MMA overcomes obstacles toward mainstream

Over the past 15 years, mixed martial arts has thrived as a spectator sport and exploded as a pay-per-view phenomenon.

Amazingly, the sport has done so with minimal mainstream exposure.

MMA’s rapid ascension through the sports hierarchy has forced traditional media sources to pay attention.

Roland Sarria has capitalized on this trend, and “Rage in the Cage”—Southern Arizona’s premier MMA orginization—is drawing larger crowds than he could have ever expected.

“It’s taken 10 years to get where we’re at with ‘Rage in the Cage,’” Sarria said, “but all the rough patches have been worth it. Our sport is here to stay.”

For Friday night’s RITC 96 event, 22 fighters—15 from the Tucson area—performed in front of a capacity crowd at the Desert Diamond Casino.

Between the action inside the octagon, the hard-rock music and the extravagant light shows that greeted each fighter’s ring entrance, Sarria’s product is fully developed to appeal to MMA’s primary audience.

“The funny thing is, I started ‘Rage in the Cage’ with an idea of who our audience would be, but it has evolved in ways I couldn’t have ever imagined,” Sarria said. “Most of our fans are white-collar individuals with families and college degrees—same as our fighters.”

Finding that audience, however, was a struggle initially.

Without any other promotion tools at his disposal, Sarria printed his own fliers and posters while going door-to-door to get the word out regarding his first RITC events in the Phoenix area.

At the same time, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was encountering troubles of its own. Arizona Sen. John McCain called MMA “human cockfighting” and led a campaign to ban the sport.

After the sport enacted some much-needed changes to preserve the safety of its fighters, UFC became a pay-per-view and DVD sensation, with fighters like Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie leading the way.

“I grew up watching all those guys and fell in love with the sport,” said RITC Southwest Heavyweight champion Andy Montana. “It’s looked at as brutal by some people, but that’s just a misconception.”

Montana, a former Casa Grande High School wrestling star, has compiled an 18-10 record. His first title fight ended in 24 seconds after his opponent, Chad Stubbs from Los Angeles, tapped out after absorbing three open-handed shots to the head.

Montana, 29, dedicated his victory to his father, Joe, who recently suffered a stroke.

“Without my dad, I wouldn’t have the strength to get in there and fight, so this one’s for him,” Montana said.

After his big win, Montana, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, soaked in the applause from a fired-up audience.

Dom Alexander—another crowd favorite—drew his inspiration from a different source.

“Anyone who performs mixed martial arts and says they’re not inspired by Bruce Lee is a liar,” Alexander said. “He’s the man responsible for this sport’s popularity with today’s generation.”

Alexander, 32, teaches self-defense classes at Ultima Martial Arts Center in Tucson. He said he learned a lot in his first appearance in the octagon and plans to take those lessons back to his students.

“In a class setting, you’re always trying to simulate a real-world attack scenario, but there’s just no substitute for the real thing,” Alexander said.

After a pair of knees to the midsection, Alexander kept his opponent, Jason Cunningham, at bay with an assortment of jabs and kicks. With Cunningham failing to mount an offense or effectively defend against Alexander’s attack, the referee stopped the bout at 2 minutes, 14 seconds of round one.

Alexander said it could’ve been an entirely different fight had Cunningham gotten him to the ground and implemented his “ground and pound” techniques, but he was quick to commend the referee for keeping the safety of the fighters in mind.

“That is the biggest issue our sport faces—the misconception that MMA is a brutal, violent and boorish activity,” Alexander said. “If you’re looking for a bunch of thugs, you’re in the wrong place. We’re all students, and we’re in the octagon to test each other.”

Before his career as a self-defense teacher, Alexander worked in a hospital and said the worst sports-related injuries he came across were suffered by football players and boxers.

Alexander claims that in the years he has been following MMA, he has yet to witness a serious injury to a fighter.

The numbers back him up. There has yet to be a death or crippling injury in a sanctioned MMA event in North America.

After his bout, Alexander was in the dressing room, joking around with his fellow combatants and sharing a spirited conversation with Cunningham about their bout.

“There is a level of camaraderie in our sport that is unparalleled,” Alexander said.

Another hot topic among the fighters was tonight’s UFC 72 pay-per-view card, featuring popular middleweight Rich Franklin, as well as fan-favorites Forrest Griffin and Hector Ramirez.

In 2007, UFC pay-per-view cards have drawn an estimated $200 million, boosted by the hype generated for the Chuck Liddell versus Quinton Jackson bout on May 26.

Spike TV bought the rights to broadcast UFC bouts in 2005, with the telecasts ranking among the highest-rated cable programs in the nation.

With fan demand at an all-time high, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Fox Sports have recently started to cover the higher-profile MMA events.

Yet with all of the overwhelming fan interest, Sarria said the media has been slow to come around on the sport’s popularity.

“Some people hold a prejudice against mixed martial arts, and we’re doing everything we can to educate people about our sport,” Sarria said. “Mixed martial arts is only going to grow in popularity.”

The next RITC event at the Desert Diamond Casino is scheduled for Aug. 18.

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