Media Credit: Matt Nicholson University senior Ian Shaw (right) practices his kicks at Northwest Training Center in Springfield, which trains athletes in the practice of Mixed Martial Arts, also known as cage fighting.

Gerald Strebendt's arms are locked with those of his opponent, the strain visible on his face. The two men struggle for a few seconds before Strebendt flings the other fighter to the ground like a rag doll. But gently. At 5-foot-9, Strebendt, a former Marine sniper whose bright blue eyes and genial smile contradict the angry face tattooed below his right knee, is not a particularly big man, though he is powerfully built. Strebendt is a nice guy, but he can most likely kick your ass.

Strebendt owns Northwest Training Center in Springfield, where he teaches Mixed Martial Arts, a combination of various fighting styles including Muay Thai, a form of boxing that utilizes kicks, elbows and knees in addition to fists; and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which focuses on grappling.

"It's a really, really primitive style of striking," Strebendt said, demonstrating and blocking another fighter's kick with an arm pad. "If there was an X-ray ... you'd see the vertebrae jump out."

Commonly known as cage fighting, MMA often features opponents locked in a cage for five-minute intervals where almost anything goes.

"You can't bite or eye gouge or anything dirty, but you can use whatever martial arts you practice," Strebendt said.

With a half-cage that resembles the backstop on a baseball diamond in one corner and a boxing ring in the back, NTC is a large open space covered in bouncy gray mats. Mirrors cover one wall, while the other is decorated with flags - American, Brazilian, Japanese and Thai - representing countries from which NTC draws inspiration. Everywhere the eye settles, pairs of fighters spar, working hard and sweating profusely, giving the room a smell like the inside of a sock.

But despite the brutal nature of the sport, there are no black eyes, broken ribs or head traumas.

"The worst you're going to get is a bloody nose or a bruised shin," said University senior Ian Shaw, an English major. "We definitely train hard, but we train smart."

"It's more like a pillow fight," he added.

Shaw started practicing Muay Thai five years ago as a way to get in shape; he's since lost about 80 pounds. He prefers Muay Thai because he sees it as more practical than other forms of martial arts.

"It's everything your body has," he said. "You've got elbows, you've got knees, you've got kicks, you've got punches. Nothing beats a straight one-two."

Shaw would eventually like to put his training toward being a coach.

"I'm doing it to get good enough that I can have enough fights under my belt so that way I can feel good telling people, 'OK, this works,'" he said. "I don't want to be the guy getting elbowed; I want to teach him how to throw a good elbow."

Though Shaw isn't one of them, 17 NTC students are active professional cage fighters, something a person can become through reputation or recommendation.

As someone who's participated in Ultimate Fighting Championship - "the World Series of our fighting; it's in Las Vegas, on Pay-Per-View, it's huge," he said - Strebendt's word counts.

A high school wrestler in Coos Bay, Strebendt started practicing martial arts in the Marines and began cage fighting professionally in 2001. In November 2006, he opened NTC with his wife and has been teaching MMA ever since. In addition to professional and budding cage fighters, NTC teaches women's self-defense classes, martial arts classes for kids, as well as training courses for police officers and bouncers.

"Some people want to get in shape, some people want to fight, some people just want to work out, some people are into the spiritual aspect and just want to test themselves. So really, there's quite a range," said NTC trainer Demian Hommel, a University doctoral student whose specialty is Muay Thai.

Hommel started practicing Muay Thai while working on his master's project in Thailand.

"I just got bored of lifting weights and running laps and stuff," he said. "I wanted something that would occupy my mind a bit."

Hommel said NTC is also good for giving balance to students, who may feel bogged down with their course loads.

"If life gets very monotonous, it gives you a break from that, something else to focus on" he said. "It's fun and you get in shape."

Because of his background and expertise, Strebendt is able to teach people to become more skilled much faster than he learned himself.

"I didn't have a good teacher, I learned by the school of hard knocks. They're getting techniques straight from the source, already refined, and packaged up and handed to them," he said. "I have guys who have been training for a year, they're way better than I was ... They would have kicked my butt if we ended up in the ring after a year of training."

mobrien@dailyemerald.com

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