is a loft, covered with a floor mat where students learn several different forms of combat.
This is Fusco's playground.
At the age of 14, Fusco first became interested in martial arts through watching movies with his friends. Because the gym did not accept students under the age of 15, Fusco had to find other ways to gain experience in fighting. Lombard said that Fusco would go to the Penn State wrestling practices and help out just to get more opportunities to fight.
Lombard said Fusco would call the gym anxiously every month or two to make sure that the rules hadn't changed. When he finally turned 15, Fusco had one more battle to win before he could begin to train.
As the son of two non-athlete medical workers, his parents were very skeptical.
"Partly, it's just like any other parent with an athlete," Fusco's mother Diane Fusco said. "We worry about him getting hurt. I'm sure I'd worry if he were a football player or baseball player or whatever doing his sport."
Through the years though, Diane Fusco's opinions of the sport have changed greatly, in part because the sport is not nearly as violent as the term "No-Holds Barred" may imply. A mutual high demand of personal values with Gephart made it easier to allow their son to take part in the sport.
"He was somebody that Michael really looked up to," Diane Fusco said. "[Gephart's] somebody that taught him a lot about self-respect, and I remember being impressed with him, and the other martial arts teachers emphasized that this was not for beating people up. This was only for competitions and self-defense, and it was never to be used for bullying anybody. They taught them to behave like gentlemen."
After winning the support of his parents and waiting for his age to catch up with his urge to fight, he finally joined the gym. Both Gates and Lombard said they remembered the scrawny Fusco, a 115 pound kid with wide eyes, expressing more enthusiasm than anyone else in the world. At the age of 15, he began to learn the art of Muay Thai kickboxing.
As the years went on, he added submission wrestling and boxing to his repertoire. His involvement with Gephart and submission wrestling gave him the opportunity to meet and work with Erik Paulson, the founder of submission wrestling.
Fusco said he saw Gephart as second father and was thrilled to be presented with so many opportunities.
"He spent a lot of his time helping me out, getting me ready for fights," Fusco said. "He'd travel a lot of ways to take me to fight schools to watch over me and make sure I wasn't getting injured. Coaching me technically, pushing me physically, letting me know if I was screwing up whether it was in the ring or doing something dumb in school."
When Gephart passed, it left a void in the lives of the fighters and teachers at the academy. Fusco was especially effected, as Gephart had been his only mentor.
"It was pretty quick," Fusco said. "He went from being a pretty solid dude to, well, the cancer took over his whole body in about nine months. It sucked a lot, going from seeing him being a house of a dude to a sick man in a wheelchair.
"One thing he taught me, be a good person. There's so many people out there that aren't really good people. But there's so many good people in this sport. It requires discipline and requires you not to mess up."
Continuing to fight without his tutor, Fusco has improved his record to 7-2 in mixed martial arts, but injuries have kept him off the mat throughout his career. During training, Fusco injured both his left and right ACL. The left went first, during a training drill. After five months of rehab though, Fusco came back and won one more fight.
Overcompensating for the injury, though, Fusco put too much pressure on the right leg and the other ACL went during another training session.
Eight months later, Fusco was back in the ring for the 30-second submission that has convinced him that he can get his career moving forward again.
"I tell you, it's a testament to his character," Gates said. "Kind of a symbol in a certain sense."
For Fusco, waiting the extra three months to ensure that his knees would be healthy enough to fight was not easy. He made an agreement with his parents to try to find a real job if he couldn't get his career in mixed martial arts rolling.
Fusco secured a promoter before the injury, but for financial reasons, they could not continue to support Fusco through the injury. After hearing rumors about his weight class being mentioned for the fifth season of the Spike TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter, he has looked into trying out. With only one more class left in the fall before his graduation, though, Fusco needs to find his groove and find it soon.
Because Fusco is still stuck at amateur status, he makes just enough to cover his traveling expenses and hotel. Lombard said that the only way Fusco will continue to improve at this point is to move to the elite professional status.
"To get to the next level you need to compete and train with guys that are better than you," Lombard said. "In this town, there's just not that many guys, they might be better in one or two things, but not everything."
For Fusco though, that decision will have to wait as he plans to fulfill the promise he made to his parents first.
"I'm trying to graduate and think about my pro career or else I've got to get a real job," Fusco said. "That's my dream. Whether or not that will happen, we'll see."