July 29, 2007

Mixed Martial Arts: A New Kind Of Fight

MMA Is Becoming One Of The Fastest Growing Sports In America

  • Play CBS Video Video A New Kind Of Fight

    Mixed martial arts was once deemed too vicious for decent society. The sport has modified its rules and is becoming one of the fastest growing sports in America. Scott Pelley reports.

  • Video Fight Clubs Go Mainstream

    A martial art that combines boxing, wrestling and jujitsu is one of the fastest growing sports in America. Scott Pelley reports on an activity that was once considered too violent for society.

  • Video Pelley's 'Fighting' Notebook

    "60 Minutes" Scott Pelley discusses the popularity in the United States of mixed martial arts, which has combatants battle with different fighting techniques.

  • Photo Essay Celeb Sports Fans

    You may be in some pretty celebrated company when you sit in the bleachers cheering on your favorite team

(CBS)  Asked if TV channels were eager to put this on, White says, "Not even close. I mean, you wouldn't believe. All these big TV geniuses. And, you know, all the guys from Fox and this place and that place. You know, all these guys that supposedly know everything."
"Too violent," Pelley remarks.

"They were scared of it," White argues. "What's more violent than the NFL? What's more violent than the NFL?"

"Oh, come on. The NFL, they're not throwing punches at each other, not usually," Pelley says.

"You've got 250 pound men in the best shape they could ever get into, and they're so fast they could run track and field with pads on running directly into each other head to head. Broken arms. Legs getting snapped in half. Broken necks. What do you consider violent?" White replies.

He didn’t sign any network TV deals like the NFL, but he did get a reality show on cable where fighters compete for a spot in the league. Now, White has seven TV shows reeling in that young, male demographic; his Internet site sometimes gets more hits than the NFL. And he's got a video game and his DVDs that outsell all other sports.

He and his partners bought the UFC for $2 million. Asked what it's worth now, White says, "I don't know. A lot more than two million."

"The smile on your face suggests maybe over 100 million, I'm guessing," Pelley asks.

"Could be. Could be. Could be a billion. I don't know," White says.

It seems plausible. The International Fight League just went public and it is valued at more than $150 million. It turns out rules were the key: the money flowed when the blood stopped gushing.

These days, there are 31 fouls, and the fighters don’t come at each other bare-fisted anymore. They’re required to use special gloves with a little bit of padding over the knuckles. You can’t kick to the groin anymore, and you can’t stomp your opponent once he’s on the ground. The octagon itself is 30 feet across. There’s padding under the fighters' feet, and they put the fence around it so the fighters don’t go rolling out onto the floor.

Have all the rules and regulations made the fights less interesting for the fans? That didn't appear to be the case when 60 Minutes headed to a match in Anaheim, Calif.

There were some 14,000 fans in the stands and 700,000 at home, who paid $40 a pop to watch on TV. This event alone made $28 million. White does 14 of these a year.

Pelley wondered exactly where the fighters come from. Who wants to get in on this? One of the biggest stars is welterweight Matt Hughes.

The fights have made Hughes a millionaire. When he fights, he's in a testosterone-fueled world of money and sex, but 60 Minutes found him where he grew up, on the family farm in Illinois.

"When I leave this sport, I want to be the same person as when I started this sport," Hughes explains.

"It'll change ya if you let it," Pelley remarks.

"You're exactly right," Hughes agrees.

Like a lot of the fighters, Hughes has a college degree. He was an all-American wrestler who sees this as more like the Olympics than a street brawl.

"Yeah, but you know better than I do that that's not why those 17,000 people are in there," Pelley remarks.

"Well, that's true," Hughes says.

"They want to see somebody bleed," Pelley says.;

"They like excitement," Hughes says. "There's excitement all over. It doesn't have to be somebody getting hurt to get excitement in the octagon."

In fact, a recent medical study found that MMA fighters are less likely than boxers to suffer brain injuries.

Continued



Produced By Solly Granatstein
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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by maroons2105 December 10, 2006 8:29 PM PST
It was very surprising to see the mainstream news media cover the booming sport of MMA, let alone in a way that helped raise awareness of what the sport is really about. Mr. Pelley did a fantastic job showing that MMA is more than just two men beating each other senseless, and that it is acutally an art form. So many people do not realize that MMA is actually safer than Boxing and the NFL and see it as a rutheless blood sprot. My hat is off to Mr. Pelley for his work on this topic.
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by mikenjae December 10, 2006 8:43 PM PST
Wow...thank-you to 60 Minutes for putting on an objective feature about MMA. This is fascinating sport that is constantly evolving and deserves to be covered with the respect that it got on this segment. And kudos to Miletich and Renzo for representing the sport well in their interviews.
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by lockc232 December 10, 2006 9:02 PM PST
I just wanted to send a big thank you for the report you did on MMA. As a big MMA fan, I felt it refreshing to see something that was objective and educated on what MMA is truly all about. Most stories these days are negative or have some bias to it. Your report was put together beautifully (full of videos ranging all the different organizations, interviews with MMA legends, and great explanations on the history, growth, and rules of the sport).

I just want to thank you all for putting together something that (from what I have seen) has made MANY MMA fans very happy. Great work
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by lexcoupe92 December 10, 2006 9:15 PM PST
I've been a fan of MMA since 1993 and the first UFC event and I have to say this show brought tears to my eyes. So many times have I seen shows bring UFC president Dana White on and bash MMA and the UFC without letting him defend the company and the sport. This show truly sheds a much deserved positive light on the sport. It was great to see correspondent Scott Pelley rolling with Miletich and Gracie. Hopefully, people will now see the sport for what it is and not jump to the conclusion that these guys just fell off of a barstool and into MMA.
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by ottawa_cowbo December 10, 2006 9:40 PM PST
Thanks for the fair and informative piece on MMA.
I started watching the sport because of The Ultimate Fighter and have been a fan ever since.
Like Pat Miletich said, it's like checkers to chess compaired to boxing. The multiple choices and ways a match can be fought make it interesting. Usually fans are more upset about stopages being to early than too late. The refs and the major Organizations really do try and protect the fighters. It's a great SPORT.
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by windycity919 December 10, 2006 10:54 PM PST
I have been a fan of MMA for well over 10 years and I just wanted to say thanks for the objective view of MMA. Too often in mainstream media MMA is portrayed as a barbaric event rather than a skilled sport that it is. Mr Pelley did a great job with this report. I appreciate him going in with an open mind and although it was great to see him roll, he could use some work on his ground game!!! Just kidding. Great job and thanks for showing our sport as it truly is.
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by rlnakp December 10, 2006 11:15 PM PST
Thank you CBS for a fair interview. I am a mom of 2 boys, and when I first heard of MMA, I was very much against it. However, after doing research on the new rules, and watching the last couple Matt Hughes fights, AND seeing what a positive influence he is on young men, my mind has been changed on MMA. MMA is now much safer than boxing or football. I have 3 young adults involved in karate and competitive sparring (2 sons and a daughter.) Matt Hughes is a positive influence and an excellent sportsman and I applaud him.
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by rlnakp December 10, 2006 11:15 PM PST
Thank you CBS for a fair interview. I am a mom of 2 boys, and when I first heard of MMA, I was very much against it. However, after doing research on the new rules, and watching the last couple Matt Hughes fights, AND seeing what a positive influence he is on young men, my mind has been changed on MMA. MMA is now much safer than boxing or football. I have 3 young adults involved in karate and competitive sparring (2 sons and a daughter.) Matt Hughes is a positive influence and an excellent sportsman and I applaud him.
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by in2pain December 11, 2006 12:39 AM PST
I'd like to thank your show for being above the influence of the "Good Ol' Boy" sports media. Too many times is MMA treated like a *** child of sports. The buyrate beats boxing on a regular basis and still its never given the respect it deserves. As a veteran having MMA taught as last resort weapon, I would have never thought a combat fighting skill would be the choice of sports viewers today. Its a shame the mainstream sports media can't look past itself.
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by eurosportfan December 11, 2006 6:35 AM PST
Tim Sylvia, who was shown on that piece, has been busted for using illegal steroids on at least one (actually, I believe it was two) occasion.

The owners of the UFC should have been scrutinized (in my opinion). They got a free pass.

The UFC had rules and sanctioning BEFORE the current owners bought the company.

These and other of the several inaccuricies could have been cleared up with a modicum of research.
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by f3pres December 11, 2006 9:13 AM PST
"Wow" Im really impressed by your unbiased piece on mma.So many times journalist go in for the easy kill not taking a momment to understand the disipline conditioning and heart in a mma athlete.
I found your presentation honest w/ no hint of an objective which is rare the words mixed martial arts are mentioned.
I also feel that doing articles like this may also help bring in a younger viewing market as I know at least 20 people who tuned in to watch the piece.
I look forward to hearing more on this subject hopefully from you you guys.thanks again
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by squiz2 December 11, 2006 12:42 PM PST
My husband and I just went to see the MMA here in St. Louis this past weekend. Until now, I always thought that it was just a bunch of testosterone junkies wailing the *** out of each other. It's really great to see the dedication and skills that these guys have, and I'm glad that articles like this can help people (like me!) see that it's more than guys getting the snot beat out of them!
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by kaplinga December 11, 2006 1:25 PM PST
Great job on the story about MMA! Since the UFC has become more popular here in the states there are several local fight clubs that have sprouted up. These clubs allow people that will never enter an octogon train like a real fighter and at the same time get a good workout and meet other people with a passion for the fight game. In your piece you actually trained with Renzo...so I'm sure you realize how grueling and rewarding the training can be. Maybe a follow up story on the many "would be" fighters would be a good story too.
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by eurosportfan December 11, 2006 5:20 PM PST
Again, the rules were in place BEFORE Dana White and company were involved in the UFC. Can anyone be bothered to check simple facts before running a piece on this show?

The failure to address this casts doubt on other stories featured on "60 Minutes."

Also, as stated earlier, Tim Sylvia is the UFC heavyweight champion and he was on the show. Why not bring up his involvement with steroids? If you guys had Barry Bonds on a baseball segment, you'd have mentioned illegal drugs as many times as you could, and Bonds has NEVER tested positive for an illegal drug.

Here, on this show, you have a guy who is a KNOWN steroid violator and you do and say nothing.

Fluff piece.
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by rgabriel01 December 11, 2006 6:18 PM PST
Ok, I'll be the only critical voice. I can't see how this would be more of a marketing puff piece if UFC produced it themselves. 29 out of 50 states still ban this 'sport'. Your report had ZERO on-camera soundbites or quotes from anyone with an opposing view. None. Your statement that this is safer and less injurious than boxing was not attributed to any medical doctor or reputable medical organization. Where did you get that information? From Dana White? He claims it all the time - does the AMA? You say the rules make it less bloody. Have you SEEN the last 3 UFCs. the mat was a red lake.

Most offensive was that you slyly mention that the UFC is regularly seen on a cable network. It is not JUST a cable network, it is Spike TV, a network owned vy VIACOM just like CBS NEWS! Spike TV's success is owed to UFC. I doubt CBS is going to be critical.

This is just like when 60 Minutes features and promotes EVERY anti-Bush book that fellow VIACOM company, Simon and Schuster, publishes.

It is a shame that 60 Minutes has lost so much credibility. In my mind, it is nothing more than a poltical and economic shill
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by rgabriel01 December 11, 2006 6:19 PM PST
Ok, I'll be the only critical voice. I can't see how this would be more of a marketing puff piece if UFC produced it themselves. 29 out of 50 states still ban this 'sport'. Your report had ZERO on-camera soundbites or quotes from anyone with an opposing view. None. Your statement that this is safer and less injurious than boxing was not attributed to any medical doctor or reputable medical organization. Where did you get that information? From Dana White? He claims it all the time - does the AMA? You say the rules make it less bloody. Have you SEEN the last 3 UFCs. the mat was a red lake.

Most offensive was that you slyly mention that the UFC is regularly seen on a cable network. It is not JUST a cable network, it is Spike TV, a network owned vy VIACOM just like CBS NEWS! Spike TV's success is owed to UFC. I doubt CBS is going to be critical.

This is just like when 60 Minutes features and promotes EVERY anti-Bush book that fellow VIACOM company, Simon and Schuster, publishes.

It is a shame that 60 Minutes has lost so much credibility. In my mind, it is nothing more than a poltical and economic shill
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by Jasonian18 December 11, 2006 7:07 PM PST
i consider fighting the best way to challenge your body and take it to its limits i don't agree with the bloodiness i prefer the wrestling style with full out fighting it gives more of a rush like punches to the stomach and just a full out brawl no facce hits and just driving your body to its limit its a rush and you feel great afterwards only your pride hurts if you lose in that kind of fight.
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by filmboomer December 11, 2006 9:54 PM PST
Did your producer NOT look at Gracie's pupils????
They were almost the entire size of his corneas, making his eyes appear BLACK!!! This man was high on some sort of speed (crystal meth or whatever) during this interview. Did NO ONE see this??? And what does this say about this sport?
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by zzz1232 December 11, 2006 10:54 PM PST

rgabriel01, I think you are right to chastise CBS for their one-sided reporting and their hidden agenda. They have done themselves and their viewers a great disservice. Mixed martial arts is certainly a very controversial subject and should be treated as such by agencies purporting to be news sources. Honest discourse between credible sources is the only reliable way for society to work out what it is comfortable with and what it should treat as undesirable.

That said, I do believe that eventually MMA will and indeed should be accepted as a legitimate form of competition and entertainment. In order to explain this belief, I would like to gesture at a few facts which tend to show that MMA as a sport and as a spectacle comports with contemporary morality in the USA.

1.) Despite your legitimate concerns about the credibility of those who claim that the MMA is safer than boxing, it isn't clear that those claims are false. While it's true that you see more blood in MMA, this isn't necessarily a sign of more (or more serious) injury. Consider high school wrestling. Wrestling matches often include several bloody noses. Does this mean we should ban wrestling? In other words, is the presence of blood enough to warrant a ban on a sport? Obviously not.
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by zzz1232 December 11, 2006 10:57 PM PST
(Continued from below) Granted, there is significantly more blood on display over the course of an MMA event. But the point I am making is that, unless the blood is indicative of substantial injury, then we have no justification for barring a sport simply because it is bloody.

2.) Even if the sport produces relatively high rates of injury, it is inconsistent with our society's moral values to ban the sport. Consider professional football. Football has one of the highest rates of serious injury in all of professional sports. Yet, as a society we consider it a great achievement to play in the NFL. Furthermore, we have no qualms about watching the game as a form of entertainment, notwithstanding the fact that many football fans are attracted to the sport because of the possibility of "huge hits". If this sounds unconvincing, imagine how popular football would be if the NFL abolished tackling and replaced it with two-hand-touch. The point here is that, even if there is a substantial risk involved in participating in a sport, and even if the crowds are attracted by that risk, we aren't justified in banning the sport.
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by zzz1232 December 11, 2006 10:58 PM PST
3.) We allow sports with high injury rates to remain legal in our society because one of the fundamental ideals upon which our jurisprudence was founded is personal autonomy. If someone wishes to participate in an inherently dangerous activity, we ought to let them, unless their participation represents an unjustifiable risk to others. In other words, the men and women who compete in mixed martial arts ought to be allowed, given their decision to compete is made freely and well-informed of the risks. This is why we allow football players to compete, this is why we allow people to sky-dive and this is why we should allow fighters to participate in mixed martial arts.
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by zzz1232 December 11, 2006 10:59 PM PST
(Read 3, 2 and 1 below first, in that order) Finally, it is worth mentioning that MMA still suffers from many misconceptions. Among these is that MMA competition is little more than a chaotic brawl, similar to any bar-room fight. In fact, these athletes possess extraordinary skills. Many fighters have attained expert status in two or more sports and the successful ones have synthesized the most effective aspects of several completely distinct sports into one unitary system. Simply put, if the public is still impressed by a black-belt in a martial art, or an olympic-class wrestler, they ought to be doubly impressed with the top MMA fighters. Also, it should be noted that the sportsmanship observed in MMA is an example for the rest of the sporting world. With very few exceptions (Tito Ortiz comes to mind), MMA fighters display graciousness in both defeat and in victory, often hugging and commending their opponents at the end of fights. In an age where endzone dances are the norm and basketball players lash out at the audience, MMA is a refreshing reminder of why we came to value athletic competition in the first place.
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by eurosportfan December 12, 2006 8:50 AM PST
Address the following, then, zzz1232,

Why are there so many steroid cheats in the game? UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is one, as is a previous UFC heavyweight champion, Josh Barnett. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort recently tested positive for steroids as well.

Want me to go on?

Stefan Bonnar was busted for steroids after a recent UFC fight. Nate Marquardt was also busted after his UFC fight against Salaverry.

It goes on and on.

Making sure to comment about this as it relates to the story presented on 60 Minutes, I'll again point out that the current ownership and management of the UFC has perpetuated the lie about the advent of rules in the cage. The rules were in place BEFORE the current ownership was in place. It's all over the internet, so I can't imagine that the fact-checkers couldn't have found out about this.

Fluff piece.
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by rgabriel01 December 12, 2006 10:52 AM PST
so what happened to my critical comments? does CBS only publish supportive fan mail?
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by crisvale-2009 December 12, 2006 11:53 AM PST
Great program nice to see mainstream TV noticing the popularity of this awesome sport. My brother started practising MMA last year and has turned me onto the sport. He found this website that carries MMA instructional books if anyones interested (tuttlepublishing.com). He is on their mailing list and got a coupon code (tote60) for a free tote bag. I hope the IFL grows like the UFC did last year and gets more coverage. Kudos to CBS for just bringing up the sport whether they own SPIKE TV or not.
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by dunedain11 December 12, 2006 12:55 PM PST
Gabriel,

To answer your steriod concerns, consider this, why were those men caught? Because they were tested. Every main event fighter in America is tested before and after the fight, along with a random sample of half the card. AND, they are duley punished, suspended from fighting for up to a year. The aforementioned Silvia, was suspended and since cleaned up his act (he's been tested every main event, since he is currently the champion), and has won several bouts since his suspension. Moreover, you mention Belfort, and Bonnar, both of which have been suspended!
In it's infancy, MMA has surpassed many manstream sports with the handling of this issue. I.E. BASEBALL, TRACK AND FIELD, even Boxing....Shall I go on?
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by dunedain11 December 12, 2006 12:57 PM PST
RGabriel01,

To answer your steriod concerns, consider this, why were those men caught? Because they were tested. Every main event fighter in America is tested before and after the fight, along with a random sample of half the card. AND, they are duley punished, suspended from fighting for up to a year and fined. The aforementioned Silvia, was suspended and since cleaned up his act (he's been tested every main event, since he is currently the champion), and has won several bouts since his suspension. Moreover, you mention Belfort, and Bonnar, both of which are currently suspended!
In it's infancy, MMA has surpassed many manstream sports with the handling of this issue. I.E. BASEBALL, TRACK AND FIELD, even Boxing....Shall I go on?
Reply to this comment
by zzz1232 December 12, 2006 4:19 PM PST
rgabriel01,
Please understand that what I wrote was in defense of the sport of MMA, not CBS news. I will again state that I agree with your criticism of CBS. They have failed miserably as a news agency and it is clear that they haven't fact-checked to any reasonable standard. You are absolutely justified in calling this a "fluffpiece."
Regarding steroid use, I don't see why the transgressions of some individual athletes should impugn the entire sport. As dunedain11 said, the UFC has dealt with the infractions as it should, and hopefully more rigorous standards of testing will be introduced in the future. However, it would be naove to assume that athletes in other professional sports don't use steroids, so why pick on the UFC? Shouldn't pro baseball or professional cycling be held to the same standard? So the answer to your question ("Why are there so many steroid cheats in the game?) is: The same reason there are so many steroid cheats in any other professional sport - steroids make you stronger.
(continued above...)
Reply to this comment
by zzz1232 December 12, 2006 4:21 PM PST
(Continued from above...)
Rgabriel01, my purpose in responding to your initial remarks was to point out that MMA is a legitimate sport and that your criticisms of the sport itself (as opposed to individual athletes or the sport's promoters) were unfounded. If you have responses to any of the arguments I set forth in my initial response, I would be very eager to read them. Otherwise, I am not really sure why you would bother responsing to this. No one disagrees with the claim that steroid use is bad. No one can deny that CBS's story on MMA was a self-promoting "fluffpiece." So what is your point? Should MMA be banned because of these unrelated facts?
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by rgabriel01 December 12, 2006 6:56 PM PST
i didn't mention anything about steroid use. my critique was about CBS's lack of objective journalism on this issue. it was an infomercial
Reply to this comment
by zzz1232 December 12, 2006 10:57 PM PST
Rgabriel01,
Apologies. I mistook EurosportFan's post as yours.
Reply to this comment
by ace0223 December 13, 2006 5:19 PM PST
First of all thank you cbs for running this story... Second and further more to these idiots typing behind cowardness and griping about mma and its to violent have you seen hockey forget about football,, and explore the realms of hockey there is no sport more violent then hockey these guys are allowed to beat the **** out of each other board check, were talking about guys getting stitches, missing teeth loosing fingers but yet they wont put ufc on mainstream explain that ufc is the fastest growing sports entertainment in the world i gurantee the first person who gets this to go mainstream will be rich beyon there dreams....
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by rgabriel01 December 13, 2006 7:01 PM PST
All your comment proves is the dishonesty and moral bankruptcy of Hockey management and ownership. They promote and allow the very behavior that they outlaw and penalize.

However. UFC can't hide it's violence and intentional injury ,though many of its' fans and promoters try to have it both ways as well. On one corner of their mouth they like to stress how real and damaging and hardcore and street it is, then the other corner of their mouth tries to stress how safe and sportsmanlike and mainstream it is. Your argument is wierd as you try to validate the violence and injury of MMA by pointing to other violent sports. UFC is just a cleaned up streetfight. That is what they promote and a ground-and-pound and snapped arms are what the fans pay to see.

60 minutes prostituted itself AGAIN by having NO opposing viewpoints, unattributed safety claims and by NOT mentioning that another Viacom television wing airs UFC. Hey Scott Pelley - it isn't just 'a cable network', it is SPIKE-TV, a network owned by your company. Why hide that?

Again, this story was just like all the anti Bush stories 60 Minutes promoted in support of books published by Viacoms' publishing arm.

Would Don Hewitt have accepted this infomercial disguised as a new story?

Edward R. Murrow is spinning in his grave.
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by patssbagain December 13, 2006 9:08 PM PST
As a longtime fan of MMA and the UFC, I am wondering how the fighters are checked for steroids and other performace enhancing drugs. I realize the Bonner recently got tagged with a suspension, but the conditioning of many of these fighters, some of whom are in their 30's, seems artificial. Does anyone know who tests the fighters and how credible the screeening is?
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by terrij1164 July 29, 2007 9:50 PM PDT
Please, Stop saying it is young men or men only who truly LOve and Enjoy the MMA fights & fighters. WOMEN love it also!!!!
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by costandino1 July 29, 2007 10:37 PM PDT
gracy family did not start the brazinlian gracy juijui.the kodokan judo instatute from japan sent an instructor to brazil to teach the head of the gracy family judo .it stemed from that.
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