0:12 Welcome to the very first edition of the fifth round, where we talk all things mixed martial arts. I'm your host, Daniel Marino, and this week's episode is kind of a special one. With the UFC finally returning to Toronto, I headed over to inner city MMA to talk to head trainer Professor Shaw, Franco. I hope you enjoy it. It's a unique perspective on the sports growth in this country for a man who was a karate prodigy 20 years before enemy's inception. 0:43 My name is Sean Franco. I'm a professor of Brazilian jujitsu, a MMA Professional MMA coach, and I was a international karate competitor. 1:01 How long have I been around martial arts? I guess I started around nine I'm 51 now so it just got to be like 41 years. And I guess when I started, it was very intense on full time and I just from nine years old all the way to adulthood, and it's become my profession. I'm the youngest of 11 and my older brothers were into martial arts, into karate. We're all fans back in the day of Bruce Lee. He was still alive when I was a kid and saw all the charisma and and everybody thought it was magic, what you could do with martial arts and that really interested me. 1:46 So in all the years he has been involved in MMA, just how much is the sport changed? 1:51 The MMA landscape has changed in the fact that it's become really big business. And for us, it was just a challenge. There was no money involved like the money was the money's still not good for what what the guys do or how they work, but it was a challenge. I always thought karate was that was it? It was this is it. I'm like Bruce Lee, I can beat anybody. But when we start seeing the UFC, we're like, oh, hey, this is real. And we really got interested. So the change the biggest change, I can see it's big business. It's show business. Now the guys are even better, better athletes better trained, better technique, better psychology at it. It's just the evolution of it is gone through the roof from my vantage point. In the in the scene in Canada, I was one of the founding as they say the pioneers or founding fathers. I think I was one of the guys who sort of helped rally getting MMA legal in Ontario. And at one point, I guess we were the top team in Canada. 3:04 So then why hasn't the UFC been back here for so long? 3:08 I think if you really investigate the sport of mixed martial arts in Ontario, it comes down to one gentleman and that's the sports commissioner Ken Hiachi. Ken Hiachi has been heard to say that he would never have mixed martial arts in Ontario. He doesn't think it's a good sport. He didn't think it was a legitimate sport and he kept it out of Ontario as long as he could 14 years. And then the pressure from from just the fans the pressure from business people. When the UFC comes in town, they say it's a $50 million bonus for the city that it goes into the into that town. And I think that that pressure forced Ken Hiachi the sports commissioner of Ontario to allow MMA to be in Ontario, I'm not gonna block and jab. 4:06 But the big show is UFC which is a lot of prestige, a lot of free tickets for Ken Hiachi and, and a lot of money for the commission. They allow that. So what they're doing, I believe, is putting the Ontario athletes at a real disadvantage by having this stringent sort of we don't really believe in this but since these big shows come in and making money, we're gonna allow it. And I think that's why the UFC has not been so adamant to come back to this great markets, a huge market, the most international city in the world. Everybody loves martial arts in Toronto and I believe it's Ken Hiachi that's a big problem. When the commissioner stops smaller organizations from hosting events here, it can lead to people holding their own unsanctioned fights. Unsanctioned MMA can be very dangerous. 4:54 So if you have the proper gloves, you have the proper people with the proper experience. I think think fights aren't as violent as people think they are and if you have a good camaraderie and a good spirit for everybody involved, people don't get hurt. That being said, anything can happen. You can make a mistake, something happens. So I would rather see it become bigger on in front instead of behind and I think that's sort of happening now. 5:26 Franco says that the bad reputation MMA used to have as being too violent is gone now that people are more educated on the sport. John Mccain calling MMA human cockfighting is a different part of the path. 5:38 Obviously, that's through ignorance. The guy doesn't know he's never taken a class he doesn't understand. It's probably it is, by far the most technical sport in the world. There's so much technique and so much knowledge that you have to know. And it's such a vast array of things that can be done. So, the human cockfighting. That's somebody who's not educated on it, for sure, but I think I think it's getting better. I think that I think people are seeing it as a legitimate sport. 6:13 Franco says fighters have personality. Now. That being said, with Franco being around since the beginning of a sport that puts such a big emphasis on respect, I couldn't help but ask what he thought of superstar Connor McGregor's antics outside of the octagon. 6:27 That's That's a really good question. Does Connor McGregor have bad influence on martial arts? And I don't think so. I think a lot of it is WWF. I think a lot of it is like, they go out in front of the curtain. And they're like, I'll kill you. I hate you. And they go back the curtain. They're like, oh that was great. You did a great job. So guys are like well, I hate Connor. But he's making me more money than I've ever made before. I think when he gets out there, he's not faking it. I think he just gets into character and goes with it. So I appreciate it his show. Imagine watching a professional wrestling show when they're just like wrestling. 7:07 According to Franco, McGregor is just a part of a new generation that has more access to the knowledge they need to excel at MMA. 7:14 Oh, I see martial arts constantly growing from the time I was a kid. I see the technique and the technology to teach martial arts becoming better. And I see people because of YouTube and because of the internet have access to huge reams of information that when I was growing up, we didn't. 7:34 Before I left, I asked him what do you would want to say to a kid who is thinking of taking martial arts. He said that in the end, martial arts will only take you wherever you want to go. 7:44 That's the most important thing. Not not the martial arts, but the person who is expounding it. 7:53 So there you have it, an awesome guy with an awesome message about an awesome sport. Thanks for listening to the fifth round. I'm Daniel Marino, and I'll see you next week. Bye fans.