Brett Garamella

Photo Stories: Chris vs Ricardo

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is the fastest growing sport among young adult males in the United States. Part of the reason it has become so popular is due to the increase in rules and safety precautions the sport has taken in the past few years. As a result, more and more state athletic commissions have lifted bans on MMA events, which included Illinois on July 1, 2008. The first sanctioned MMA event in Chicago city limits, the IronHeart Crown XII: Resurrection, took place on Nov. 8, 2008, at the UIC Pavilion. Fighting at 155 pounds, Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas and Chris Martins put on one of the best fights of the evening. Lamas and Martins each spent more than 10 weeks preparing for their fight, training more than 20 hours each week. They also had to find time for other obligations, such as work and school since fighting only pays well for the elite professionals.

Lamas, 25, is nicknamed "The Bully" due to his dominant fighting style and the fact that he owns a 3-year-old English Bullterrier named Chico. An Oak Brook, IL, native, Lamas doesn't have as much time as he would like to spend with Chico. His mornings are spent working as a personal trainer. Then he boxes, kicks, runs, and lifts at Top Notch gym, run by Macario "Mac" Rosario, in Elmhurst, IL. He then drives to wrestling practice at Elmhurst College, where he is an assistant coach. (Lamas was an All-American wrestler at Elmhurst College.) During the evening he works on his jiu-jitsu with Jeff Neal in Naperville. He returns home at 10 p.m. This is a normal day for Lamas.

Martins, 23, also has virtually no free time. Both fighters say the most difficult part of training is finding time to eat. So they take protein shakes, vitamins, and supplements. Martins is in his second year at DePaul Law School, and never seems to have more than an hour or so to study before he has to eat, workout, or go to class. A native of Boca Raton, FL, Martins began practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at age 16. He moved to Chicago to study law due to his mother's advice for a "plan B" if his quest to become a big-time MMA fighter did not pan out. He lives in Chicago's gold coast and trains at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy, located in the downtown Chicago area. Once per week he drives to Hammond, IN, to train with WEC World Bantamweight Champion Miguel Torres.

Knowing Martins was a jiu-jitsu specialist, Lamas tried to win with his striking ability. Both fighters exchanged blows to the applause from the crowd. After three five-minute rounds, experience helped Lamas (5-0) beat Martins (1-1) in a unanimous decision.

Chris Martins (left) fights Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas (right) in the first sanctioned mixed martial arts event in Chicago, held at the UIC Pavilion on Nov. 8, 2008.
   
Ricardo Lamas lands a flying knee during a sparring session at Top Notch gym in Elmhurst, IL. The gym's owner, Macario "Mac" Ramos, specializes in teaching Muay Thai, a form of martial arts using a lot of kneeing and kicking.
   
Ricardo Lamas hammers a tire with a sledge hammer non-stop for three minutes. He takes a short breather and repeats. He trains six or seven days per week for a total of about 25 hours. While Lamas pounds the tire, Jerry Stewart, a boxing specialist, trains fighter Kenny. "If Superman wasn't Superman, if he didn't have super powers, this is what he'd be doing," says Stewart. "And this is the closest you're going to get to being a superhero. This is it. If you don't have superpowers, you better know how to fight with your hands, fight on the ground, fight with your knees, your elbows, the whole bit. Otherwise, you're looking at getting an ass beating if trouble comes to town."
     
  
Lifting weights at Top Notch gym is just a small part of the necessary preparation for a mixed martial arts fight. Ricardo Lamas trains six or seven days per week for a total of about 25 hours under the guidance of his coaches and fellow fighters.
   
Ricardo Lamas practices his form on a hanging bag after a sparring session at Top Notch gym in Elmhurst, IL.
   
Ricardo Lamas receives a lick from his 3-year-old English Bull Terrier named Chico. Lamas sits with Chico outside the gym (right) where he trains called Top Notch in Elmhurst, IL. Lamas earned the nickname "The Bully" because he owns a Bull Terrier, and for his fighting style in the ring.
     
  
Ricardo Lamas punches his sparring partner, but is not trying to injure him. After a fighter brings his opponent to the mat, he sometimes tries to end the fight by punching him. The mixed martial arts terminology for this is called "ground-and-pound."
   
Ricardo Lamas delivers a right hook into a punching bag as two of his sparring partners train in the ring. Flags representing each fighter's heritage hang along the walls in Top Notch gym. Lamas's father is Cuban and his mother is Mexican. He has five older brothers and no sisters.
   
Ricardo Lamas (left) demonstrates a move as the Elmhurst College wrestling team watches. After an All-America wrestling career at Elmhurst College, located near his home in Oak Brook, IL, Lamas returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. During his senior year, he couldn't practice for two weeks before the national tournament because he had a dislocated shoulder. Despite wrestling with basically one arm, Lamas advanced to the All-American round. This competitive spirit helped him progress at a rapid rate since his first MMA fight in January 2007.
     
  
Macario "Mac" Ramos (right) trains a female student at his gym in Elmhurst, IL. While fighters train around lunchtime, trainers such Mac have paying students in the afternoons and evenings, which include women and homemakers. Mac dedicated himself to mixed martial arts, in particular Muay Thai, so he could become a mixed martial arts fighter, and now a coach and trainer. He saved for many years so he could own Top Notch gym in Elmhurst, IL, where more than a dozen fighters train daily.
   
Chris Martins, 23, takes a water break during a workout at the Miguel Torres Academy in Hammond, IN. Martins trains full-time in Chicago, where he also is in his second-year at DePaul Law School. He still has scars around his left ear from being stabbed during a bar fight in Boca Raton, FL. Just 17 at the time, Martins entered the bar with a fake ID. Since turning 18, however, he has not been in a street fight.
   
Once per week, Chris Martins drives to Hammond, IN, so he can train with Miguel Torres, WEC World Bantamweight Champion. Torres runs the Miguel Torres Academy in Hammond and fights at 20 pounds less than Martins. Since turning pro in 2000, Torres has only lost one fight.
     
  
Chris Martins stretches before a sparring session at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy. This gym is located on the fourth floor of one of Chicago's largest personal training buildings. Jay Valko, a jiu-jitsu black belt, is the director of this academy situated in a modern gym with a view of the Sear's Tower outside the window.
   
A sparring partner ties Chris Martins's glove before a workout at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago.
   
A sparring partner tapes Chris Martins's glove before a workout at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago.
     
  
Chris Martins works out during a sparring session at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago. Like Ricardo Lamas, Martins spars five minutes at a time and then takes a short break before repeating. These sessions last almost two hours.
   
Chris Martins prepares for a workout on the ground after stand-up sparring with two of his fellow fighters at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago. These two fighters rotate each round against Martins so he is in top physical shape for his mixed martial arts fight against Ricardo Lamas.
   
Chris Martins tries to take advantage of his position during a workout against a sparring partner at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago. Martins, 23, is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist who began training at age 16. Though mixed martial arts fighters have to be well-rounded in their knowledge of fighting standing up or on the ground, usually they are better at one or the other.
     
  
Chris Martins lies on the mat after a stand-up and mat workout at the Valko Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in downtown Chicago. His sparring partners rotate in and out in order to help his conditioning for his upcoming fight against Ricardo Lamas.
   
Chris Martins takes notes during an intellectual property class. He is in his second year at DePaul Law School. After graduating from a small private university in Florida, Martins moved to Chicago to study the law. His mother, a single Brazilian woman who raised Chris and his younger brother and sister, always drilled into his head the importance of having what he calls "plan B," or in his case, DePaul Law School. Plan A is still his desire to be a big-time fighter.
   
During registration for the mixed martial arts reality television show called The Ultimate Fighter, Chris Martins poses for a photo. A record 600-plus fighters signed up for the tryouts at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, IL. Tryouts began at 9 a.m. and finished the next morning at 3 a.m. Ricardo Lamas also tried out and made it to the final part of the tryout before he was eliminated. Martins was eliminated in the previous part. There is no faster and easier way to get into the UFC than to win this reality show.
     
  
Ricardo Lamas stands on the scale during pre-fight weigh-ins at Dave & Buster's in Chicago's gold coast neighborhood. He made weight for his 155-pound fight against Chris Martins the following evening. Officials from the state athletic commission were at the weigh-ins, making IronHeart Crown XII the first sanctioned mixed martial arts (MMA) event in the city of Chicago. Because MMA has more rules than in the past and is considered no more dangerous than boxing, Illinois lifted its ban on MMA on July 1, 2008.
   
Immediately after pre-fight weigh-ins at Dave & Buster's in Chicago, Chris Martins drinks Pedialyte while talking with friends and his fight team. Beginning five days before the fight, Martins drinks two gallons of water per day in order to make his body use the bathroom often. He has no food or water for 24 hours before weigh-ins so he can make the 155-pound weight requirement. Then he has to re-hydrate himself with fluids such as Pedialyte while eating well. This type of pre-fight regimen is normal for fighters.
   
The UIC Pavilion in Chicago is empty a couple hours before the first fight at the IronHeart Crown XII, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts event within the city's limits.
     
  
Fans watch the IronHeart Crown XII at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on November 8. It was the first sanctioned mixed martial arts event within the city's limits.
   
The ring-card girl walks around the ring before the next round begins during the IronHeart Crown XII at the UIC Pavilion on November 8 in Chicago.
   
Ricardo Lamas kneels behind the scenes just minutes before his bout against Chris Martins at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on Nov. 8. Lamas's trainers and father, Jose (wearing red), get ready to walk to the cage with him. (Ricardo's mother never watches any of his fights.) "There is always a game plan," says Lamas, who likes to remain as calm as possible before fights in order to not expend extra energy. "But when you get in there, there's a million things that could go wrong. So you kind of got to be ready for anything."
     
  
Chris Martins (left) stares down Ricardo Lamas as the referee gives them the pre-fight talk. "As humans, we're animals, and you have this primal instinct to fight," Martins says. "Look at every male animal. They are always fighting. When you know you're in a fight and you're not going to get jumped by a bunch of guys, cops aren't going to come arrest you, nothing is going to happen - you're here and you're supposed to fight.- it's like the fight or flight instinct. But for me it's almost like fight or fight. That's it. No flight instinct for me. I get this … feeling that overcomes my body that I completely run off instinct and it's such a liberating feeling."
   
Chris Martins (left) and Ricardo Lamas (right) begin the fifth bout on the evening of November 8 at UIC Pavilion. The IronHeart Crown XII was the first mixed martial arts event in Chicago since the state athletic commission lifted its ban on July 1, 2008. Both fighters trained 10 weeks for this 155-pound fight.
   
Chris Martins begins the first round as the aggressor, forcing Ricardo Lamas to defend during their fight on November 8 at UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
     
  
Chris Martins blocks a kick from Ricardo Lamas during their fight on Nov. 8 at UIC Pavilion. "During the actual fight, there really isn't too much thinking that takes place," says Lamas. "It's more reacting. At my training camp, that's why we do all those drills and all that work so that when you step in the ring it's a reaction. You don't have to think about anything."
   
Chris Martins and Ricardo Lamas exchange punches and kicks throughout their three-round fight on November 8 at UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Because Macario "Mac" Rosario, Lamas's Muay Thai coach, knew Martins was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist on the mat, both fighters remained standing throughout the bout. Lamas had a few takedowns but couldn't capitalize.
   
Ricardo Lamas tries to punch Chris Martins during their fight on November 8 at UIC Pavilion. Lamas won by unanimous decision. It was the first mixed martial arts event in Chicago since the state athletic commission lifted its ban on July 1, 2008.
     
  
Ricardo Lamas (5-0) sits in the stands signing programs after his unanimous decision win against Chris Martins (1-1) on November 8 at UIC Pavilion. It was the first mixed martial arts event, the IronHeart Crown XII, in Chicago since the state athletic commission lifted its ban on July 1, 2008.