City Kickboxing founder Eugene Bareman has warned "scumbags" who resort to coward punches will eventually get a punishment that fits their crime.
Bareman's strong words come after one of his up-and-coming fighters, Fau Vake, was revealed to have been critically-injured in an alleged assault in Auckland's CBD early on Sunday morning.
In an unusually quiet afternoon at his gym, Bareman told 1 NEWS he and his team are supporting Vake's family as best they can while also looking out for each other.
"I've encouraged the guys to come in here and keep training just to keep their minds off things but those are some different training sessions we've been going through lately," Bareman told 1 NEWS.
"They're very emotional, they're done in silence, it's just a mechanism we're using to get through this.
Bareman, who is also representing Vake's family as their spokesperson during this difficult time, said there are daily meetings currently to discuss what's best for the 25-year-old.
"He's holding on by a thread... We need nothing short of a miracle to pull this off and that's what we're gunning for.
"As a team, we're doing our best to rally around his family."
Close to home
Four men — three 29-year-olds and a 32-year-old — have been charged over the incident on a number of offences ranging from common assault to injuring with intent.
Police have not confirmed the details of how Vake was injured but fellow City Kickboxing fighter and UFC champion Israel Adesanya along with Bareman put out a statement last night saying "coward punchers" needed tougher punishments for their acts.
Bareman said this afternoon their strong stance comes from experience — outside of the octagon and ring.
"This is an issue that hits Israel in the heart — not just because this is one of his very good teammates but he's also been a victim of this same crime," Bareman said, referring to when the middleweight champion had his jaw broken in 2012.
"To be fair, there's been a couple of other gym members that since Israel was a victim of this crime have also been a victim of this crime themselves.
"Our gym only represents a small cross-section of society so what's happening in the wider reaches of society if in our gym we know of a couple of instances of this happening?"
'What you're trying to do is kill them'
In last night's statement, Bareman said he and his team couldn't understand why coward punches hadn't been addressed sooner and his team couldn't fathom why a 2018 bill was rejected by Parliament to create an offence for the act.
That questioning and those feelings come from a place of understanding, Bareman said this afternoon.
"There's an irony to this but we understand martial arts and we understand how to punch and what a punch does and how much power it has and how much force it can generate," Bareman said.
"We understand, more than your average person, that if you go up behind someone and hit them while they're unaware there's only one thing you're trying to do — you're trying to inflict as much harm as you can on that person as you possibly can and, ultimately, what you're trying to do is kill them.
"That's your intent when you go up behind someone and hit them with your first or an object, there's no other way around it.
"All we're saying and all we're advocating for is that the punishment should be more in line with the crime."
Difference between sport and the streets
1 NEWS asked Bareman what he thought of those who would challenge him and City Kickboxing about their jobs as MMA trainers and fighter glorifying violence, given the nature of what they do inside an octagon or ring.
However, Bareman said there is a huge difference.
"This is a sport. It has rules, it has regulations, it has governing bodies that look after it, it has doctors, referees, judges. It's a controlled environment — it's not the street where you can go up behind someone and do them harm," he said.
"There's so many things put into place to keep those people safe."
Bareman added a common rule at most gyms is whatever they train or learn in the gym is only used there or in competition.
"Most gyms punish you severely by either kicking you out or reprimanding you in some way [if you fight outside of that].
"This incident that occurred and what happens in my gym are two worlds apart."
To those who are in that other world and use coward punches, though, Bareman had a firm message.
"The type of people who do this are scumbags, they're the bottom-feeders of society and there will come a time, and maybe it's now or it's in the future, when your punishment will fit your crime."
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