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Home , Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Heath Herring, Kevin Randleman, Marc Ratner, Quinton Jackson

22 WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMEN PURVIS OCTOBER 19-25, 2006 OCTOBER 19-25, 2006 PHOTOGRAPH BY WESLEY GATBONTON LAS VEGAS WEEKLY 23 As becomes a phenomenon in the U.S., Las Vegas is poised to become its capital BY JOSHUA LONGOBARDY

SINCE THE EARLY ’70s, when Bruce bearing maximal cleavage; and of course Lee incorporated various disciplines of the celebrities, like Carey Hart and Jenna unarmed combat into his style, the Jameson. Most of whom had shown up for sport of mixed martial arts has been BIG. the actual fights, and not just the social Like Tyson-Holyfield II BIG. Like NCAA event UFC’s shows have become. Final Four Championships BIG. Like “The last match I worked as part Super Bowl BIG. (Think 90,000 insatiable of the State Athletic Commission fans at National Stadium for Pride was the -Ricardo Fighting Championship’s Shockwave/ Mayorga fight (which, you know, was a Dynamite event, cheering and anguish- major event), and at the first match of the ing as if the world depended on the out- undercard there was no more than 500 come of each fight.) people scattered across the arena,” said But just not in America, where mixed , who attended thousands of martial arts—otherwise known as fights as executive director of the NSAC. MMA—is just starting to grow. It used “But at the Liddell-Sobral fight, there was to be that fighters like Heath Herring a good 5,000 watching the first fight.” and , two Las Vegas And they stayed to watch the main guys who do combat with more than just event, with volcanic enthusiasm—the type their hands, and without anything to of noise and energy typical of big American assist them but four- to six-ounce gloves spectacles and consistent with the atmo- on their knuckles, had to go east, to the sphere of the Strip—cheering on Liddell as other side of the world, where mixed he waged battle with the challenger inside gives his warmest regards to Babalu Sobral. martial arts was BIG enough to make UFC’s trademark Octagon ring, 38 feet in them more than a daily wage: It made diameter and enclosed by a cage fence four them into celebrities. Saturday Night Raw with first match of the night’s card commenced feet high and locked shut. But then, in 2001, the Ultimate the Lean, Mean, Ultimate three hours earlier and then erupted by They cheered even louder when Liddell Fighting Championship organization Fighting Machine the time the champion Liddell emerged won, knocking Sobral out with a dozen was reborn in the States, and, spear- August 26, 2006: from the locker room, with Sobral already strikes and one concussive blow. Sobral, headed by owners the Fertitta family, Before a loud and lively crowd at the out and ready for him. And that’s because a crafty Brazilian well-versed in many of of Station Casinos fame, just last year Mandalay Bay Events Center, UFC super- most of “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell’s the sport’s disciplines, such as jiu-jitsu and it made MMA big business in America. stars Chuck Liddell and fights end by way of first-round . , blew his load early and ran Not yet BIG, but large enough that two put on stellar shows in their respective Sobral had been waiting to fight Liddell straight into his demise just one minute new major players in Las Vegas, attor- fights. And like all big-time fighters before since 2002, his last loss, which came to the and 35 seconds into the first round. neys Louis Palazzo and Ross Goodman, them, they got the Saturday night party on hands of Liddell. At 6 feet, 3 inches and As it oftentimes happens in the UFC, would start a new MMA organization the Las Vegas Strip off to a dynamic start. 205 pounds, with a Mohawk, a slight beer the fight was so quick, wild and dictated right here in Las Vegas, and pour tons of The main event, Liddell’s bout against gut and very heavy hands, Liddell was by primal instincts that even this cham- money into signing fighters like Herring. Renato “Babalu” Sobral, was a title fight, waiting for him too, with the raucous sup- pionship bout featuring two of the most And large enough that a BIG organiza- for the light champion- port of the crowd behind him. well-prepared fighters in the world turned tion like Pride FC in , for which ship belt, and so it was scheduled for five Nobody in the UFC is adored by the into a brawl lacking art or science. But Randleman fights, would bring its first rounds instead of three, like most UFC masses the way Liddell is. There were this, in essence, strikes a primordial chord show to America this Saturday, October fights. But few anticipated it to last that 9,000 in attendance, and they formed a in the audience, and they left the arena on 21, at the Thomas & Mack Center. Not yet long, evinced by the general antsiness in crowd typical of UFC events: bad dudes in Saturday night absolutely invigorated. BIG, but just about there. the crowd, which was rumbling when the Tapout T-shirts and their bad-ass chicks, “Ah man, I’m so fucking pumped,”

24 LAS VEGAS WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUIE TRAUB OCTOBER 19-25, 2006 said David Knight, a 29-year-old fan from which host small events just about every . “That was an incredible fight, week of the year, and an MMA fighter and now I have Vegas in front of me, baby. must surmount these before he can reach “Whooooooooooooo!” UFC, Pride or, now, the WFA—and the On the contrary, Griffin’s fight against WFA is by far the coolest, the most open- demonstrated that pro- minded, and they are serious about this. fessional mixed martial arts is not just Heath Herring, veteran Pride and K-1 two pit bulls unleashed within a locked fighter out of Las Vegas who just made big cage. In three rounds of sustained action news in the MMA world by signing with and calculated strikes, Griffin and Bonnar the WFA on October 3, and will thus be showed that there is thought, tactic and returning to home soil for the first time in above all timidity in the cage. That is, two seven years (as told to mmaweekly.com): I human beings vying to win a competition. actually called Quinton up and asked him Both young fighters got their start in about these guys. He said they were good the organization on UFC’s reality series, guys. I know Jeremy Lappen, who is CEO , on Spike TV. The of the company, and I think there are some show, now in its fourth season, has been intelligent people behind this company the medium of UFC’s prodigious growth that know what they’re doing. throughout America, says UFC’s president If you had a good deal of money and micromanager of all its operations, to start an MMA organization, as it . For not only did it expose appears the WFA does, would you focus the fledging sport to the masses, it also your operations in Las Vegas? acquainted the fans with individual ath- Brandon Adamson, an MMA fighter letes like Bonnar, 29, and Griffin, 27. So from the esteemed Miletich camp that on Saturday night, when they fought in : Definitely. Vegas is the fight capi- the rematch of their legendary battle at tal of the world. The majority of the fight- the conclusion of the show’s first season, it ers here are elite. was as if the fans in the crowd were cheer- UFC President Dana White: For us, Las ing for friends or even family. Vegas was the natural decision. The fight went all three rounds, and Scott Ence, part owner of Fight Club, in the end of a close and bloody match, near Valley View Boulevard and Tropicana the judges declared Griffin the winner. Avenue: Las Vegas is the best now. There’s After the fight, as is customary at MMA Forrest Griffin strikes the pose. gyms popping up all the time, and you can events, a microphone was handed to train in them side by side with top-class Griffin in the middle of the Octagon, half ago, when pay-per-view sales hovered At the press conference following athletes. It all goes back to the UFC and so that he would seduce the crowd into around a respectable 280,000 (at $34.95 the fight, at which the BIG media was the success they’ve had. We have a lot of loving him, because just as the gladiators each), and four years before that, when the absent—the and the USA Todays UFC fighters who train at our own gym. in ancient Rome knew, winning over the new UFC had been raised from the grave and the Sports Illustrateds—Dana White Jeremy Lappen, who revived the dor- coliseum is critical. by its risk-taking owners, Dana White and introduced Liddell as the light heavy- mant WFA early this year with the mon- Griffin did. the Station Casinos moguls, Frank and weight champion of the world. This, by etary backing of Las Vegas attorneys Louis And they cheered him, like a hero. . and large, was not accurate, because there Palazzo and Ross Goodman (as told to Yet, he would later say that he does not The UFC has been around since 1993, is competition Liddell must first conquer Whaledog.com): Everyone saw how suc- yet feel like a celebrity; and that’s because but for good reason it suffered the bad rep- before earning that status. Even Liddell cessful the UFC was; everyone sees there’s the UFC in specific, and MMA in general, utation of being little more than human understood this, and so he, who will now money in it. We wanted to resurrect is not yet BIG in America. cockfighting. Even Marc Ratner, then fight fellow UFC superstar on the WFA brand. We have money and the Not BIG like Oscar De La Hoya, who the venerable head of the Nevada State December 30, pointed out on several occa- political power to compete with [the sold more than 1 million pay-per-view Athletic Commission, went on TV and sions that he wants nothing more than to UFC’s parent company]. The UFC needs subscriptions for his fight last May, and said the UFC would never take place in fight the best: , a Brazilian competition. Without it, they cannot go as made over $20 million for himself when Nevada. But then White and the Fertittas warrior from the Pride organization, and far as they want to. it was all said and done. Not yet BIG took over, and got the sport regulated— Rampage Jackson, the formidable bulldog , one of the world’s best 145- like Mike Tyson, whose selling power gave it rules, weight classes, fight doctors, from MMA’s newest sensation in America, pound fighters, on why, in mid-September, has been so strong during the past two judges—and then got Ratner not only to the . he chose to sign with the WFA: They offered decades—not only bringing in hundreds endorse the sport, but also to do so, start- me really good money compared to what of millions of dollars in merchandise, ing in May of this year, as part of his new A Few Bare-Knuckled the UFC does. advertisements, ticket sales and pay-per- job: the vice president of government and Questions About the Dana, whenever we speak to MMA view buys, but also sparking a substantial regulatory affairs for the UFC. Upstart WFA fans, they without fail bring up fight- increase in the Las Vegas economy dur- “No sane businessman would have got- Why did you sign with the new- ers’ salaries in the UFC, and— ing the weekend of any of his fights—that ten into mixed martial arts in America est organization, the World Fighting UFC President Dana White: How do even now, old, washed-up and disgraced, when we did,” said White, who owns 10 Alliance [WFA]? they know what my fighters make? We’re he has been recruited by UFC’s competi- percent of the UFC but receives 90 percent Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, former not boxing, we’re not the NBA, and we tion in Japan, the MMA organization of the credit for its hard-earned success. Pride superstar and the last man to beat the don’t operate under the guidelines of those Pride Fighting Championship. “The turnaround came with a lot of hard UFC’s Chuck Liddell, after participating in sports. Problems arise when everyone But the UFC, a pay-per-view business work over the last six years. It feels like it’s the WFA’s first event, in July 2006: To be knows how much you make. Does every- that now holds five or six events a year and been 60 years.” real. I’ve fought for a number of different one know how much you make? Listen, is set to begin holding events in Mexico and Now MMA has been approved by ath- organizations—it’s true: There are several my guys are smart—Chuck Liddell got a other countries, is getting there, the num- letic commissions in 20 states, and by all grassroots organizations around the world degree in accounting from Cal Poly; Rich bers indicate. On this night tickets sold for indications, MMA insiders say, the other between $100 and $750, and more than 30 are soon to follow. For, now, on account $3 million poured in through Mandalay of the bountiful field the UFC has plowed, [WHAT IS MMA?] Bay Event Center’s gates. These days UFC there is good money to be harvested off events, above all those featuring Liddell or MMA in America, MMA observers have JIU-JITSU: In short, submission wrestling. A sly and graceful form of Griffin, surpass 400,000 in pay-per-view stated on sports Internet sites and in fea- on the ground in which smaller men can make bigger men say uncle by manipu- buys (at $39.95 each) around the nation, ture articles in major American newspa- lating leverage. : The art of eight limbs. This discipline emphasizes and pack as many as 17,000 fans into the pers. The West is becoming fertile ground eight points of striking, the hands and shins and elbows and knees, and makes one arenas, for the most part in Las Vegas. for MMA events. think he’s engaged in underwater battle with an octopus. KARATE: Ever seen The (To put things in perspective: the World And now UFC fighters are almost Karate Kid? BOXING: The sweet science. A discipline of fighting in which combat Wrestling Entertainment, a BIG entertain- famous. “I do get some fan mail, and a lot is limited to the hands. Ali proved it to be an art as well. KICKBOXING: Just as er in America, routinely does 550,000 pay- of hellos and hand shakes at the super- the name implies: Boxing, but with the permission to with the lower legs. per-view buys for its major shows.) Which market,” said Griffin. “But I don’t feel like WRESTLING: Like they do in the Olympics, not the WWE. is a significant spike from just a year and a a celebrity yet.”

OCTOBER 19-25, 2006 PHOTOGRAPH BY WESLEY GATBONTON LAS VEGAS WEEKLY 25 Franklin was a math teacher—don’t you mouth superstar from UFC. Whom think they’d be aware if they were being Kevin says he would fight for free. Any cheated? When one of them leaves me or place, any time. Or, if it were a known even complains, that will be news. pedophile, whom Kevin might continue , as told to Las Vegas pounding long after the bell rung.) Weekly in July: The WFA’s paycheck blew The ring. The thought made him antsy. everyone out the water. So antsy he cut short his prescribed rest Lappen (to Whaledog.com): We’re try- time. Just wanted to get back to train- ing to build a fighter-first organization. ing, to fighting. His girlfriend sighs, says My experience is that the UFC tries to he’s hardheaded, but what are you gonna build their brand, not their fighters. Even do? She chose to cook for him, get his now, with the UFC’s success, it’s still: body weight back up to a solid, shredded, Who’s Chuck Liddell? Where’s he from? spectacular 215 pounds. To take care of Jackson, on the different approach the his website, his affairs. Even his phone WFA has taken to promoting: We went calls sometimes. Whatever it takes to to the nightclubs. They were drunk in spare her man the time and concentra- there—they didn’t know who I was. But if tion needed to train. Now, for Mauricio that’s how you gotta do it now ... Shogun Rua. Or just Show-Gun. His Lappen: We’re trying to get the opponent this Saturday, October 21. No news out to the masses. Make our doubt impressive and dangerous. fighters known. And the WFA, which, like most sports Pride, with its BIG following back east, that aren’t yet BIG in America (such as the old world, and its preeminent spot in bodybuilding, drift racing), relies on Internet the universe of mixed martial arts, has Kevin Randleman spars with Brandon Adamson. sites first and foremost, in a statement decided to hold its first card in America. issued through Sherdog.com on October 3: Without hesitation, Pride chose Las Vegas, The World Fighting Alliance will return —11:00 a.m., Mon. - Sat.: Boxing and 2004, this was. what UFC president Dana White, and with its second event, at the Aladdin Muay Thai practice (sparring on t/w/th) Went overseas. To Pride, in Japan, boxing patriarch Don King before him, Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, —6:30 p.m., Mon. - Sat.: Wrestling and where fighting is BIG. Has been BIG since calls the fight capital of the world. Or just, on December 9. Newcomers to the WFA Jiu-Jitsu practice the turn of the 21st century, in fact. Pride as Associated Press sports reporter Tim Urijah Faber and Heath Herring will be He works out with the best competi- wanted him there. Wanted his charm, Dahlberg puts it: “Fight Town.” featured in respective matches, as will tion possible. Sometimes with guys from his charisma, his gesticulate speech. His Pride officials saw that the market for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. the UFC, like Forrest Griffin and Joe fast hands, his supernatural athleticism, MMA had been cultivated in America Stevenson. Sometimes with guys from his doctorate in wrestling. They paid by the UFC, their competitors; and their The Ballad of Pride Fighter Pride, like Hammer House teammate him better there. The competition was presence in Southern Nevada this autumn Kevin Randleman . Or, other times, with any superior there—for these weren’t just the speaks volumes in regard to how fertile A congenital fighter, Kevin of the myriad top-notch fighters who have baddest dudes from America, they were that field has become, say MMA insiders. Randleman just wants to get in the ring come to train in what Randleman calls the baddest dudes from Brazil and Russia So fertile, in fact, that Pride is even willing again and to fight at home, in the United the new mecca of MMA, Las Vegas. And and the eastern hemisphere, as well. The to conform its rules to the Nevada State States of America. Rest and resolve have he works out at a variety of gyms, like the crowds were bigger there, more invested. Athletic Commission’s standards in order permitted him to do the first, and his Fight Club, Cobra Kai and Combat Club. He became a celebrity there. The black to host their show here. employer, the renowned Pride Fighting Randleman knows what he’s doing. No incredible hulk with blond hair and a And thus, no karate uniforms will be Championship organization in Japan, doubt. He’s been training like a profes- 40-inch vertical. It was wild, man. But he worn, no knees or kicks will be inflicted has granted him a chance to do the sional for the past 10 years, and fighting missed home. America. while one’s opponent is on the ground, second, on October 21, at the Thomas & for much longer than that. Then he got hurt. Well, better put: no stomping will be permitted, and the Mack Center here in Las Vegas. Randleman was born one of 12 children He realized he had been hurt. Torn right first round will be condensed from 10 Which, of course, is great news to in the state of Ohio. As a kid he was short bicep. Fucked-up right shoulder. Fungi the minutes to five. Randleman, a Las Vegas resident 5-feet and round. He endured derision because of size of a 10-year-old’s hand in his lungs. The event has been tagged “The Real 10-inches tall and 205 fatless pounds, it, you can be sure. Had to wear corrective And the list goes on. Doctors told him to Deal,” and now Randleman can fight with two NCAA national champion- braces for bowleggedness, too. Absorbed, have surgery. So he did. It was painful— again, at home. ships in wrestling to his name. Because of course, a good deal of playground jokes both the surgery and the not fighting. “I don’t always see eye to eye with Dana, after taking his first year off from pro- for that one. But then the braces came off, And the not going out, too. For an especially about money,” says Randleman, fessional mixed martial arts in more and he got to running. Anywhere; every- extrovert—gregarious, ineluctable—it “but I have a ton of respect for what he’s than a decade, to recover from a string where. And fueled by the built-up aggres- was torture to stay in. He dropped to 185 done. We can fight in America, now.” of nine surgeries in 11 months, and sion of so many years being teased. That’s pounds. Walked around his Las Vegas Now, Randleman is ready. He’s restless. after searching the world for game how the fat came off. house in a stupor for two months, and He’s been punched in the face by the world competition and viable paychecks, he Then a teacher raped him. He was still if it weren’t for the unwavering loyalty biggest bad-asses; it doesn’t matter much. feels like a Corvette right out of the a little boy then, 10 years old, Kevin was. of his girlfriend, Elizabeth, a tall and He’s fought the best MMA fighter in the mechanic’s shop: revived, and better You can imagine the lifelong implications. indomitable Italian woman, Kevin’s not world—Emelianenko Fador (who will be than ever. He is antsy as hell from the Rage was one of them. Randleman sure he would have made it. He also in Las Vegas to fight on October 21)—and time he wakes up (early in the morning, grew up mad at the world. He destroyed enjoyed the fidelity of his employers—the almost won. He’s been knocked out by to do cardio) to the time he goes to bed people in street fights. Older dudes who Dream Stage people who own and oper- UFC’s Chuck Liddell. He’s encountered (where he’ll continue to soak the sheets hit his sisters. Drug dealers who messed ate Pride—who are so rich that they own the best of WFA star Rampage Jackson, a with anxious sweat). And you don’t with his family. Even guys who prob- islands in Hawaii yet found time and fight after which he ended up unconscious have to be around him for more than ably didn’t deserve it. Then he took it compassion to visit him in Las Vegas on his back. Moreover, he’s known pain a couple of minutes for it to show: He out on the wrestling mat at Ohio State while he was sick. “For me, people come all his life. Been in car accidents. Seen his lets out spontaneous and intermittent University, where he was a three-time first,” Randleman says. “I like people, and friends shot. Had his father die on him. yelps. He oscillates about the gym like All-American. Felt good, to be the best in I like people who put people first. That’s Pain ain’t unknown to him. And so he ain’t a Latin dancer and bounces around his America. A steaming bull. why Pride has earned my respect.” scared of it. Just wants to get in there and house like an incurable boxer. And he Then, in 1999, he charged through the It was then, during his convalescence, fight. A homecoming of sorts, with his fel- is happy, total and true, now able to do UFC, where he didn’t care he was fighting that his change came to completion. Then low expatriates Mark Coleman and Josh what he does best. To fight. guys who outweighed him by 50 pounds. that he found the peace that had been in Barnett (also a former UFC heavyweight And to train to fight. It’s what fills Hell, no. He was just doing what he does his back pocket the whole time. That he champion). He just wants to bring the his days, what he looks forward to in the best: fighting. They started calling him realized his people and his fighting made adrenaline to Las Vegas, to show them sparse hours he isn’t working out, what the monster—and the name stuck. Won him a happy man, and there was no reason what a BIG event an MMA show can be, keeps him in shape and out of trouble. And the UFC heavyweight championship belt to vaunt his rage and aggression anywhere and what an unstoppable fighter he is. this is what it looks like: in 2000. The monster. but inside the ring. “Man,” he says, bouncing up and down —6:30 a.m., Mon. - Sat.: One hour of But it wasn’t enough. The cage didn’t (Now, it’s no longer personal with in his Las Vegas home, like a kid days weight training and 40-60 minutes of car- exhaust all the monster’s rage. He other fighters. Except, of course, if you’re before Christmas. “I just want to be a win- dio, typically atop of Mt. Charleston got into some shit. Like selling drugs. talking about Tito Ortiz, the motor- ner again. The king of my own town.”

26 LAS VEGAS WEEKLY PHOTOGRAPH BY IRIS DUMUK OCTOBER 19-25, 2006