Fight Night
Iowa has a long history in the sport of wrestling. At the international level, Iowa has produced Olympic gold-medal winners. At the collegiate level, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have won national championships. At the high school level and younger, wrestling approaches football and basketball for prestige among the athletes. Wrestling is a way of life in Iowa. It’s part of who we are.
The sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) came into the national spotlight in 2006 with the pay-per-view fight between Chuck Liddell and former champion Tito Ortiz. Iowa was already a natural location for its development of talent and passion because of the state’s long history with wrestling, which is one of the key fighting disciplines used. But following the Liddell/Ortiz fight, MMA’s popularity in Iowa exploded.
In April 2009, I began exploring the MMA world in central Iowa. Almost immediately, I found that the fights were only part of the story. The fighters were just as interesting. They have created a world for themselves as they train, compete, and dream of glory in the cage.
Fight Night explores small-time MMA fighting in Iowa. Culminated over five years, this collection captures some of the most intimate moments as fighters explore the highs of victory and the devastation of defeat. It also chronicles the journey leading to the ring, from training and life outside the ring to impromptu amateur fights in bars and professional fights in front of thousands of fans. The goal of the book is to envelope the audience in the same experience that fighters and millions of fans enjoy. The images give the viewer the feeling that they are ringside and hearing the roars of the crowd, the cracks of the punches and kicks, and the sight of gladiators fighting to have their hand raised in victory.
Some of the fighters featured in Fight Night have dreams to make it to the big stage: The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Others fight to make a name for themselves and enjoy the local celebrity and rock-star status, albeit on a limited scale. Some even fight to help support their families with a modest income from payments and corporate sponsorships. Whatever their reason for fighting, the thing they all have in common is succumbing to the lure of the ring — the thrill of the fight, the cheer of the crowds, or the need to test the boundaries of their body and mind.
Since I started photographing MMA and interviewing the fighters, I have been amazed at the sheer will required to succeed; the willingness to go beyond what the others will do to prepare, or the punishment you will take. Although that will is not enough to get the victory, the lack can guarantee defeat.
About the Photographer
Brian C. Frank is an award-winning freelance photojournalist from Des Moines, Iowa. Photographing for The New York Times, Reuters and Polaris Images, Brian’s images have been seen in publications and on websites around the world. Selections from Fight Night have been shown on the New York Times Lens blog, Burn Magazine and part of gallery exhibits in Des Moines, Minneapolis and New York.
Brian began studying photography on a part-time basis as a creative outlet. Those classes quickly developed into a passion, but he did not know what he wanted to do. It was not until the first anniversary of hurricane Katrina that he found the direction. Always being a bit of an activist, Brian was angered that a year after the hurricane hit, a great city like New Orleans was still in ruins. After spending a week in New Orleans photographing the devastation and talking to the residents, he found that telling stories with the camera was what he needed to do.
Influences include Christopher Morris, Robert Frank and Weegee.