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I
discovered the world of Ultimate Fighting through a chance
encounter with a young Brazilian fighter called Jean Silva
who invited me to take pictures at a forthcoming fight.
Jean, well-known back home as a strong and stylish fighter,
had come to Britain to try and make his name on the worldwide
fight circuit. Ultimate
Fighting – a legal but controversial sport, in
which opponents come from many disciplines including
boxing, wrestling, jujitsu and capoiera – has
attracted a great deal of negative press and so I went
along to this first fight with some trepidation.
However,
what I found was not what I expected. I was intrigued
to find that, alongside the obvious physicality and
indeed violence of the sport, there was a great deal
of camaraderie, discipline, loyalty and honesty –
a world away from the pretence and artifice of many
other photographic subjects.
As
a photographer, the environment felt very safe and I
found the guys taking part in the sport to be very open
and accepting – even in moments of defeat when
I often had my camera very close to their faces to capture
their expressions of depression and even, sometimes,
real physical pain. They were remarkably unafraid of
showing vulnerability, often looking so directly into
the lens that it was truly surprising to the photographer’s
eye, especially in comparison with shooting celebrities
– or even just self-aware western people in general.
Superficially, the sport appears unruly, but is actually
very complex and the fighters involved are often great
athletes with incredible skill and discipline.
The
intense camaraderie of the sport is also very marked,
with fighters showing great respect and concern for
one another, checking on opponents’ well-being
after a fight. Trainers also look after their charges
with great care, tenderly wrapping fighters’ hands
before the gloves go on.
As
part of the study, and also to get to know the fighters
better and win their trust before shooting them during
the fights, I went many times to the highly-acclaimed
‘Shootfighters’ gym, where many of the leading
names train. It was easy to see why they enjoyed the
training, from being able to test the limits of their
strength to the fun they had teasing each other about
a fight…
The fighters come from all walks of life. Jean Silva
comes from a Brazilian favella whilst fighter Alex Reed
is better known to millions in Britain as a film and
TV actor, particularly from soap series ‘Hollyoaks’.
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