Alaska Fighting Championships
Last night turned into a very interesting night for me. I was invited to go to the Sullivan Arena for the “Friday Night Fights”. It’s not an every Friday night event but about once every 5 or six weeks. There has been the long running Thursday night boxing event held at the
Now mind you I was not really into going to see this but as a summer novelty thought it might be interesting to check out. If nothing else would possibly be blog material. Turns out it was and more.
For the ultimate fighters it’s all about the thrill of the fight and the cost of becoming an ultimate fighter includes a lot of pain and a chance for glory — or for some embarrassment. All for about $ 500 . . . if you win.
I found out after arriving at the arena that there are also cross promotions, including concerts after the fights. The AFC is becoming one of the hotter tickets in
Whether or not ultimate fighting is a sport is still debated around the country but one thing is for sure.
That it is a spectacle is not.
Fighters enter the octagon cage in style, through a cloud of brightly lit fog, every moment captured on camera and fed to the “Sulli-Vision” Jumbotron screen. “Are you ready for some blood?” screams Bob Lester, the flamboyant morning radio personality who doubles as the announcer for the Alaska Aces hockey team. The crowd screams yes.
As the night’s 11 fights continue, the skill level improves, fights get longer and the crowd gets a little louder. Most everyone is sticking around to sing along to Naughty by Nature’s hit song “O.P.P.” on a stage adjacent to the octagon after the fighting is done.
Some have criticized the whole business as nothing more than human cockfighting with ring girls in an eight-sided cage.
The mostly 20-to-30 year old crowd comprises most of those in attendance but there are a lot of them. I would say that the crowd was about 3,500 strong. But it is all ages, with a few kids there with their parents who may have been four years old. It was strange to see them wandering around the floor of the stadium. Most of the ‘kids’ were around 10-12 years old. A few of us old farts were there as well so it was a broad mix of ages and nationalities.
The fighters were a mixed lot, some sport impressive six packs. Others look like they have downed a few too many six packs. One guy sitting in front of us who had been drinking several beers was pulled out of the crowd to participate in one of the fights midway through the card. We later found out that one of the fighters scheduled had gotten hurt training earlier that afternoon and this guy seated in front of us who was scheduled for another night was asked to fill in. It turned into one of the better fights that night.
The preflight talk to the fighters was veteran referee Mike Houston who explained the rules of ultimate fighting. “There’s three, three-minute rounds,”
“We’ll stop it if it’s a bloodbath.”
Now that was comforting to hear but the crowd screamed with excitement. Some of the rules are strategic. The rest are mostly common sense. No head butting, eye gouging, biting, pinching, hair pulling, elbowing, stomping, groin attacks, or spitting — to name a few. Pretty much everything else is fair game. “Arms, legs and shoulders are good” for inducing pain,
The Sullivan Arena is divided into three areas. The north bleachers are ‘dry’ as only soft drinks are sold at the concessions stands. The south side is ‘wet’ with beer being the drink of choice for most of this crowd. The floor area with private tables surrounding the ‘cage’ is mostly ‘beer’ drinkers but they also had food and snacks as well.
Over time with the night getting later . . . more beer consumed . . . the tone of those in the audience changed. People were more vocal and the screams and profanity increased. The fighters showed true sportsmanship towards each other before and after their bouts but the crowds grew more chaotic. Alcohol is involved and its liquid courage caused several outbursts. Most of the time, they’re pretty well behaved but unfortunately there were a couple of crowd fights. One was just before the last bout and lasted longer than most of the fights on the card for the night.
The fans didn’t seem to mind ultimate fighting’s violence, and while blood and pain are part of the attraction I don’t think it is all that dangerous for those who participate. Walking to your rig in the parking lot was another story as three separate fights broke out. It was not the controlled environment of the cage but one of asphalt and concrete which hurt when those fighting took one another down to the pavement. There were more blood and tissue injuries outside than during the fight card.
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