There was a time Jarrett Wilbraham's life was consumed by violence. Growing up in tough circumstances in Nowra, the now 29-year-old can recall a time where he lived in constant fear of it, seeing it, experiencing it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
It changed when he found the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. As he tells the Mercury: "MMA has taken violence out of my life."
If anyone - including Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery - took a moment to immerse themselves in the sport they'd find that Wilbraham's story is no anomaly.
It's why the reaction to Mayor Bradbery's insistence that he won't consider awarding reigning UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski keys to the city has been so visceral.
The breadth and intensity of Volkanovski's popularity among sports fans, in his home city and beyond, goes a long way to explaining the furore that ensued when the Mayor's thoughts on the matter were first revealed by this masthead last week.
All told, the opinion of a 72-year-old non-fan of the sport isn't one that typically occupies the martial arts fraternity - more particularly Volkanovski's home gym of Freestyle MMA.
To that stable, suggestions MMA is a "blood sport" or a "niche area" are ill-informed, but no real affront. What has raised their ire is the Mayor's suggestion that the sport "provokes violence" and that it is not something young people should engage in.
That comes with the inherent suggestion that Volkanovski - for all his demonstrable fine qualities - is not someone young people should look up to.
It prompted Volkanovski's coach Joe Lopez to label Cr Bradbery a "hypocrite" but to also offer a year's free membership to Freestyle to come and actually see the impact it has on young people.
At 29, it's something Volkanovski's teammate Wilbraham is all too willing to espouse.
"Growing up in Nowra, from the age of 16 through to 23 I was bullied really badly and it was ruining my life," Wilbraham says.
"In that process, I ended up with my nose broken twice, orbital fracture, my jaw broken multiple concussions. I'd been badly hurt to the point where, at times, I thought I was going to die. Once I found mixed martial arts, I spent all my time in the gym away from all that noise.
"I stopped going out to the pub, I stopped drinking because that's where all the problems were happening. When I found mixed martial arts, it really gave me the ability to focus on something constructive. It minimised violence for me, it took violence out of my life.
"If you spend all your time in the gym and all you're doing is training in mixed martial arts, the last thing you want to do is get in a fight [outside the cage]. No-one wants to hurt anybody, that's not what it's about in the sport.
"At Freestyle, if you don't fit in with the morals that Joe believes in and Alex believes in, being humble, being dedicated and putting in the time, you really won't fit in there."
Now 7-2 as a professional, Wilbraham happily lives out of his van while training at Freestyle - while his 'fight study' Instagram page has 56,000 followers. He's confident the Mayor's opinion leaves him part of the minority in 2023.
"I'm just honestly surprised about it all," he said.
"When I started seven years ago I remember people saying 'oh, you're not doing that human cock fighting?' but I've watched the sport grow in the last five to seven years and those sorts of opinions are rare these days.
"He's obviously unaware of the positives that come out of this sport, how it changes people's lives. Not everybody's on a good path in life and you have kids dropping out of school or getting in trouble on the streets.
"Unfortunately a lot of my friends back home are now alcoholics, I would say most of them. If I didn't find this sport I would one hundred per cent be going down the exact same path as what they are."
Freestyle teammate Justin Van Heerden was equally "baffled" by the Mayor's comments. The 29-year-old is a doting dad with a degree in journalism.
He also happens to be the reigning Eternal MMA featherweight champion, whom good judges feel is a mere bee's appendage away from joining Volkanovski in the UFC ranks.
He's not about to pan a three-time elected Mayor, but suggested the comments were simply ignorant when it came to the sport and his high-profile teammate.
"I understand the foundation of what he's trying to say, but it's baffling that we're at this point and some people still that have that sort of mentality," Van Heerden said.
"I get it, no one wants to be encouraging violence, but for the most part MMA fighters are some of the least enthusiastic people about violence outside of when they actually get in there and compete.
"When you look at it for the bigger picture, [the opinion's] just silliness. The guy (Volkanovski) has achieved so much and he is probably the best example of what you want to do as a human and as an athlete and how you want to carry yourself.
"He's completely selfless, he's one of the nicest people you can meet. He's a family man, he's got all the qualities you like to see in people and that you want to aspire to.
"The fact that he fights and that's the sport that he competes in shouldn't have any thing to do with that. [the keys] isn't really in terms of him being a successful fighter, it's more of the fact that he's a successful human being.
"How he promotes himself, how he promotes Australia, how he promotes this region, that's what should be reflected on."
He also dismissed suggestions that MMA is 'niche', bemoaning the fact the world's most rapidly growing sport is still struggling for mainstream recognition.
"We're constantly telling our kids they should follow the examples of some of these athletes, but that's only OK when it's an established sport in the country like rugby league or AFL," he said.
"We're constantly seeing these athletes get in trouble for raping people, bashing people, drug offences all this sort of stuff, but we're still promoting that sport as something we're proud of.
"I'm not saying it's every rugby league player or AFL player, it's like one per cent. For the most part, they're all just doing the exact same thing as Volk does in his sport. They compete in their sport and they carry themselves as great humans and they set a good example for everyone.
"But if we're going to look past the few bad eggs in sports like that and continue to promote them, why can't we do the same for mixed martial arts and give someone like [Volkanovski] the sort of recognition that he deserves?"
As for benefits of martial arts training, Van Heerden says people are likely to find more inclusive views than the Mayor's on the mats.
"When you're walking into that gym you could be on the mats with an electrician, a lawyer, a doctor, a judge, a pilot," he said.
"There's an equality among people that wouldn't normally have an extended interaction. It just builds connections with people and it's just a brilliant thing.
"To me it's, hands down, the best vehicle to improve your life that you can have. Sports in general, physical activity in general, but especially something like martial arts."
Our news app has had a makeover, making it faster and giving you access to even more great content.
Download The Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store and Google Play
Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
