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Radio Interview – Art Davie – Creator of UFC

RADIO INTERVIEW – ART DAVIE – CREATOR OF UFC

CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Vo5Ereza4&feature=share

Published on Jul 28, 2015

Art Davie, Creator of the UFC, joins the program RADIO MMA and talks about creating the UFC, plus Dana White, Fixed Fights, the Gracie Challenge, and more!

Since it’s release in July, 2014, Is This Legal? has ranked among Amazon’s top-five selling sports and martial arts biographies numerous times in both the paper and digital categories. Multiple sports and MMA writers and websites have published glowing book reviews, including Mike Straka, WrestlingObserver.com, TheMMACorner.com, CagePotato.com, and TheFightNerd.com.

Is This Legal? is Art Davie’s tell-all memoir about creating the inaugural UFC more than 20 years ago. Taking place on November 12, 1993 in Denver, CO, UFC 1 stands as a revolutionary moment in marital arts and combat sports, when ten men competed in a one-night, style-versus-style martial arts tournament that captured the imagination of 4,000 attending fans and almost 90,000 households across America via pay-per-view TV.

Described as equal parts Abner Doubleday, PT Barnum, and Dr. James Naismith, Davie, as creator of the UFC, tells a vivid and fast-moving first-person account of navigating through a world of financial risks, political power-plays, egotistical fighters, family feuds, and numerous powder-keg situations – all to answer the age-old question of who is the world’s best fighter?

Is This Legal? also features a highly improbable cast of characters, including Academy Award nominee John Milius, NFL Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, action film star Chuck Norris, kickboxing champ Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez, Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rorion Gracie and pay-per-view TV pioneer Bob Meyrowitz.

MMA reporter Susan Cingari interviews Art Davie

MMA reporter Susan Cingari interviews Art Davie

Art discusses the first UFC in his book Is This Legal? The Inside Story of the First UFC from the Man Who Created it. Art talks about the Gracies, SEG, Chuck Norris and the ten fighters who competed in UFC 1. Art always identifies his favorite fighters over the years.

Goes down as one of Art Davie’s most interesting interviews.

Here’s the link:

http://youtu.be/_f60SVVe6RU .

IS THIS LEGAL?

On November 12, 1993, in Denver, Colorado, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) unleashed an explosion of blood – both figuratively and literally – as 6’5” Dutch kickboxer Gerard Gordeau smashed 420 lb. sumo wrestler Teila Tuli flush in the face, less than 30 seconds into the night’s opening fight. The kick sent one of Tuli’s teeth flying into the crowd, instantly establishing that, as one of the commentators said that night, “fighting is not what we thought it was.”

The UFC’s launch came with virtually no warning or fanfare. Yet nearly 90,000 households ordered and watched the event on pay-per-view television. This style-versus-style martial arts tournament was the creation of Art Davie, an ad man and serial entrepreneur who first conjured the idea four years prior.

Now, for the first time, the true story about the creation of mixed martial arts and the inaugural UFC is told by the man who started it all. Equal parts Abner Doubleday, PT Barnum, and Dr. James Naismith, Davie explains how he turned his vision, of a single-night tournament involving the greatest martial arts fighters, into the first UFC, which now stands as an international billion-dollar sports franchise.

This vivid and fast-moving first-person account explores Davie’s adventures navigating through a world of financial risks, political power-plays, egotistical fighters, family feuds, and numerous powder-keg situations – all to answer the age-old question of who is the world’s best fighter?

Written with noted MMA television play-by-play commentator Sean Wheelock (with the foreword by legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy), Is This Legal? is not just for fight fans, but also for anybody who appreciates the tale of a maverick who’ll stop at nothing to fulfill his vision and achieve his dreams.

With the creation of the UFC, Art Davie started a revolution in the world of martial arts. And this revolution was televised.

ART DAVIE SPEAKS OUT VIDEO SERIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SIX-PART “ART DAVIE SPEAKS OUT” VIDEO SERIES
DEBUTS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22… RUNS THRU 11/26/14
Los Angeles, CA –
In conjunction with the 21st anniversary of ‘UFC 1: The Beginning,’ the UFC’s inaugural event from 1993, the University of MMA has produced a six-part video interview series featuring Art Davie, creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The first episode will launch this Wednesday, October 22, at 11:00am PST on the University of MMA’s YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/UofMMA).

Entitled ‘Art Davie Speaks Out,’ the series will spotlight Mr. Davie’s thoughts on several topics related to the creation and evolution of mixed martial arts in North America.

HERE ARE THE LINKS:

EPISODE 1…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVMTDEJLtvM&list=PLaDolmsQ2vH9M0xdcXZberwoPUelxaKGc&index=2

EPISODE 2…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIPq_TYYALA&list=PLaDolmsQ2vH9M0xdcXZberwoPUelxaKGc&index=3

EPISODE 3…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOxNAcsPguc&index=4&list=PLaDolmsQ2vH9M0xdcXZberwoPUelxaKGc

EPISODE 4…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjwU-IkQq0o&list=PLaDolmsQ2vH9M0xdcXZberwoPUelxaKGc&index=5

EPISODE 5…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvLJUQdygbk&index=6&list=PLaDolmsQ2vH9M0xdcXZberwoPUelxaKGc

EPISODE 6…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufrRs5GcE-g

Is This Legal?

On July 1, Mr. Davie’s tell-all memoir, Is This Legal? The Inside Story of the First UFC From the Man Who Created It, hit Amazon.com and bookstores across the country. Since it’s launch, Is This Legal? has ranked at the top of Amazon.com’s martial arts biographies numerous times in both the digital and hardcover categories.
The University of MMA interviewed the pioneering promoter to commemorate his appearance and book signing at the U’s previous show, Fight Night 8. Originally intended as a two-part interview, the discussion proved to be substantial enough to expand into a larger series.
“I’m a firm believer that knowing one’s history is an important part of evolution, whether you’re talking about people, sports, society at large, or whatever. It was an honor just to have Art at our show. Now, to have this interview series as part of the U’s library, is a company high water mark for us,” said University of MMA matchmaker Jay Tan.
“To say that Art Davie is a legend is an understatement. Whatever a legend is, he’s several notches above that,” added University of MMA founder Turi Altavilla. “Without his vision and the courage to pursue that vision, chances are we’d all be doing something a lot different than being involved in MMA.”
When informed of the plans to break the interview up into multiple installments, Mr. Davie noted “this was one of the most penetrating and incisive interviews that I’ve enjoyed since the book was released in July. I’m thrilled that the (University of MMA videographer/editor) Bob Skolnick was able to take what we recorded and expand it into something larger,” said Mr. Davie. Among the topics Mr. Davie discusses are his relationship with Rorion Gracie, why he wrote Is This Legal?, the fighters of UFC 1, how the ‘UFC’ name was conceived, the evolution of MMA, and his views on amateur MMA.
***** ***** ***** ***** ****
CONTACT: Either Jay Tan at jaytan@UofMMA.com and (213) 618-0332 or Turi Altavilla at turi@UofMMA.com and (310) 701-8331.
***** ***** ***** ***** ****
ABOUT THE University of MMA (www.UofMMA.com): The University of Mixed Martial Arts (aka “The U of MMA”) is a Los Angeles-based fight promotion specializing in exciting, high-octane, upscale amateur MMA events around the Southern California region. Its mandate is to provide a stage for young, aspiring fighters to hone their MMA skills and develop themselves as marketable personalities and respectable ambassadors of the sport. The U of MMA was founded in 2010, and ran its first show on September 19th of that year at the Irvine Mariott in Irvine, CA, as part of the inaugural California Amateur MMA Organization (CAMO) State Tournament. The U of MMA serves as a scouting show for professional organizations such as King of the Cage and the Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA). Each event is sanctioned by the CAMO, which upholds the highest safety standards in the nation for amateur competition. The team behind the U of MMA collectively has over 20 years of professional promoting experience at the highest level of the sport, including international and domestic events which were broadcast on pay-per-view, cable, and network television in the United States, Japan, and Great Britain. For tomorrow’s MMA stars and champions … IT STARTS HERE!

First UFC – Fighters on Art Davie’s wish list

First UFC Dream List

As SEG and W.O.W. got closer to November 12, 1993 to stage the first UFC, Art Davie’s job was to find the 10 fighters needed for the tournament. There were fighters he considered and didn’t approach given their availability or cost. Mark Gastineau, the Hall of Fame NFL lineman, (he had begun a boxing career in 1991) was on the list, but he was priced out of the budget.

A boxer Davie considered for the first UFC was Mitch “Blood” Green. He lost a decision to Mike Tyson; then lost a street fight to Mike in front of a Harlem clothing store and got a $45,000 settlement for that “dispute.” Almost every boxer approached wanted a five-figure “appearance fee.”

The great Peter Aerts, then kicking butt in Europe and Japan, and a thoroughly devastating Muay Thai style kickboxer, was also on Davie’s wish list for the first UFC. But he would have required a five figure “appearance fee” to come to the states. No go!

The star of Jan Plas’ gym in Amsterdam was Ernesto Hoost, then just becoming a dominant force in K-1. He was due to fight in Asia and Davie couldn’t make a deal for him in time for the first UFC. But Plas proposed Gerard Gordeau as an alternative. Gordeau, who had fought in Japan, was a world champion in Savate; and Gordeau became the European kickboxer Davie signed for the first UFC.

Aleksandr Karelin was a Hero of the Russian Federation and was the dominant Greco-Roman wrestler on the planet in 1993. He was known as the “Experiment” (at 6’3″ and 285lbs.) and rumored to be the product of Russian science. He would have cost as much as Mike Tyson. That is if the Russians would have even let him come to the USA for the first UFC.

Emin Boztepe was a very visible Kung Fu stylist in the martial arts magazines, like Black Belt. He and Rorion Gracie had almost come to legal blows over the “Gracie Challenge.” When Davie asked Rorion if he should approach him for the first UFC tournament, Rorion advised that it would only attract a lawsuit, so Davie never reached out to Boztepe. Emin Boztepe cultivated a reputation for invincibility in articles and advertisements.

$Randall 'Tex' Cobb - boxer, kick boxer & actor$ Randall “Tex” Cobb was a kickboxer, boxer (he fought Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title) and movie actor. He was on Davie’s wish list, but had a reputation for being a wild man; and his price would have made him unaffordable. Read about him terrorizing everyone on movie sets in IS THIS LEGAL? where John Milius was the director.

Of course the “Ultimate” dream list fighter for the first UFC was Mike Tyson. He was serving time in an Indiana prison in 1993 and, no matter what, the cost to secure his services was wildly out of range for the UFC.

These were some of the top combat sports athletes Art Davie had on first UFC “wish list.” You can read all about them (and the fighters who turned Davie down) in IS THIS LEGAL? – the inside story of the first UFC.

First UFC book available for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

For MMA fans the book that tells the story of the first UFC is coming to bookstores. Art Davie’s IS THIS LEGAL? will be in the bookstores during the first week of July. This is the inside story about the fighters, the network executives, the managers, the partners, film stars and politicians who helped or hampered the first UFC in November 1993.

You can pre-order IS THIS LEGAL? on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/This-Legal-Inside-Story-Created/dp/0991275640/ref=sr_

Or Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/is-this-legal-art-davie/1119450132?ean=9780

On November 12, 1993, in Denver, Colorado, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was unleashed on an unsuspecting public, with virtually no warning or fanfare, and instantly redefined action sports for a new generation.

The creation of advertising man and serial entrepreneur Art Davie, the UFC entered nearly 90,000 US households through pay-per-view television with an explosion–an explosion of blood—as 6’5 Dutch Savate champion Gerard Gordeau kicked 420 lbs. Sumo wrestler Teila Tuli flush in the face, less than one minute into the night’s opening fight.

The blow not only sent Tuli’s tooth flying into the crowd, it knocked the martial arts and combat sports worlds on their asses.

With the very first UFC, the new sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) was launched–although it wasn’t even called that yet–and fighting would never again be the same.

Now, for the first time, the true story of how the Ultimate Fighting Championship came into existence will be told by the man who started it all. In this vivid and fast-moving, first-person account, Davie explains how his idea to crown the World’s Best Fighter, painstakingly evolved into the UFC, which now stands as a billion-dollar sports franchise.

Art Davie is the Dr. James Naismith and Abner Doubleday of MMA (with a touch of PT Barnum), yet his name is largely unknown. That is, until now.

Davie’s tale is one of perseverance and against-all-odds determination, as he worked tirelessly for four years to see his dream come to brutal fruition, while meeting plenty of resistance.

It’s also a mash-up of martial arts, celebrity, sports, and business, involving a highly improbable cast of characters, that includes Academy Award nominee John Milius, NFL Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, action film star Chuck Norris, Brazilian jiu-jitsu godfather Rorion Gracie and pay-per-view TV pioneer Bob Meyrowitz.

This no-holds-barred account of how he started the ball rolling on the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and launched MMA, is one for not just fight fans, but for fans of mavericks in business and life, who stop at nothing to fulfill their dreams.

Whether you’re a hardcore supporter of mixed martial arts, or have never watched a single bout, you’ll be enthralled by Davie’s story of triumph. Art Davie created the sport of the 21st Century, which arrived two decades early. He started a revolution, and his revolution was televised.

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Inside Story of the UFC Creation