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| Check out the media buzz around the Fizogen-Couture MMA gym! |  | | | | Cage fighting comes to Wellington | |  | | | | | |  | Bruce R. Bennett/Post Staff
Mixed martial arts practice at the Fizogen Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts Training Center in Wellington. At left is student Carlos Iraburo; at right is instructor Marcelo Ribeiro. | | |  | | | By KELLY WOLFE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 07, 2007
WELLINGTON — At first, it looked like your average amateur boxing match - each fighter landing a shot once in a while, making a sound like popping corn.
Except opponents Luis Colazantti and Carlos Iraburo were locked together in a 6-foot-tall, octagon-shaped cage.
And then pow! They were down on the mat, with nowhere to run, bound in a battle of flesh, sweat and muscle.
Other students watched with rapt attention. And Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood blared overhead. But the fight in the cage didn't look like it felt good at all. And, if Colazantti's screams were any indication, it did not.
| | | | | | " Oh, my God," Colazantti said. "I'm done, I'm an old man. Oh, God, let me out."
Fizogen Xtreme Couture is the fourth gym in the nation affiliated with heavyweight ultimate fighter Randy Couture. It opened in Wellington last month after about two years of planning. It's 7,500 square feet of weight machines, martial arts studio, octagon-shaped cage and, since this is Wellington, juice bar.
Already, 80 members - some as young as 5 years old - have signed on to learn to do battle in the cage.
That includes Colazantti, 39, and his 14-year-old son, Cody. Colazantti said he spends four hours a day, six days a week here. " This gym is the best thing that ever fell from the sky," he said.
Members pay as little as $25 for a single lesson or as much as $450-a-month for a premium membership, which includes two private lessons a year with Couture.
Matt Hulkkonen, manager at Fizogen Xtreme Couture, said he hopes the gym will one day have as many as 500 members. Couture's other gyms are in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Vancouver, Wash. Couture trains in Las Vegas.
Mixed martial arts, or ultimate fighting, is the reincarnation of gruesome, no-holds-barred brawls once dubbed "human cockfighting" by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. It's a combination of boxing, wrestling, jujitsu, kickboxing, karate and tae kwon do.
Fighters usually go three rounds of three minutes each in a battle for "submission."
" It's a warrior mentality," Colazantti said. "It's you and nobody else. You're alone in that cage."
But it's just that mentality that worries organizations such as the American Medical Association, which is pushing for the sport to be banned.
Dr. Peter Carmel, who sits on the board of trustees for the AMA and is chair of the neurology department at the New Jersey Medical School, was shocked to hear the gym had classes for children. " That is so scary, it's not to be believed," Carmel said.
Carmel said children are more likely to suffer serious injuries, such as spinal cord injuries, participating in ultimate fighting than adults are.
" The American Medical Association believes any sport where the primary aim is to maim or render unconscious your opponent is not a sport," Carmel said. Colazantti disagreed. " My son's friends skateboard," he said. "They come home with busted-up elbows, busted-up knees ..."
Bloodthirsty fans discovered ultimate fighting in the early 1990s. But the 1998 death of Douglas Dedge - who suffered head injuries in a fight in Ukraine - caused a backlash, drawing negative attention from politicians.
Ultimate Fighting Championship, the leading association for mixed martial arts, responded with a new set of safety rules including: no biting, no eye-gouging and no groin attacks.
Carlos Iraburo, the gym's general manager, said amateur fighters now wear mouth guards, groin protectors and padded gloves. A referee enforces the rules. When practicing, fighters also don protective headgear.
But despite the potential for injury, or perhaps because of it, the sport has become part of popular culture.
Spike TV regularly broadcasts the fights and reports a viewership of 1.1 million to 1.6 million. Ultimate fighting was featured in the movie Spider-Man and the popular HBO television series Entourage. Enthusiasts said it's more hip than traditional boxing and more real than professional wrestling.
" It's more mainstream than it's ever been," said Ralph Johnson, who teaches wrestling. "It's one of the fastest-growing sports out there."
And not everyone has dreams in the ring, said Marcelo Riberio, a Brazilian jujitsu instructor.
" Some guys are coming here to lose weight," he said. "Some guys are coming here to make friends. Some people don't want L.A. Fitness." | | | | | New martial arts facility offers
Xtreme training for all levels, ages | | | | | | | |  | Thomas Cordy/The Post
Children play a variation of basketball to close their jiu jitsu training session at Fizogen Couture Mixed Martial Arts Training Center. The game is played on their knees to build stronger muscles, and possession disputes are won by wrestling opposing players. | | | | | By JODIE WAGNER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
WELLINGTON — Randy Couture checks his ego at the door each day when he arrives for work at the Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts training center in Las Vegas.
The retired Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight opened his eponymous MMA gym in February with the intent of creating a rigorous, yet supportive, training environment for martial arts enthusiasts of all ages.
" It's a very good group of people ... no egos," said Daniel Amato, a friend of Couture's who recently opened his own mixed martial arts gym in Wellington.
| " Randy had set that up as one of his mottos - 'check your ego at the door.''"
Amato, 33, checks his every day. The Wellington resident and long-time mixed martial arts enthusiast prides himself on running a training center that provides martial artists the opportunity to train, learn and grow.
" I'd like for people to come in here and just have a good time, to learn self-defense, to gain confidence, to set a goal, achieve a goal, to be healthy," he said.
Health has played a central role in Amato's life during the past several years.
In 2003, the Greenacres native founded a sports nutrition supplement business - Fizogen Precision Technologies Inc. - that manufactures health aids and diet supplements.
The products are sold at drug stores, health food stores and gyms nationwide.
Through his business, which is based in Wellington, Amato had the opportunity to meet Randy Couture. " I've been a big fan of MMA," Amato said. "I've always watched it. I got with Randy Couture to endorse one of my products."
Amato maintained his relationship with the 44-year-old Couture while training in martial arts under the direction of black belt Marcelo Ribeiro.
Earlier this year, when space became available in the same Wellington office complex that houses Fizogen, the trio decided to move forward with plans to open an Xtreme Couture training center.
" Marcelo was talking to me about opening a gym," Amato said. " I was always talking to Randy about opening a gym. Finally, everything just lined up where it was the time."
On June 2 and 3, Amato held a grand opening for the Fizogen Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts Training Center.
During the weekend, Couture, along with professional MMA fighters Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva and Mike Pyle, made special appearances at the 7,500-foot training facility that features an MMA Ring, MMA Circle Cage, fenced-in grappling areas and advanced equipment.
" We offer weight training and conditioning that is geared for bodybuilding or strength and conditioning for practical use in fighting," Amato said of the training center, which is open daily.
" Ultimately, if you're in a grappling situation, you want to be able to throw your opponent, take them to a dominant position or punch them hard in the fifth round, just as hard as you did in the first."
For those not interested in pursuing a competitive career in mixed martial arts, the Fizogen gym also offers classes in self-defense, jiu jitsu for kids and adults, wrestling, muy Thai, women's kick boxing and conditioning.
" Some guys just want to come in here and lose weight," said Ribeiro, a long-time mixed martial arts and Jiu Jitsu instructor.
" Some guys just make friends and have fun, and some guys want to be professionals, so they have everything here they need. But if they're just coming here to get healthy, this is a good place."
For information on the Fizogen Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Training Center, call (561) 333-2096 or visit www.fizogen-couture.com. | |
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