James Madison University - Bluestone Schoolmaam Yearbook (Harrisonburg, VA)

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STUDENT STEPS OUT OF THE CLASSROOM AND INTO THE OCTAGON AS A CAGEFIGHTER rebeccaschneider writer T ' elcome to Respect Is Earned: Battle of the ' Burg, a regional mixed martial arts ' (MM A) fight night. It is 9:30 p.m., and it ' s time for the main amateur event of the evening. From Herndon, Va., at 6 feet 1 inch tall and, 155 pounds, freshman Herman Brar enters the,cage. The crowd cheers. Brar and his opponent, Stone Cole Presley, touch gloyes and the bell rings. . Presley immediately goes after Brar ' with a right hook and slams him back against the cage. Brar begins to feel dizzy as Presley goes for his ankles. Now a sophomore, Herman Brar had been training to be an MMA fighter since September 2008. With a 2-0 record, Brar prepared for histhird amateur fight against a 5-2-1 regional welterweight and lightweight champion, scheduled fdr March 21 at Rockingham County Fairgrounds. Brar played football in high school, and began kickboxing as an off-season activity. He took an interest in the sport after watching the Kl Grand Prix, a Japanese kickboxing tournament. I saw some dudes get kicked in the face, and 1 was like, ' Wow, I want to try this out, ' said Brar. In his senior year of high school, Brar ' s cousin, a university alumnus, sent him a Breeze article about a new MMA gym in Harrisonburg. Brar jumped at the opportunity to take kickboxing to a new level. It sounded really hardcore, said Brar. I think that ' s a big reason why I chose JMU over some other schools. JMU had academically what I was looking for, and a big plus was they had MMA Institute (MM AI) also. ' - — MMA was like pl ysical chess match, normally held inside an oct oh-sl ' wps cage, The full- combat, competitivegport hicOrporated JJrazil an Jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai lAjjjtoxii.ig, ,kai;afe, wiestliilg, ■ Judo ijnd Sambo, amoii rorioils other discipJines. ' . ' Bfar spent at least four days a week at the gym in vpreparatibn for his fight. ' • , ' Two days before the fight, Brar cut 1 1 pounds by ' sitting in the sauna. He reduced calories, controlled when he would eat, and stayed away from saturated fats like whole milk — a big change compared to his ■ usual six plates of food at D-Hall. It ' s two different extremes almost, said Jeremy Whitmore, Brar ' s strength and conditioning coach at MMAI. It ' s a pretty pure lifestyle. You sacrifice a lot. Basically if it tastes good, you ' re probably not going to eat it. After weighing in on Friday, MMAI owners Beau Baker and Whitmore encouraged Brar to eat small amounts every 30 minutes, as to not overfill his stomach. Brar loaded up on fruit, carbohydrates and proteins. vws a left jab the Cage 5. Smnll. , to protiTi tisis in punches and reduce the occurrence of i luestonek

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