Sports Talk: Talking Mixed Martial Arts

YOU WON'T HAVE TO go far to look for a fight this weekend. Saturday night's Ultimate Warrior Challenge Invasion at the Patriot Center won't be the first Mixed Martial Arts event ever in the region, but it's being billed as the biggest for a sport that continues to grow in popularity. The man behind the 10-match spectacular is Marcello Foran, a native of Bowie, Md., who discussed Saturday's event at George Mason, the burgeoning sport's future and how the D.C. area may be a key to MMA's long term success.

» EXPRESS: Why did you decide to come to D.C. with this event?
» FORAN: One, the D.C. metropolitan region is an untapped landscape. Things are just getting legalized. MMA has been legalized in Virginia and D.C. and has passed through the Maryland house and senate — and now the governor just needs to sign it into law.

Even if I wasn't from here, there is a big fan base here. And being from here, it's exciting to be able to come back with something happening in history. And my brother [Marcus Foran], who was a national prep wrestling champion at DeMatha, is also on the card. We are bringing MMA in a big way to the area.

» EXPRESS: What makes this the biggest MMA event ever in the area?
» FORAN: The reason it's the biggest is the fighters on the card. They've never had fighters on this level, who are veterans of these events. There will be some of celebrity guests [including Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski), who are world champions of their sport. Nobody has done anything this big on any level in terms of fight card, event production and special celebrity guests.

» EXPRESS:There were about 2,500 people at the first MMA event at Patriot Center last year. What are your expectations for this?
» FORAN: I'm expecting about 5,000 — maybe more, you never know. It's interesting question. I'm waiting to find out the same thing. Knowing what we've done in markets not nearly as big as the D.C. market and basing expectations on where sport is and the big fan base in D.C., I feel 5,000 is a very reasonable number.

» EXPRESS: How do you scout talent?
» FORAN: There are so many people out there around the country and the world that want to fight — and so few of these high level events — you're overwhelmed with the amount of people who want to get on card. We look at previous records and history. Something we've done with the card unique to D.C. is that the top of the card has fighters that are well known and fought over the world. In the middle of card, we've taken the best fighters' top students in hopes of evolving them into the next great champions. And at the bottom of the card, we give opportunities to top martial schools in area to each have fighters on card. It's a three-part plan.

» EXPRESS: What's an ideal number of matches to have in the D.C. market per yet?
» FORAN: I think four to six shows between Virginia, Maryland a D.C. A lot of planning goes on: It takes about 150 people to put on a show like this with the crew, lighting, producers, video — a million little pieces. It takes a couple of months to put one on properly. Our strategy for D.C. was to bring an event that fit the bill for something that's never done. We're looking at making the D.C. area the home of UWC, just like UFC is home in Las Vegas. It depends on media support and fan support, and there has been great response so far.

» EXPRESS: Why do people turn to this sport?
» FORAN: We had higher ratings going against NASCAR, the NBA playoffs and baseball playoffs.. Years and years ago in The Coliseum, they fought to death. It's not like this is something someone just invented recently. It's a sport that has been around a long time, and it's evolved.

» EXPRESS: UFC is considered the No. 1 league for MMA. How do you compete?
» FORAN: We're not trying to be UFC. We are innovative and creative with our marketing. If you have computer on a desk, it's a computer. If you look closer, it may say Mac, it might say HP, or it might say Microsoft. But if you stand far away, it's a computer. It's the same thing. We want to put on best show possible with tool we have to work with. MMA is bigger than one organization and always will be.

» EXPRESS: Are your top group free agents, or are they signed to contracts?
» FORAN: The guys on top card fought in UFC multiple times. We have contracts with them, but they are open. We're working on making exclusive contracts. We're at the phase of our show that we've moved into the higher tier of the MMA community. We have the product where we want it to be. Now, we're trying to find the right components.

Photo courtesy of Ultimate Warrior Sports Celebrity