I always thought sports were boring, until I started watching people beat each other up until blood and sweat coated the mat.
I was never hit with the bug to fan out over teams or watch people fight over a ball.
Most people I know are into it to some extent, which is great, but I find it difficult to relate to them.
With college sports, I feel this even more so.
People excitedly cheer and discuss their favorite players. They lament a loss or praise a great play, but I feel lost in the conversation, not grasping or understanding its weight or significance.
With combat sports, particularly the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), I am consistently engaged and interested in the fights and technical aspects of the sport.
Although the school already has martial arts such as beginner Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, according to the San José State course catalog, the inclusion of more advanced and complex combat sports would be a guaranteed success for students.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) has a market size of $1.32 billion in 2025, according to a study by The Business Research Company.
It is a massive market, and it is projected to grow by $3.2 billion by 2033, according to Future Data Stats.
In 2025, I briefly took classes at Underground MMA on Winfield in San José and only stopped because of the prices of the classes.
The gym I attended was around $140 a month with four classes per week, and other gyms in San José have similar prices.
The prices of MMA and other combat sports classes in San José make them inaccessible to people attending university.
Along with paying for classes, potentially paying for a regular gym membership and other miscellaneous expenses, an MMA gym membership will not be worth the money for many students.
However, if an MMA class was available for them and they could get units while learning how to fight, it would be a win-win.
MMA is one of the most useful forms of martial arts because of its wide grasp of the strengths in every martial art.
The combination of stand-up fighting, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai and karate, with ground sports such as jiu-jitsu, judo and Greco-Roman wrestling allows for a versatile, entertaining and effective form of fighting.
It is also a great way to learn self-defense.
MMA is one of the best ways people can learn how to protect themselves if they ever get into a fight on the street, according to Effective Self Defense.
From my own experience, fighting desperately to avoid being locked into a chokehold and passing out, as well as being repeatedly punched in the face, has helped me build more confidence in general.
It is also a humbling experience, understanding that fights are not cut and dry.
There are a lot of unpredictable and complex factors, and strength, vitality or wits alone cannot win a match.
That can help people understand that even if they are prepared to protect themselves in a fight, it is still smart to avoid one at all costs.
It’s also a great form of cardio and a way to remain limber.
MMA benefits from a lot of warmups with jogging, stretching and calisthenics, which help keep people in shape and strong.
If students were given the opportunity to take classes at SJSU in MMA, it would be guaranteed to be one of the most successful and popular courses in the kinesiology department.
For one, I would immediately enroll.
I miss training in MMA regularly and would desperately want to reenter the sport to learn more and meet others who share my interest in combat sports.
If we already have a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, and there are certainly hundreds of students already invested in MMA championships and media, this would be great in creating more interest in kinesiology and martial arts at SJSU.
