Ultimate fighting on the rise after slow start
John McCarthy guides Ken Shamrock into the arena to fight Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight bout as part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship 61 in Las Vegas on Saturday. Ortiz defeated Shamrock in the bout. After nearly folding in 2003, the league is The Associated Press
July 12, 2006
NEW YORK – Shortly after a group of investors bought the nearly bankrupt Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001, the company put on a pay-per-view bout.
But the fight ran over its allotted time. Angry viewers didn’t get to see the conclusion.
“It was a very bad start,” UFC President Dana White acknowledged. “It took us a long time to rebuild.”
UFC has since found its legs and it’s making money. The privately held Las Vegas-based company has been slowly bolstering its brand, forging a successful relationship with cable network Spike TV and reshaping attitudes about the violent sport.
More importantly to the bottom line, UFC has begun to attract impressive audiences with each of its pay-per-view fights, appealing to young men who yearn for a good slugfest in the absence of a strong heavyweight boxing card.
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UFC is mixture of martial arts, boxing and wrestling. The best fighters have mastered elements of all three sports.
But this is not Wrestlemania. The punches and kicks are real. The fighters are dead serious.
“You have to be able to wrestle, strike and do submission,” UFC lightweight champion Chuck Liddell said. “You have to be good at all three or you won’t last long. The fighters have evolved.”
Already sanctioned in more than 20 states, UFC has ambitions as big as the casinos in which its fighters duke it out.
The organization wants to legalize the sport nationwide, including New York, one of the biggest and most lucrative fight markets.
The UFC surprised the boxing world, hiring Marc Ratner, longtime executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, and John Mulkey, a former managing director at Wachovia Securities and Bear Stearns Co.
Ratner, who began in May, serves as vice president of Zuffa LLC, UFC’s parent company, while Mulkey was named chief financial officer.
Ratner brings credibility to the UFC, which has been trying to prove it’s a safe and serious sport and one worthy of coverage.
“The biggest misconception that I’ve seen is that some people still think it’s anything goes and there are no rules,” Ratner said. “These guys are tremendous athletes.”
White said UFC almost folded in 2003.
But its fortunes began to change with a reality show on Spike TV called “Ultimate Fighter” that has given UFC its biggest stage, averaging 2.2 million viewers in its third season.
