14 POSTAL RECORD I MAY 2012 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS

f Jered Andrus looks a littlebattered and bruised whilewalking his route, don’tworry—the other guy prob-

ably looks worse.In his spare time, Andrus, a mem-

ber of Grand Rapids, MI Branch 56and current Leadership Academy student, fights professionally in mixedmartial arts (MMA) competitions. Heis undefeated in two official bouts andtwo exhibitions.

After many years as an amateur wrestler, Andrus

turned to mixed mar-tial arts because of

the complexity ofthe sport. Insteadof pitting wrestlersagainst wrestlersor boxers againstboxers, MMA putsfighters of anystyle together, withfew rules. Thecompetitors oftenmeet inside anoctagon-shapedring surroundedby a chain-linkfence, giving thesport its othercommon name:cage fighting.

It takes a specialkind of fighter toenter a cage, andAndrus fits the bill.“I originally gotinto MMA becauseI loved watching itand figured, ‘why

not give it a shot?’ ”he said. “It didn’t look

that hard.”Driven by the “Ultimate

Fighting Championship” serieson pay-per-view television, MMA

is threatening to eclipse boxing asthe nation’s most popular fightingsport. The fast pace, shorter fightsand wider variety of action seem toappeal to a younger generation offight fans.

Combining different fighting tech-niques in one ring often has beenused to settle friendly disputes overwhich fighting style works best in anysituation. Perhaps the greatest exam-ple was martial arts master and actorBruce Lee, who took the idea to anew level by developing the conceptas an art unto itself. Lee took the besttechniques from every style andturned himself into an ultimate fighteradapted to face any opponent.

Most MMA fighters specialize inone kind of martial art and work fromthere. That makes every match differ-ent, Andrus said. “I love that aspect ofthe challenge. You don’t know yourmatchup very far in advance.”

MMA allows virtually any kind offighting style using the knees, legsand feet as well as upper body. Con-testants often specialize in certainstyles, such as boxing, wrestling, taekwon do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai(a style from Thailand that uses kneeand elbow strikes along with fists andfeet), kickboxing, judo or karate.

The sport overcame most of itsimage problems in the 1990s withrule changes that made seriousinjuries less likely, such as allowingthe referee, or a fighter caught in apainful wrestling hold, to end a matchat any time. Proponents say it is saferthan boxing, which typically involvesmany more hits to the head than anMMA fight. The new rules led togreater acceptance by authorities andbroadcasters, though a few states stillhave laws banning MMA matches.

Fighters may use holds to con-vince an opponent to submit by

The CARRIER inthe CAGEI

Jered Andrus (in yellow) poses with otherwinning fighters on the night of his first fight.He hopes to fight again and reach a title fightfor a shot at winning a championship belt.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS MAY 2012 I POSTAL RECORD 15

“tapping out”—using a finger to tap on the floor to signal the ref-

eree that he is giving in. While holdsdon’t look as violent as hitting or kick-ing, they still can inflict intense pain.A fighter may choke an opponent,squeeze a muscle against a bone, ortwist a joint to encourage a tap out.

Despite the changes, MMA is notfor the faint-hearted. After a fight,helpers come into the ring with tow-els to clean up sweat—and sometimesblood. The threat of injuries such aslost teeth, broken bones, ripped ten-dons or concussions looms duringevery match.

“It’s a full-contact sport,” Andrussaid. “You know what you’re gettinginto when you go into it.”

When it comes to injuries, Andrushas been lucky so far. “No realinjuries from fighting,” he said, “just bumps and bruises and a lot of sore muscles.”

Andrus has been wrestling since hewas 5, and came to MMA with 15 yearsas a wrestler and six as a coach. Whenhe enters the cage, he wants to play onthat experience by getting close to hisopponent or grounding him so he canwork him with wrestling moves.

“I still consider myself a wrestling-style fighter. Real close or on theground—that’s where my comfortzone is,” he said. Andrus wrestled as a kid, and then at Camp Lejeune as a Navy corpsman serving with aMarine Corps unit. He credits his military service for giving him thephysical toughness for the sport andthe discipline to train two to threehours a day leading up to a fight.

Andrus’ biggest challenge, though,is his age. At 33, he’s in a sport dominated by much younger men.Nevertheless, in both of his two official matches, he defeated eachopponent, aged 19 and 22, in the first round.

His family and fellow postal workershave had mixed reactions to his chosen sport, Andrus said. “I don’t tell my family until a few days before I

have a fight,” he said. “It builds up toit; puts them in a frenzy of stress.”

Letter carriers in his stationworry about career-threateninginjuries. “Most of my friendsand co-workers worry thatall it will take is one shot to the leg orhead and then mypostal career is done.But all of them enjoywatching it,” he said.“There have beenquite a few co-work-ers who have come tomy fights so far.”

Patrons onAndrus’ route alsohave mixed reac-tions. A fight canleave his face blackand blue for a fewweeks. When cus-tomers learn thecause of his injuries,the responses rangefrom, “Why wouldyou do that?” to“Cool!” Customers alsorecognize him at fights.After one bout, he heardpeople in the crowd exclaim, “Hey, that’s the mailman!”

Andrus wants to compete in twoor three fights in Grand Rapids this fall, including, he hopes, a localtitle fight. He fights for a GrandRapids MMA promotion companycalled “Ground and Pound Promo-tions,” which takes its name fromthe technique of flooring and thenrepeatedly hitting an opponent. It’sone of many companies nationwidethat arrange fights. For Andrus tomove up in his sport, he would needto travel to larger cities for fightswith bigger promoters. He wouldalso have to overcome the kneeinjury he suffered while serving inthe military. “If I can, I will fight aslong as it will let me,” he said. “Myknee will determine if I fight thiscoming fall or if I will start trainingother fighters.”

Would he move on to a less danger-ous and challenging hobby? “Mayberock climbing,” he said. ✉

Andrus (r) with fellowfighter and trainingpartner Bo Vincent.