UFC more nuanced than meets the eye

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is more nuanced than meets the eye and so too is its partnership with Abu Dhabi.

Jake LaMotta's prowess as a fighter in the 1940s and 1950s was immortalised by Robert DeNiro's performance in the film Raging Bull. When Martin Scorcese's masterwork opened in 1980, both the public and the critics were aghast; it was too bloody, too raw, and, as it turns out, too complex for audiences to appreciate at first viewing. Three decades later, Raging Bull is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
LaMotta, now well into his 80s, has become a critic of something else widely considered to be too raw and violent: ultimate fighting. "It's savage ... It's out of control," said LaMotta, one of the greatest middleweight fighters of all time. Yet the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) mixed-martial arts competitions - which to a novice may resemble heated streetbrawls rather than battle between highly trained athletes - have a growing and international following. As brutal as the bouts may be, there are rules to the combat - and far more of them now that the UFC has become a corporate juggernaut. "We are building a global brand," says UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
This week, Abu Dhabi's Flash Entertainment jumped into the ring, taking a 10 per cent stake in the UFC franchise. "We didn't need to raise any money, that wasn't the purpose," Mr Fertitta said. Instead, UFC found in Abu Dhabi what Mr Fertitta describes as a "strategic partner". For Abu Dhabi, which hopes to attract more high-end tourists through endeavours with sophisticated brands such as the Louvre and the Guggenheim, this partnership appears at first to be more strange than strategic. Part of the UFC's appeal is that it is competition at its most primal. Still, the UFC is more nuanced than meets the eye and so too is its partnership with Abu Dhabi.
Modern boxing also came from humble origins. Before "the sweet science" inspired the writer Norman Mailer or allowed Muhammad Ali to score points on a much greater social canvas, many decried the sport as barbaric. But even for those with refined tastes, there is a staying power to battles between athletes in peak condition, testing their limits. What boxing has lost since its heyday, the UFC may be able to recover. And with fighters who practise martial arts rooted in cultures as different as China's and Brazil's, the UFC caters to a global audience. No, it is not for everyone. But adding mixed martial arts to Abu Dhabi's portfolio of investments, and perhaps, to its schedule of events, reveals the eclecticism of its ambitions.