Since beginning their venture into MMA, O’Malley and Faircloth have seen it evolve from illegal hobby to sophisticated sport, bordering on the mainstream. Despite this transformation, many still question MMA’s legitimacy alongside basketball and football in America.

In fact, despite his success, Lauer still feels the weight of the negative MMA stereotype. “People look at your ears, they look at the fact that you got tattoos and hear that you’re a fighter. You show up to work with a black eye and some stitches one day, and automatically you’re a bar thug. You’re the asshole everyone hates,” Lauer says. “You’re not the guy who spent 40 hours at work, 40 hours in the gym, and eight hours with your family that week and then try to play catch-up on Sunday.”

Yet, where he sees conflict, Faircloth and O’Malley see optimism. They hope to shift the public’s interest from the image to the sport, creating a training ground for newly refined MMA fighters – athletes like Lauer.

Their multifaceted teaching methods define this new school of MMA. The days of one-dimensional fighters are gone, replaced by versatile combat artists. “I don’t believe that there are styles of fighting anymore. What I feel is effective is Muay Thai, wrestling, Jujitsu, a little bit of mean and a lot of heart,” O’Malley says. “I don’t think anymore it’s fair to say, ‘He’s a stand up guy,’ or ‘He’s a ground guy,’ it’s a hybridization.”

However, according to O’Malley, merely mastering a multitude of techniques is not sufficient for their fighters. In the new world of MMA, traditional combat forms must be altered for direct application in the ring. O’Malley cites Muay Thai boxing as a specific example of this refinement. This ancient Thai art is similar to kickboxing and commonly used in MMA fights. A traditional Thai kick, however, leaves a fighter’s hips exposed. An accomplished MMA athlete would recognize this opening and potentially capitalize with a wrestling takedown.

“It’s like a dog that used to be a purebred, that has been bred down into its own breed,” O’Malley says. “It’s been streamlined to its own type of fighting, because it is sport fighting, it’s not survival fighting. That is what has made our gym work and what makes our fighters successful.”

O’Malley and Faircloth have experienced this evolution firsthand. When they first began fighting, O’Malley’s technique involved primarily mat work. His wrestling background made him at home on the ground, although his right fist could do some damage when it came to standing up.

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