Today's Houston Chronicle features a front page article on the UFC.
Ultimate fighting hot property on TV
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
THEY had traded boxing punches, karate kicks and wrestling holds for more than eight minutes, with a wild crowd cheering from the other side of a chain-link fence, when Matt Hughes finally struck the big blow.
With Carlos Newton's legs wrapped tightly around his neck, choking off his airway, Hughes lifted his opponent into the air, maneuvered him up against the fence, then moved back suddenly and slammed downward.
The move, known as "the guillotine" smashed Newton's upper back, neck and head off the mat, leaving him limp as a rag doll, temporarily unconscious.
Replays of the welterweight championship fight can be seen regularly on the Spike cable channel as part of UFC Unleashed, one of the hottest sports properties on TV.
The sport is ultimate fighting — mixed martial arts that include judo, jujitsu, karate, boxing and wrestling with an air of raw street fighting thrown in — and its popularity is shooting through the roof.
Competitors fight barefoot, wearing shorts, a mouthpiece and cup. The thin,
fingerless gloves used are ostensibly
intended to inflict maximum damage but in truth may limit head blows because there is no padding for the bones of the attacker's hand.