UFC's ultraviolent bouts gain fans, acceptance

PHILADELPHIA | It is after midnight in the steamy Wachovia Center, and a youthful, raucous crowd of more than 17,000 is on its feet.

Kenny Florian is not.

Florian lies on his back in an eight-sided cage, on the cusp of unconsciousness. Amid a tangled web of limbs, he struggles to break free from the grasp of B.J. Penn, a sturdy Hawaiian whose python right arm is wrapped around Florian's neck.

Within seconds, Florian's world goes black. He doesn't hear the crescendo of spectators, now in a frenzy. A second later, the referee steps in. The fight is over.

This is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the most dominant player in mixed martial arts and one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Once an underground operation in a sport considered too wild and violent to count as legitimate athletics, UFC now not only is moving into the mainstream but is one of the sports world's hottest properties.

A sport that had been shunned by parents, banned by states and rejected by broadcast networks and cable operators for its brutality now sets pay-per-view records and is televised live in dozens of countries.

In July, UFC held its first-ever fan expo, drawing 30,000 to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Last Saturday's event in Philadelphia — dubbed "UFC 101" because it was the 101st event of its kind — earned a live gate of $3.5 million, the largest ever for a fight in Pennsylvania.

Even in a tough economy, UFC now is so powerful a draw that fans forked over $50 to watch the bouts at Wachovia from the worst seats in the house, with many lower bowl seats selling for $600.

UFC this year is expected to earn more than $300 million just from the hundreds of thousands of fans tuning into events on pay per view nearly every month. Forbes magazine last year valued UFC at more than $1 billion — more than 500 times what it sold for a decade ago.

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