In the ballroom at the Baymont Inn & Suites,
whenever Tad Bremer and Mingo Reyna’s crew holds an MMA
promotion, the Espresso Gone Crazy cage girls hold up signs
for rounds in each bout. Is it any wonder that I am listening
to saucy and sarcastic jeers from the male spectators in the seats
around me? These girls are hired for an obvious
reason. It is what draws me to turn my head and wonder
how the coffee really tastes at their little local
controversial bistro stands as I drive through the Gorst bend
heading toward Port Orchard. My mind will wander over to
the expression on my son’s face when I fill his breakfast
bowl with Fruit Loops. His eyes
go wide with excitement every time his bowl is full, and
I suppose that deep down, that is the expression the guys
are all wearing when these girls fill the cage.
It would be boastful and superficial for me to say that I
disapprove. The eye-candy tradition rings true today in our
local cage-fighting habitat. At this point, I can
hardly imagine the entertainment end of these events without
the girls in their skin-tight bikini-bottom attire, and
pseudo-conservative tops.
It is exciting as well to see a local brewery of which
I am quite familiar, with thier name stamped clear and large
on the seats of those bikini bottoms. Valholl Brewing’s Jeff and
Katie Holcomb have kicked open the door to this
scene with a benevolent presence. Their brewing business
is just as home-grown as the cage-fighters themselves, and their
talent in brewing and responsability in distribution is
providing them with the credability that they and
their friendly staff deserve. I approve quite openly of
the consumption of quality beer at any sporting event. During these
times, when cash is tight, it is also good to see a high quality
product for a fair price. This is, after all, a place in the United
States where craft beer is exceedingly important. It
is incorporated here as a sort of tradition. Beer in hand
is a tradition of my own, and it has become one of my Cage-Side
traditions as well.
You will spot a large number of spectators
sporting t-shirts with the Valholl Viking mascot slapped
on them. The T-Shirts have been selling out of a local business by
the name of Fingers Duke, and the head designer, Derek Gress, has
been pressing to keep up with the new local demand for them.
The gyms of the Northwest cage-fighting scene are full
to the brim with legitimate competitors, and
the MMA gyms are not far and few. Such a multitude
would explain the exceptional turnout I have seen at any of
the MMA events I have been to. It is why I see a
constant flow of photography and material on Nortwest
Fightscene Magazine’s website. There is just way too much
ground to cover for any one man. Hands are going to be even more
full as this fight scene makes itself more prominent here
in Kitsap County. I know it will gain notoriety on
this side of Puget Sound. My notes are exploding
with exclusive information confirming upcoming events, as well
as upcoming promotions in thier embryonic stages.
Adding to the local boom, there are many talented competitors
appearing fresh to the scene, as well as seasoned veterans to the
fight scene in general. Margaret McGregor is fighting MMA bouts
here in Kitsap. You might remember McGregor from the controversy
surrounding the world’s first sanctioned coed boxing
match on October 9th, 1999 at Mercer
Arena. McGregor fought against male competitor Loi
Chow, and won all four rounds. She made a real explosion
at the most recent installment of the Shipyard Brawl on March
24th, 2012, where she fought Phendora Grisby out of Redneck Militia
in Oregon. McGregor has most recently been training with Victor
Solier, four time world champion kickboxer out of his own
Roughouse MMA. I have discovered McGregor cross-training
at Full Circle Fight Club in Bremerton as well. “We all love her
here,” says James Bergstrom, one of the head trainers at Full
Circle Fight Club. “She’s an inspiration to everyone she meets, and
she’s a powerful competitor.”
In my first interview with McGregor, the day before she was
to stand up against Grisby, I was humbled to learn of the
many obstacles she has overcome to reclaim her life as a
fighter. Her speech has been impaired, due to circumstances no
doctor has yet been able to identify.
McGregor went to recieve clinical care for spinal
meningitis. The morning after she recieved her treatment,
she awoke to find that she was suffering from slow
speech, and had symptoms which doctors noted as similar to those of
a stroke. The real cause of the symptoms however, a complete
mystery.
“It has been more of a blessing than a curse,” says McGregor. “I
have great hearing, and am a great listener.”
Additionally, McGregor went in to some detail concerning the
addiction that nearly cost the fighter her life.
“Through an addiction I acquired Hep C. That brought my fighting
to a stop. I had been in and out of treatment centers for several
years,” says McGregor, “and finally I have been sober since October
23rd, 2009.”
McGregor was not hesitant to speak at length concerning these
issues. She became emotional at several points during the
conversation, but her humor and charm was never absent.
“I’ve been in a twelve step program,” she says. She laughs as
she adds ”My favorite day of the month is when I get to go
back to prison, but this time I get to come back out.” McGregor is
a facilitator at this particular twelve step program dealing with
drugs and alcohol.
As these fighters climb the ropes to bigger and more notable
achievments in thier amatuer careers in MMA, they all meet with
obstacles, at home, at work, and among their family and
peers. This is not a bowling league, or a group
of friends meeting at a bar to play pool. Amatuer MMA
requires a level of personal sacrifice which gives it its
brutal distinguishments. There is intense physical pain
involved, often injury, and involvement always
demands strenuous conditioning.
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