One Canadian soldier injured in battle is undertaking a special mission at UFC 129 in Toronto.
A Canadian soldier who had both his legs amputated below the knees after stepping on a landmine while serving in Afghanistan is hoping to create some interest at UFC 129 in starting mixed martial arts competitions for the disabled in Canada.
Master Corporal Jody Mitic, who is based in Ottawa, literally has a fighting spirit that he is hoping to instill in other people who have lost limbs, and part of his plans include attending UFC 129 in Toronto.
Through a project called Operation Never Quit, he is leading a group of six other disabled Canadian soldiers from various parts of the country to the event along with a 13-year-old cadet who had both his feet amputated because of a form of meningitis. He wants the group to experience the thrill of a UFC event in person and drum up interest in possibly creating MMA for non-able-bodied people.
"When they announced UFC 129, I thought how am I going to put together a trip for some of my friends who are in a similar situation?" he told sportsnet.ca. "Even though I’m one of the guys organizing it, it’s for me as much as it is for them as well because there’s amputees fighting now in the States because they have the most war injured, but we’re trying to bring it up to Canada."
"We’re just trying to get the people with the interest and right attitude together and in one spot," he added of the trip. "That’s basically why I put it all together: to have the positive experience and also to explore what can we do with MMA for training and recovery and for sport. Even if you can’t fight, you can still train.
"In MMA training, which I’ve done a little since I was hurt, the way they physically work their bodies and train to fight is really good for an amputee because it centres on the core. When you’re an amputee, anything you’ve lost goes to the core. Since I lost my feet, my ankles and my calfs, what those parts did everything above it is trying to adjust. To take one step is like 600 times harder than it is (for an able-bodied person).
"So you’ve got to train your core religiously, but you’ve got to be around people who know how to do that. Traditional bodybuilding doesn’t really hit the mark because it centres around other things. This is a bit of an experiment, too, just to see if anything could come of it." Mitic’s group has received sponsorship support for the trip from the Royal York Hotel, which is providing free rooms, a t-shirt company called Area 51 and UFC Canada, which is providing the group with tickets near the octagon and special backstage passes at the weigh-ins. The group will also have a booth at the UFC Fan Expo on Friday, and fighters Duane Ludwig and Marc Stevens and the Trailer Park Boys are expected to be present at various times to lend their support.
"We want to show people that wounded soldiers exist because you don’t hear a lot about us in the news," he said. "We’re all just stoked about being able to see a part of (the fighters’) world. You don’t get to see a lot of the weigh-in stuff. You see them come out, weigh in and walk away. I try and watch as much of the shows as I can to see what it’s like. I can just imagine the anticipation. You’re looking across at the guy you’re supposed to punch in the face the next day. I can’t wait to be in the room and feel the energy that’s there."
Mitic’s story is impressive, if not inspiring. The 34-year-old grew up in Brampton and trained as a military sniper. He suffered the landmine accident in January 2007, nearing the end of his second tour of duty, in which he led the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, and had plans to return for a third mission.
He had the surgery shortly after returning to Canada and began therapy to learn how to adjust physically with prosthetics. A year later he was participating in fun runs for charity, and six months after that he was hired by the Department of National Defence to work as the outreach co-ordinator for a program called Soldier On, which is designed to enhance through sport the quality of life of current and former Canadian Forces’ members.
Subsequent to that, he created "Never Quit" as a catchphrase that he uses in various social media forms to talk about fellow soldiers who have lost limbs.
"One of the things we try to say is it’s not what you can’t do, it’s what you can do," he said,
Mitic has been a huge UFC fan and through a well-connected individual he met Georges St-Pierre at UFC 97 in Montreal in April 2009. He spent a half-hour with the reigning UFC welterweight champion in a private box overlooking the competition. St-Pierre was not fighting on the card.
"Georges showed up with his manager and we got to hang out for half an hour," Mitic recalled. "I was excited. I love his attitude, his work ethic. As a sniper you have to always be unpredictable and think outside the box, and watching the shows and watching him fight it’s almost the same thing. He’s looking for the ways nobody expects you to go and that’s how he keeps winning his fights. He’s a super-positive guy with a hardcore work ethic.
"He had a ton of questions about what it’s like to be a soldier in combat. The one thing fighters always say is, ‘at least I have a referee to stop it if I’m going to get hurt.’ Most fighters admire what we do. We just had a great meeting. It was too short. I wish it was a couple hours."
He also met with UFC president Dana White, who gave him special access to some of the events that led up to the card, and that just fueled Mitic’s passion to participate in MMA fighting.
"For most people it would be awesome to begin with, but for someone who is recovering for a traumatic injury or was injured in battle, I just wanted to go to the gym and start training in MMA as soon as the fights were over," he said. "I’ve been trying to figure out how I’m going to do that."
