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m.g
13-03-2006, 15:52
Once branded as human cockfighting and plagued by its own blood-soaked marketing, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the sport of mixed martial arts almost collapsed before it ever really got started.

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/5375264_36_4.jpg

De rest staat hier. (http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5373408?GT1=7934)

Mickey
13-03-2006, 16:49
The sport, a unique blend of wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing and kickboxing, was banned in much of the country in the late 1990s.

But through a combination of aggressive new ownership, sanctioning in pivotal states, and a hot cable television product featuring charismatic stars, UFC is undergoing a successful image remodel.

Also...
# Boxing might be in trouble
# What's it like being an Ultimate Fighter?

"We're not for everyone, and we don't try to be," UFC president Dana White said. "If you don't like fighting sports, great, this is America, that's your right. All we ask is that people understand what we are."

One thing is quickly becoming understood — mixed martial arts is heading for the mainstream of American sport, whether or not the mainstream is ready. UFC is coming off the biggest event in its history, UFC 57 on Feb. 4, in which light heavyweight champion Chuck Lidell defended his title against former champion Randy Couture.

UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell is the biggest star in mixed martial arts. (Josh Hedges/Copyright Zuffa, LLC)

The show drew a sellout of 10,301 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for a paying gate of $3.3 million; another sellout of 2,000 watched the fight at the site on closed-circuit TV; and early pay-per view estimates are 350,000 buys. A live fight special leading up to the show on Spike TV on Jan. 16 drew more viewers than a much-hyped Miami Heat-Los Angeles Lakers game on ESPN the same night.

In fact, nearly 4,000 people showed up for a midweek weigh-in. Contrast that to when Liddell and Couture first fought in 2003, when there were just over 4,000 paid admissions.

"I'm kind of surprised with how fast this has all happened," said the 37-year old Liddell. "People are finally starting to understand what we're all about."

Yahoo even reported that its second-most requested topic in their search engines the weekend of Feb. 4-5 involved Ultimate Fighting, with "UFC results" among the most popular topics. Only that weekend's Super Bowl XL received more inquiries.

If fight fans needed to go online and search for results of the fight — which was not covered by traditional outlets like the Associated Press — that would seem to suggest mainstream media are missing the boat on a sport with a big following.

"There's a huge buzz about the sport right now," said David Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, who has covered the sport since its infancy. "Old sports editors are set in their ways, and I don't think they'll ever get it."

This is in part because many probably still remember the sport's original surge in popularity, which nearly caused it to be legislated out of existence.

The first UFC event was held in Denver in 1993. It was conceived to answer the age-old question of which fighting discipline was the strongest, a question that sold tons of newsstand karate magazines over the years.

"They didn't know they were creating a new sport," said White. "It was supposed to be a one-off event, but it ended up being so successful they did another."

Rules of the octagon

Nothing frustrates people in the mixed martial arts community more than the misperception of the basics of their sport. "Once a reporter asked me what it was like fighting someone 50 pounds heavier with no referee," said Ultimate Fighter Alex Karalexis. "And I said 'That's not what I do' and explained the rules. Then I picked up the paper and it talked about how I fight to the death with no ref against people 100 pounds heavier."

UFC conducts its bouts under rules that are becoming widely accepted as industry standards in commission states. Here is a partial list of UFC do's and don'ts:

What's legal
# Punching
# Elbowing
# Kicking and kneeing standing fighters
# Wrestling takedowns and throws
# Olympic judo-style chokes
# Submission joint locks

What's not
# Head butts
# Eye gouging
# Hair-pulling
# Groin strikes
# Strikes to the spine or back of the head
# Kicking, kneeing or stomping a grounded opponent
# Holding the fence for leverage
# Throat strikes

UFC quickly became successful as a pay-per-view attraction in the mid-1990s. But a backlash grew against the nascent sport's Wild West atmosphere, which often produced grizzly visuals. A relative lack of rules led to sideshow-type spectacles, such as a fight between 150-pound martial artist Keith Hackney and 600-pound sumo Emmanuel Yarborough; and another fight in which Hackney repeatedly punched martial artist Joe Son in the groin before Son submitted.

Worse, then-UFC owners Semaphore Entertainment downplayed the inherent skill of the athletes and instead played up the carnival aspect, promising and delivering blood gore.

"I had a debate on Larry King Live with them at the time and told them in no uncertain terms we couldn't sanction them unless they changed their rules," said Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada athletic commission. "They really dug in their heels in trying to avoid regulation, and they paid for it."

New York banned the event in 1997, and many of the nation's athletic commissions followed suit. Facing pressure from the likes of Arizona senator John McCain, major cable providers pulled the plug on UFC.

"Honestly, they deserved to be banned," White said. "They made every mistake possible. It wasn't healthy for our sport."

Through the late 1990s, the sport limped by on satellite dish, staging shows at Indian casinos and in the few non-commission states that didn't specifically ban it.

"If someone has an issue with all combat sports, if they're in favor of banning boxing and kickboxing and mixed martial arts, then at least I can respect their consistency, even though I disagree with them," Meltzer said. "The thing that bothers me is the way mixed martial arts was singled out. There's never been a single death in a sanctioned MMA event."

UFC was on life support in the late 1990s, when Semaphore sold the company to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III, owners of the Station Casinos, in 2000 and brought along White to run the ship.

"When we bought the promotion, it was something that came from the heart," White said. "Every indicator at the time said this was a bad business move, something you couldn't make money in. We took a gamble because we loved the sport and knew the following was there."

The sport's turnaround began in earnest when it received sanctioning from the Nevada athletic commission in 2001 (New Jersey had given its blessing the previous year).

Long gone were the groin strikes and other dirty tactics. Referees were given far greater leeway to stop fights. Fights were set at five, five-minute rounds for title fights and three five-minute rounds for the rest, with judging instituted in the event a fight goes the distance.

"We got together with the people who run all these groups and told them there needs to be a uniform set of rules, like with boxing or any other combat sport," Ratner said. "The people at UFC have complied with everything we've asked of them."

Unlike previous ownership, the present UFC administration embraces government sanctioning as the key to the sport's legitimacy.

"We welcome the commissions," White said. "The old owners ran from regulation; we want it. Like boxing or football or any contact sport, that most important thing is that we take the care to protect the fighters' health and safety."

Of course, the blessing of a key commission wasn't going to revive a sport left for dead on its own. Enter White, a Las Vegas native who cut his teeth promoting boxing in Boston.

"He deserves a ton of credit for making the sport what it has become," Meltzer said of White. "He's the Vince McMahon of his generation."

Nevada sanctioning helped bring cable pay-per-view back on board, but only hardcore fans remained. The next step was getting back on television.

"I mean, it was ridiculous to me.," White said. "Television was at the point that they had people eating donkey (genitals) in prime time, and you're telling me there's no room on television for our sport?"

Bridging the gap was Spike TV's ,The Ultimate Fighter reality show, which is finishing up production of its third season. The show features would-be UFC fighters training in the Nevada desert, guided by UFC stars like Liddell and Couture.

"It was a way to phase on to television without going straight to showing the fights," White said. "Once people started to see what these fighters do — how much time they spend in training, what level of skills you need to make it — that helped break down the stereotypes about our fighters and helped the people see them as all-around athletes."

The show has helped the public gain an understanding of what the sport has evolved into. Fighters need to be cross-trained in all relevant disciplines; a puncher who can't wrestle will be taken down with ease; a wrestler who isn't versed in submission holds will find himself on the wrong end of a submission lock on the ground; and everyone needs to watch out for someone who can kick.

Wrestling throws are one facet of mixed martial arts, as UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes demonstrates on Frank Trigg. (Josh Hedges/Copyright Zuffa, LLC)

"When you first see the clips, if it is something you have never seen before, the visuals can be jarring," said welterweight fighter Frank Trigg, a former University of Oklahoma wrestler who has been featured in a UFC main event. "People have always had the idea that boxing is the 'proper' way to fight. So it takes time to understand the differences between what they're used to and all the subtleties of that go into a ground fight."

Another important piece of the puzzle fell into place when California recently legalized competition. The sport has long been West Coast based, but the Golden State was the final major holdout among Western commission states.

"The way I look at it, there were lots of underground shows, shows on Indian reservations, where the athletes weren't getting proper medical attention," said Armando Garcia, executive officer of the California athletic commission. "The sport has grown to the point where we need to make sure things are on the up and up."

All indications are that California is becoming a hotbed for the sport. The first UFC show in the state, UFC 59 on April 15, sold out the 18,000-seat Pond in Anaheim in two days before a single fight was announced — and that's with the cheapest ticket at $50 and no seats in the lower bowl priced under $200. An independently promoted show in San Jose headlined by Frank Shamrock vs. Cesar Gracie on March 10 is expected to draw more than 10,000 fans.

Industry speculation has it that such high-profile success could lead to the remaining mixed martial arts holdout states in the East, like New York and Maryland, getting on board.

"My guess is that every state with a commission that has its act together will legalize the sport eventually," Ratner said. "They're starting to understand this is just another combat sport."

If the notion of protecting fighters doesn't get remaining commissions to change their tune, another factor might.

"Wait until the commissioners in New York and other places get a load of the gate the show in Anaheim," said Meltzer, who served as a judge on two UFC shows in the late 1990s. "And Nevada is bringing in a ton of money on these shows."

Either way, the principals involved say the perceptions of the sport are changing.

"I always knew the sport would get big if we were given the opportunity," Liddell said. "The interest was always there in the underground, it was a matter of getting the chance to show what we can do in front of a bigger audience. We have, and the people have responded."

Mike
13-03-2006, 17:13
wat een geweldig stuk

wordt er echt blij van :D

De UFC is ook echt goed bezig mainstream te worden. SpikeTV met TUF was geniaal. En de kampioenen van vandaag zijn echt top ambassadeurs voor de sport! Ik hoop wel dat het in de toekomst niet "softer" wordt gemaakt om het grote publiek te pleasen. Bijvoorbeeld aanpassingen regels , verbieden ellebogen etc... Dat zou ik echt gaar vinden.

Dana White helpt de sport naar een hoger niveau , ik vind alleen wel dat hij de vechters veel meer moet gaan betalen.

Pride en UFC zouden ook samen moeten werken en een jaarlijkse Undisputed Championship moeten houden met UFC #1's vs PrideFC #1's . Dat zou volgens mij ook goed voor de sport zijn.

Mickey
13-03-2006, 17:32
Ja idd! Dit is toch gewoon geweldig!
Hard werk dat word beloond!

Mike
13-03-2006, 17:46
"I mean, it was ridiculous to me.," White said. "Television was at the point that they had people eating donkey (genitals) in prime time, and you're telling me there's no room on television for our sport?"


hahaha zal Joe Rogan ook leuk vinden die opmerking

RNLMC
13-03-2006, 18:05
opzich goed nieuws, hoop idd alleen niet dat ze de regels gaan veranderen idd. als ze dat doen dnek ik iniedergeval dat ze daarmee heel wat oude trouwe fans verliezen.

Anonymous
13-03-2006, 18:09
jammer alleen dat Dana White zo'n eikel is geworden .
Nu er een andere promoter komt met een show , met oud-vechters en andere vechters , van de UFC bedreigd hij iedereen om niet voor hun te gaan vechten .
Misschien inderdaad bang dat hun wel wat meer gaan betalen .

Anonymous
13-03-2006, 18:12
Below is a court declaration made by Pat Miletich regarding former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White and the upstart IFL promotion:


DECLARATION OF PATRICK MILETICH


I, Patrick Miletich, declare as follows:

1. I am currently the President of Miletich Fighting Systems Corp., a mixed martial arts ("MMA") training facility, which is based in Iowa. I have personal knowledge of and am competent to testify to the facts set forth in this declaration. I make this Declaration in support of the Defendants' opposition to Plaintiff Zuffa, LLC's ("Zuffa") Motion for Preliminary Injunction in Zuffa, LLC v. International Fight League, Inc., et al., which is pending in the Eight Judicial District Court, Clark County, Nevada, Case No. A516841.

2. Since 1996 I have trained fighters in the world of mixed martial arts. Prior to opening my training facility in Iowa, I participated in many MMA organizational bouts and competitions throughout the world. In fact, in 1996 I became the Welter Weight World Champion and was able to hold that title for about 3 1/2 years.

3. Because of my reputation as a world-class MMA champion and trainer, my training facility currently has an enrollment of about 1,200 members, and I personally train about 40 professional fighters, several of whom are Champions, who fight in MMA organizations around the world, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship ("UFC"), and smaller organizations like PRIDE, Superbrawl, Extreme Challenge and King of the Cage. In addition, I regularly have several professional fighters that participate in almost every UFC event put on by Zuffa in the United States.

4. In or around Junr or July 2005, I recieved a call from Kurt Otlo. Kurt introduced himself to me and proceeded to pitch his (and Gareb Shamus') idea for the International Fight League ("IFL"). I was extremely excited about the IFL and its unique business concept because it would (a) provide a significant avenue for my fighters to fight and earn a living (which isn't easy) and (b) help establish additional notoriety and exposure of the MMA industry in the United States.

5. After numerous discussions with Kurt, I agreed to caoch a team of fighters from my gym who would participate in the IFL. Indeed, I am in the midst of training a team for the IFL's first pre-season event. I also told Kurt that he should call Monte Cox, a manager of prominent fighters in the MMA industry who also might be interested in assisting the IFL get off the ground by supplying additional fighters to the IFL.

6. In or around mid-January 2006 I attended a UFC show at the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino in Las Vegas called "Ultimate Fight Night" which was aired on SPIKE television. At the show I was joking around with Joseph Silva, the "Matchmaker" for the UFC. At one point I jokingly put my foot against his stomach like I was throwing a side-kick in slow motion. Dana White, Zuffa's President, was standing next to Mr. Silva when I did this. Observing my antics, Mr. White turned to me and said in a joking manner "Oooh! An IFL side-kick", which I took to mean that he could care less that I was going to be involved in the IFL and that he didn't think it was a big deal. Apparently, I was wrong.

7. Before the fights started at the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino I asked to speak with Mr. White alone. I said to Mr. White, "you know this [IFL] is going tobe good for the sport", to which he shook his head, smiled and said "yes". I really felt that it was important that he and I saw eye-to-eye on this matter.

8. In or around late Januray 2006, I recieved a call from Mr. White. During the conversation, Mr. White stated that he respected me both as a trainer and fighter, but then proceeded to express in a rather irate manner his feelings about the IFL and abruptly stated that "he was going to fucking crush these [the IFL] guys". Mr. White further made it clear to me that he was livid about losing Keith Evans to the IFL.

9. During this conversation I expressed to Mr. White my opinion (based on numerous conversations with individuals in the MMA industry) that a lot of people involved in MMA industry didn't very much care for him or the way Zuffa conducted its business and treated the individuals who fought at UFC events. In response, Mr. White stated that it "wasn't his fucking job to be liked". Mr. White further told me that he had spoken with the Fertittas (who own Zuffa), and they had given their "permission" to go after the IFL.

10. Mr. White further threatened me during the conversation, and implicitly the livelihoods of the fighters I train, stating that "when the dust settles, anyone associated with the IFL would not be associated with the UFC". I took this for what it was -- a threat to me and to my fighters who count on me to represent them and obtain opportunities to for them to fight in the MMA industry. Because of the virtual monopoly that Zuffa has in the MMA industry, Mr. White clearly knew that cutting me and my fighters off from the UFC would have a devastating economic impact.

11. Mr. White further told me during this conversation that he had been on the phone all day calling everyone he dealt with in the MMA industry and told me that, after speaking with all of them, none would be doing business with the IFL. My understanding from his comment was that he had made the same threats to everyone else he knew in the MMA industry that he had just made to me during our conversation. I attempted to tell Mr. White to calm down and tried to be rational with him. I expressed to Mr. White my opinion that the IFL was going to help the MMA industry and ultimately would increase the UFC's presence throughout the world. I further attempted to dissuade Mr. White from doing anything irrational with respect to the IFL (i.e., the lawsuit) and told him that I felt going after the IFL for no reason would be very bad for the entire MMA industry. Clearly, Mr. White could care less what I thought.

12. Following my conversation with Mr. White, Ken Shamrock, another world-renowned MMA fighter, called me and told me that Mr. White had just "raised hell" with him about his being associated with the IFL. As I understand it, Mr. White had made similar threats to Mr. Shamrock whom I believe at the time had an agreement with the IFL to coach one of its teams. I further understand that Mr. White made the same or similar threats to Randy Couture, perhaps one of the most legendary MMA fighters in the world and a former UFC World Champion. I further understand that Mr. White called a current UFC World Champion, Matt Hughes, to inquire of him whether he had any involvement in the IFL.

13. Knowing Mr. White the way I do, I can honestly say that Zuffa's intent is bringing this litigation has nothing to do with protecting any confidential information. Rather, I believe this litigation is about one thing and one thing only -- stamping out legitimate and, indeed, healthy, competition.


I declare under penalties of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

EXECUTED on this 15th day of February, 2006

Patrick Miletich


Added:


In a recent interview, Frank Shamrock had the following to say about former-boxercize-instructor-turned-UFC-president Dana White:


"Dana White is an egomaniac Uncle Fester-looking knucklehead" -Frank Shamrock

Ronald
13-03-2006, 23:47
De UFC heeft trouwens weer een volgend stapje gezet om groter te worden. Ze zenden nu een programma uit op Spike TV dat "UFC Unleashed" heet (16 afleveringen). Het zijn allemaal herhalingen met, zoals ze dat zelf noemen, "the best of the best from the UFC archives". Eigenlijk dus een redelijk goedkope manier om de UFC op een publiek kanaal uit te zenden, en dus als het ware een lokkertje voor de PPV's. Niet gek bedacht.

Ik heb trouwens echt zin aan The Ultimate Fighter 3. Lekker straks weer een tijdje op een vaste avond in de week de serie volgen :D .
Wat dat betreft mag er van mij ook wel een vervolg komen op the Contender.