June 17 · 1 hr 48 minFor those who remember the early outlaw days of no-holds-barred fighting, the idea of MMA history being taught as a serious university subject seems as improbable as....well, as a UFC event taking place at the White House, yet here we are.
Meet Dr. Kyle Barrowman, an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, lecturer in Film and Media Studies, and recent recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Barrowman is just wrapping up the spring quarter of “The UFC in History and Popular Culture: From No Holds Barred to Mixed Martial Arts,” the first course on the history of mixed martial arts at a major university. He gives a deep-dive account of how this groundbreaking course came to be and how he came to teach it, as well as the unique challenges that come with teaching the history of a sport that is young enough that most of its founding figures are still alive.
0:00 How did you come to teach the first-ever university course on the history of MMA?
8:16 How did you put together the curriculum for a course that had never been taught before?
14:57 What kinds of students turned out for the first college course on UFC history? Were many of them already fans?
22:39 How is the class structured? What are your students covering right now?
26:26 How do the very early fights and stories go over with your modern audience?
29:52 How did people even find MMA back in the day? Kyle and Ben talk about their routes to finding the underground bloodsport, and the struggles today's kids will never understand.
43:55 What have you learned this semester, and how will it affect future iterations of the course?
56:47 How confident are you that this course will continue to be offered at DePaul? Do you hope and/or plan to expand this offering to other schools?
1:03:19 Is it a strange feeling to effectively become part of the history of the sport whose history you are teaching?
1:09:19 History vs. Myth: The challenge of figuring out "what really happened" in a culture full of storytellers and secret keepers
1:25:53 Closing thoughts
1:27:15 BONUS: Kyle takes Ben to school on the underrated greatness of Ken Shamrock!
