Mixed martial arts have seen a rapid growth in popularity in recent years. The sport has gone from niche to network television faster than you can say "Kimbo Slice." But with its success has come the stigma of being somewhat barbaric.

David Jones is looking to change that perception. He is the owner of Kicks Karate Club in Martinez, which opened Oct. 1. There, Jones is teaching MMA for use in situations where self-defense is required.

"My audience is going to be more family oriented," said Jones, a native of Anderson, S.C., whose Air Force career brought him to Fort Gordon and the Augusta area eight years ago. "I'm looking for the ninety-eight percent of people who are interested in MMA and are interested in knowing how to defend themselves. When it comes right down to it, if you're in a life or death situation, you're going to want to defend yourself and stop somebody from hurting you or your family."

Kicks Karate Club is currently holding its classes in a gym located at Gymnastics Gold on Cedar Lane. The club landed at the Gymnastics Gold site because of Jones' familiarity with its owner, Jim Mousseau, who heads his son's gymnastics competition team.

"Jim is an incredible person. He was nice enough to give me a great price on renting out one of his gyms," Jones said. "I had to take out a few loans, but because of my business plan, and if things keep going the way they are going, I believe we'll be in the black very soon."

A large part of that business plan is to provide training in MMA for those who want to feel safe under the street lights more than those who want to be praised in the spotlight.

"One of the logos that I have says 'We train people to be champions in life, not in a cage,' " said Jones. "That's really the focus that we have,"

Jones points out that many of those who watch MMA on a regular basis are high school or college age males who reside in "the polite circles of society."

However, a number of the sports' viewers spend their time outside that circle, causing a potential threat to anyone untrained in the techniques of MMA.

"Prisoners can train this stuff in prison. If they've trained this stuff and you haven't, you're a target and they think they can take you out," said Jones. "I want my students to not be a statistic. I want them to know how to defend themselves against someone who has been trained in MMA."

Though his courses are geared mainly towards using mixed martial arts to defend oneself, Jones is willing to help any aspiring professional MMA fighter pursue his or her dream.

"If someone really wants to go out and do NAGA (North American Grappling Association) tournaments, that is an awesome goal to have. You can really go out and prove yourself that way," Jones said. "If someone wants to do that, we'll train them up."

Jones plans to incorporate other martial arts forms such as Goju Ryu and traditional karate into his club's curriculum after it becomes established.