There will soon be a new magazine hitting the stands dedicated to highlighting mixed martial arts. UPROAR magazine will be distributed statewide and will offer feature stories on professional and amateur fighters, local and abroad. Because of its growing popularity,
There will soon be a new magazine hitting the stands dedicated to highlighting mixed martial arts.
UPROAR magazine will be distributed statewide and will offer feature stories on professional and amateur fighters, local and abroad.
Because of its growing popularity, co-publisher Britt Yap said this was the perfect time to launch the magazine. She and her partner Hanalei Jaber hope UPROAR will shed some light on the sport and erase the “street fighting” stigma it currently holds.
“A lot of people don’t appreciate the sport,” she said. “I think the sport has come a long way. We want to give the sport more exposure because there is actually a lot of discipline from all the martial arts incorporated into it. With every martial art, there’s a discipline. I think people overlook it because they think it’s just a brutal sport.”
The magazine will focus on lifestyle stories of the fighters, fight schools and fight events in Hawai‘i.
Yap, a fan of the sport, said she and others plan on traveling to the Neighbor Islands to check out the different tournaments and cage matches to see what everyone has to offer.
“I want to give the sport more exposure,” she said. “I want more people to come on board.”
UPROAR will debut at the Hawai‘i MMA, Sports and Fitness Expo next week, from June 27 to 29, at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.
B.J. Penn and the MMA, Sports and Fitness Expo are the cover stories of the first issue.
There will also be columns from Kala Hose and Egan Inoue, as well as a submission spotlight from the Onzuka brothers, features on Koa Ramos, Eddie Yagin and the Laupahoehoe School of Muay Thai.
Magazines will be given out one-per-family to those attending the expo, and $6 for any additional copies requested. After the expo, UPROAR will be available a different locations throughout Hawai‘i. On Kaua‘i, UPROAR will be sold at the Tamba Surf Company in Kapa‘a.
According to T. Jay Thompson, promoter and owner of ICON Sport gym, 4,000 to 6,000 fight fans attended the Blaisdell events in the past two years. Last year, Hawai‘i hosted more than 15 MMA events.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship market research has shown that an average UFC Fight Night viewing audience is 531,000.
Yap and Jaber are planning for a second launch, after the expo, possibly for Maui. There are no dates set yet.
For more information or to subscribe to the magazine, visit www.uproarhawaii.com or www.myspace.com/uproarhawaii
