In March, University of Oregon law school student Roma Pawelek suffered a pinched nerve in her neck that caused pain to shoot down her shoulder.
The culprit? An illegal “neck crank” that Pawelek received while training with a partner at a local gym. Injury is the price one pays to enter the world of MMA fighting.
"If you're not getting hurt,” Pawelek said, “you're probably not training hard enough."
Mixed Martial Arts fighting is a full-contact sport that incorporates grappling and striking techniques spanning multiple martial arts forms, including Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Muay Thai and amateur wrestling. Pawelek trains six days a week, in addition to being a full-time student. She was drawn to the sport because of the supportive community, the physicality of the sport and because MMA allows her to become a jack-of-all-trades rather than the master of a specific form.
"It's one of the most intimate sports," Pawelek said. "There's no ball you're going after—you're literally going after another person."
Even more unusual, Pawelek applied for and was accepted as a joint degree student with the Conflict and Dispute Resolution Master's program, focusing on environmental law. For Pawelek, MMA fighting and the program go hand-in-hand. Both are about resolving conflict; it's just that one takes place at the negotiating table while the other takes place on a gym mat.
Pawelek, of Highland Park, Illinois, encountered fighting six years ago while she was an undergraduate studying English at Carleton College. She had been training for a body building competition when she met a professor who engaged her in a philosophical conversation about the art of boxing. The conversation stayed with her, and she later learned boxing from that coach, who also became her mentor. One year later she founded the Carleton Boxing Club. She also picked up parkour, and from there developed her fighting nickname: "Panther."
It took several years for Pawelek to work up to MMA fighting because she had to learn and draw on a variety of martial arts and wrestling techniques. After graduating from Carleton College with a bachelor's degree in English, Pawelek lived in Costa Rica for almost a year. While there, she and a Serbian kickboxer started an outdoor martial arts gym near the ocean. After she returned to the U.S., she journeyed to Montana, where she began training for MMA fights out of the Dog Pound, a local warehouse-turned-gym that was started by University of Oregon graduate Matt Powers.
Pawelek describes the gym as something out of the movie, “Fight Club.”
"You would just show up and fight," she said. "Our coach, Matt, spent a lot of time developing the fighters on the team into top competitors. It was like a family."
Pawelek chose to attend the UO School of Law to open up career opportunities; she wants to pursue environmental law and knew the school had a strong program. Given her interest in outdoor activities like hiking and fly fishing, scenic Eugene was an ideal choice. In 2012 she enrolled in the school.
Assistant Professor Jen Reynolds, who is also associate director for the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Program, recently hired Pawelek to help her create an "orientation boot camp" that combines physical and mental training for incoming students. Through the boot camp, Reynolds wants to prepare first-year students for the level of physical and mental acuity law school demands.
"Law school does require a certain level of mental fitness and discipline, not to mention physical stamina, and matching good study habits with physical exercise seemed like a great idea for our students," Reynolds said. "Not only does Roma train people – many of them lawyers – at the gym, she understands how law school works and how important the mind-body connection is."
Reynolds encouraged Pawelek to train for an upcoming MMA fight in the summer rather than internships. With MMA fighting, a fighter's body can withstand physical impact only so long before it succumbs to injury and develops long-term health problems. Reynolds knew that Pawelek only had a small window of time to compete in MMA fights, and encouraged her to take a summer to pursue her passion while her schedule was still flexible.
Pawelek won two fights this past spring—a Jiu-Jitsu tournament and an MMA match. She says that training and fighting helps her focus on schoolwork.
"Hobbies refresh you and make your study time more productive," Pawelek said.
In her spare time, Pawelek works as a part-time personal trainer at the Downtown Athletic Club and spends time with her boyfriend, another Jiu-Jitsu fighter whom she met in Montana. Upon graduating from Oregon Law, Pawelek would like to apply her degree to resolving environmental conflicts.
But until then, she'll balance her studies in conflict resolution with time in the ring.
"There's no better feeling than winning the fight," she said.
- by UO School of Law