Alex Payne's Columns
7/28/10
Hey wrestling fans & Wrestling Roundtable subscribers, this is Alex Payne. I've been absent from U.S. wrestling action and from the Roundtable lately because I've been on tour & training in Japan with Pro Wrestling NOAH! For those of you that might not be familiar with Pro Wrestling NOAH, it's one of the top organizations here. For many die-hard independent wrestling and Ring of Honor fans, they're familiar with such NOAH wrestlers as KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Kenta Kobashi, Takeshi Morishima, Go Shiozaki, and the late Mitsuharu Misawa.
I've had the fortunate task of being able to not only travel with such athletes, but compete and train beside them also. My first match in NOAH was teaming with Naomichi Marufuji(NOAH's only grand slam champion) against Akira Taue and Muhammad Yone. I have to admit, for my first match in NOAH, I was nervous. I'm in the ring with three top names, not just in NOAH, but in Japanese professional wrestling! Taue held every major championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling and is a former GHC(Global Honor Crown) Heavyweight Champion, and Yone's been a heavyweight attraction for years.
Shortly after my NOAH debut, I'd be pitted against Kento Miyahara - a trainee of legendary Kensuke Sasaki - for my first match on Samurai TV! It's one thing to just debut for a company, but to debut against legends and have an immediate TV match was quite overwhelming!
Days on the road in Japan, much like in the States, can be long. Some days you spend a few hours to the whole day riding in the bus. You nod off here and there, stop for lunch, or a piss break. If it's a day where I wrestle, I have to load the buses, travel for a while, eat, and continue to travel some more. When we arrive to the arenas, it's go time. We(being me and the other "young boys") have to unload the buses, take in medical supplies & water, set up the locker rooms, and then get changed to train! Training normally takes place before you wrestle. Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Aoki, Genba Hirayangi, Shuhei Taniguchi and I will work-out. Usually the opening exercises consist of just abdominal work-outs, such as 150 leg-raise crunches, 100 leg raises, 100 elevated leg crunches, and 200 side crunches. My first days in the dojo were complete DEATH! I didn't expect so many ab exercises! It took me a while until I could stand up straight without feeling pain in my stomach! After abs, there's back extensions, neck exercises, and we get started on wrestling. Training will go on for about two hours until the doors open. Once training is finished, I have to clean up weight equipment, pack ice-bags for the match, and then prepare for my match.
Nothing here is easy. A lot of things are simple tasks, but NOAH is like a machine. As long as you can keep with this machine, you'll do fine! There's a lot of good individuals willing to help you along, just as long as you ask, and listen!
The one thing I learned quickly is, if you are an aspiring pro-wrestler, learn the language here. It's respectful. Plain and simple! Yes, many Japanese people know English. You might get fortunate and meet someone that is pretty fluent, but it's better to learn the language. It helps make the people around you more comfortable, and they can help you better this way. At first, I didn't think I'd need to learn much, but my mind frame changed quickly. I study Japanese everyday that I can. I might not be fluent in it, but I can pick up some parts of conversations and ask little questions.
I've wrestled a total of 14 matches in less than a month. That's the most I've ever wrestled in one month, ever! I've wrestled 6-8 times in a month before, but never that much! It's actually pretty cool, and it truly keeps me busy. I've wrestled people such as GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru, the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin, KENTA, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Yoshihiro Takayama, Yoshinari Ogawa, and many others! I've had the chance wrestle upcoming junior heavyweights, like Atsushi Aoki, and many established names in NOAH.
Now onto some fun stuff... or more peculiar stuff, for that matter! I've had the chance to experience going out with some of the wrestlers here. My first chance was going out to eat with Kensuke Sasaki! Some people might remember him beating Sting in 1995 for the United States Championship, and other people know him as the legend he is here in Japan! The guy has held all the major championships from the IWGP Heavyweight title, the AJPW Triple Crown, and the GHC Heavyweight Title! The guy is like Hulk Hogan of Japan in terms of popularity! Nakajima, his trainee, actually invited me out on behalf of Sasaki-san, and I wasn't going to decline. It's rude to decline an invitation here.
After we returned to the hotel, I cleaned up & met up with Nakajima, Sasaki, two other of his trainees Okita & Kento Miyahara, Takeshi Morishima, and Genba Hirayangi. Sasaki was very cool, asking questions about what I liked to eat. He ended up going out for Korean BBQ! If there's one thing I do enjoy, it's Korean BBQ and I have Bryan Danielson, Pelle Primeau, & Shane Hagadorn to thank for that!
On our way there, we got mobbed by fans on the street! They were asking for pictures, or just wanting to shake Sasaki's hand. It was surreal. All I could think was, "What the hell am I doing here?" Once we arrived to the Korean BBQ restaurant, the food and drinks flooded the table! We ordered beers, and I was so thirsty I drank my first one in one drink! Everyone laughed! Sasaki looked at me said, "Ahhh, big drinker." I laughed and said, "No, just really thirsty." The beer was so cold and good, I loved it! KIRIN BEER, I love you!
The food was awesome. I tried raw beef topped with raw egg. I ate everything that was put in front of me, from stomach to steak, to anything Sasaki-san ordered! I was getting a giant dinner! It got to the point all the this food was starting to make me full! I think there was over 10 plates of steak and stomach ordered! It was insane! At the end of the night, I said thank you to Sasaki, Morishima, Hirayangi, and his trainees. You're supposed to thank everyone you go out with, because they're trying to show you a good time and it's only polite to make them feel appreciated it. I certainly did appreciate it! I'm a poor guy from Iowa, there's no way I could possibly enjoy a time like that on my own merit!
Weeks went by, and another interesting invitation came from Yoshihiro Takayama. He was NOAH's first GHC Heavyweight Champion, but I think he's most famous for his fight with Don Frye. He also is extremely popular and the second man to hold every major Heavyweight title in Japan. Takayama, Go Shiozaki, Ricky Marvin, & I got invited out by a sponsor to eat and have drinks. The restaurant was awesome! There was soup, skewers, Japanese pizza, fish, and steak! Takayama hates beef, he said the beef was for me, and I told him thank you. He's a very humble individual! When he's not kicking ass, he's a good person to talk to and learn from!
After dinner, we all said, "yuushoku o arigatoogazaimas," which means, "Thank you for the dinner," and headed to cabs. I thought that was the end of the night, but the cab driver took us to a bar called Lips. I was thinking it was a strip club, but it was just a bar where girls in really hot dresses sit at your table, talk to you, serve you drinks, and lit your cigars or cigarettes for you. It was pretty nice, then the fun began!! A fan from the show that night, who seemed to be a friend of the sponsor that was hosting us, sat with us. I don't know this guy's story, but he got royally fucked with! At first, he'd eat all these wasabi sticks that were like mints, but hot as hell! Then he took his shirt off and everyone starting to fuck with him a lot! From drawing on him to trying to set his body hairs on fire, the night just got crazier! Everyone was laughing! Everyone, from Takayama, Go, Ricky, this fan's friends, the girls, and the fan himself, was enjoying this! This was a sight to see. Ricky picked up toothpicks and stuck them into the fan's forehead. Everyone was taking pictures at this point. I forgot my camera at the hotel, otherwise I would have also! Once the toothpicks here in, next Ricky lit them on fire! The fan was a human birthday cake! Fortunately in the end, the fan wasn't hurt at all, just really heavily drawn on! I couldn't believe what I had seen, but hey, only in Japan!
So far, my stay here has had it's ups and downs. It's been filled with good moments, tough training, fun experiences, and realizing what really matters to me when it comes down to my future. Pro-Wrestling NOAH has been a dream come true and to have this is chance of a lifetime is amazing! About a year ago, I wasn't certain about much in pro wrestling. I got back into college studying Business Management, as I know I need something practical to fall back on. I'm not ignorant, I know anything can happen in life, and I want a safety net for when/if that day comes. I've been fortunate to wrestle for some great people, Ring of Honor, on TV, on Pay-Per-View, in front of family & friends, in front of thousands of fans, and in three countries. And I'm just shy of my 23rd birthday!
I want to thank everyone that's helped me, whether it was the Ring Of Honor office for arranging this trip, the office at Pro Wrestling NOAH for accepting me, and all wrestlers & friends that have been supportive and given me advice. Thank you to anyone and everyone that reads this. Thanks to you all!
11/30/09
The Rise of MMA
When people hear the words boxing, wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, kick-boxing, taekwondo, muay-thai, and karate, it's easy for them to visualize exactly what that sport is. Each sport is considered a revered form of combat, and commands a lot of heart, respect, and dedication. Within the last twenty years, a hybrid has formed called MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Initially when this sport was formed, it was based on the idea of mixing every style of combat to find out which fighting style is most dominate. As time changed, MMA has turned into a sport featuring individuals competing with many diverse fighting backgrounds that help in structuring an arsenal of techniques in order to secure victory, hoping to one day conquer their respective weight-class by being crowned champion.
The leading brand in the mixed-martial arts world is the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). In its inception it was considered one of the most violent showcases on the face of the planet. At that time, the rules to compete in a UFC event were the bare minimum. After being scrutinized by the United States Government(led by Senator John McCain) & other combat sports, and years of wanting to progressively adjust the sport so it would gain more acceptance, UFC restructured the rules for sanctioned MMA bouts in America. With those changes, management set out to turn the sport of MMA, and more so UFC, into a multi-million dollar fighting industry.
Mixed Martial Arts has a pretty extensive history before it premiered in the United States. In order to get a good knowledge of how it started, you have to go back to where it all began ; In Brazil, there was family of fighters, the Gracies. Two brothers of the Gracie family, Helio and Carlos, moved to Rio de Janeiro to open a jiu-jitsu academy. Jiu-jitsu was a style of combat that originated with a man named Mitsuyo Maeda, who moved from Japan to Brazil to help establish a representative colony of the Japanese government. While in Brazil, Maeda became friends with Gastao Gracie, a Brazilian political figure, and since he was a champion of the Japanese martial art Judo, he ended up teaching Gastao's son Carlos the art. Seven years later, when Maeda moved back to Japan, Carlos began to teach his brothers, Helio, Jorge, Osvaldo and Gastao Jr., what Maeda had taught him. After a while, the Gracie brothers started to adapt Judo into a form of combat that suited themselves more, thus evolving Judo into Gracie (or Brazilian) jiu-jitsu, also known as BJJ.
After Carlos and Helio moved to Rio de Janeiro to head up the jiu-jitsu academy, Carlos concocted a marketing ploy to draw attention to the academy : He issued what is famously called the “Gracie Challenge.” He advertised the challenge in several Rio newspapers and included a picture of himself, information on the academy, and the statement, “If you want a broken arm, or rib, contact Carlos at this number.” Shortly after the advertisement ran, Carlos and Helio, along with their brothers, started to take on all challengers in vale-tudo matches, which meant anything goes in the fight. All styles were welcome to try and beat the Gracies. These fights were the original mixed martial arts bouts in the western world.
As vale-tudo caught on and became the number two Brazilian sport in terms of ticket sales(just behind soccer), fighting leagues & organizations formed, and events started to be held all over Brazil exhibiting practitioners of BJJ, muay-thai, wrestling, boxing and other styles. As a result of these events' successes, jiu-jutsu became popular, and the Gracies wanted to branch out to the United States. In the 1980's, Rorion Grace, oldest son of Helio, moved to California and opened a Gracie jiu-jitsu academy. Just like his father and uncle, he issued the Gracie Challenge in the United States, except he added a $100,000 prize to anyone that could beat him or one of his brothers, uncharacteristic of a Gracie. As time went on, he sought to create an organization that would promote the vale-tudo style of fighting in the States. After years of searching, Rorian Gracie met with Art Davie, a salesman who had become interested in this style of fighting on a trip to Thailand. Davie had many connections in the television industry and arranged for Rorion to meet with Bob Meyrowitz, who was the president of Semaphore Entertainment Group(SEG). SEG was a corporation that specialized in putting on live pay-per-view events. Between, Rorion, Davie and Meyrowitz, they developed and established the original UFC event in 1993.
Once the inaugural UFC event took place, the sport of MMA still had many hills to climb. While the first event sold 86,000 buys on pay-per-view without any advertising, the numbers would grow rapidly as more events were promoted. Meyrowitz, Davie and Rorion definitely opened up many eyes with this new style of fighting and made immediate stars out of names such as Ken Shamrock, Oleg Taktarov, Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, and Royce Gracie. As UFC grew, they shopped their MMA events to regions with loose restrictions by state athletic commissions all over the United States. They'd run events in states such as Alabama, Colorado, and Wyoming because athletic commissions were barely existent and no one from the state would try to shut them down due to how excessively violent the product was at the time.
In regards to UFC's early public perception, the media and people following these MMA events believed UFC had no rules, and in fact, UFC's marketing strategy was promoting their events as 'no holds barred, no time limits, anything goes, any and all styles can compete.' In one of the fights, a competitor took seven unanswered groin shots before he tapped-out because of the sheer amount of pain he was in. The only public knowledge of rules were the ways to win: tap out, knock out, and in some cases, referee's decision. There wasn't a point system, rounds, judges, nothing that you'd see today in modern MMA events. They would promote numerous disciplines that competed in UFC such as BJJ, sambo, submission wrestling, & kick-boxing for example, but would promote street-fighting in the same breath. Unfortunately, by promoting the way they did, it immediately brought public scrutiny.
Shortly after UFC VII, the fazing out of people that were allowed to compete in a UFC event began to take place. At the time, not all the competitors were strict mixed martial artists ; some men were judo or karate teachers, or had a little background in some fighting style. UFC needed more well rounded competitors to help add more credibility to their fight cards. As time went on, they acquired athletes such as Mark Coleman, an Olympic level wrestler, and Maurice Smith, a well versed kick boxer who, after competing in Japan and smaller fighting leagues, learned submission wrestling, which would help him secure the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Smith was one of the first true mixed martial artists who had the ability of multiple disciplines that competed in the sport and in UFC.
In 1997, Senator John McCain's ire was aroused. McCain, who once competed in college level boxing, waged a full scale campaign against sex and violence on television. After someone showed him a tape of an early UFC, he was disgusted and found what UFC was promoting to be “human cockfighting.” He went to Colorado where UFC IX was taking place and tried to get it shut down. After he was unsuccessful in his first attempt to stop the MMA growth, he targeted cable companies that carried UFC and any other MMA events.
McCain had friends who worked for cable providers and he convinced them to ban all extreme fighting sport events from their systems. After being banned From TCI Cable(which covered part of the western United States) and Time Warner, UFC's availability on the national pay-per-view presence was minimal. The potential audience went from 35 million households to 7.5 million almost overnight. The only way to watch any form of mixed martial arts was strictly through satellite or Direct TV. As the attack on MMA continued, McCain enlisted other powerful men to help with his fight against UFC events, such as Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City and Marc Ratner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission(NSAC). As bans were coming into play, UFC was forced to scale down the frequency of holding events, the budget for fighters was cut, and event location became an issue. Because of the lack of pay-per-view & advertising revenue, plus the size of the events they had to start running now, UFC lost many of their top names to Japanese fighting organizations that were going to pay fighters hefty sums of money to compete.
With all the prejudice coming from the conservative political media, UFC needed to make some changes in order for mixed martial arts to grow and survive. They needed to make it back onto national pay-per-view and with that came reformation of MMA in the United States. Bob Meyrowitz was feeling the pressure of getting back on national TV, trying to get sanctioned to fight in Nevada. Unfortunately, the night before he was supposed to meet with Nevada State Athletic Commission, he got a call from the lobbyist he hired to assist him on the plea, telling him to withdraw his bid. After this devastating blow, Bob Meyrowitz wanted to sell the UFC.
In the meantime, three men, Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta with Dana White(two brothers and a close friend of theirs), were interested in buying the UFC after they found out about the sale. All three were fight fans, the Fertittas being Las Vegas businessmen within the casino management business, and in a great coincidence, Lorenzo also served on the NSAC. Many thought the Fertittas had an interest in buying UFC, so Lorenzo actually voted against the sanctioning until he and his brother purchased the company.
Dana White, on the other hand, wasn't the successful businessman that the Fertittas were, but had gone from job to job in Boston, did some boxing training, ending up moving Las Vegas, opening a boxing gym in order to manage and promote fighters, of which some where involved with UFC. The Fertittas and White had been to a UFC event in Atlantic City, NJ, and they knew then they should buy the company. In 2000, the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for a mere $2 million and started up a parent company, Zuffa. Dana White took 10 percent of the interest in Zuffa in exchange for serving as UFC's President. As soon as the takeover was complete, Dana White and the Fertittas were out to turn mixed martial arts into a sanctioned sport everywhere. They wanted rules, regulations, and drug testing. This was the step UFC & the sport needed in order to become legitimized in the eyes of every athletic commission, and gain national pay-per-view distribution.
After UFC 12, more rules were slowly implemented, such as the usage of gloves, weight-classes, no striking to the back of the head & neck, no small joint manipulation, and five-minute rounds for each bout. Once Zuffa took over UFC, the rules became stricter with a list of 31 fouls, 8 different ways to obtain victory and what the fighters were allowed to wear in competition. These new guidelines, which were helped structured by the Nevada & New Jersey State Athletic Commissions and rules from other combative sports, were called The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. These rules went into effect as of UFC 31, the first Zuffa-ran fight card, and UFC managed to pull off exciting fights & a classic Heavyweight Title bout between reigning champion Randy Couture, who defeated Pedro Rizzo. Unfortunately, UFC wasn't the first fighting organization to fight under these new set of rules ; Paul Smith's IFC ran an event in New Jersey and pulled off a well-regulated MMA event. That IFC event convinced NJSAC chairman Larry Hazzard that MMA can be presented properly under rules and regulations. Shortly after Unified Rules came into effect, Dana White and the Fertittas' goal of getting UFC back on pay-per-view came to fruition with UFC 33: Victory in Vegas. As the reform changed the sport, John McCain actually commended Zuffa for their hard work with reforming UFC.
Now that UFC was back on the national pay-per-view scene again, this opened up the gates for other mixed martial arts companies to bring their product to pay-per-view. One of these leagues was Pride Fighting Championship, a Japanese equivalent to UFC with less rules. PrideFC had many fresh talents that UFC had never signed such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Dan Henderson, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, and Fedor Emelianenko. Along with these fresh faces, past UFC fighters and champions such Royce Grace, Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman, & Kazushi Sakaruba were competing for the organization. This helped grow PrideFC's cult following amongst US diehard MMA fans.
Now that MMA was starting to clear its perception, it was time for the sport to make some money again. UFC was back on pay-per-view and drawing growing crowds in nice arenas such as the MGM Grand and Trump Taj Mahal, like they once did before being forced off the national scene. At UFC 40, headlined by Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz Vs. Ken Shamrock, UFC drew a recorded 150,000 domestic buys for that pay-per-view, the highest number of viewers in over 4 years. Despite having some success, UFC needed more than a good string of pay-per-view buys to survive ; Zuffa had lost $44 million since purchasing UFC and needed to try to get on national television to promote their events to larger audiences than just pay-per-view buyers.
Spike TV was in the midst of a transitional phase, becoming a network with programming geared towards men ages 18-34. They already had pro wrestling with WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment) Monday Night RAW as their top program, but they wanted something that would keep that audience after wrestling was over. Brian Diamond, an executive at Spike TV, was in charge of looking for a combat sport that would fit the mold they were looking for. After visiting a UFC event and seeing the type of people that enjoyed UFC events, how the audience responded to the action, the number of celebrities that were in attendance, and getting VIP treatment, Diamond came back to Spike convinced UFC was what they needed. The next question was how could Spike TV and UFC present this MMA product? Dana White wanted more of an old style Tuesday Night Fights program, but the network and the Fertittas seemed to think a reality TV show culminating in a big Fight Night Special that would air on Spike TV would be better, as the modern day television audience had turned towards reality TV for entertainment. There had been some success in shows like “The Contender” and WWE's Tough Enough, where the viewer got to see what it took to train and live in the boxing or pro wrestling environment. Much like those shows, the UFC audience and new viewers would see what it took to train & compete in MMA competition, with the winner of the show earning a six-figure UFC contract. This show would be called The Ultimate Fighter.
Through the The Ultimate Fighter venture, the popularity of UFC and mixed martial arts would rise. It made two bonafide stars with the first Ultimate Fighter finale in Forrest Griffin(who would go on to have many exciting fights and capture the UFC Light Heavyweight Title in 2008), and Stephan Bonnar(not to downgrade the middleweight contract fight of Kenny Florian versus Diego Sanchez, as these two would be stars in due time). In addition to the contract winners, it also made bigger stars out of the coaches involved: Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. It made just about anyone a bigger name in MMA than what they were before being on the show. The Ultimate Fighter series helped propel the pay-per-view audience by increasing the buyrates exponentially. Liddell vs. Couture II at UFC 52 brought in over 330,000 buys, and the third fight between them at UFC 57 drew 410,000 buys. MMA was definitely on the rise.
After the Ultimate Fighter series took off, Spike TV added more MMA programming to the channel with UFC's Unleashed that would show old UFC fights. On top of Unleashed, The Ultimate Fighter, and The Ultimate Fighter Finale cards, Spike wanted to add special two-hour Fight Night cards every few months. In 2006, Spike TV was airing over 160 hours of MMA programs. Along with added programs and the increasing number of viewers, UFC was getting flocked by sponsors to help fill ad-time. UFC was certainly pulling the sport out of the dark and into the mainstream.
As mixed martial arts and the UFC continued to gain more popularity, fans were sharing their love for the sport. UFC started a clothing line of apparel, from T-Shirts, shorts, & work-out outfits, to 5-oz UFC gloves, hoodies, and baseball caps. UFC started to tap more into the DVD market, putting out DVD compilations of popular fighters & fights, the Ultimate Fighter seasons, and older UFC events along with the current ones. The UFC brand now even has collectible action figures and toy championship belts for kids.
Even the early the MMA clothing line, Tap Out, has gained a lot of ground as MMA has increased in popularity. The company now makes close to $100 million in apparel sales. When it started, founders Charles “Mask” Lewis and Dan “Punkass” Caldwell used to get kicked out of MMA events for selling their shirts in the parking lots or inside the venues. At times, the company would be lucky to make $50-60 a day in sales, but they remained persistent. Finally, when fighters Jeremy Horn and Pat Miletich wore Tap Out shorts to the Octagon, Tap Out began to take off. These two men loved the sport so much, they started to give back and sponsored numerous fighters as years went on. It's now almost inconceivable to not see any sort of Tap Out-wear in the audience or within the fighting grounds of an MMA event. Between UFC's own brand & Tap Out, other brands of clothing that appeal to the MMA fans & fighters have popped up such, as ever-popular Affliction shirts, Xtreme Couture, Warrior Wear, and Throwdown.
Like any good novelty, competition helps breed good things for fans and for any sport. For many years, there was a budding rivalry between UFC and PrideFC. After some money struggles, dealing with the Yakuza crime organization, and losing TV in Japan, Pride owner Nobuyuki Sakakibara sold the company to Zuffa in 2007, including fighter contracts, copyrights, and the video library. UFC's intial plans were to keep the Pride entity running and do events that cross promoted the talent, as Zuffa felt everyone would benefit, from the fighters to fans. By May 2007 however, the idea had been thrown to the wayside. Instead, UFC would bring over as many of their top fighters & champions to set up dream matches and unify championships. Unfortunately, they never were able to - and still can't - come to terms on an agreement with the unstoppable Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko.
As PrideFC faded away, new MMA entities entered the realm - EliteXC (Pro Elite Xtreme Combat) and the IFL(International Fight League). Each organization tried to be significantly different than UFC. Whether the difference took place in its presentation(fighting in a ring or a circular cage), having team formats, or promoting female MMA bouts, neither organization had a long lifespan. While these two organizations were butting heads to be the number two fighting company, in UFC's eyes WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) was going to be number two. Zuffa had bought them along with Pride, but actually kept WEC alive. They showcased many of different exciting fighters of lighter weight divisions, including Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, Mike Brown, and Jose Aldo.
IFL tried to appeal to MMA fans with names like Ken Shamrock, Don Fyre, Renzo Gracie, Maurice Smith, and Pat Miletich as coaches for their team format. The idea of pulling top names from UFC or Pride's past is great, but if they weren't fighting, what was the point of paying them and promoting them? IFL got on television with the Fight Sports Network and MyNetworkTV, but had very little success. In early February 2008, IFL announced that HDNet would be airing their upcoming events, but halfway through the month, MyNetworkTV dropped IFL's programming. Shortly thereafter, IFL folded. IFL's video library would later be purchased by Zuffa.
EliteXC was starting to become a visible name in mixed martial arts after running some successful events on Showtime, showcasing female MMA bouts with their top star Gina Carano, even acquiring numerous smaller MMA organizations like the defunct WFA(World Fighting Alliance) and buying out their top fighter's contracts. In 2008, EliteXC announced a deal with CBS to broadcast live MMA events on network television. The company was making definite strides in becoming a major player in the sport, scoring the highest television ratings nationally in MMA history.
One of the more controversial decisions that EliteXC made was signing underground fighting sensation, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson - the big, jacked up, Bahamian-American fighter who became famous on the internet for his street fights - to a contrac. Kimbo wanted to get into mixed martial arts and be a part of UFC, but Dana White wanted nothing to do with him, even saying, “the only way Kimbo would ever get into UFC was if he went through the The Ultimate Fighter TV show first.” En route to his broadcast MMA debut, Slice had trained with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten & boxing instructor Randy Khatami, and had one fight with former WBO Heavyweight Champion & Olympic gold-medalist boxer Ray Mercer at Cage Fury Fight Championships 5. He defeated Mercer with a guillotine choke early in the first round. Even though he had won his first MMA fight, he hadn't truly been tested. His first real test came months after quickly disposing of UFC veteran Tank Abbott on Showtime pay-per-view when he fought MMA veteran James “Colossus” Thompson at EliteXC's CBS premiere at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ in 2008. Kimbo ended up beating Thompson via TKO when a Kimbo punch burst open Thompson's cauliflower ear in quite a gruesome visual, prompting the referee to stop the fight in Kimbo's favor ; quite a controversial decision by the official. Many felt the decision in Slice's favor was a travesty considering every time Thompson took Slice down, Slice was trouble and didn't look to be answering Thompson's punches. Many experts believed that EliteXC was simply protecting their highly paid & high-drawing investment.
Kimbo's next fight against UFC legend Ken Shamrock might have sealed EliteXC's fate. The main event that EliteXC promoted didn't happen ; People wanted to see Shamrock-Slice, but Shamrock was forced to back out because of an injury he had sustained in practice with mere hours to airtime. Instead, former UFC Ultimate Fighter contestant and light-heavyweight fighter Seth Petruzelli, originally scheduled to fight in the undercard that night, was offered the fight. Many just assumed Petruzelli would be a good fight for Kimbo, and Kimbo would dominate. Unfortunately for Director and President of Live Events Gary Shaw(who was doing everything he could to be a thorn in the side of UFC's Dana White), Kimbo would get knocked-out within seconds of the first round. EliteXC's top draw and top paid heavyweight fighter had been dropped by a guy that didn't even make it to the finals of the Ultimate Fighter. Once Kimbo's momentum was stopped, it also stopped EliteXC's abruptly. Along with the upsetting knock-out by Petruzelli, their credibility was tested after Petruzelli came out to the media that EliteXC was trying to pay him to keep it standing up, where Kimbo was more likely to win. Shortly after these accusations were made, the Florida State Athletic Commission launched an investigation around the Slice-Petruzelli bout. On account of these accusations, there wasn't any investor interest in EliteXC. The company canceled their November 8, 2008 event and ceased operations on October 20, 2008.
Dana White could now scratch another MMA league off their list of competition, but one was still around, trying to offer fighters that UFC hadn't or couldn't sign ; Affliction clothing-wear started promoting fights in mid 2008 as Affliction Entertainment. With Donald Trump investing money into Afflication, the company was able to bring in top fighters around the world that weren't under UFC contract, specifically the last PrideFC Heavyweight champion and current World Alliance Of Mixed Martial Arts(WAMMA, a world-wide governing body for MMA outside Zuffa) Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko. This was a hit to UFC, but they would bounce back with their new money-making heavyweight juggernaut, NCAA college champion wrestler & ex-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Once it became public knowledge Affliction was promoting fights, White banned his fighters from wearing all Affliction clothing on Zuffa programming.
After only two events, Affliction was in trouble ; Already having overspent on fighter contracts & other expenses for their first two events, the organization was promoting a big WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett. After failing a drug test, Barnett was denied a license 10 days prior to the fight scheduled. In this short time, Affliction couldn't find an adequate challenger for the heavyweight championship match despite scrambling to do so. The event was canceled, and they stopped running as a fighting promotion, returning to UFC as a sponsor.
With all the organizations that Dana White felt were direct competition to UFC, he always had ways to go toe-to-toe with them. Whether it was running live events against other MMA programs, showing replays of recent UFC pay-per-views that featured top bouts with names like George St. Pierre, Forrest Griffin, Anderson Silva, or Brock Lesnar, or doing UFC marathons on SpikeTV just so MMA fans wouldn't be as curious to check out the alternatives, White always had a plan to take viewers away from his competition. At times, he'd put a dent in other programs and other times the competition would go un-fazed. Not only does UFC programming go against other MMA programs, he'd put UFC events against boxing events such as the Floyd Mayweather, Jr./Juan Manuel Marquez bout presented by HBO in September to make fight fans choose what they'd prefer watching, but also since much of the boxing community dislikes MMA.
In its near twenty year rise, MMA has completely transformed itself. It went from being a bloody, barbaric sport that barely anyone wanted anything to do with, to becoming the fastest rising sport in the world today. MMA fighters such Roger Huerta and Chuck Liddell have graced the covers of Sports Illustrated, and former UFC Heavyweight & Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has been a guest on TV shows such as King of Queens & The Unit. Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Quinton Jackson and many other MMA stars have been featured in movies & documentaries while the sport has gained popularity. Couture has even starred in the movie The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, with Quinton Jackson's role in The A-Team movie to be seen next year. Ratings & buyrates for MMA programs such as UFC's pay-per-views and TV shows continue to do high numbers. UFC's 100th PPV did upwards of over 1.5 million buys, and this recent season of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights featuring MMA oddity Kimbo Slice pulled UFC's highest cable TV rating ever with a 5.3, phenomenal in cable television.
MMA's appeal to modern culture has spread from the male 18-34 crowd to women of the same demographic. Not only do men and women watch MMA, but children watch MMA now. Since there's been such a dramatic interest in the sport, there are many more MMA schools opening up over the country, replacing what used to be more traditional martial arts schools such as karate. The children, much like any adult that trains, are not only taught how to defend themselves and compete, but they learn that the sport of MMA is a very diverse, takes a lot discipline & time to master, and will benefit their conditioning. MMA's rise has increased more amateur grappling competitions as well, such as Grapplers Quest and NAGA(North American Grappling Association). Ages from grade school students to middle-aged adults all compete in divisions based on age, weight, sex, and experience level. MMA's overall growth has UFC's persistence to grow and evolve to thank. If it wasn't for Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, who knows if the sport would have ever seen this much growth? Right now, it looks like the sport of mixed martial arts is here to stay.
Hey wrestling fans & Wrestling Roundtable subscribers, this is Alex Payne. I've been absent from U.S. wrestling action and from the Roundtable lately because I've been on tour & training in Japan with Pro Wrestling NOAH! For those of you that might not be familiar with Pro Wrestling NOAH, it's one of the top organizations here. For many die-hard independent wrestling and Ring of Honor fans, they're familiar with such NOAH wrestlers as KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, Kenta Kobashi, Takeshi Morishima, Go Shiozaki, and the late Mitsuharu Misawa.
I've had the fortunate task of being able to not only travel with such athletes, but compete and train beside them also. My first match in NOAH was teaming with Naomichi Marufuji(NOAH's only grand slam champion) against Akira Taue and Muhammad Yone. I have to admit, for my first match in NOAH, I was nervous. I'm in the ring with three top names, not just in NOAH, but in Japanese professional wrestling! Taue held every major championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling and is a former GHC(Global Honor Crown) Heavyweight Champion, and Yone's been a heavyweight attraction for years.
Shortly after my NOAH debut, I'd be pitted against Kento Miyahara - a trainee of legendary Kensuke Sasaki - for my first match on Samurai TV! It's one thing to just debut for a company, but to debut against legends and have an immediate TV match was quite overwhelming!
Days on the road in Japan, much like in the States, can be long. Some days you spend a few hours to the whole day riding in the bus. You nod off here and there, stop for lunch, or a piss break. If it's a day where I wrestle, I have to load the buses, travel for a while, eat, and continue to travel some more. When we arrive to the arenas, it's go time. We(being me and the other "young boys") have to unload the buses, take in medical supplies & water, set up the locker rooms, and then get changed to train! Training normally takes place before you wrestle. Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Aoki, Genba Hirayangi, Shuhei Taniguchi and I will work-out. Usually the opening exercises consist of just abdominal work-outs, such as 150 leg-raise crunches, 100 leg raises, 100 elevated leg crunches, and 200 side crunches. My first days in the dojo were complete DEATH! I didn't expect so many ab exercises! It took me a while until I could stand up straight without feeling pain in my stomach! After abs, there's back extensions, neck exercises, and we get started on wrestling. Training will go on for about two hours until the doors open. Once training is finished, I have to clean up weight equipment, pack ice-bags for the match, and then prepare for my match.
Nothing here is easy. A lot of things are simple tasks, but NOAH is like a machine. As long as you can keep with this machine, you'll do fine! There's a lot of good individuals willing to help you along, just as long as you ask, and listen!
The one thing I learned quickly is, if you are an aspiring pro-wrestler, learn the language here. It's respectful. Plain and simple! Yes, many Japanese people know English. You might get fortunate and meet someone that is pretty fluent, but it's better to learn the language. It helps make the people around you more comfortable, and they can help you better this way. At first, I didn't think I'd need to learn much, but my mind frame changed quickly. I study Japanese everyday that I can. I might not be fluent in it, but I can pick up some parts of conversations and ask little questions.
I've wrestled a total of 14 matches in less than a month. That's the most I've ever wrestled in one month, ever! I've wrestled 6-8 times in a month before, but never that much! It's actually pretty cool, and it truly keeps me busy. I've wrestled people such as GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru, the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori & Ricky Marvin, KENTA, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Yoshihiro Takayama, Yoshinari Ogawa, and many others! I've had the chance wrestle upcoming junior heavyweights, like Atsushi Aoki, and many established names in NOAH.
Now onto some fun stuff... or more peculiar stuff, for that matter! I've had the chance to experience going out with some of the wrestlers here. My first chance was going out to eat with Kensuke Sasaki! Some people might remember him beating Sting in 1995 for the United States Championship, and other people know him as the legend he is here in Japan! The guy has held all the major championships from the IWGP Heavyweight title, the AJPW Triple Crown, and the GHC Heavyweight Title! The guy is like Hulk Hogan of Japan in terms of popularity! Nakajima, his trainee, actually invited me out on behalf of Sasaki-san, and I wasn't going to decline. It's rude to decline an invitation here.
After we returned to the hotel, I cleaned up & met up with Nakajima, Sasaki, two other of his trainees Okita & Kento Miyahara, Takeshi Morishima, and Genba Hirayangi. Sasaki was very cool, asking questions about what I liked to eat. He ended up going out for Korean BBQ! If there's one thing I do enjoy, it's Korean BBQ and I have Bryan Danielson, Pelle Primeau, & Shane Hagadorn to thank for that!
On our way there, we got mobbed by fans on the street! They were asking for pictures, or just wanting to shake Sasaki's hand. It was surreal. All I could think was, "What the hell am I doing here?" Once we arrived to the Korean BBQ restaurant, the food and drinks flooded the table! We ordered beers, and I was so thirsty I drank my first one in one drink! Everyone laughed! Sasaki looked at me said, "Ahhh, big drinker." I laughed and said, "No, just really thirsty." The beer was so cold and good, I loved it! KIRIN BEER, I love you!
The food was awesome. I tried raw beef topped with raw egg. I ate everything that was put in front of me, from stomach to steak, to anything Sasaki-san ordered! I was getting a giant dinner! It got to the point all the this food was starting to make me full! I think there was over 10 plates of steak and stomach ordered! It was insane! At the end of the night, I said thank you to Sasaki, Morishima, Hirayangi, and his trainees. You're supposed to thank everyone you go out with, because they're trying to show you a good time and it's only polite to make them feel appreciated it. I certainly did appreciate it! I'm a poor guy from Iowa, there's no way I could possibly enjoy a time like that on my own merit!
Weeks went by, and another interesting invitation came from Yoshihiro Takayama. He was NOAH's first GHC Heavyweight Champion, but I think he's most famous for his fight with Don Frye. He also is extremely popular and the second man to hold every major Heavyweight title in Japan. Takayama, Go Shiozaki, Ricky Marvin, & I got invited out by a sponsor to eat and have drinks. The restaurant was awesome! There was soup, skewers, Japanese pizza, fish, and steak! Takayama hates beef, he said the beef was for me, and I told him thank you. He's a very humble individual! When he's not kicking ass, he's a good person to talk to and learn from!
After dinner, we all said, "yuushoku o arigatoogazaimas," which means, "Thank you for the dinner," and headed to cabs. I thought that was the end of the night, but the cab driver took us to a bar called Lips. I was thinking it was a strip club, but it was just a bar where girls in really hot dresses sit at your table, talk to you, serve you drinks, and lit your cigars or cigarettes for you. It was pretty nice, then the fun began!! A fan from the show that night, who seemed to be a friend of the sponsor that was hosting us, sat with us. I don't know this guy's story, but he got royally fucked with! At first, he'd eat all these wasabi sticks that were like mints, but hot as hell! Then he took his shirt off and everyone starting to fuck with him a lot! From drawing on him to trying to set his body hairs on fire, the night just got crazier! Everyone was laughing! Everyone, from Takayama, Go, Ricky, this fan's friends, the girls, and the fan himself, was enjoying this! This was a sight to see. Ricky picked up toothpicks and stuck them into the fan's forehead. Everyone was taking pictures at this point. I forgot my camera at the hotel, otherwise I would have also! Once the toothpicks here in, next Ricky lit them on fire! The fan was a human birthday cake! Fortunately in the end, the fan wasn't hurt at all, just really heavily drawn on! I couldn't believe what I had seen, but hey, only in Japan!
So far, my stay here has had it's ups and downs. It's been filled with good moments, tough training, fun experiences, and realizing what really matters to me when it comes down to my future. Pro-Wrestling NOAH has been a dream come true and to have this is chance of a lifetime is amazing! About a year ago, I wasn't certain about much in pro wrestling. I got back into college studying Business Management, as I know I need something practical to fall back on. I'm not ignorant, I know anything can happen in life, and I want a safety net for when/if that day comes. I've been fortunate to wrestle for some great people, Ring of Honor, on TV, on Pay-Per-View, in front of family & friends, in front of thousands of fans, and in three countries. And I'm just shy of my 23rd birthday!
I want to thank everyone that's helped me, whether it was the Ring Of Honor office for arranging this trip, the office at Pro Wrestling NOAH for accepting me, and all wrestlers & friends that have been supportive and given me advice. Thank you to anyone and everyone that reads this. Thanks to you all!
11/30/09
The Rise of MMA
When people hear the words boxing, wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, kick-boxing, taekwondo, muay-thai, and karate, it's easy for them to visualize exactly what that sport is. Each sport is considered a revered form of combat, and commands a lot of heart, respect, and dedication. Within the last twenty years, a hybrid has formed called MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Initially when this sport was formed, it was based on the idea of mixing every style of combat to find out which fighting style is most dominate. As time changed, MMA has turned into a sport featuring individuals competing with many diverse fighting backgrounds that help in structuring an arsenal of techniques in order to secure victory, hoping to one day conquer their respective weight-class by being crowned champion.
The leading brand in the mixed-martial arts world is the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). In its inception it was considered one of the most violent showcases on the face of the planet. At that time, the rules to compete in a UFC event were the bare minimum. After being scrutinized by the United States Government(led by Senator John McCain) & other combat sports, and years of wanting to progressively adjust the sport so it would gain more acceptance, UFC restructured the rules for sanctioned MMA bouts in America. With those changes, management set out to turn the sport of MMA, and more so UFC, into a multi-million dollar fighting industry.
Mixed Martial Arts has a pretty extensive history before it premiered in the United States. In order to get a good knowledge of how it started, you have to go back to where it all began ; In Brazil, there was family of fighters, the Gracies. Two brothers of the Gracie family, Helio and Carlos, moved to Rio de Janeiro to open a jiu-jitsu academy. Jiu-jitsu was a style of combat that originated with a man named Mitsuyo Maeda, who moved from Japan to Brazil to help establish a representative colony of the Japanese government. While in Brazil, Maeda became friends with Gastao Gracie, a Brazilian political figure, and since he was a champion of the Japanese martial art Judo, he ended up teaching Gastao's son Carlos the art. Seven years later, when Maeda moved back to Japan, Carlos began to teach his brothers, Helio, Jorge, Osvaldo and Gastao Jr., what Maeda had taught him. After a while, the Gracie brothers started to adapt Judo into a form of combat that suited themselves more, thus evolving Judo into Gracie (or Brazilian) jiu-jitsu, also known as BJJ.
After Carlos and Helio moved to Rio de Janeiro to head up the jiu-jitsu academy, Carlos concocted a marketing ploy to draw attention to the academy : He issued what is famously called the “Gracie Challenge.” He advertised the challenge in several Rio newspapers and included a picture of himself, information on the academy, and the statement, “If you want a broken arm, or rib, contact Carlos at this number.” Shortly after the advertisement ran, Carlos and Helio, along with their brothers, started to take on all challengers in vale-tudo matches, which meant anything goes in the fight. All styles were welcome to try and beat the Gracies. These fights were the original mixed martial arts bouts in the western world.
As vale-tudo caught on and became the number two Brazilian sport in terms of ticket sales(just behind soccer), fighting leagues & organizations formed, and events started to be held all over Brazil exhibiting practitioners of BJJ, muay-thai, wrestling, boxing and other styles. As a result of these events' successes, jiu-jutsu became popular, and the Gracies wanted to branch out to the United States. In the 1980's, Rorion Grace, oldest son of Helio, moved to California and opened a Gracie jiu-jitsu academy. Just like his father and uncle, he issued the Gracie Challenge in the United States, except he added a $100,000 prize to anyone that could beat him or one of his brothers, uncharacteristic of a Gracie. As time went on, he sought to create an organization that would promote the vale-tudo style of fighting in the States. After years of searching, Rorian Gracie met with Art Davie, a salesman who had become interested in this style of fighting on a trip to Thailand. Davie had many connections in the television industry and arranged for Rorion to meet with Bob Meyrowitz, who was the president of Semaphore Entertainment Group(SEG). SEG was a corporation that specialized in putting on live pay-per-view events. Between, Rorion, Davie and Meyrowitz, they developed and established the original UFC event in 1993.
Once the inaugural UFC event took place, the sport of MMA still had many hills to climb. While the first event sold 86,000 buys on pay-per-view without any advertising, the numbers would grow rapidly as more events were promoted. Meyrowitz, Davie and Rorion definitely opened up many eyes with this new style of fighting and made immediate stars out of names such as Ken Shamrock, Oleg Taktarov, Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, and Royce Gracie. As UFC grew, they shopped their MMA events to regions with loose restrictions by state athletic commissions all over the United States. They'd run events in states such as Alabama, Colorado, and Wyoming because athletic commissions were barely existent and no one from the state would try to shut them down due to how excessively violent the product was at the time.
In regards to UFC's early public perception, the media and people following these MMA events believed UFC had no rules, and in fact, UFC's marketing strategy was promoting their events as 'no holds barred, no time limits, anything goes, any and all styles can compete.' In one of the fights, a competitor took seven unanswered groin shots before he tapped-out because of the sheer amount of pain he was in. The only public knowledge of rules were the ways to win: tap out, knock out, and in some cases, referee's decision. There wasn't a point system, rounds, judges, nothing that you'd see today in modern MMA events. They would promote numerous disciplines that competed in UFC such as BJJ, sambo, submission wrestling, & kick-boxing for example, but would promote street-fighting in the same breath. Unfortunately, by promoting the way they did, it immediately brought public scrutiny.
Shortly after UFC VII, the fazing out of people that were allowed to compete in a UFC event began to take place. At the time, not all the competitors were strict mixed martial artists ; some men were judo or karate teachers, or had a little background in some fighting style. UFC needed more well rounded competitors to help add more credibility to their fight cards. As time went on, they acquired athletes such as Mark Coleman, an Olympic level wrestler, and Maurice Smith, a well versed kick boxer who, after competing in Japan and smaller fighting leagues, learned submission wrestling, which would help him secure the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Smith was one of the first true mixed martial artists who had the ability of multiple disciplines that competed in the sport and in UFC.
In 1997, Senator John McCain's ire was aroused. McCain, who once competed in college level boxing, waged a full scale campaign against sex and violence on television. After someone showed him a tape of an early UFC, he was disgusted and found what UFC was promoting to be “human cockfighting.” He went to Colorado where UFC IX was taking place and tried to get it shut down. After he was unsuccessful in his first attempt to stop the MMA growth, he targeted cable companies that carried UFC and any other MMA events.
McCain had friends who worked for cable providers and he convinced them to ban all extreme fighting sport events from their systems. After being banned From TCI Cable(which covered part of the western United States) and Time Warner, UFC's availability on the national pay-per-view presence was minimal. The potential audience went from 35 million households to 7.5 million almost overnight. The only way to watch any form of mixed martial arts was strictly through satellite or Direct TV. As the attack on MMA continued, McCain enlisted other powerful men to help with his fight against UFC events, such as Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City and Marc Ratner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission(NSAC). As bans were coming into play, UFC was forced to scale down the frequency of holding events, the budget for fighters was cut, and event location became an issue. Because of the lack of pay-per-view & advertising revenue, plus the size of the events they had to start running now, UFC lost many of their top names to Japanese fighting organizations that were going to pay fighters hefty sums of money to compete.
With all the prejudice coming from the conservative political media, UFC needed to make some changes in order for mixed martial arts to grow and survive. They needed to make it back onto national pay-per-view and with that came reformation of MMA in the United States. Bob Meyrowitz was feeling the pressure of getting back on national TV, trying to get sanctioned to fight in Nevada. Unfortunately, the night before he was supposed to meet with Nevada State Athletic Commission, he got a call from the lobbyist he hired to assist him on the plea, telling him to withdraw his bid. After this devastating blow, Bob Meyrowitz wanted to sell the UFC.
In the meantime, three men, Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta with Dana White(two brothers and a close friend of theirs), were interested in buying the UFC after they found out about the sale. All three were fight fans, the Fertittas being Las Vegas businessmen within the casino management business, and in a great coincidence, Lorenzo also served on the NSAC. Many thought the Fertittas had an interest in buying UFC, so Lorenzo actually voted against the sanctioning until he and his brother purchased the company.
Dana White, on the other hand, wasn't the successful businessman that the Fertittas were, but had gone from job to job in Boston, did some boxing training, ending up moving Las Vegas, opening a boxing gym in order to manage and promote fighters, of which some where involved with UFC. The Fertittas and White had been to a UFC event in Atlantic City, NJ, and they knew then they should buy the company. In 2000, the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for a mere $2 million and started up a parent company, Zuffa. Dana White took 10 percent of the interest in Zuffa in exchange for serving as UFC's President. As soon as the takeover was complete, Dana White and the Fertittas were out to turn mixed martial arts into a sanctioned sport everywhere. They wanted rules, regulations, and drug testing. This was the step UFC & the sport needed in order to become legitimized in the eyes of every athletic commission, and gain national pay-per-view distribution.
After UFC 12, more rules were slowly implemented, such as the usage of gloves, weight-classes, no striking to the back of the head & neck, no small joint manipulation, and five-minute rounds for each bout. Once Zuffa took over UFC, the rules became stricter with a list of 31 fouls, 8 different ways to obtain victory and what the fighters were allowed to wear in competition. These new guidelines, which were helped structured by the Nevada & New Jersey State Athletic Commissions and rules from other combative sports, were called The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. These rules went into effect as of UFC 31, the first Zuffa-ran fight card, and UFC managed to pull off exciting fights & a classic Heavyweight Title bout between reigning champion Randy Couture, who defeated Pedro Rizzo. Unfortunately, UFC wasn't the first fighting organization to fight under these new set of rules ; Paul Smith's IFC ran an event in New Jersey and pulled off a well-regulated MMA event. That IFC event convinced NJSAC chairman Larry Hazzard that MMA can be presented properly under rules and regulations. Shortly after Unified Rules came into effect, Dana White and the Fertittas' goal of getting UFC back on pay-per-view came to fruition with UFC 33: Victory in Vegas. As the reform changed the sport, John McCain actually commended Zuffa for their hard work with reforming UFC.
Now that UFC was back on the national pay-per-view scene again, this opened up the gates for other mixed martial arts companies to bring their product to pay-per-view. One of these leagues was Pride Fighting Championship, a Japanese equivalent to UFC with less rules. PrideFC had many fresh talents that UFC had never signed such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Dan Henderson, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, and Fedor Emelianenko. Along with these fresh faces, past UFC fighters and champions such Royce Grace, Ken Shamrock, Mark Coleman, & Kazushi Sakaruba were competing for the organization. This helped grow PrideFC's cult following amongst US diehard MMA fans.
Now that MMA was starting to clear its perception, it was time for the sport to make some money again. UFC was back on pay-per-view and drawing growing crowds in nice arenas such as the MGM Grand and Trump Taj Mahal, like they once did before being forced off the national scene. At UFC 40, headlined by Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz Vs. Ken Shamrock, UFC drew a recorded 150,000 domestic buys for that pay-per-view, the highest number of viewers in over 4 years. Despite having some success, UFC needed more than a good string of pay-per-view buys to survive ; Zuffa had lost $44 million since purchasing UFC and needed to try to get on national television to promote their events to larger audiences than just pay-per-view buyers.
Spike TV was in the midst of a transitional phase, becoming a network with programming geared towards men ages 18-34. They already had pro wrestling with WWE(World Wrestling Entertainment) Monday Night RAW as their top program, but they wanted something that would keep that audience after wrestling was over. Brian Diamond, an executive at Spike TV, was in charge of looking for a combat sport that would fit the mold they were looking for. After visiting a UFC event and seeing the type of people that enjoyed UFC events, how the audience responded to the action, the number of celebrities that were in attendance, and getting VIP treatment, Diamond came back to Spike convinced UFC was what they needed. The next question was how could Spike TV and UFC present this MMA product? Dana White wanted more of an old style Tuesday Night Fights program, but the network and the Fertittas seemed to think a reality TV show culminating in a big Fight Night Special that would air on Spike TV would be better, as the modern day television audience had turned towards reality TV for entertainment. There had been some success in shows like “The Contender” and WWE's Tough Enough, where the viewer got to see what it took to train and live in the boxing or pro wrestling environment. Much like those shows, the UFC audience and new viewers would see what it took to train & compete in MMA competition, with the winner of the show earning a six-figure UFC contract. This show would be called The Ultimate Fighter.
Through the The Ultimate Fighter venture, the popularity of UFC and mixed martial arts would rise. It made two bonafide stars with the first Ultimate Fighter finale in Forrest Griffin(who would go on to have many exciting fights and capture the UFC Light Heavyweight Title in 2008), and Stephan Bonnar(not to downgrade the middleweight contract fight of Kenny Florian versus Diego Sanchez, as these two would be stars in due time). In addition to the contract winners, it also made bigger stars out of the coaches involved: Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. It made just about anyone a bigger name in MMA than what they were before being on the show. The Ultimate Fighter series helped propel the pay-per-view audience by increasing the buyrates exponentially. Liddell vs. Couture II at UFC 52 brought in over 330,000 buys, and the third fight between them at UFC 57 drew 410,000 buys. MMA was definitely on the rise.
After the Ultimate Fighter series took off, Spike TV added more MMA programming to the channel with UFC's Unleashed that would show old UFC fights. On top of Unleashed, The Ultimate Fighter, and The Ultimate Fighter Finale cards, Spike wanted to add special two-hour Fight Night cards every few months. In 2006, Spike TV was airing over 160 hours of MMA programs. Along with added programs and the increasing number of viewers, UFC was getting flocked by sponsors to help fill ad-time. UFC was certainly pulling the sport out of the dark and into the mainstream.
As mixed martial arts and the UFC continued to gain more popularity, fans were sharing their love for the sport. UFC started a clothing line of apparel, from T-Shirts, shorts, & work-out outfits, to 5-oz UFC gloves, hoodies, and baseball caps. UFC started to tap more into the DVD market, putting out DVD compilations of popular fighters & fights, the Ultimate Fighter seasons, and older UFC events along with the current ones. The UFC brand now even has collectible action figures and toy championship belts for kids.
Even the early the MMA clothing line, Tap Out, has gained a lot of ground as MMA has increased in popularity. The company now makes close to $100 million in apparel sales. When it started, founders Charles “Mask” Lewis and Dan “Punkass” Caldwell used to get kicked out of MMA events for selling their shirts in the parking lots or inside the venues. At times, the company would be lucky to make $50-60 a day in sales, but they remained persistent. Finally, when fighters Jeremy Horn and Pat Miletich wore Tap Out shorts to the Octagon, Tap Out began to take off. These two men loved the sport so much, they started to give back and sponsored numerous fighters as years went on. It's now almost inconceivable to not see any sort of Tap Out-wear in the audience or within the fighting grounds of an MMA event. Between UFC's own brand & Tap Out, other brands of clothing that appeal to the MMA fans & fighters have popped up such, as ever-popular Affliction shirts, Xtreme Couture, Warrior Wear, and Throwdown.
Like any good novelty, competition helps breed good things for fans and for any sport. For many years, there was a budding rivalry between UFC and PrideFC. After some money struggles, dealing with the Yakuza crime organization, and losing TV in Japan, Pride owner Nobuyuki Sakakibara sold the company to Zuffa in 2007, including fighter contracts, copyrights, and the video library. UFC's intial plans were to keep the Pride entity running and do events that cross promoted the talent, as Zuffa felt everyone would benefit, from the fighters to fans. By May 2007 however, the idea had been thrown to the wayside. Instead, UFC would bring over as many of their top fighters & champions to set up dream matches and unify championships. Unfortunately, they never were able to - and still can't - come to terms on an agreement with the unstoppable Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko.
As PrideFC faded away, new MMA entities entered the realm - EliteXC (Pro Elite Xtreme Combat) and the IFL(International Fight League). Each organization tried to be significantly different than UFC. Whether the difference took place in its presentation(fighting in a ring or a circular cage), having team formats, or promoting female MMA bouts, neither organization had a long lifespan. While these two organizations were butting heads to be the number two fighting company, in UFC's eyes WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) was going to be number two. Zuffa had bought them along with Pride, but actually kept WEC alive. They showcased many of different exciting fighters of lighter weight divisions, including Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, Mike Brown, and Jose Aldo.
IFL tried to appeal to MMA fans with names like Ken Shamrock, Don Fyre, Renzo Gracie, Maurice Smith, and Pat Miletich as coaches for their team format. The idea of pulling top names from UFC or Pride's past is great, but if they weren't fighting, what was the point of paying them and promoting them? IFL got on television with the Fight Sports Network and MyNetworkTV, but had very little success. In early February 2008, IFL announced that HDNet would be airing their upcoming events, but halfway through the month, MyNetworkTV dropped IFL's programming. Shortly thereafter, IFL folded. IFL's video library would later be purchased by Zuffa.
EliteXC was starting to become a visible name in mixed martial arts after running some successful events on Showtime, showcasing female MMA bouts with their top star Gina Carano, even acquiring numerous smaller MMA organizations like the defunct WFA(World Fighting Alliance) and buying out their top fighter's contracts. In 2008, EliteXC announced a deal with CBS to broadcast live MMA events on network television. The company was making definite strides in becoming a major player in the sport, scoring the highest television ratings nationally in MMA history.
One of the more controversial decisions that EliteXC made was signing underground fighting sensation, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson - the big, jacked up, Bahamian-American fighter who became famous on the internet for his street fights - to a contrac. Kimbo wanted to get into mixed martial arts and be a part of UFC, but Dana White wanted nothing to do with him, even saying, “the only way Kimbo would ever get into UFC was if he went through the The Ultimate Fighter TV show first.” En route to his broadcast MMA debut, Slice had trained with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten & boxing instructor Randy Khatami, and had one fight with former WBO Heavyweight Champion & Olympic gold-medalist boxer Ray Mercer at Cage Fury Fight Championships 5. He defeated Mercer with a guillotine choke early in the first round. Even though he had won his first MMA fight, he hadn't truly been tested. His first real test came months after quickly disposing of UFC veteran Tank Abbott on Showtime pay-per-view when he fought MMA veteran James “Colossus” Thompson at EliteXC's CBS premiere at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ in 2008. Kimbo ended up beating Thompson via TKO when a Kimbo punch burst open Thompson's cauliflower ear in quite a gruesome visual, prompting the referee to stop the fight in Kimbo's favor ; quite a controversial decision by the official. Many felt the decision in Slice's favor was a travesty considering every time Thompson took Slice down, Slice was trouble and didn't look to be answering Thompson's punches. Many experts believed that EliteXC was simply protecting their highly paid & high-drawing investment.
Kimbo's next fight against UFC legend Ken Shamrock might have sealed EliteXC's fate. The main event that EliteXC promoted didn't happen ; People wanted to see Shamrock-Slice, but Shamrock was forced to back out because of an injury he had sustained in practice with mere hours to airtime. Instead, former UFC Ultimate Fighter contestant and light-heavyweight fighter Seth Petruzelli, originally scheduled to fight in the undercard that night, was offered the fight. Many just assumed Petruzelli would be a good fight for Kimbo, and Kimbo would dominate. Unfortunately for Director and President of Live Events Gary Shaw(who was doing everything he could to be a thorn in the side of UFC's Dana White), Kimbo would get knocked-out within seconds of the first round. EliteXC's top draw and top paid heavyweight fighter had been dropped by a guy that didn't even make it to the finals of the Ultimate Fighter. Once Kimbo's momentum was stopped, it also stopped EliteXC's abruptly. Along with the upsetting knock-out by Petruzelli, their credibility was tested after Petruzelli came out to the media that EliteXC was trying to pay him to keep it standing up, where Kimbo was more likely to win. Shortly after these accusations were made, the Florida State Athletic Commission launched an investigation around the Slice-Petruzelli bout. On account of these accusations, there wasn't any investor interest in EliteXC. The company canceled their November 8, 2008 event and ceased operations on October 20, 2008.
Dana White could now scratch another MMA league off their list of competition, but one was still around, trying to offer fighters that UFC hadn't or couldn't sign ; Affliction clothing-wear started promoting fights in mid 2008 as Affliction Entertainment. With Donald Trump investing money into Afflication, the company was able to bring in top fighters around the world that weren't under UFC contract, specifically the last PrideFC Heavyweight champion and current World Alliance Of Mixed Martial Arts(WAMMA, a world-wide governing body for MMA outside Zuffa) Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko. This was a hit to UFC, but they would bounce back with their new money-making heavyweight juggernaut, NCAA college champion wrestler & ex-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Once it became public knowledge Affliction was promoting fights, White banned his fighters from wearing all Affliction clothing on Zuffa programming.
After only two events, Affliction was in trouble ; Already having overspent on fighter contracts & other expenses for their first two events, the organization was promoting a big WAMMA Heavyweight title fight between champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett. After failing a drug test, Barnett was denied a license 10 days prior to the fight scheduled. In this short time, Affliction couldn't find an adequate challenger for the heavyweight championship match despite scrambling to do so. The event was canceled, and they stopped running as a fighting promotion, returning to UFC as a sponsor.
With all the organizations that Dana White felt were direct competition to UFC, he always had ways to go toe-to-toe with them. Whether it was running live events against other MMA programs, showing replays of recent UFC pay-per-views that featured top bouts with names like George St. Pierre, Forrest Griffin, Anderson Silva, or Brock Lesnar, or doing UFC marathons on SpikeTV just so MMA fans wouldn't be as curious to check out the alternatives, White always had a plan to take viewers away from his competition. At times, he'd put a dent in other programs and other times the competition would go un-fazed. Not only does UFC programming go against other MMA programs, he'd put UFC events against boxing events such as the Floyd Mayweather, Jr./Juan Manuel Marquez bout presented by HBO in September to make fight fans choose what they'd prefer watching, but also since much of the boxing community dislikes MMA.
In its near twenty year rise, MMA has completely transformed itself. It went from being a bloody, barbaric sport that barely anyone wanted anything to do with, to becoming the fastest rising sport in the world today. MMA fighters such Roger Huerta and Chuck Liddell have graced the covers of Sports Illustrated, and former UFC Heavyweight & Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture has been a guest on TV shows such as King of Queens & The Unit. Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Quinton Jackson and many other MMA stars have been featured in movies & documentaries while the sport has gained popularity. Couture has even starred in the movie The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, with Quinton Jackson's role in The A-Team movie to be seen next year. Ratings & buyrates for MMA programs such as UFC's pay-per-views and TV shows continue to do high numbers. UFC's 100th PPV did upwards of over 1.5 million buys, and this recent season of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights featuring MMA oddity Kimbo Slice pulled UFC's highest cable TV rating ever with a 5.3, phenomenal in cable television.
MMA's appeal to modern culture has spread from the male 18-34 crowd to women of the same demographic. Not only do men and women watch MMA, but children watch MMA now. Since there's been such a dramatic interest in the sport, there are many more MMA schools opening up over the country, replacing what used to be more traditional martial arts schools such as karate. The children, much like any adult that trains, are not only taught how to defend themselves and compete, but they learn that the sport of MMA is a very diverse, takes a lot discipline & time to master, and will benefit their conditioning. MMA's rise has increased more amateur grappling competitions as well, such as Grapplers Quest and NAGA(North American Grappling Association). Ages from grade school students to middle-aged adults all compete in divisions based on age, weight, sex, and experience level. MMA's overall growth has UFC's persistence to grow and evolve to thank. If it wasn't for Dana White and the Fertitta brothers, who knows if the sport would have ever seen this much growth? Right now, it looks like the sport of mixed martial arts is here to stay.
