HEADLINE: CAGE FIGHTING DRAWS NEW FANS, TAKES LUMPS: SPORT HAS TONED DOWN THE MAYHEM, BACKERS SAY
BYLINE: Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.
BODY:
Jun. 8--No holds barred? Nonsense, Daniel Puder said. Then he began listing everything he can't do in the often-bloody but increasingly popular sport of mixed martial arts.
No kicking to the groin. No eye-gouging. No elbows to the face. Limits to kicking an opponent when he's on the ground.
The criticism that his sport, which will be on display again Friday at HP Pavilion, is barbaric and just one step from street brawling has been "completely overblown," Puder said.
But he has an idea why the image of brutality persists in a sport that wasn't even legal in California until this year.
"The cage," said Puder, a Cupertino native with platinum blond hair who is on Friday's card. "People see fighters go into a cage and that creates perceptions. But the cage is also part of the draw. It's almost like the old Roman thing."
Like exhibitions at the ancient Colosseum, these events -- more commonly known as cage fighting and ultimate fighting -- draw crowds, partly by filling a void created by the decline of boxing. Some 18,265 fans showed up at HP Pavilion for the sport's California debut March 10.
Spectators, who skew toward the coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic, see bouts that combine elements of boxing, wrestling, kick-boxing and other martial arts. The object: Beat the opponent into submission and get him to "tap out," or concede.
"Or if someone won't tap out when they're in a choke hold, they end up waking up 10 seconds later because they lost consciousness," said Cung Le, a San Jose fighter.
Proponents say cage fighting -- once labeled "human cockfighting" by Sen. John McCain -- is gaining legitimacy because the sport has reined in the mayhem.
Others remain unconvinced: Cage fighting is sanctioned in just 20 states. The American Medical Association calls it medically and morally wrong.
But Orin Starn, a Duke professor of cultural anthropology, is not surprised by cage fighting's edgy appeal.
"For a generation that's grown up playing heavy-duty, kung-fu, fighting video games, this is the real life version of 'Mortal Kombat,' " Starn said. "Demand has been created for a sort of gladiatorial, bare-essentials kind of combat."
A sport on the rise
It's clear that cage fighting is gaining an audience.
Ultimate Fighting Championship, the best-known of the cage-fighting outfits, has staged two Southern California shows that it said drew about 32,000 combined. UFC events are big pay-per-view attractions. And Spike TV has a hit in its reality show "The Ultimate Fighter."
Men aren't the only ones interested. Scott Coker, promoter of the Strikeforce events at HP Pavilion, said about one-third of the March crowd was female.
"This is going to get huge," Le added. "It's day and night from what it used to be."
That's the case in more ways than one. The sport has a controversial past.
The UFC began in 1993 with fights staged inside an octagonal cage, helping cultivate a blood-sport reputation.
Among those who noticed was McCain, a former Naval Academy boxer. He sent letters to every governor urging them to ban cage fighting. By the end of the decade, the sport was relegated to underground bouts or events staged on reservations.
"I was on Larry King's CNN show with John McCain, and I distinctly remember saying that we would never allow this sport in the state of Nevada unless they had rules," said Marc Ratner, the longtime head of the Nevada Athletic Commission. "Their advertising was 'anything goes,' and we couldn't have that."
This year, Ratner became a UFC executive -- and he said it's because cage fighting has undergone an extreme sport makeover. In 2001, stricter rules were hashed out -- including weight classes and time limits. It was enough to get the sport approved in New Jersey and Nevada, as well as back on pay-per-view.
In about 350 Nevada fights since then, the worst injury has been a broken arm, Ratner said. Competitors say cage fighting now is less dangerous than football.
"The injuries there are much worse," added Le, 33. "Receivers go over the middle and risk taking a big shot from linebackers. Quarterbacks have to hope they don't get blindsided. Steve Young got so many concussions that he had to quit the sport."
Puder, 24, said as a pro and amateur wrestler he was knocked out twice, broke his hand and injured his elbow. But he added that he hasn't been hurt inside the cage, which is made of rubber-coated steel.
"People say it's a violent sport," Puder added. "OK, but what's boxing? That's more detrimental to your brain" because of repeated punches to the head.
The rise of cage fighting comes as boxing has fallen on hard times. The lack of marquee bouts and an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies have taken the luster from "the sweet science."
Meanwhile, promoter Coker said one draw of the new sport is the way it matches fighters from different disciplines: boxer vs. karate guy, wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu expert.
"It's martial arts fighting at its highest, but the media doesn't understand," Coker said. "They think if there's a choke or an arm bar happening, then it's barbaric. In reality, there's been chokes and arm bars in Olympic judo for the last 50 years."
But anthropologist Starn notes that the sport markets its savagery. And interest in vicious events "goes as far back as the Romans, going to the Colosseum and seeing gladiators and guys with pitchforks fighting the Christians," he said.
Starn said some may find it refreshing that this sport isn't hypocritical. He uses NASCAR as an example -- where the chance to see a wreck is part of the allure, even if nobody admits it.
"There's an idea that violence itself just isn't an acceptable reason to watch," Starn said. "So you can see the appeal to a sport that challenges that idea and promotes the concept that blood is going to be spilled and you're going to be able to watch people beat each other to a pulp."
Detractors remain
Some states, such as New York, still won't allow it. When New York banned it in 1997, Gov. George Pataki called it a "Neanderthal blood sport."
Here, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in 2004 that permitted cage fighting. Last December, the state athletic commission completed the sanctioning process.
But the sport remains politically sensitive. Armando Garcia, head of the commission, did not respond to multiple interview requests. In March, Schwarzenegger did not attend a mixed martial arts event at his annual Arnold Fitness Weekend in Ohio after media reports about his expected presence at the event.
"It is interesting that this was legalized in the age of Arnold," Starn said. "It's a blurring of the boundaries of movies, muscles and violent spectacles that Arnold has pushed in the movie characters he has played."
But Jim Goddard, general manager and executive vice president of HP Pavilion, said he has no reservations about the sport, and said he hopes the arena can host a few events each year.
"We think mixed martial arts is here to stay," Goddard said.
Contact Mark Emmons at memmons@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5745.
Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
LOAD-DATE: June 8, 2006
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