Less-Violent Mixed Martial Arts a Booming Business

By Pat Graham
Associated Press
AP Business Writer Adam Goldman in New York and AP Writer David Eggert in Michigan contributed to this report.

Ken Shamrock threw his opponent on the mat and cranked his rival's leg back, snapping his ankle moments into the match. The vicious attack didn't begin to satisfy the crowd. They wanted blood, and Shamrock, who calls himself the world's most dangerous man, had merely given them a broken ankle. ''They were throwing things at me,'' said Shamrock of the Denver audience at the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993. ''They were so mad that I had a hard time getting out of the arena. Can you believe it? I broke his ankle, and they wanted more.''

Now, less has become so much more for mixed martial arts, which combines judo, boxing, karate, Muay Thai, kickboxing, tae kwon do, jiu-jitsu and wrestling.

By restricting the violence, the sport has found its way back into the spotlight, attracting new fans without alienating its original hard-core base. ''The way I look at it, it's a fight, and violence sells,'' said Ron Kort, CEO of New Era Fighting, a new MMA series. ''WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is great, but it's fake. UFC is great, because the violence is there. We're trying to add entertainment with violence.'' And business is booming.

The International Fight League has deals in place with Coca Cola's Vault energy drink, Suzuki and Microsoft's Xbox. Meanwhile, the UFC is challenging WWE in pay-per-view profits, and networks are scurrying to line up MMA shows. The UFC, Japan-based Pride Fighting Championships, King of the Cage and newcomers IFL, Elite Xtreme Combat and New Era Fighting, to name a few, have turned MMA into a big-money venture.

UFC president Dana White, who, with the help of brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, took over and revitalized the struggling company in 2001, welcomes the competition. But he worries a serious injury in any series will damage the sport's carefully refurbished image — one he has spent years and millions of dollars crafting.

''Anyone who can rub two nickels together to buy a cage, and can combine three letters together, is coming into the sport,'' White said. ''But the bad guys and shady companies can end up hurting it. I'm always worried that something bad is going to happen. And it will reflect bad on us.''...More?

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