SPECIAL REPORT: Backyard Brawls and Bloody Beat Downs
RICHLAND -- You've probably seen the pros beat each other to a pulp on prime time channels.
And might have caught a fight or two online.
But more often, you can find teens duking out in their backyards without any referees or regulations.
Action News began researching this story weeks ago and found a lot of fighters, but few wanted to talk.
It seems they remember the first rule of fight club: don't talk about fight club.
Backyard Brawling is not exactly illegal but many worried about getting in trouble.
Action News worked the phones until we found someone willing to talk and to answer the questions most of us would like to know.
How do you fight? Who picks the fighters? And most of all: why do they do it?
We're not fully revealing who the fighters are, but we are revealing their stories.
"I guess you can call it organized violence," a fighter said.
IT's not underground, and yet it's not quite exposed.
"There's plenty of guys that I would fight," said the fighter.
It's not professional, and yet it's not quite illegal.
It's a backyard brawl.
In some random place, a group gathers: Richland, Walla Walla, Selah.
An audience made up of virtually all guys in their teens, ring the fight.
Two fighters square up and the fists start to fly.
"I like the competition of it. I like hitting people in the face. Sounds kind of bad, but it's fun, you know?"
This fighter lives in Walla Walla.
He's an accomplished state wrestler with the goal of grappling in college, perhaps even further.
But during the off season he backyard brawls.
"I've always liked fighting I Guess," he said. "I've always liked hitting people, I've always liked getting hit. It's fun."
He won't tell Action News how many fights he's been in or where, but he knows his knockouts will be viewed by anyone with internet access, his brawls posted to Youtube or MyspaceTV to be watched by thousands.
Just check out the flash fight "Nasty v. Vengeance."
Twelve-hundred people have watched it so far.
"Hit him rob! Hit him. Go up! Up! That's what I'm talking about," yelled onlookers outside the ring.
Up pops a grainy video shot in Selah, a bunch of guys in a circle around two gloved fighters.
The fights lack the calculating combinations of Smackdown or Primetime quality of Ultimate Fighting, but, the goals of grappling remain the same: if anyone can do it, then anyone has a shot at glory, even if it's on a shaky video in a local backyard.
"Pretty much a rush, it's fun, it gets you jacked up," the Walla Walla fighter said.
Why do guys post their fights on MyspaceTV or Youtube?
"They guys who go out in the backyard brawls, in my opinion, are of kind of the wanna-be type guys," Ryan Calhoon** said, owner of Calhoons's Martial Arts and Fitness in Walla Walla. "They watch the UFC stuff on TV, they say 'that looks cool', they have their heroes, and they're trying to reenact those things in their backyard."
The throw downs are designed on a mixed martial arts model, a combination of boxing, muay thai kick boxing, brazilian jujitsu and wrestling.
The sport's gotten flack for it's hardcore grappling and close combat-style techniques.
But, it's regulated.
In a professional gym, there are referees, weight limits, time limits, a medical staff.
Backyard brawling on the other hand, is unregulated, and Calhoon argued, a much riskier environment.
"It casts a negative light on our whole sport, mixed martial arts, and all of us who are mixed martial artists. And it's been an uphill battle over the last 10 or 15 years to get our sport more respected or more credible. But stuff like backyard brawling is just setting us back. "
"All their work to try to create an image of not being just a bloody human cock fighting, blood sport, blood bath...that's the direction they're in and that's the direction Mixed martial arts is trying to get away from."
In backyards, there are few rules, and most are decided by the fighters right before they start: no eye-gouging, no hair pulling, knees to the face while on the ground, or shots below the belt.
But even those can be broken.
"Some guys want to get kicked in the face on the ground, some guys want to get head on the ground but it just depends on who's fighting really," the Walla Walla fighter said.
So does that mean they don't care about the rules?
"Yean , if they want to do it, i'll do it. Let's make it a fight."
The Walla Walla fighter said he's never seen anyone seriously injured but has seen plenty of injuries.
"The worst injury that happened was when I broke a nose with a left," he said. "I knocked a kid out cold for a couple minutes once."
"There's concussions, broken noses, bloody noses," Calhoon said.
Is this fighting, then, just a free for all at times?
"No I mean no one gets out of hand. If any one gets steamed over it, then we don't want nothing to do with it," the fighter said. "No one goes in with the intention of hurting anyone. You want to beat him but you don't want him to get hurt. Fight another, day you know?"
"I think a perfect question for the backyard brawlers is, if they're into that sort of fighting, why don't they go find a mixed martial arts gym? To find a credible mixed martial arts event? What would they say to that?"
"A lot of guys can't do that, or they don't have the time or they can't pay for it," a fighter responded. "You can just fight whenever you want, whenever you want. It's just good clean fun as far we're concerned."
** There was a production error in our original broadcast of this story. Ryan Calhoon was incorrectly identified. We have corrected the problem and apologize for the inconvenience.
And might have caught a fight or two online.
But more often, you can find teens duking out in their backyards without any referees or regulations.
Action News began researching this story weeks ago and found a lot of fighters, but few wanted to talk.
It seems they remember the first rule of fight club: don't talk about fight club.
Backyard Brawling is not exactly illegal but many worried about getting in trouble.
Action News worked the phones until we found someone willing to talk and to answer the questions most of us would like to know.
How do you fight? Who picks the fighters? And most of all: why do they do it?
We're not fully revealing who the fighters are, but we are revealing their stories.
"I guess you can call it organized violence," a fighter said.
IT's not underground, and yet it's not quite exposed.
"There's plenty of guys that I would fight," said the fighter.
It's not professional, and yet it's not quite illegal.
It's a backyard brawl.
In some random place, a group gathers: Richland, Walla Walla, Selah.
An audience made up of virtually all guys in their teens, ring the fight.
Two fighters square up and the fists start to fly.
"I like the competition of it. I like hitting people in the face. Sounds kind of bad, but it's fun, you know?"
This fighter lives in Walla Walla.
He's an accomplished state wrestler with the goal of grappling in college, perhaps even further.
But during the off season he backyard brawls.
"I've always liked fighting I Guess," he said. "I've always liked hitting people, I've always liked getting hit. It's fun."
He won't tell Action News how many fights he's been in or where, but he knows his knockouts will be viewed by anyone with internet access, his brawls posted to Youtube or MyspaceTV to be watched by thousands.
Just check out the flash fight "Nasty v. Vengeance."
Twelve-hundred people have watched it so far.
"Hit him rob! Hit him. Go up! Up! That's what I'm talking about," yelled onlookers outside the ring.
Up pops a grainy video shot in Selah, a bunch of guys in a circle around two gloved fighters.
The fights lack the calculating combinations of Smackdown or Primetime quality of Ultimate Fighting, but, the goals of grappling remain the same: if anyone can do it, then anyone has a shot at glory, even if it's on a shaky video in a local backyard.
"Pretty much a rush, it's fun, it gets you jacked up," the Walla Walla fighter said.
Why do guys post their fights on MyspaceTV or Youtube?
"They guys who go out in the backyard brawls, in my opinion, are of kind of the wanna-be type guys," Ryan Calhoon** said, owner of Calhoons's Martial Arts and Fitness in Walla Walla. "They watch the UFC stuff on TV, they say 'that looks cool', they have their heroes, and they're trying to reenact those things in their backyard."
The throw downs are designed on a mixed martial arts model, a combination of boxing, muay thai kick boxing, brazilian jujitsu and wrestling.
The sport's gotten flack for it's hardcore grappling and close combat-style techniques.
But, it's regulated.
In a professional gym, there are referees, weight limits, time limits, a medical staff.
Backyard brawling on the other hand, is unregulated, and Calhoon argued, a much riskier environment.
"It casts a negative light on our whole sport, mixed martial arts, and all of us who are mixed martial artists. And it's been an uphill battle over the last 10 or 15 years to get our sport more respected or more credible. But stuff like backyard brawling is just setting us back. "
"All their work to try to create an image of not being just a bloody human cock fighting, blood sport, blood bath...that's the direction they're in and that's the direction Mixed martial arts is trying to get away from."
In backyards, there are few rules, and most are decided by the fighters right before they start: no eye-gouging, no hair pulling, knees to the face while on the ground, or shots below the belt.
But even those can be broken.
"Some guys want to get kicked in the face on the ground, some guys want to get head on the ground but it just depends on who's fighting really," the Walla Walla fighter said.
So does that mean they don't care about the rules?
"Yean , if they want to do it, i'll do it. Let's make it a fight."
The Walla Walla fighter said he's never seen anyone seriously injured but has seen plenty of injuries.
"The worst injury that happened was when I broke a nose with a left," he said. "I knocked a kid out cold for a couple minutes once."
"There's concussions, broken noses, bloody noses," Calhoon said.
Is this fighting, then, just a free for all at times?
"No I mean no one gets out of hand. If any one gets steamed over it, then we don't want nothing to do with it," the fighter said. "No one goes in with the intention of hurting anyone. You want to beat him but you don't want him to get hurt. Fight another, day you know?"
"I think a perfect question for the backyard brawlers is, if they're into that sort of fighting, why don't they go find a mixed martial arts gym? To find a credible mixed martial arts event? What would they say to that?"
"A lot of guys can't do that, or they don't have the time or they can't pay for it," a fighter responded. "You can just fight whenever you want, whenever you want. It's just good clean fun as far we're concerned."
** There was a production error in our original broadcast of this story. Ryan Calhoon was incorrectly identified. We have corrected the problem and apologize for the inconvenience.
More to Explore
Learn about changes coming to commenting