BY WADE KELLER

Fifteen years ago this week, the sport not yet dubbed Mixed Martial Arts, was the subject of debate on CNN. UFC, only two years old, was the centerpiece of controversy as the general public and media were trying to figure out whether this was barbaric human cockfighting (as Sen. John McCain decried) or the next big fighting sport to overtake boxing. The following is my cover story in the Torch Newsletter on the debate that rose to new levels 15 years ago this week.

HEADLINE Hybrid fighting subject of debate on CNN
SUBHEADLINE: Media controversy gives UFC8 publicity no advertising budget could have supplied
COVER DATE: December 16, 1995
TORCH NEWSLETTER #365
By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET, the second-most hyped pay-per-view of the year (behind Mike Tyson's return) will take place and it's not a worked pro wrestling event. In the past month, the Ultimate Fighting Championships has been the subject of media coverage on Larry King Live, NBC's Today show, The New York Post, and many other newspapers, TV shows, and radio shows. Due to the increased public awareness and intrigue that casual viewers of this media coverage must feel, UFC8 will receive the largest audience to date since hybrid fighting debuted on pay-per-view over two years ago.

What timing. The line-up of fighters at UFC8 is by the far the strongest to date for any hybrid tournament and should provide the best example of what UFC can be at its best.

The event itself has been moved to 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. at Denver's Mammoth Center) to avoid a time conflict with the free Tyson fight on Fox television earlier that evening. That means the event will run until nearly 1 a.m. ET.

The virtually one-sided negative publicity barrage that UFC received last month shifted to a more balanced representation in the last week. Meanwhile, Denver mayor Wellington Webb's attempts to get UFC booted out of his town failed to work as UFC moved their event to the privately owned Mammoth Events Center in Denver. Although a blow to UFC in terms of losing the gate at the larger National Western Events Center, UFC has gained a lot more in publicity in exchange.

A Dec. 6 article in the Rocky Mountain News addressed the Denver City Council meeting where the issue was discussed and the mayor was criticized for his crusade against UFC.

"I have a very hard time with this," Councilwomen Cathy Reynolds told Webb at the weekly mayor-council meeting. "I do not support censoring the use of city facilities."

Councilman Hiawatha Davis defended UFC, citing that he had been to both previous UFC events in Denver while no one else at the meeting had. He said, as quoted in the News: "This whole legal challenge is an overreaction." He said, despite evidence of the 20 second clips which isolated the most severe footage, it is for the most part boring after a while.

Denver Post columnist Chuck Green, who had called UFC's concept "disgusting" and "morbid" and its audience "sick," tempered his comments to calling the event merely "controversial" in his Dec. 16 follow-up article. He also cited that while the city was boasting about having banned UFC from the publicly owned Events Center, they failed to give UFC promoters the courtesy of a phone call to let them know of the cancellation.

Dec. 5 Bryant Gumble on NBC's Today show and Dec. 6 Larry King on CNN's nightly live talk show dedicated segments to the subject.

In the opening of his CNN show, Larry King said, "Tonight a look at this frightening new fad that may be coming to your town" and called UFC a "new pop culture phase." However, as the night went on, he did not seem to be as appalled as his two guests at what he knew of the concept, one of whom barely talked (Las Vegas athletic commissioner Marc Ratner) and another who showed no reasoning skills or apparent ability to think for himself (Sen. John McCain).

McCain said the UFC "nauseates even the most hardened individuals" and "appeals to the lowest common denominator." He said UFC emphasizes blood and crippling.

Movie actor Robert Conrad called the show a few minutes later and said he was unhappy to find out he is a member of the lowest common denominator. Conrad said he's been involved in martial arts and boxing for decades and only at boxing events has he ever seen anyone knocked out. "I'm surprise, shocked that John is involved in this. Balance the budget, Senator."

McCain at first said he had no comment, but after prompting by King said, "If he's not appalled, we have nothing in common."

Super Fight champion Ken Shamrock and promoter Bob Meyerowitz represented UFC. Both did a good job representing UFC and came across as intelligent individuals who had well-thought-out arguments.

McCain and Ratner lost credibility early in the show when they said the UFC had been banned in New York. Meyerowitz quickly pointed out that they had only tried to run one show in New York and did so successfully - in Buffalo. When the banning of the EFC hybrid fight in Brookyn, N.Y. was brought up, Meyerowitz distanced himself from off-shoot groups, citing UFC's record of taking appropriate medical precautions at events. McCain flippantly said there was no difference between UFC and the off-shoots.

McCain, who boxed in his younger days, referred to boxing as a legitimate sport because there are rules, referees, and doctors at ringside. Meyerowitz then pointed out that UFC also features every one of those qualities. Meyerowitz said UFC would welcome being regulated, but pointed out that they now follow all policies that a commission would likely require of them.

The only argument the least bit compelling by McCain and Ratner was the idea that when a man is down, he can be kneed or elbowed, and that, unlike in any other sport, it is considered within the rules. Otherwise, their arguments regarding gloves vs. bare fists, regarding fighters' intent to maim, and that it was not a sport all would have gotten him flunked out of a college debate class. McCain resorted to citing other's opinions without stating what their opinions were based on. He cited that 36 state athletic commissions unanimously voted to ban UFC, a collective decision that could be based on many factors outside of sound, educated reason. There is a compelling argument to be made that hybrid fighting entails aspects that are overly dangerous and should somehow be curtailed, but McCain and Ratner provided no such arguments.

Meyerowitz pointed out that in two years there has yet to be a serious injury to a UFC fighter. McCain jumped in, saying they were just lucky. Meyerowitz said that is just an opinion, but the fact is, no one has been injured seriously, which is a far cry from what any proponent of boxing can claim.

Meyerowitz also pointed out that UFC is not on broadcast television and thus not available to anyone just flipping channels, but instead has to be specifically ordered. He said people in increasing numbers have been making the choice of ordering the events.

Shamrock took some blows at worked pro wrestling. King asked Shamrock if UFC fights were real or if they were staged like traditional pro wrestling. Shamrock said that the fights are real and added that the media aren't going after worked pro wrestling even though it's aimed at kids. He said kids see fighters on TV cutting each other and hitting each other with bare fists and that they don't know that it's staged.

Shamrock also explained to King that no "bruiser" (or less skilled brawler) has ever been successful in UFC. He said the smaller, technically skilled fighters have been able to eventually defeat the larger, sometimes more brutal "bruisers," evidence that UFC is a sport.

Although King entered the program with obviously little or no knowledge about hybrid fighting, by the end of the show he was clearly unconvinced that UFC was a "frightening" concept, as he read in his scripted introduction. He even pointed out that men have been killed in boxing when McCain was trying to stress the attributes of boxing over UFC.

Mayor Webb was no more successful on the Today Show convincing host Bryant Gumble that the event should be banned.

This debate isn't over yet. As people become more informed, if nothing else the level of discussion by the opponents should become more reasoned and well-thought-out. So far, the opponents have been reacting in a kneejerk fashion to misrepresentations and generalization about hybrid fighting. Some opponents will probably watch UFC8. Many on both sides of the issue have, prematurely in many cases, dug their heels into the sand on this one and may have too much pride to back down on their opinions. UFC8 is the most important test yet for whether the hybrid fighting sport will become a permanent part of America's landscape.

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