MMA pros offer training clinics in West - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

MMA pros offer training clinics in West

Hundreds of West Coast Marines will get a chance to train with top professional mixed martial arts fighters next month.

MMA combative clinics are planned for Oct. 26-28 at Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, both in California, and MCAS Yuma in Arizona. Attendance will be limited, with first dibs going to units in predeployment cycles, said former Cpl. Lex McMahon, son of the late “Tonight Show” sidekick and retired Col. Ed McMahon. Lex McMahon is coordinating the event with Semper Fit staff and officers at each base.

Details are still being worked out, said Pendleton Semper Fit Division Director Pete Elkin, but he expects one clinic will be held in the gym on the base’s main side and another will be held in its northern training area. About 500 Marines should be able to participate in each, he said.

Officials at Miramar and Yuma could not confirm when or where their events would be held.

The clinics will feature big names from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, including five-time UFC champion Randy Couture and undefeated UFC fighter Gray Maynard. They will teach close combat and ground fighting techniques.

MMA is a compilation of combat skills involving Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Thai boxing, along with wrestling, kickboxing and judo.

McMahon, a former machine gunner and military police officer who deployed to Somalia twice between 1991 and 1994, considers these events his way of giving back to the Corps. He was discharged from active duty in 1995 and spent the next four years as a grunt in the Reserve.

“I remember how important real-world training is when you deploy,” he said. “My time in Somalia has made me sympathetic to what Marines are going through in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

For now, the plan is to have one four-hour session in the morning and another in the afternoon at each base, McMahon said. The first three hours will be instruction with the pro fighters and trainers, and the last hour will be a meet and greet, where Marines can get pictures and autographs.

Fighters and coaches are expected to participate. The coaches will likely demonstrate various moves and exercises to the group before the Marines are split up into smaller groups. Some Marines will be asked to participate in demonstrations, McMahon said.

Eventually, McMahon hopes to bring similar events to Marine bases on the East Coast.