Ultimate Fighting: Tough guy sport emerges as new king of combat while boxing fades

NEW YORK — Shortly after a group of investors bought the nearly bankrupt Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2001, the company put on a pay-per-view bout.

But the fight ran over its allotted time. Angry viewers didn't get to see the conclusion.

"It was a very bad start," UFC President Dana White acknowledged. "It took us a long time to rebuild."

UFC has since found its legs and it's making money. The privately held Las Vegas-based company has been slowly bolstering its brand, forging a successful relationship with cable network Spike TV and reshaping attitudes about the violent sport.

More importantly to the bottom line, UFC has begun to attract impressive audiences with each of its pay-per-view fights, appealing to young men who yearn for a good slugfest in the absence of a strong heavyweight boxing card.

"This thing isn't going anywhere," White said. "This is the new combat sport."

UFC is a mixture of martial arts, boxing and wrestling. The best fighters have mastered elements of all three sports. The combat takes place over three rounds (championships are five) inside the UFC's caged ring — named "The Octagon" — with judges scoring the bout.

But this is not Wrestlemania. The punches and kicks are real. The fighters are dead serious. The top ones train year-round to give the boisterous crowds a bone-crushing good time. The atmosphere at the fights rivals boxing matches. It's a sport, albeit a bloody one.

"You have to be able to wrestle, strike and do submission," UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell said. "You have to be good at all three or you won't last long. The fighters have evolved."

Already sanctioned in more than 20 states, UFC has ambitions as big as the casinos in which its fighters duke it out.

The organization wants to legalize the sport nationwide, including New York, one of the biggest and most lucrative fight markets, and take its show to European arenas starting with a London office slated to open in October.

The UFC surprised the boxing world, hiring Marc Ratner, longtime executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, and John Mulkey, a former managing director at Wachovia Securities and Bear Stearns Co.

Ratner, who began in May, serves as vice president of Zuffa LLC, UFC's parent company, while Mulkey was named chief financial officer.