http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-fight28dec28,0,673609.story?page=2&coll=la-home-sports
Slugging Its Way Into the Arena
Extreme fighting, once denounced as 'human cockfighting,' has seen its popularity soar. California is the latest to sanction it.
By Alan Abrahamson, Times Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS Music screamed, colored lights flashed overhead and nearly 12,000 people howled as Rich Franklin, a math whiz from Cincinnati, shattered Nate Quarry's nose with a left hand.
Franklin, the middleweight champion, moved in. Quarry, a 33-year-old challenger from Oregon, circled warily. His nose flopped to one side, but he was still standing, still competing.
Franklin delivered another left, snapping Quarry's head back. Unconscious and bloodied, Quarry tumbled straight back, felled like a tree in the forest.
"This is as pure as it gets," shouted Paul Skifter, 20, of Oakdale, Calif., "a pure adrenaline rush." Added Ken Clement, 27, of Toronto: "It's the best thing in sports."
The Nov. 19 event at the MGM Grand was not a boxing match. It was a relatively new event known as mixed martial arts, or MMA, which incorporates wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, karate and jiu-jitsu.
Slugging Its Way Into the Arena
Extreme fighting, once denounced as 'human cockfighting,' has seen its popularity soar. California is the latest to sanction it.
By Alan Abrahamson, Times Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS Music screamed, colored lights flashed overhead and nearly 12,000 people howled as Rich Franklin, a math whiz from Cincinnati, shattered Nate Quarry's nose with a left hand.
Franklin, the middleweight champion, moved in. Quarry, a 33-year-old challenger from Oregon, circled warily. His nose flopped to one side, but he was still standing, still competing.
Franklin delivered another left, snapping Quarry's head back. Unconscious and bloodied, Quarry tumbled straight back, felled like a tree in the forest.
"This is as pure as it gets," shouted Paul Skifter, 20, of Oakdale, Calif., "a pure adrenaline rush." Added Ken Clement, 27, of Toronto: "It's the best thing in sports."
The Nov. 19 event at the MGM Grand was not a boxing match. It was a relatively new event known as mixed martial arts, or MMA, which incorporates wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, karate and jiu-jitsu.
