news about the ufc for 4/14/09 Travel back to the spring of 2006, and the last person you expected to eventually read a comeback story about would be David
Steady Eliot Marshall Manages the Highs and Lows of a Fighting Life
/>Fresh from devastating wins over Charles McCarthy and Evan Tanner, and following a punishing five round war with then-UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, the Montreal native was looking to rebound from the loss in his first championship fight, but the goodwill he garnered for his courageous performance was destined to carry him through the summer, fall, and winter, and into another championship run in 2007.
But a little over six months after the loss to Franklin, Loiseau returned to the Octagon to face young gun Mike Swick at UFC 63, and after a mostly listless performance, “The Crow” lost a unanimous three round decision and was released from the UFC. The decision came as a shock to fans and those in the media, but no one was more surprised than Loiseau.
“It did surprise me,” he said. “But I’m not mad or anything. It happened for a reason and I believe that if it wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have gotten as good as I am today. So I’m grateful that it’s turned out like that.”
Most would have crawled into a hole, praying for someone to rescue them. Loiseau did what fighters do – he fought. Things didn’t get better for him though, as he dropped two of his next three bouts to Joey Villasenor and Jason Day, with the only win coming in May of 2007 over little known Freddie Espiricueta. By February of 2008, Loiseau had lost four of five fights, and a return to the UFC seemed nothing more than a pipe dream.
What made it even worse was that every time Loiseau showed up to UFC events, either on his own or with teammates like welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, he would feel the energy and excitement, watch himself on a pre-event highlight reel, sign autographs until his hands got sore, and then watch the Canadians he either came in with or paved the way for – St-Pierre, Day, Patrick Cote, Jason MacDonald, Sam Stout – do their thing in the Octagon. But when the door shut, he was on the outside looking in. It should have been a crushing blow. Loiseau didn’t take it as such, instead using his nights in arenas around North America as fuel for one final run.
“It was actually motivating, and wasn’t tough at all,” said Loiseau. “It was exciting, and when I see my teammates fighting and doing so well, it inspires me to work hard. And when you work hard and you’re disciplined and you don’t cut corners, the doors will open eventually.”
Less than two months after his three round split decision loss to Day, Loiseau returned to action with a three round win over Todd Gouwenberg. In June of last year he knocked out Andrew Buckland, and he closed out the year with a fifth round TKO of The Ultimate Fighter three’s Solomon Hutcherson in September. For the first time since he ran up the middleweight ranks in 2005, Loiseau had a three fight winning streak, and though he wasn’t taking on a Murderers’ Row in terms of opposition, he finally began showing glimpses of the fighter that once headlined UFC events.
“I basically changed everything,” he said. “Everything I do now is more specific. I work a lot more on my weaknesses and I just keep working hard. I’ve always been a hard worker, but it’s one thing to work hard – another to work hard on the right things. That’s what I’ve been doing – working hard on the right things, and it’s been helping me out a lot.”
Team Loiseau now includes familiar names like Firas Zahabi, Greg Jackson, and Jonathan Chaimberg, the trio that has helped elevate St-Pierre’s game over the last few years, and as the UFC prepared for its second trip to Montreal for UFC 97 this Saturday night, it was fitting that the phone rang in the home of one of the city’s favorite MMA sons.
“It’s like coming back home after a long trip,” said Loiseau, who returns to the Octagon to take on Ed Herman. “I feel like I’m back home, and I’m happy and grateful to be back.”
Loiseau’s excitement is evident, but perhaps even more wound up by the return of “The Crow” are the fans which clamored for him to come back for more than two years.
“I’m actually very happy that the fans feel like that because I fight for the fans,” he said. “Every time I step in there, I’m trying to make them happy and give them their money’s worth. And when I’m not out there fighting, I’m greeting the fans. I show up at fights where I’m not fighting and none of my teammates are fighting, and I’m there, available for pictures, autographs and stuff like that. The fans make the sport happen, so it’s important to be a crowd pleaser.”
With spinning back kicks, deadly elbow strikes, and the type of heart that you hope beats in
every fighter, but one that only a few truly possess, Loiseau will bring excitement to the Bell Centre this weekend. But will he be able to make another title run in a division that has changed drastically since his last UFC appearance in 2006?
“The middleweight division is like any other division – it’s very tough, it’s stacked, but I’m ready for the challenge,” said the 29-year old Loiseau. “I’m happy that I’m here now at this stage of my career than last year or two years ago because now I’m ready – I’m ready for the challenge, and ready to get back in the mix with the boys. The time is now.”
It certainly is, and if Loiseau was looking to make an entrance in his return, there may be no better place to do it than in his hometown arena. But all that really doesn’t matter. David Loiseau has gotten back to the UFC by fighting through trials that should have broken his spirit. He knows that most people don’t even make it back, and if he loses, it could mark a return to the small show circuit. But if he wins, he will have started a new chapter in his career and in his life. And while he appreciates that a packed house will be chanting his name on Saturday night, when it comes to getting the job done in the Octagon, it will be his responsibility alone.
“Whether there’s 20,000 fans cheering or not, when the bell rings it always comes down to the same thing – it’s me and Ed Herman,” he said. “It’s all about the fight, and I try to focus on the job at hand, which is to take him out.” Life is all about perspective. Eliot Marshall has that part all figured out.
So when he walks into the Bell Centre in Montreal this Saturday
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night and hears over 18,000 fans cheering for him and his opponent, Vinicius Magalhaes, he’ll be okay with it, and he won’t get a big head from signing autographs, taking pictures, and being treated like a star at the host hotel.
Not when there’s dirty laundry waiting for him back home in Colorado.
“My wife really helps me keep grounded,” he laughs. “I know my place in the real world, not that world I get to go and play in.”
This sense of perspective also applies to his fighting life – not the part that deals with fame, interviews, and all that fun stuff – but the one that involves what goes on in the Octagon when the gate closes and the referee starts things off. So if he walks through Magalhaes with ease in their UFC 97 bout, much in the same way he turned back Jules Bruchez at The Ultimate Fighter 8 finale last December, Marshall won’t start calling out the elite of the 205-pound weight class. Not when some of those elite light heavyweights are putting it on him daily in practice.
“We love each other and all help each other, but when it comes down to practice, we beat the hell out of each other,” said Marshall of his work with some of the finest denizens of Greg Jackson and Trevor Wittman’s gyms in Albuquerque and Denver. “We make it so that’s there’s no way that the fight is gonna be worse than training. Nothing against the level of guys that I’m fighting right now, but they’re not Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, Joey Villasenor, Duane Ludwig and Nate Marquardt. And those guys just kill me, they put me through hell. But they truly care about me, and that’s a big part of the training.”
It’s an interesting dynamic, and one that truly keeps a fighter humble, a necessary element of success in this game. If you believe your press clippings and live each day as if you are truly as good as your fans say you are, what happens when that one guy who has your number shows up? But if you parry the highs of victory with the lows of being the designated hittee in practice, it allows you to stay on an even keel while continuing to get better. And that’s where the 28-year old Marshall sits right now. He’s confident, but not cocky; successful, but not ready for the best in the world yet. He’s fine with that – for now.
“I’m in no rush,” said Marshall, who owns a 6-2 pro MMA record. “I understand that the fighter I am now is not the fighter I’m going to be in five to ten more fights. Right now, I’m a ten times better fighter than I was five fights ago. So I’m still so young in my career that I have to understand that, and I have really good people around me that try to keep my head on straight.”
You can’t get better than Jackson and his team for that end of things, and when it comes to fight preparation – or more importantly, preparation for anything bad that could possibly happen in the Octagon, the members of the Albuquerque super gym have a unique knack for making those bad things happen on a daily basis.
“We go into deep water every day, so that doesn’t scare me,” said Marshall when asked about getting extended past his exhaustion point in a fight. “It’s something that I kinda look forward to. I want to get tired in there, I want to feel those feelings, because I know that when I do, my opponent’s feeling worse. One of my coaches has a saying when we get there – He says ‘this is where you want to be when you’re tired. You want to be here because that means the other guy’s here too, and you’re used to it.’”
Not that many are expecting this Saturday’s bout with Magalhaes to go the full 15 minutes. Both are skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts, and this bout has the potential to be an exciting grappling clinic until someone makes a fight-ending mistake. Add in the fact that the two competed on the same Ultimate Fighter team during season eight, and you’ve got a nice little backstory to go with an intriguing fight. It almost didn’t happen though, as Magalhaes is a late replacement for injured vet Mike Ciesnolevicz. Marshall was unperturbed by the change in opponents though.
“I wasn’t upset with the switch,” said Marshall. “Right now, Vinny and I is the more marketable fight, simply because we’re both coming off the show. The hardcore fan knows who Mike C. is, but the casual fan doesn’t because he fought in the IFL and not the UFC, and not on TUF or anything like that. Plus, I still believe I’m the best guy coming off The Ultimate Fighter, and this is an opportunity for me to show it. I lost to (TUF8 winner Ryan) Bader fair and square, hands down, and he’s the champion, but I get to show now that for sure I’m the second best.”
And if you’re just tuning in, no, there was no drama between Marshall and Magalhaes during the taping of TUF, no wild grappling matches that required coach Frank Mir to intervene. As Marshall
puts it, “We rolled together a little bit, not too much.” And when it comes to it being difficult for him to fight a former teammate, he answers before the question finishes being asked.
“This isn’t difficult,” he said. “I’ve got nothing against Vinny; he’s not a bad guy, but I think it’s kinda hard to be friendly in that situation. I wish him the best of luck in his life and in his career, just not on April 18th.”
What Marshall will say about Magalhaes and all the members of the TUF8 cast is that he is watching what all of them have done since the cameras stopped rolling.
“Whether you liked the guys in the house or didn’t like them, you have that connection to them for the rest of your life because you went through that struggle together,” he said. “You keep an eye out, you see what they’re doing with their lives and their careers, and they see how you’re doing with yours.”
All eyes will be on Marshall Saturday night, and if the first UFC show in Montreal last year was any indication, the atmosphere can be so overpowering that it can elevate a fighter or tear him down. Well, at least those who aren’t prepared for it. Eliot Marshall? He’s ready.
“I try to just picture it every day so that when it comes, I may not have personally experienced it yet, but mentally, I’ve pictured the craziness of what it’s gonna be like in Montreal,” he said. “I’m trying to go through those feelings I’m gonna get every day in my mind and really focus on that so it doesn’t overwhelm me.”
Matt Wiman’s(my favorite fighter heard it all before when it comes to his opponent this Saturday, Sam Stout. He knows Stout is
The long anticipated welterweight championship battle between champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger BJ Penn proved to be as compelling to audiences two months after it took place, as Spike TV’s replay of UFC 94 (originally airing on pay per view on January 31) was the #1 program among Men 18-34 in all of television (cable and broadcast) during its time period on Saturday, April 11 (9:00 PM – 12:00 AM, ET/PT). It was also the highest-rated telecast among Men 18-49 on cable for the entire day.
Headlined by the title bout between St. Pierre and Penn, UFC 94 peaked with 2.4 millions during St. Pierre’s successful title defense, as he won the fight due to a referee’s stoppage after the completion of the fourth round. The entire fight card, which included Lyoto Machida’s KO of Thiago Silva to establish #1 contender status in the light heavyweight division in a battle of unbeatens, averaged 1.9 million viewers for the 3 hour telecast.
Overall, UFC 94 on Spike TV drew a 1.4 household rating and a 1.6 among Men 18-49 (878,000), a 1.3 among Men 18-34 (387,000) and had an average audience of 1.9 million viewers. By comparison, HBO’s live coverage of “World Championship Boxing: Winky Wright vs Paul Williams” which drew 1.5 million viewers.
Steady Eliot Marshall Manages the Highs and Lows of a Fighting Life
fighting in front of his home country fans in Canada, knows he’s lost two in a row, and knows his back’s against the wall. None of that matters, says the Texan, as he believes that at this level, you always need to fight with an intensity bordering on desperation.
“If you’re not fighting like that already, you shouldn’t be in the big show,” said Wiman. “We’re at the level where, let’s say I say something about his mom or his wife or something, I don’t know if it’s gonna make him any less hard or more hard – we’re already wanting to kill each other.”
In other words, nothing that you don’t control should affect the way you perform on fight night. If you need trash talk, fighting at home, or coming back from losses to motivate you, you’re in the wrong game. To Wiman, competing and winning is motivation enough. Sure, it was nice to beat Thiago Tavares back at UFC 85 last June and pick up a Fight of The Night bonus check a week before his wedding (“We were going on our honeymoon, and I didn’t want to be like a mopey little dog,” he laughs), but that wasn’t the reason he went into the fight with all guns blazing. It was about the performance and about the win. So don’t talk losing to this 25-year old.
“We have to go through so much mentally that we don’t or can’t accept something like that,” said Wiman. “The idea of all of our hard work being in vain would be such a bad deal for us. We thrive on the fact that the harder we try, the more we push, and the more we endure, the better the victory and the bigger the victory.”
And for a while, it looked like Wiman had settled into a pretty nice groove in his life following a stint on season five of The Ultimate Fighter as he went on a four fight winning streak that culminated in the spectacular second round knockout win over Tavares. To fight fans, that victory showed that Wiman wasn’t just exciting, but that he was also going to be a player in the crowded 155-pound weight class.
Nothing lasts forever though; especially not in this game. And last December, Wiman saw his winning streak snapped by fellow up and comer Jim Miller, who was stepping in for the injured Frankie Edgar. And though Wiman saw his record dip to 10-4 with the unanimous decision loss, he did pick up another Fight of The Night bonus. It was little consolation.
“I was upset about it for a while,” said Wiman. “Then I got over it and I made up my mind not to look back at it.”
Wiman pauses, hoping that answer to the question was sufficient. But after a short silence, he continues.
“It did leave a bad taste in my mouth and it was very frustrating because I felt like the only things that were working were my heart and my determination and I just felt like I didn’t have any talent or skill in there,” he said. “He kinda beat the crap out of me and I was very disappointed because I trained hard for that fight and I was well prepared. I guess I just didn’t show up and that’s never really happened to me before. He’s a tough guy and he fought well and I didn’t.”
It’s as honest an assessment that you’ll get from a prizefighter, and one you don’t hear too often in a world where excuses can sometimes overwhelm you at times. Wiman does admit that the change in opponent threw him off a bit in his last fight, but he also believes that going through what he went through with Miller will only give him more experience to draw upon when he faces Stout.
“I try to take each fight as it comes, and I felt really well-prepared,” he said. “I did feel like I had some obstacles to overcome in that last fight, like switching opponents, switching styles, and switching stances, and mentally and physically that kinda messes with you. But I learned a lot, and through tribulation you get stronger, so I think it just made me get better and made my mental and physical endurance stronger. I’ll fight the best I’ve ever fought each fight from now on because I progressively
get better, and I feel confident in that.”
London, Ontario’s Stout feels the same way about his own progression as a mixed martial artist, and this first fight on the UFC 97 card has the potential to steal the show on Saturday night. In other words, make sure you get to your seat at the Bell Centre early.
“Stout is an underrated fighter,” said Wiman. “People don’t understand losses – you can go out there and get choked out or knocked out in ten seconds, or you can fight a war that’s close. He fought two really good guys (Rich Clementi and Terry Etim) in his last two fights and he could have won them; he was so close. So I think he’s underrated and not a pushover at all. I’m expecting a really tough Sam Stout and I’m training as hard as I’ve ever trained.”
That’s not easy. It requires discipline, sacrifice, and frankly a lot of suffering when other 25-year olds are out enjoying themselves. But Wiman keeps doing what he needs to do, in the gym and outside of it. As far as he’s concerned, there’s no other option.
“The road is tough, and on some days you say ‘this sucks’, but at the end of the day, the satisfaction of enjoying and believing in what you do is worth it,” he said. “I feel so fortunate to be where I am and I put a lot into this and I get a lot out. It’s part of who I am.” (Ultimate Fighting Championship) (UFC) is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, currently recognized as the largest MMA promotion in the world.[2] The UFC is owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The UFC focuses on the heavier weight classes in MMA, whereas its sister promotion, the WEC, focuses on the lighter weights.
The UFC began as a single-event tournament to find the world’s best fighters irrespective of their style, and was based upon Brazilian vale tudo fighting. Although there were a limited number of rules, promoters marketed fighting in the UFC as no holds barred, and contests were often violent and brutal. Early UFC fights were less sport than spectacle, which led to accusations of brutality and “human cock fighting” by Senator John McCain and others.[3] Political pressures eventually led the UFC into the underground, as pay-per-view providers nixed UFC programming, nearly extinguishing the UFC’s public visibility.
As political pressure mounted, the UFC reformed itself, slowly embracing stricter rules, becoming sanctioned by state athletic commissions, and marketing itself as a legitimate sporting event. Dropping the no holds barred label and carrying the banner of mixed martial arts, the UFC has emerged from its political isolation to become more socially acceptable, regaining its position in pay-per-view television.
With a cable television deal and expansion into Canada, Europe and new markets within the United States, the UFC as of 2009[update] has experienced a remarkable surge in popularity, along with greater mainstream media coverage. UFC programming can now be seen on Spike in the United States and Canada, as well as in 34 other countries worldwide
The concept for a tournament to discover the world’s best fighting style came from Art Davie, an advertising executive based in southern California.[4] Davie met Rorion Gracie in 1991 while researching martial arts for a marketing client. Gracie operated a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Torrance, California and the Gracie family had a long history of vale-tudo matches—a precursor of mixed martial arts—in Brazil. Davie became Gracie’s student.
In 1992, inspired by the Gracies in Action video-series produced by the Gracies featuring various martial arts masters being defeated using Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, Davie proposed an eight-man, single-elimination tournament with a title of War of the Worlds to Rorion Gracie and John Milius. The tournament would feature martial artists from different disciplines facing each other in no holds barred combat to see which martial art was truly the best which replicated the excitement of the matches Davie saw on those videos.[5] Milius, a noted film director and screenwriter, as well as a Gracie student, agreed to be the event’s creative director. Davie drafted the business plan and twenty-eight investors contributed the initial capital to start WOW Promotions with the intent to develop the tournament into a television franchise.[6]
In 1993, WOW Promotions sought a television partner and approached pay-per-view producers TVKO (HBO), SET (Showtime) and Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG). Both TVKO and SET declined, but SEG – a pioneer in pay-per-view television which had produced such off-beat events as a mixed-gender tennis match between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova – became WOW’s partner in May 1993.[7]SEG contacted video and film art director Jason Cusson to design the trademarked “Octagon”, a signature piece for the event. Cusson remained the Production Designer through UFC 27.[5] SEG devised the name for the show as The Ultimate Fighting Championship.[8] The two companies produced the first event at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado on November 12, 1993. Davie functioned as the show’s booker and matchmaker.[9] The television broadcast featured two kickboxers, Patrick Smith and Kevin Rosier; a savate fighter, Gerard Gordeau; a karate expert, Zane Frazier; a shootfighter, Ken Shamrock; a sumo wrestler, Teila Tuli; a professional boxer, Art Jimmerson; and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Royce Gracie—Rorion’s younger brother who was hand-picked by Rorion himself to represent his family. The show was an instant success, drawing 86,592 television subscribers on pay-per-view to witness Royce Gracie take the first UFC crown. In April 1995, following UFC 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Davie and Gracie sold their interest in the franchise to SEG and disbanded WOW Promotions. Davie continued with SEG as the show’s booker and matchmaker, as well as the commissioner of Ultimate Fighting, until December 1997.
The show proposed to find an answer for sports fans to the question: “Can a wrestler beat a boxer?”[10] As was the case with most martial arts at the time, fighters were typically skilled in just one discipline (e.g., boxing, judo, or jujutsu) and had little experience against opponents with different skills. [11]
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 180 lb. fighter Royce Gracie and wrestler Dan Severn[3]With no weight classes, fighters often faced significantly larger or taller opponents. For example, Keith “The Giant Killer” Hackney faced Emmanuel Yarborough at UFC 3 with a 9 in (22 cm) height and 400 lb (180 kg) weight disadvantage.[12] Many martial artists believed that technique could overcome these size disadvantages, and that a skilled fighter could use an opponent’s size and strength against him; with the 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st) Royce Gracie winning three of the first four UFC events, the UFC quickly proved that size does not always determine outcome.
[edit] Emergence of more rules
Although “There are no rules!” was the tagline in the early 1990s, this was not strictly true; the UFC operated with limited rules. There was no biting, no eye gouging, and techniques such as hair pulling, headbutting, groin strikes and fish-hooking were frowned upon, but allowed. In fact, in a UFC 4 qualifying match, two competitors Jason Fairn and Guy Mezger agreed not to pull hair as they both wore pony tails tied back for the match. Additionally, that same event saw a matchup between Keith Hackney and Joe Son in which Hackney unleashed a series of groin shots against Joe Son while on the ground. UFC was similarly characterized, especially in the early days, as an extremely violent sport, as evidenced by a disclaimer in the beginning of the UFC 5 broadcast which warned audiences of the violent nature of the event. A brief appearance of a match in the 1995 film Virtuosity likely did little to change this perception.
[edit] Controversy and reform
The big UFC became a hit on pay-per-view and home video almost immediately due to its originality, realism, and wide press coverage,[citation needed] although not all of it favorable. The nature of the burgeoning sport quickly drew the attention of the authorities and UFC events were banned in a number of American states. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), was sent a tape of the first UFC events and immediately found it abhorrent. McCain himself led a campaign to ban Ultimate Fighting, calling it “human cockfighting”, and sending letters to the governors of all fifty U.S. states asking them to ban the event.[3] As a result, the UFC was dropped from the major cable pay-per-view distributor Viewer’s Choice, and individual cable carriers such as TCI Cable. Thirty-six states enacted laws that banned “no-holds-barred” fighting, including New York, which enacted the ban on the eve of UFC 12, forcing a relocation of the event to Dothan, Alabama.[13] The UFC continued to air on DirecTV PPV, though its audience was minuscule compared to the larger cable pay-per-view platforms of the era.
In response to the criticism, the UFC increased its cooperation with state athletic commissions and redesigned its rules to remove the less palatable elements of fights while retaining the core elements of striking and grappling. UFC 12 saw the introduction of weight-classes. From UFC 14 gloves became mandatory and kicks to a downed opponent, hair pulling, fish hooking, headbutting, and groin strikes were banned. UFC 15 saw more limitations on permissible striking areas: strikes to the back of the neck and head, and small joint manipulations were banned. With five-minute rounds introduced at UFC 21, the UFC gradually re-branded itself as a sport rather than a spectacle.[14]
As the UFC continued to work with state athletic commissions, events took place in smaller U.S. markets, including Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming and Alabama. SEG could not secure home video releases for UFC 23 through UFC 29 in a period known by some fans as the “dark days” of the UFC. With other mixed martial arts promotions working towards U.S. sanctioning, the International Fighting Championships secured the first U.S. sanctioned mixed martial arts event, which occurred in New Jersey on September 30, 2000. Just two months later, the UFC held its first sanctioned event, UFC 28, under the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board’s “Unified Rules”.[15] McCain’s opinions have now been revised and he is quoted as saying: “The sport has grown up. The rules have been adopted to give its athletes better protections and to ensure fairer competition.”[16]
[edit] Zuffa purchase
After the long battle to secure sanctioning, SEG stood on the brink of bankruptcy when they were approached by Station Casinos executives Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and boxing promoter Dana White in 2001, with an offer to purchase the UFC. A month later, in January 2001, the Fertittas bought the UFC for $2 million and created Zuffa, LLC as the parent entity controlling the UFC.[17] With ties to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (Lorenzo Fertitta was a former member of the NSAC), Zuffa secured sanctioning in Nevada in 2001.[18] Shortly thereafter, at UFC 33, the UFC returned to pay-per-view cable television.
The UFC slowly, but steadily, rose in popularity after the Zuffa purchase, due partly to effective[citation needed] advertising, corporate sponsorship, the return to cable pay-per-view, and subsequent home video and DVD releases. With larger live gates at casino venues like the Trump Taj Mahal and the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and pay-per-view buys beginning to return to levels enjoyed by the UFC prior to the political backlash in 1997, the UFC secured its first television deal with Fox Sports Net, with The Best Damn Sports Show Period airing the first mixed martial arts match on American cable television in June 2002 with UFC 37.5. Later, FSN would air highlight shows from the UFC, showcasing one hour blocks of the UFC’s greatest bouts. At UFC 40, pay-per-view buys hit 150,000 for a card headlined by a grudge match between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. Shamrock was an original headliner from the UFC’s early days who had since defected to professional wrestling in the WWF. It was the first time the UFC hit such a high mark since being forced “underground” in 1997.[19] Despite the success, the UFC was still experiencing financial deficits, and by 2004, Zuffa had $34 million of losses since the purchase.[20]
[edit] Mainstream emergence
The rise of the number of spectators, fans and athletes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship can be linked to the power of the media.[21] Commentators[who?] often compare the international growth of the sport to the international growth of similar sports, such as boxing. An example of this emergence is the increasing number of viewers the sport is getting with its television coverage. In “2006, an MMA company broke the record of the pay per view industry’s all time single year revenue, surpassing WWE and Boxing”.[22]
After featuring the UFC in a reality television series, American Casino, and seeing how well the series worked as a promotion vehicle, the Fertitta brothers decided that the UFC should have its own reality series. Their idea, The Ultimate Fighter – a reality television show not unlike Survivor, but featuring up-and-coming MMA fighters in competition, with fighters eliminated from competition via exhibition mixed martial arts matches – was pitched to several networks, each one rejecting the idea outright. Not until they approached Spike TV, with an offer to pay the $10 million production costs themselves, did they find an outlet.[20] In January 2005, Spike TV launched the series in the timeslot following WWE Raw, and the show became an instant success. A second season of The Ultimate Fighter launched in August 2005, and two more seasons appeared in 2006. Spike TV and the UFC continue to create and air new seasons.[23]
Comedian Joe Rogan broadcasting as color commentator at UFC Fight Night 7Following the success of The Ultimate Fighter, Spike TV also picked up UFC Unleashed, an hour-long weekly show featuring select fights from previous events. Spike TV also signed on to broadcast live UFC Fight Night, a series of fight events debuting in August 2005; Countdown specials to promote upcoming UFC pay-per-view cards, and several other series and specials featuring and promoting the UFC and its fighters.
With increased visibility, UFC’s pay-per-view buy numbers exploded. UFC 52, the first event after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, drew a pay-per-view audience of 280,000, nearly double its previous benchmark of 150,000 set at UFC 40. Following the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s much-hyped rubber match between Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell drew an estimated 410,000 pay-per-view buys at UFC 57. For the rest of 2006, pay-per-view buy rates continued to skyrocket with 620,000 buys for UFC 60, 775,000 buys for UFC 61 which featured the second fight between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 3. UFC 66, featuring Tito Ortiz facing Chuck Liddell in their highly anticipated rematch, garnered 1,050,000 buy rates, the current PPV buy-rate record for the UFC and MMA in general. The UFC broke the pay-per-view industry’s all-time records for a single year of business, generating over $222,766,000 in revenue during 2006, surpassing WWE and boxing.[Citation needed]
The UFC’s mainstream emergence has also been noted by many popular online sportsbooks. BodogLife.com, a popular online gambling site, stated in July 2007, that 2007 would be the first year that the UFC will surpass boxing in terms of betting revenues.[24]
In March 2006, the UFC announced that it had hired Marc Ratner, former Executive Director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, as Vice President. Ratner, once an ally of Senator McCain’s campaign against mixed martial arts, was credited as one person responsible for the emergence of sanctioned mixed martial arts in the United States. Ratner is expected to help raise the UFC’s media profile and help legalize mixed martial arts in jurisdictions inside and outside the United States that do not sanction mixed martial arts bouts.
The UFC continued its rapid rise: from near obscurity in 2005, to gracing the covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine in May 2007.[25] UFC programming is now shown in 36 countries worldwide,[26] and the UFC plans to continue expanding internationally, running shows regularly in Canada and the United Kingdom, with an office established in the UK aimed to expand the European UFC audience.[27]
On March 27, 2007 The UFC and Pride Fighting Championships announced an agreement in which the majority owners of the UFC, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, would purchase the Pride brand.[28][29] Initial intentions were for both organizations to be separately run but aligned together and there were plans to co-promote supercards featuring champions and top contenders from both organizations. Comments by Dana White indicated that the Pride brand would likely fold and many former Pride fighters were already being realigned under the UFC brand.[30] On October 4, 2007, Pride Worldwide closed its Japanese office, laying off 20 people who were working there since the closing of DSE.[31]
In December 2006, WEC became a sister organization to UFC, after being bought by Zuffa. The WEC hosts the lighter weight classes in MMA, whereas the UFC tends to focus on the heavier weight classes. [32]
In 2008, the UFC continue to expand to the mainstream by announcing two major exclusive sponsorship deals with Harley-Davidson[33] and InBev,[34] making the Belgian brewer’s Bud Light the official and exclusive beer sponsor of the UFC.
Following an announcement from Dana White on June 18, 2008, Lorenzo Fertitta announced his resignation from Station Casinos in order to devote his energies to the international business development of Zuffa, particularly the UFC.
[edit] Rules
The current rules for the Ultimate Fighting Championship were originally established by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board.[35] The “Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts” that New Jersey established has been adopted in other states that regulate mixed martial arts, including Nevada, Louisiana, and California. These rules are also used by many other promotions within the United States, becoming mandatory for those states that have adopted the rules, and so have become the standard de facto set of rules for professional mixed martial arts across the country.
[edit] Rounds
Every round in UFC competition is five minutes in duration. Title matches have five such rounds, and non-title matches have three. There is a one minute rest period between rounds.
[edit] Weight divisions
See also: Mixed martial arts weight classes
The UFC currently uses five weight classes:
Lightweight: 145 to 155 lb (67 to 70 kg)
Welterweight: 156 to 170 lb (71 to 77 kg)
Middleweight: 171 to 185 lb (78 to 84 kg)
Light Heavyweight: 186 to 205 lb (85 to 93 kg)
Heavyweight: 206 to 265 lb (94 to 120 kg)
In addition, there are four other weight classes specified in the Unified Rules which the UFC does not currently utilize: Flyweight (under 125 lb, 57 kg), Bantamweight (126 to 135 lb, 61 kg), Featherweight (136 to 145 lb, 66 kg), and Super Heavyweight (above 265 lb, 120 kg). The Flyweight, Bantamweight, and Featherweight classes are used in another promotion owned by Zuffa, LLC, World Extreme Cagefighting.
[edit] Cage
The OctagonThe UFC stages bouts in an octagonal caged enclosure, “The Octagon.” Originally, SEG trademarked The Octagon and prevented other mixed martial arts promotions from using the same type of cage, but in 2001, Zuffa gave its permission for other promotions to use octagonal cages (while reserving use of the name “Octagon”), reasoning that the young sport needed uniformity to continue to win official sanctioning.[36]
The cage is an eight-sided structure with walls of metal chain-link fence coated with black vinyl and a diameter of 32 ft (9.75 m), allowing 30 ft (9 m) of space from point to point. The fence is 5’6″ to 5’8″ high. The cage sits atop a platform, raising it 4 ft (1.2 m) from the ground. It has foam padding around the top of the fence and between each of the eight sections. It also has two entry-exit gates opposite each other.[37]
The mat, painted with sponsorship logos and art, is replaced for each event.
[edit] Attire
All competitors must fight in approved shorts, without shoes. Shirts, gis or long pants (including gi pants) are not allowed. Fighters must use approved light gloves, that include at least 1″ of padding around the knuckles, (110 to 170 g / 4 to 6 ounces) that allow fingers to grab. These gloves enable fighters to punch with less risk of an injured or broken hand, while retaining the ability to grab and grapple.
Originally the attire for UFC was very open if controlled at all. Many fighters still chose to wear tight-fitting shorts or boxing-type trunks, while others wore long pants or singlets. Multi-time tournament champion Royce Gracie wore a jiujitsu gi in all his early appearances in UFC.
[edit] Match outcome
Matches usually end via:
Submission: a fighter clearly taps on the mat or his opponent or verbally submits.
Knockout: a fighter falls from a legal blow and is either unconscious or unable to immediately continue.
Technical Knockout (TKO): If a fighter cannot continue, the fight is ended as a technical knockout. Technical knockouts can be classified into three categories:
referee stoppage: (the referee determines a fighter cannot “intelligently defend” himself; if warnings to the fighter to improve his position or defense go unanswered—generally, two warnings are given, about
