Mixed Martial Law

“The story of how a president of the United States wound up cage-side in Madison Square Garden that night is also the story of MMA, a sport that over the past 30 years has gone from being a late-night cable TV sideshow to a new American pastime. MMA is street fighting distilled into sport, practiced by professional athletes who have tuned every cell of their body for violence. As it happens, that’s something a whole lot of people want to watch.” Rolling Stone (Gift Article): Empire of Blood: How Dana White’s UFC Conquered America. “White has effectively run the UFC since 2001. Under his tenure, the UFC has become synonymous with MMA and served as the driving force behind the sport’s transformation into a global sensation. White’s more than 25-year devotion to the sport and making money from it has made him its principal god, his authority largely unchecked by investors and fighters alike. The UFC’s rise and current dominance have paralleled that of a new political movement centered, similarly, on one man: Trump.”