Mixed martial arts fosters discipline
Story by Abigail Vickers
Photos by Gabriel Milby
Design by Dylan Wilson
Editor’s Note: This article was originally released in Issue 18 of the WKU Talisman print magazine. Click here to read more articles from the Talisman’s semesterly print.
Echoes of slams, punches and kicks can be heard bouncing off the walls seven days a week inside of High Intensity Combat Sports Mixed Martial Arts (HICSMMA) on Dishman Lane in Bowling Green. The loud, intense noises may seem intimidating to an outsider at first, but in contrast, the fighters are seen smiling and laughing. After all, everyone is a part of a family and a brotherhood inside these walls, at least according to HICSMMA owner Donny Wallace.
Wallace is a third-degree black belt and an instructor at HICSMMA. He said the gym offers classes and a sense of community in mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and kickboxing.
Wallace said one big rule in his gym is that everyone should be greeted, welcomed and acknowledged when they walk through the doors. Members of the gym are expected to make visitors feel welcome because the atmosphere can be intimidating at first, especially during high-intensity training.
“That’s just a way to show camaraderie and to kill the edge because it is scary,” Wallace said. “Almost everybody’s just normal people trying to get better.”
Wallace said that he also expects his students to stay off their phones and communicate with each other while inside his gym. He said that people today, especially kids, need to have eye contact and engage with one another without technology.
Carter Bratcher, a 13 year old from Bowling Green, has been training in grappling for four years at the gym. His father, Chris Bratcher, is also a member of HICSMMA.
According to the North American Grappling Association, “Grappling is a term encompassing various martial arts focusing on clinches, holds and groundwork.” This includes fighting styles like BJJ, which is Bratcher’s main fighting style.
He won one gold and three silver medals at the 2024 Kids Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, sponsored by the American Grappling Federation in Fort Worth, Texas.
Bratcher said that doing MMA and BJJ has made him a more calm, well-rounded person.
“In our family, there’s always been a problem with anger, and this is kind of a way to let it off,” Bratcher said. “It helps me be a better person.”
Prayer helps Bratcher connect his mind to his body before a match and leads him into a fight with a positive mindset. He said he knows that whatever happens, he is going to do the best he can.
Bratcher and his father have been attending HICSMMA since it first opened on April 11, 2011. Wallace’s facility has come a long way since he first started teaching, though.
Wallace said he and his dad would practice wrestling and boxing during their spare time when he was younger. Wallace won multiple titles in his amateur career before fighting professionally, but he formally started training for MMA in 2005.
Wallace said there weren’t any places to learn MMA in Bowling Green or in the surrounding area before 2011, so he decided to create one. HICSMMA is the first and only one of its kind in the area, according to the gym’s website.
Wallace didn’t have a designated place to practice prior to the coronavirus pandemic, but he and his students had their training sessions wherever they could. Whether in the grass or at a local YMCA, Wallace continued to teach MMA.
Wallace’s current facility is 7,500 square feet and is fully equipped with a fitness gym, an MMA cage, two impact-dampening training floors and a striking area featuring an assortment of punching bags, Thai bags and aqua bags, according to the gym’s website.
Wallace said this place is everything he wanted and more.
“This place is impressive,” Wallace said. “It’s my dream. This is my dream come true.”
Dylan Osterman became a member and competitor at HICSMMA in 2013 before eventually becoming a black belt instructor at the gym. Osterman said that MMA fosters a sense of community through constant training.
Physical contact in MMA is what helps build relationships and connections with people in the gym, according to Osterman. He said there is “no greater way to build a brotherly bond” with somebody than by helping each other learn to fight.
“A bunch of these guys that are 10, 15, 20 years older than me, I feel like would be my brothers,” Osterman said. “It’s a common meeting ground for us, for sure in grappling.”
Osterman isn’t the only student who considers the HICSMMA community an important aspect of his life.
Wallace said some of his members struggled mentally when COVID-19 shut down his training sessions for 55 days. He said despite being shut down, most of the people a part of HICSMMA prior to the pandemic didn’t want to cancel their payments when he offered.
Wallace said people didn’t want to cancel their payment plans because they said they wanted something to come back to after the pandemic. He began scouting out new locations for the gym so they could get back to training as soon as possible.
Wallace took a loan to open the new facility and now it is more popular than ever before. He said his students’ commitment to staying at HICSMMA goes to show how strong the community, fellowship and brotherhood bond is between the fighters.
Wallace said all genders, races and religions are welcome at HICSMMA. He said he wants a brotherhood where fighters can grow through pain and suffering.
Brandon Herrington, a brown belt instructor at HICSMMA, trained with Wallace before he opened the gym. Herrington said there are many different fighters that come to HICSMMA, but despite their differences, everybody has similar goals when they get on the mat.
People can learn a lot about a person by their fighting style, according to Herrington.
More aggressive fighters often have childhood trauma of some sort, according to Herrington. He said that calmer fighters typically take on more “coach-like” traits and enjoy helping others learn.
Herrington said that as fighters begin practicing and getting better in MMA or BJJ, it begins to show in their fighting style. They also typically have a different perspective than they did before coming to HICSMMA.
“It brings a lot of troubled people, myself being one of the troubled ones when I initially came in,” Herrington said. “It actually brings you around into a different mindset of everything, and it starts to show in your style.”
Wallace said hard work makes people better and stronger. For people to get out of their mind, they must get out of their body and put in the hard work to be better, according to Wallace.
Wallace said his main goal at HICSMMA is to help his students become good people when they leave his gym. If nothing else, he said he hopes his students learn that from him at the very least.
Herrington said Wallace does community events through HICSMMA and free donation drives. Wallace is also a big advocate with the church, according to Herrington, and has said that his faith has played a key role in his success with creating a one of a kind gym and community at HICSMMA.
“I want to create good human beings so they can go out and be good human beings,” Wallace said. “More than winning, more than anything is that I want good human beings.”