MMA and academics unite at Sacramento State’s Combat U

Traven “Baba” Wailehua puts A1 Combat fighter Mike Medina in a submission hold at Sacramento State’s Battle at the Hive on March 7, 2025.

Vanessa Gomez

Traven “Baba” Wailehua was considering dropping out of Wartburg College in Iowa before landing on an opportunity in Sacramento.

After learning about Combat Sports and Martial Arts University, or Combat U, at Sacramento State, “I decided to transfer, and it’s been two years now and I love it here,” said the third-year kinesiology major.  

Sacramento State President Luke Wood, an amateur boxer and self-proclaimed “fan of mixed martial arts,” conceived of Combat U more than two years ago. The initial idea was to create a detailed pathway for students looking to become professional mixed martial arts, or MMA, fighters to train with elite coaches and receive a college education at the same time. 

In an April 2024 video titled “Combat U — Fighting For You,” Wood said that the new program aims to “(create) an opportunity for those to go to college who may have never thought of themselves as college material.” His time spent in boxing gyms exposed him to many people who were trying to improve themselves physically and mentally, but didn’t see college as part of their path.

Wailehua was awarded a scholarship funded by private donors and became the first Sacramento State student to win an MMA match at Battle at the Hive, an amateur series held at the university. “College is college to me,” he said regarding transferring. “I get to do what I love to do. I train here at Sac State, and then I train with the professionals down at Team Alpha Male.”

Under the umbrella of the university’s athletics department, but technically a club sport, Combat U is a partnership between the university and two private gyms: Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer Urijah Faber’s Ultimate Fitness and former professional boxer Brandon Gonzales’ Flawless Boxing & Fitness. The club welcomes people at all levels, from experienced fighters looking to become professionals to those who practice for recreational purposes. Many of Combat U’s coaches and staff are affiliated with Ultimate Fitness and its MMA organization, Team Alpha Male.

Wood also credits student Aranjot Kaur with helping create Combat U. The third-year business operations major, who is currently the president of Associated Students, said she spoke to Wood about creating an MMA club at the university.

“I have been training MMA for seven years now,” said Kaur, who also serves as the president of the MMA club. “When I enrolled in Sacramento State, it was because it was so close to Faber’s gym, and I was training there. That gave me the idea of talking to President Wood about an MMA club.”

Combat U officially opened in fall 2024. Students can enroll in boxing, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, MMA and wrestling. Each discipline has its own president and officers, like other sports clubs. The wrestling club existed before it was folded into Combat U. Joseph Jimenez, a third-year kinesiology major and the club’s president, said he appreciates the addition of new disciplines. “We’re making the wrestling club into something greater,” Jimenez said, crediting Combat U’s director of operations, Hector Fajardo, for some of his club’s improvements. “We get CPR training and certification, student safety — we get educated on those types of things.”

Kaur said around 500 students are enrolled in Combat U this semester. The coaches of each discipline teach students from all levels of experience. Students who want to practice recreationally and those who want to compete train in the same facilities, but the more competitive students have additional practice times at the off-campus gyms.

“The club’s role is to get everyone involved in martial arts. Even if you’re a competitor, our main goal is to have fun,” said Cody Linton, who coaches Sacramento State’s wrestling team. Linton, who also coaches professional MMA fighters, said a challenge for him at Combat U is learning how to effectively coach people from all skill levels. “I’ve had to learn how to read the room. … Trying to find out how to bring out the best in a person is completely different from coaching a high-level athlete,” Linton said.

Combat U has hosted two events in the past year: the boxing-centered Causeway Classic and the grappling and MMA showdown Battle at the Hive. As a club sport, the fights organized are separate from typical NCAA matchups between schools. While plenty of colleges have wrestling and boxing clubs, the other disciplines have a narrower field of options. “When it comes to these matches, it’s more of a case-by-case level,” said Fajardo, who is a professional MMA fighter. “The grappling matches are a bit easier … but kickboxing and MMA are much more difficult because collegiate kickboxing is nonexistent, collegiate MMA is nonexistent.” 

In the Battle at the Hive, Fajardo said that he had to search for individual fighters who were college students or at least college age. “I had a fighter that was from San Jose State, another one from Fresno State, a (San Francisco State) alumni — it’s a matter of literally going out and looking for these people.”

Members of Sacramento State’s Combat U practice at the campus facility on Oct. 14, 2025. All disciplines are open to all skill levels.Courtesy of Sacramento State Hornet

Currently, there are no ways to earn college credits within Combat U. “This is a brand new organization; there is no college in the world that has something like this, so we are doing something completely new, and we are learning as we’re going,” Kaur said. 

As of now, Fajardo said, “There are two people who are interns for Combat U: the student assistant and the social media intern.” He expects that with more events, there will be more opportunities for an internship in event coordinating. 

“On the academic side,” Fajardo added, “we plan on having a self-defense class … we have a lot of big plans outside of the club format down the line.”

Despite Wood’s introductory video stating a desire to create a pipeline for Combat U students into the competitive fighting scene, Fajardo said that turning out professional fighters “isn’t the goal.”

“The point of this program is not to create UFC fighters. If they become one, that’s great, but for me, it’s to open up doors for students to find their way in life,” Fajardo said.

Vanessa Gomez is a fourth-year journalism major at Sacramento State and a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.