Welcome to a world where black eyes and cauliflower ears are considered to be beauty marks.

For those students whose idea of “getting off the Hill” translates solely into post-midnight excursions on the Commons or futile Facebook logins from the library, you probably did not get the status update: Ithaca is a kickass fight town.  

Lesson No. 1: No, we do not mean unsanctioned, underground, free-for-alls fought for YouTube glory in backyards or barroom basements. We are talking about the true discipline of Mixed Martial Arts, which is now considered to be the most dominant martial art form on earth and has quickly become a billion-dollar industry.

Lesson No. 2: Even the most casual of sports fans have become familiar with MMA through its most popular professional promotion company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which recently signed a $700-million deal to have fighting events broadcast on Fox Sports, effectively bringing the art and the sport into the mainstream.

Only devoted followers understand how MMA combines innumerable international martial art forms that have been practiced for hundreds and even thousands of years. The most prominent styles that influence MMA include Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, Olympic-style wrestling and traditional boxing; however, a myriad of other disciplines — from Kenpo karate to Russian combat sambo — are also being effectively integrated into MMA.

Pop Quiz: Name a professional sports team in Ithaca.

While Cornell offers an all-encompassing spectrum of exciting amateur athletics, you might have only come up with two major pro teams in the entire state outside of New York City: the Buffalo Bills and the Sabres. But right here in Tompkins County, which is about as far away as humanly imaginable from the pro-fighting Meccas of Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, we have our own hard-hitting MMA team.

Enter Team Bombsquad. Six years ago, a cadre of aspiring fighters started training in a disused barn in McGraw Village outside of Cortland. What began as little more than a hobby transformed into an elite team of 25 to 30 professional fighters, who have become highly respected across the Northeast and some of whom have competed under the nation’s top promotions. In fact, the current UFC light heavyweight champion and megastar, Jon Jones, first began his MMA training with Team Bombsquad.

Having moved to Ithaca in 2010, Bombsquad recently relocated again to the Ithaca Mall, where the members train at the Ultimate Athletics gym. Ultimate Athletics also offers training and fitness for the general public, including classes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai kickboxing, boxing and ultimate fitness and strength training. On any given night, you might walk into the gym and see everything from seven year olds picking up the martial arts basics to full-blown sparring sessions between the pros.

Semester Syllabus: Fight Life in Ithaca will take you into the realm of spit buckets and broken orbital bones, of Superman punches and anaconda chokes, of triumphs in the cage and struggles outside of it.While we will follow Team Bombsquad, Cornell alone has hundreds of stories related to MMA and associated martial arts — from a Cornelian who makes big money on Wall Street and moonlights as a UFC fighter to a Ph.D. student who says that training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu makes writing her doctoral thesis seem easy.

What’s more, central New York’s tradition as being a hotbed for wrestling has also led to the rising popularity of MMA in the area. Countless former wrestlers have made successful transitions to MMA, including three of the seven current UFC champions. The storied Red wrestling team has produced all-Americans and national champions for decades and now several former Cornell grapplers are testing their mettle as fighters.

This past weekend alone revealed the vitality of diverse martial arts on campus, as the East Asia Program and local clubs hosted a three-day conference, “Martial Arts in Performance, Health and Practice.”Some of you may desire to strive for balance of mind, body and spirit through martial arts. For others, an appreciation of MMA goes no further than watching the UFC while devouring spicy chicken wings by the bucketful and downing a few cold ones at Ithaca’s Buffalo Wild Wings, which broadcasts all major televised MMA events.No matter your ambition, the fight life in Ithaca always delivers a knockout.