Total MMA : Inside Ultimate Fighting

from The Ultimate Fighting Championship's (ufc) Meager Beginnings To Its Present-day Glory, This In-depth Chronology Reveals All The Information Needed To Understand The Contemporary World Of Mixed Martial Arts, Where The Backroom Deal-making Is As Fierce As The Fighting. Between The Ufc's Controversial President, Dana White, The Political Persecution That The Sport Has Suffered From Politicians Like John Mccain, And The Tumultuous Careers Of Its Greatest Stars, Mixed Martial Arts (mma) Competition Has Garnered More Than Its Fair Share Of The Spotlight In Recent Years. This Thorough History Provides Fans With The Whole Story Behind The Ultimate Fighting Championship, Including Profiles Of Mma's Greatest Stars Such As Ken Shamrock; The Immense Popularity Of Mixed Martial Arts Events In Japan; The Influence Of The Fertitta Family, Whose Las Vegas Connections Opened The Door For The Ufc To Succeed; And, Finally, Spike Tv’s Role In Making Mixed Martial Arts A National Obsession. cbssports.com a Definitive History Of The Sport, And It Tackles Just About Every Major Figure And Event In The Sport's History. Since the beginning of time, men have engaged in hand-to-hand combat. In Ancient Greece, they called it Pankration, a no-holds-barred battle. Over time, one complete combat system was replaced by a variety of limited ones like karate, boxing, and wrestling. In the modern age this created an eternal question: who was tougher? Could a boxer beat a wrestler? Could a kung fu artist dispose of a jiu jitsu man? The Ultimate Fighting Championship answered those questions emphatically in 1993 — and Mixed Martial Arts was born. Early stars like Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie propelled this new sport into the North American public's consciousness while pro wrestlers Nobuhiko Takada and Masakatsu Funaki led a parallel evolution in Japan, where cultural forces led to fighters becoming mainstream celebrities. With no television contract and little publicity budget to speak of, the UFC was forced to adopt an aggressive marketing scheme to get public attention. The potential for carnage and blood was played up and a predictable media outcry soon followed. Politicians, led by Arizona Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain, were able to ban the sport in most states and even managed to suspend pay-per-view broadcasts. While the popularity of MMA was at an all-time-high in Japan, MMA failed to thrive in America until Spike TV finally took a chance on the controversial sport and The Ultimate Fighter thrust mixed martial arts back into the mainstream, creating new mega-stars like Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans, and breathing new life into old favourites. For the first time, Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting arms you with all the history and information you need to know to understand the contemporary world of Mixed Martial Arts, where the backroom deal-making is as fierce as the fighting. Copyright 3 Table of Contents 4 Introduction 6 1 The Birth of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 10 2 The War of the Worlds 25 3 Fight Night 34 4 Hybrid Wrestling: Pancrase 44 5 The Lion’s Den 58 6 The Tournament 73 7 The Great UFC PR Battle 86 8 Pride Arrives 98 9 Remodeling the UFC 112 10 Frank Shamrock and the Alliance 123 11 Gracie vs. Saku 149 12 Enter the Fertittas 160 13 The UFC Survives 174 14 MFS 184 15 Tito vs. the Lion’s Den 196 16 Randy vs. Chuck 206 17 The Growth of Pride 219 18 The Ultimate Fighter 230 19 Post-TUF 243 20 Pride Before the Fall 259 21 TUF 3 272 22 Ortiz vs. Liddell 281 23 Bob Sapp 289 24 The Return of Captain America 304 25 Rampage 329 26 UFC Buys Pride 343 27 The Couture Controversy 353 28 Upsets 366 29 The Battle for Britain 381 30 Looking Forward 395 31 Challenges 414 Endnotes 429 Photo Credits 441 The UFC is a juggernaut now, but it's been a rollercoaster ride. Its aggressive, blood-stained marketing brought an unpredictable media outcry. Then in 2005, Spike TV took a chance on MMA, thrusting the UFC into the mainstream Chronicles the rise of the sport of mixed martial arts from the Ultimate Fighting Championship's beginnings in 1993 to its present-day popularity