Fighting to stay on top, or staying on top through fighting? A local company is doing all it can to ensure that all things Mixed Martial Arts are provided by them. (31)
Against The Fence, is a Utah company wondering just that. The company mantra is “Sport the experience, experience the sport.” Nick Yama and Brett Hooper lead a group of partners in this venture. The two split the duties of Against The Fence. Hooper performs most of the daily operations including printing and ordering inventory for their stores. Yama does the marketing and promoting of the company. (66)
The company has stores inside most Utah malls; they also sponsor and attend nearly every MMA event in Utah. They sponsor events yet they don’t sponsor any individual fighters. (29)
Nick Yama said, “We promote the sport itself, not individuals. We do this for multiple reasons, one is that in fighting if someone doesn’t like a particular fighter then they may not support that fighter’s sponsors, and we wanted to avoid this. Another reason is that we don’t want to discriminate against any fighter for any reason, we love them all.” (61)
They carry local brands, Addiction, Rockwell, and Section 8, and offer major fight brands such as Tapout, Throwdown, Extreme Couture, Warrior, Sinister and Death Clutch. (25)
So has the change in the economy devastated the local company or are they plowing along strong? (17)
Brett Hooper said “It depends on the demographic of the store, as a whole our numbers are down and it would take a really big last three weeks to save December, but areas that are big into the fight scene, such as West Valley are doing very well. MMA itself is doing as well as ever, and the Utah events are getting bigger and better also. We try to supply brands that are economically sensible also, so that we do not eliminate fans from supporting their favorite fight gear.” (89)
With MMA on the rise only time will tell if this local company can survive the economical grind and make its way to the top of the podium. (28)
Word Count-346 with Lead, 315 without.
