Blood in the Cage: Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC by L. Jon Wertheim

From Barnes & Noble

Forget boxing; forget wrestling; in the past 15 years, mixed martial arts (MMA) has emerged as the full-combat sport to beat. It would impossible to render the sensational rise of this brutal competition without telling the story of "Croatian Sensation" Pat Miletich, who has also been called "the Patron Saint of Badass." In a few short years during the '90s, this Davenport, Iowa, native transformed the sport, turning it into a $2 billion-a-year attraction. L. Jon Wertheim's Blood in the Cage intertwines Miletich's arresting personal struggles both inside and outside the ring. Perhaps the best book yet written on this mega-popular extreme sport.

From the Publisher

Based on unique access to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its rival organizations, Blood in the Cage peers through the chain-link Octagon into the frighteningly seductive world of mixed martial arts, which has exploded in popularity despite resistance. Wertheim focuses on Pat Miletich, who runs the most famous MMA training school in the world. Single-handedly Miletich has transformed a gritty town on the banks of the Mississippi into an unlikely hotbed for his sport. He has also transformed many an average Joe into a walking weapon of destruction.

Wertheim intertwines Miletich’s own life story, by turns tragic and triumphant, with the larger story of the incredible rise of the UFC, from its controversial, back alley roots to the fastest growing sports enterprise in America. For fans of Jeff MacGregor’s Sunday Money and Sam Sheridan’s A Fighter’s Heart, Blood in the Cage takes readers behind the scenes, right down to the mat, from a punch in the kidney to the ping of the cash register, as Wertheim brilliantly exposes the no-holds-barred reality of the blood sport for a new generation.

Advance Praise for Blood in the Cage:
“In Blood in the Cage, L. Jon Wertheim tells the story of Pat Miletich, the consummate professional athlete turned world-class trainer. Miletich is someone for whom I have considerable respect and admiration and who puts his athletes and our sport first and foremost.” – Randy Couture, UFC champion

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

In his latest page-turning sports tour, Sports Illustrated senior writer Wertheim (Running the Table, Venus Envy) tackles mixed marital arts (MMA), a one-on-one bare-fist brawl that combines kickboxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and basically any other fighting technique an athlete chooses (minimal rules include no kidney-kicking and no sticking fingers in orifices or wounds). Chronicling the life of MMA legend Pat Miletich (the sport's Abner Doubleday), Wertheim also traces the history of the ultraviolent contest, dissects the league that dominates it (Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Champion) and examines the appeal (and the stigma) that's taken it from Internet subculture to pay-per-view king to $500 million commercial powerhouse. Miletich entered the sport in the early 1990s, when it was a no-holds-barred free-for-all (referred to by Sen. John McCain as "human cockfighting"), and wound up a five-time UFC champion; now, he operates an MMA training facility in Bettendorf, Iowa that draws athletes from around the world. A winning writer, Wertheim introduces a colorful, mostly likable cast of fighters, promoters, trainers and executives, brings an unflinching eye to fight scenes (the opening beat-down will certainly grab readers' attention) and defends the sport just as well as he questions its less-savory operating tactics.
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Douglas King - Library Journal

Wertheim follows up his well-received tale of a pool hustler, Running the Table, with this candid, eye-opening, and engrossing account of a successful athlete, his brutal and frequently misunderstood sport, and the fledgling league he helped to popularize. Wertheim's probe into the inner workings of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) league will entertain and enlighten listeners and may even shatter myths about mixed martial arts and its practitioners. Narrator Phil Gigante's (The Best Game Ever) deep voice and animated style perfectly suit the story's dramatic and often graphically violent content, making this a wholly convincing and satisfying listening experience for both fans and those curious about what all the recent media fuss is about. [Audio clip available through library.brillianceaudio.com; the Houghton hc was recommended "for all public libraries," LJ12/08.-Ed.]

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