Cage fighting puts martial arts, boxing on display

• By GEORGE MORRIS
• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 9, 2009

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Gil Guillory knew what was coming. The woman on the telephone wanted to know exactly what this Louisiana vs. Florida event was all about. Telling her it was mixed martial arts didn’t seem to answer the question.

“It’s cage fighting,” Guillory said. It wasn’t, to say the least, what she wanted to hear.

“She said, ‘That is disgusting. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure this never comes back here.’”

Guillory, the promoter of tonight’s 7:30 p.m. event at the Baton Rouge River Center, shrugs it off. It’s not the first time he has faced that reaction, and likely not the last.

Mid-20th Century journalist A.J. Liebling called boxing “the sweet science.” Nobody uses such a gentle phrase to describe mixed martial arts. MMA allows combatants to kick, knee and punch their opponents, not only while standing but when they are on the canvas. The ring is fenced in such a way that contestants cannot leave, giving the bouts a gladiatorial feel.

But Louisiana vs. Florida, which will feature athletes from the two states battling a night before the Florida-LSU football game in Tiger Stadium, is not Thunderdome, Guillory insists.

“It’s a legitimate athletic event,” he said. “It’s very safe. I’ve been fighting this for years.”

Guillory, who also competes in the sport, says this while standing on a leg with a large brace around his knee. So, it’s not exactly stamp collecting. A 2006 study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine concluded that the injury rate in MMA is compatible with other combat sports, and with lower knockout rates than boxing.

The sport draws competitors from fighting disciplines such as boxing, martial arts and wrestling. Each brings different advantages and disadvantages.

Frankie Caruso, 26, has had success as an amateur boxer, winning national Golden Gloves titles. But his career hit a roadblock when he was suspended for two years for taking a banned diuretic in order to make weight, and he started trying MMA.

Caruso’s punching skills were unquestioned. What he had to develop was what MMA combatants call the “ground game” — the ability to fight when you’re off your feet and grappling with a foe on the mat. Caruso has trained in jiu-jitsu to prepare.

“You have to change your whole boxing,” Caruso said. “You can’t just come in and box. That’s been proven. I’ve got to change the stance, the little things you do, commit to the punches. You’ve got to be able to take it to the ground, so that’s what I’ve been working on, fighting on my back. So, I’m pretty confident.”

Thomas Webb has the opposite background — a wrestler at Baton Rouge Magnet High School until his graduation in 2001, followed by club-level wrestling while in college. He got involved in MMA after serving in the Army National Guard, including a tour in Afghanistan.