Issue 069
December 2010
Martin ‘Bomber’ Guggerty, a former special forces operative who saw action and was highly decorated in the conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan as a 19-year-old soldier, has just become the world light heavyweight champion.
From the obscurity of fighting for his country a decade earlier, five years full time in mixed martial arts – or the Ultimate Fighting Championship World Series as the professional arm of the sport is now universally known – has taken the 29-year-old to the pinnacle of the sport.
Entering as the underdog, he has submitted a legend in the Octagon, a man by the name of Jon ‘Bones’ Jones – some critics insist that Jones was a spent force. He has made $40 million in career earnings. The victory brings Guggerty millions of dollars in wealth, huge endorsements from sponsors and instantaneous recognition from a few billion fans.
The day after Guggerty’s triumph at the UFCdome in Las Vegas, a purpose-built stadium on the end of the Las Vegas strip, where ZuffaII had demolished a crumbling monolithic hotel two years earlier, news breaks that MMA has finally received a full blessing from the International Olympic Committee’s executive voting panel of members.
It was a close run thing, but, like tennis and golf before it, the IOC membership have been lobbied and overwhelmed by global popularity for the hybrid combat sport.
It will make its full medal-status debut in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, in 2024, in amateur form, in the host city of Las Vegas, where women’s MMA will become an exhibition sport for the first time.
The UFC dome will host the Olympic competition. Each seat has a fold-up mini screen with all the action and replay recall at the control of a button. Every fan in the 50,000-seater stadium can also judge the unfinished fights, the fans’ decree computed and broadcast on a screen after the judges’ verdicts are read out by a silver-haired Joe Rogan.
There are plans to create UFCdomes in ten major capitals worldwide. Dana White, president of the organization, believes the project will be complete in a decade. “I said we would make this the biggest sport in the world, and we are now halfway there,” White tells a packed news conference, broadcast worldwide.
Around the globe, the sport enjoys widespread awareness. It still has its abolitionists. Madison Square Garden (MSG) hosts an event every three months, while London and Manchester, Sydney and Melbourne, Montreal and Toronto all share six events in their respective countries yearly. Three of those are guaranteed world-title events. All shows in the major cities are pay-per-view, held mainly in football stadia with retractable roofs. One of the issues, for ZuffaEurope and ZuffaOz, is to increase attendance from 40,000 to 75,000 for major events. Tickets are at a premium, but not expensive.
The UFC World Series is dominated by fighters from Russia, China, the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and Brazil. It’s also currently enjoying a surge of support in Italy, where Brazilian jiu-jitsu has taken hold, and the sport has been booming through action on the mat. The UFC super heavyweight world champion is from China: ‘Long’ Dong Mei, a 7ft-tall half-Mongolian powerhouse weighing in at 290lb, who has made ten defenses of his title. There are estimated to be three billion fans worldwide.
The industry generates $3 billion a year, through subscription, phone apps, pay-per-view and merchandise sales.
TapouT, once a name in clothing and fight equipment, has TapiN restaurants across the US, serving either meat-based dishes or specially calibrated high-nutrition meals, with giant diners opening in London, Berlin and Sydney.
Fox Sports, HBO and ESPN each have a dedicated UFC channel, on which there are replays, and live weekly action on Friday and Saturday nights. The amateur arm of the sport, known as MMA, is televised on a Wednesday.
Marc Ratner, once the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, is president of the World Mixed Martial Arts Federation, the sport’s governing body. He has outlawed any steroid use, with a lifetime ban for any athlete caught abusing the rules.
For many in the third world, success in the Octagon Combat Zone can mean emancipation from poverty and an immediate ticket to riches. Young fighters leave their homes in African townships seeking their fortunes. The UFC World Series Foundation, the charity branch of the professional sport, has a close working relationship with delinquency action groups and law enforcement agencies.
Kenny Florian, host of the sport’s most popular show, UFC Worldwide, is in demand as color commentator and anchor. He is joined at the Octagon apron by regulars Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Rashad Evans.
A group of politicians from the United Nations lobbies against the sport, insisting it exploits the most impoverished communities. Yet that remains contrary to the evidence. Youth leaders in many deprived areas insist it creates a discipline in teenage minds, breaks down barriers and lessens the carrying of guns and knives on the streets. To date, there have been five deaths in the sport.
UFC 420 is announced as taking place in New York, at MSG, at New Year. It is the 20th event to be held there. Spectators must be over 16 years of age. On the same day, there is unease about the prospect of the first man vs woman MMA fight being sanctioned on a small-hall show in Washington State.
Gareth A Davies is boxing and MMA correspondent for The London Telegraph.
First published in October 2020.
