Yezen H. ’27 partook in “super nerdy stuff” as a seventh grader, playing Pokémon and largely uninterested in sports. Then, one day, he watched a video of professional mixed martial arts fighter Israel “Izzy” Adesanya. Adesanya is not only a former world champion in mixed martial arts (MMA) but also—a proud Pokémon merchandise collector.
“That’s what piqued my interest in the sport. I saw it as the sport where I don’t have to play up to be this jock and still do well,” Yezen said.
After watching Adesanya, Yezen could not stop thinking about MMA, which combines combat styles like Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wrestling into a dynamic fight between two athletes.
Yezen spent a few weeks at a beginner jiu-jitsu class before beginning to box at a different small gym in San Mateo. A few months later, he joined the San Jose American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), one of the world’s top-ranked MMA gyms, frequented by renowned UFC champions like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Daniel Cormier.
Though his progress was speedy, Yezen started with minimal athletic experience. “I was this skeleton, with a decently long reach, that tried jiu-jitsu,” he recalled. “I’m still built like a skeleton, but my muscles are a lot stronger. I can hold my own.”
Yezen now trains five to six days a week at AKA to pursue his passion for MMA. Through practice, he has developed the skills, strength, and discipline to approach various competitors within UFC’s unique octagonal cage. His love for the “strategic dance” of the sport is undeniable, and he has developed a belief that each fight is more significant than the brutality that MMA commonly carries a reputation for.
“I think what really made me fall in love with [MMA] is the strategic and rhythmic aspect of it, rather than physically getting hit. To find opportunities, you need to make disruptions in the rhythm. It’s a dance with very bad consequences if you mess up,” Yezen explained.
Yezen notes the regulations of MMA fights reduce brain injury risk to less than in “commonly-accepted” sports like football or hockey, but he still trains diligently to avoid severe harm and to prepare himself for sparring against others. After school and on weekends, he takes the train or drives to AKA, making a total trip of nearly two hours.
Once at the gym, his practice regimen varies day by day, from learning a new martial arts technique to circulating around different conditioning stations to boost general fitness.
Yet, the “best days,” according to Yezen, are limited to just once a week. On those days, he spars against his classmates, who range from 12 to 30-year-olds. While sparring, Yezen is encouraged to leverage techniques from various martial art forms to form a creative combat approach. Sometimes, he also considers popular MMA fighters’ trademark styles, like his original inspiration Adesanya’s.
“I like the mental stimulation it brings you to analyze your opponents and to think about strategy,” Yezen said.
With each opportunity to spar a classmate, Yezen is conscientious about displaying appropriate sportsmanship, given the intensity of MMA.
“There’s so much more than just two guys clobbering at each other’s heads. Although it is violent, it is not that much of an angry sport. There’s a lot of respect, because it’s a scary thing,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of respect and camaraderie within the community, no matter what level you’re at.”
Yezen’s understanding of MMA as a respect-based sport is more complex than what the media and the general public might understand it to be. “There’s the idea that [MMA] is inhumane and it’s this barbaric, human cockfighting. I think that sentiment is just so far from the truth,” he said.
In addition, Yezen explained, a hyper-conservative culture has emerged from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the foremost league for MMA. It also attracts many prominent right-wing figures.
Namely, UFC’s president is Dana White, a long-time friend of President Donald Trump. White has publicly endorsed Trump in the past, even introducing him at the Republican National Convention in 2024. UFC is also interconnected with manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, Tristan Tate, and Joe Rogan, who are all former martial artists.
While attending a UFC event earlier this year, Yezen saw both Tate brothers sitting just rows in front of him.
Because Yezen’s political beliefs are neither liberal nor conservative, but guided by his religion of Islam, he stands for a unique ideological position in MMA. He avoids political conversations at the gym, though, limiting distractions unrelated to the sport itself.
“It’s a thing of disconnecting the artist from the art. Disconnecting beliefs from an athlete is, in my opinion, the best way to go,” he said.
Looking to the future, Yezen hopes to continue MMA recreationally while also pursuing his passion for neuroscience in school. He also wishes to see the sport grow in recognition and participation, as he believes it is particularly unique compared to many others.
“It’s raw. Humans, primally, know what a fight is. They’re not gonna know what a hockey game is. But you can look at a fight, and you’re naturally going to have a reaction. Whether you’re disgusted, intrigued, or excited, you’re still watching it,” Yezen said. “That is really what sets [MMA] apart and makes it the sport that it is.”
