UFC 103 coming to the American Airlines Center in Dallas

by Sean Malone of North Texas Fisticuffs

Make no mistake about it; the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) is rapidly becoming one of the most popular sports in the world. For a sport that was once infamously labeled as “human cock fighting” by its detractors, mixed martial arts ascension into the mainstream consciousness, and more importantly acceptance, would not have been possible without a concerted effort from the fighters, promoters, and fans. From a sport that was once considered too distasteful to air on cable television mixed martial arts has morphed into a multi-million dollar business regularly broadcast on a myriad of television and pay-per-view outlets in addition to enjoying packed arenas of screaming fans.

Here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the mixed martial arts scene has exploded in line with the national trend. In the past year or so the DFW has seen a number of local mixed martial arts promotions sprout up to give the numerous fight fans in North Texas an opportunity to see local fighters do battle. Promotional groups like Supreme Warrior Championship, Xtreme Knockout Art of War, and Steele Cage Promotions have all staged live mixed marital art cards within the Dallas-Fort Worth area to varying degrees of success. But none of these respectable companies has come close to igniting the fervor and anticipation currently felt by North Texas MMA junkies in the wake of the Ultimate Fighting Championships announcement that they will stage UFC 103 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas on September 19.

Without exception the industry leader in mixed martial arts in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC as it is more commonly referred to. Created in 1993, the UFC initially was a mixed martial arts “no holds barred” style tournament with practitioners of various martial arts battling each other in the advertised claim of seeing which marital art was superior. While a novel concept, the sheer brutality of the mostly unregulated tournament turned many away in disgust. People were not willing to embrace this new brand of “anything goes” style fighting. As a result the UFC soon found itself in dire financial straits, and with no foreseeable influx of profit, the buzzards soon began to circle.

But the UFCs salvation would soon be realized thanks to a passionate fan named Dana White. White was managing a number of mixed martial art fighters at the time and hearing that the demise of the UFC was imminent, managed to convince childhood friends Frank and Lorenzo Ferttita, who had amassed a fortune in owning a couple of casinos in Las Vegas, to put up millions of their own money to purchase the dying UFC.

Under the name Zuffa, LLC, White and the Fertittas set out on a mission to not only resurrect the UFC, but to establish mixed martial arts as a legitimate, regulated combative sport and one that should be taken with the utmost seriousness and respect. Through undeniable perseverance and a take-no-prisoners approach to business as well as millions of invested dollars, the UFC has emerged as the preeminent mixed martial arts promotion. With monthly pay-per-view fight cards to go a long with the wildly popular reality series The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC has quickly established itself as a household name. With a roster of the sport’s most talented and accomplished fighters it is will little wonder that when the UFC announces its intentions on bringing a promotion to a city, MMA fans go wild.

All of which brings us to September 19. Dallas-Fort Worth mixed martial arts fans have been clamoring for the UFC to bring itself to these parts and with the announcement that UFC 103 would be staged at the AAC, well, you would think its Christmas around North Texas.

The whole region is aflutter with the giddy anticipation of the industry standard in mixed marital arts promotion. It’s a testament to the growing popularity and influence of the sport and one of the reasons why MMA is gaining the support, and more importantly, dollars from today’s youth. Boxing, archaic in many respects, struggles to recruit a younger demographic while MMA openly flaunts themselves as the future in combative sports. Judging by the overwhelming support of fight fans the country over, you would have to be blind to say that MMA is not only here to stay, but is in fact the future.

UFC 103

While the UFC has exploded into a globally recognized organization staging promotions from Cincinnati to Germany UFC 103 marks only the second time the organization has come to the Lone Star State.

“I’m excited the UFC is heading back to Texas,” UFC President Dana White said. “Our event in Houston was a great success. Wherever we go fans know UFC delivers great fights.”

A bold proclamation but one that was bolstered with the recent news that the UFC was reshuffling the main event at UFC 103. Gone is the rematch between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin. In its stead will be the return of former touted contender Victor Belfort.

“When we announced that Rich Franklin was fighting Dan Henderson, there was some backlash, and people didn’t like it,” said White to UFC.com's Thomas Gerbasi. “So we went out and just signed Victor Belfort. The fans didn’t like the card, we changed it and it’s now Rich Franklin versus Victor Belfort headlining in Dallas.”

In an instant UFC 103 just became ten times more compelling.

Belfort exploded onto the MMA scene back in 1997 at UFC 12. The talented Brazilian seemed to possess all the tools that you could want in a fighter: speed, power, and cage intelligence. Dubbed "The Phenom" due to his dominance in the cage, Belfort has spent the last couple years rebuilding his reputation after a couple of losses in the UFC prompted him to fight abroad for other promotions. Belfort had been recently fighting for the now-defunct Affliction promotional company but when they folded last month the UFC hammered out a deal to bring him back to the Octagon.

Belfort and Franklin will fight at an agreed catch-weight of 195 pounds.