"Bionic Flavors" by SAMUEL TORNQVIST fades in and takes up a place in the background audio as the camera slowly pushes in on the title card. The roman numeral "II" flashes at the bottom of the card, in line with the other numerals from "I" to "V" that represent the other chapters of the documentary. The camera pushes past the title card and moves further in, now focusing on the picture that was featured on the title card. It is a picture of two men participating in a mixed martial arts fight. A referee is behind them, judging the contest. The screen cuts to a blank navy blue screen as the first solid chord of the "Bionic Flavors" snippet hits. The text "1976" appears on screen as the camera begins to pan down.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
1976 saw two abortive attempts at the future. The first was Ronald Reagan's strong, but ultimately unsuccessful, primary attempt on then-President Gerald Ford. Reagan surged from Ford's right flank, attacking the amiable establishment choice for losing Vietnam and kowtowing to collectivist forces everywhere else in the world, especially at home. The two fought tooth and nail, but Reagan faltered down the stretch. Ford ended up retaining his title to the Republican Party's nomination en route to a loss to Jimmy Carter.
Around the same time in the same year, boxing legend Muhammad Ali took on Japanese pro-wrestling icon Antonio Inoki. You couldn't call it a fight, so we'll say it was a contest. How it came to be, no one can quite agree on. Inoki spent most of the 15-round competition in the butt-scoot position, and Ali threw six punches, so it's understandable that no one wants to claim the rule set that allowed this.
Inoki versus Ali ended in a draw, and was largely un-entertaining, and Ronald Reagan was a joke outside of hardcore, conservative Republican primary voters. A world where the elderly actor was a threat on the national stage and proto MMA existed outside of gymnasiums in Brazil both seemed pretty unlikely in 1976.
[RONALD REAGAN, speaking to THE PRESS]
I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning, they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs, and will be terminated. End of statement.
A reporter from THE PRESS calls for REAGAN's attention after he has finished his statement. The audio from the clip fades out as BIEDERMAN begins narrating again. REAGAN is shown to look to the reporter and see what they have to say.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The 1980's were spent destroying the breakwaters that the West once felt protected its people from the worst excesses of their own systems. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan broke the backs of unions, ripped the spines out of their respective nation's welfare states, and used a series of banana republics as punching bags in their succession of small wars meant to heal the wounded pride caused by Vietnam and the tumultuous 1970's.
Social safety nets, higher wages and other cushions the West was obliged to have in order to draw its working classes away from communism were ripped away. We were naked to the winds of an uncertain world.
"Bionic Flavors" fades out as "Analytics" by PAUL HARTNOLL takes its place in the background. The camera has begun to zoom out from the bottom of Chapter II's timeline to eventually give the camera a full view of the Octagon Chart.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Ali and Inoki were a bit too early and a bit too weird, but it was now a great time to destroy our cultural ideal of martial arts.
A dial-up tone starts playing on top of the HARTNOLL music while an actual fighting octagon begins to be built on top of the outline of the Octagon Chart. A post, a portion of a chain-link fence, another post, another portion of a fence: step-by-step, they former a border around the Octagon Chart. The camera follows the turn-based construction before quickly zooming out again to show the completed octagon next to the text "1993". The tone cuts out right when the text "THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP" appears below "1993". The camera dives back in to the Octagon Chart, specifically toward THE GRACIES' family tree at the bottom of the Chapter I timeline, while the text slides out of frame, screen left. Upon re-entering the Octagon Chart, BIEDERMAN begins narrating again. The camera eventually steadies on the picture of RICKSON GRACIE on the tree.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
There were many champions in the Gracie family. Rickson excelled at Vale Tudo; Royler dominated in pure Jiu-Jitsu tournaments; but lawyer and businessman Rorion was the best at marketing, which was the language of the new world that the Gracies found themselves in.
After spending the tail end of the 80's getting the Gracie name out through Playboy, street fight videos, and everything else he could think of, Rorion finally linked up with Marketing Director Art Davie. Seeking to monetize the mythical family from Brazil who said they could kick the shit out of anyone, the two settled on Pay Per View.
It almost ended in Gracie civil war. One faction wanted the telegenic and athletic Rickson to compete but Rickson and Rorion were both too large in personality to come to any agreement. After near inter-office fights, the slighter in frame Royce Gracie was selected.
The backing audio swells as the camera zooms in on the portrait of ROYCE GRACIE on THE GRACIES' family tree. It dwells for just a moment, allowing the camera to get a good look, before backing out. The camera makes a jumping motion over to the top of the Chapter II timeline, slowly moving in on a picture of a check.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
In 1993, no one knew anything, and most people still thought that, if you did karate the right way, you could blow up somebody's heart. The call was, "We're looking for people to fight in a tournament where the only real rules are, 'You can't bite someone or gouge their eyes out.' We want to figure out what's the best kind of fighting. Winner gets fifty thousand dollars."
"Analytics" ceases playing. All attention is placed on BIEDERMAN's words and the "$50,000" featured on the check that the camera has slowly been zooming in on since momentarily pausing on the picture of the check part of the way through BIEDERMAN's last piece of narration.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Who would answer a call like that?
"Solid States E" by GEOFF BASTOW and JIM HARBOURG breaks the silence, as the camera zooms out to show a heading that has appeared above the picture of the check. The heading reads "November 12th, 1993 | UFC 1". Additional text reading "UFC 1 TOURNAMENT" along with the red skeleton of an eight member bracket suddenly appears on screen in the space next to the heading and check. The camera zooms in onto this space, and one-by-one, from top to bottom, left to right, two columns of four fighters appear on screen, their portraits standing at the ends of the bracket. The captions below the portraits, in order of appearance, read:
"Gerard Gordeau";
"Teila Tuli";
"Kevin Rosier";
"Zane Frazier";
"Royce Gracie";
"Art Jimmerson";
"Ken Shamrock"; and
"Patrick Smith"The camera zooms in further on the bracket, focusing on the picture of and caption for GERARD GORDEAU.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The eight constituting the tournament included an insanely dirty kick-boxer,...
The camera pans down to show the next fighter and GORDEAU's opponent, TEILA TULI.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...a massive sumo wrestler,...
The camera pans right to the opposite side of the bracket to show the next fighter, ART JIMMERSON.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...a respected but bewildered boxer who ended up wearing one glove to the octagon,...
The camera slowly creeps upward to show JIMMERSON's opponent, ROYCE.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...and two guys who stood above the rest.
The camera arrives on the portrait of ROYCE and lingers for a moment.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
We already know Royce, the diminutive scion of grappling royalty,...
The camera now pans down, not stopping at JIMMERSON and instead going past.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...but his eventual counterpart and partner in fate,...
The camera arrives at the portrait of KEN SHAMROCK and stops.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...was Ken Shamrock.
The camera pushes in on the portrait of SHAMROCK.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Shamrock was a street tough, taken in by an adoptive father, whose last name he ended up taking; a standout athlete who ended up in pro-wrestling in Japan. There, he materialized in Pancrase, a weird pro-wrestling / real fighting hybrid, where fighters had to wear thigh high boots and could only strike with open palms. Shamrock looked like he was chiseled out of rock using the sharpest needles filled with the finest Anavar and seemed intense and cool in a now embarrassing 1990's way.
"Solid States E" fades out, while "Lasting Hope (B)" by LORNE BALFE gradually begins to take its place.
Shamrock and Gracie tore through their first opponents before meeting in the semifinals. When they met, Shamrock and his bowling ball deltoids outweighed Gracie by 40 pounds of pure muscle. Though Shamrock was just an inch taller than his opponent, the musculature difference was the kind you see in political cartoons making a point about an underdog.
He and Shamrock entangled on the floor, where Gracie used his gi to his advantage, cutting off Shamrock's windpipe and carotid arteries. Shamrock protested but then admitted that he tapped.
Gracie went on to fight notoriously dirty Dutch fighter Gerard Gordeau. Gordeau bit Gracie's ear; to pay him back, Gracie held onto his rear, naked choke just a little longer than he needed to.
To the tens of thousands who had watched it, the cultural image of martial arts was altered forever. The men with coolly named East Asian techniques, the yoked pro-wrestler, the boxer: they all fell to a man who dragged them to the floor and turned their lights off by touching their necks.
The mood set by "Lasting Hope (B)" moves to the forefront, as the camera pans up THE GRACIES' family tree. It continues moving upward, until it arrives at the illustration of HÉLIO GRACIE, where it pauses. There is a jump cut to a picture of ROYCE celebrating his win at UFC 1 with a group of people that is a mix of friends, family, and/or associates. He has a giant check for $50,000 in hand. The camera pushes in on the elderly man standing to ROYCE's right and pauses when he becomes the focus of the picture. It is HÉLIO. He has attended UFC 1 and is there with ROYCE, his son, taking in what has resulted from all of his work. Text appears on screen, above HÉLIO's head. It is a quote from him.
[HÉLIO GRACIE, as text]
I created a flag from the sport's dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection, steady nerves, and blood.
The quote momentarily stands alone before "- Hélio Gracie" appears below it and "1913-2009" below that. The screen cuts to black before cutting again to the top of the Chapter II timeline in the Octagon Chart. BIEDERMAN resumes narrating as the camera begins moving down the timeline.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Fighting was evolving at previously unseen rates. Ultimate fighters, who were thought to have solved the puzzle of martial arts, fell again and again, downed by new champions. These were men like former elite college wrestler Dan Severn, Russian standout Oleg Taktarov, and one of the first fully versatile fighters
in Marco Ruas.
Ruas, a Luta Livre fighter, won the UFC 7 tournament, chopping down Paul Varelans with a ruthless series of leg kicks so thunderous that they eventually sent the 300-pounder to the mat.
"Lasting Hope (B)" stops playing, leaving BIEDERMAN's words as the main focus aside from the visual accompaniment.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
No matter who would walk away with the prize, the sport resonated with outsiders in a world now filled to the brim with them. Why then? Why did all these unwashed masses now clamor for these weird men brutalizing each other? To paraphrase Inspector Javert to Jean Valjean, "I'd only known a straight line before I'd met you." Let's look at the culture at the time.
A saxophone begins playing, with backing instruments faintly playing with it. The black screen jump cuts to footage of President BILL CLINTON playing the saxophone. It is not quite clear what event CLINTON is playing at; it is not the time from Arsenio Hall, though.
[BAND LEADER]
Yeah, I found me a saxophone player.
CLINTON's music continues to play in the background as BIEDERMAN resumes narration.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
As America had just begun to survey the rapid destruction of the 1980's, the new professional culture of the 1990's had arrived. It offered yoga and smoothies but retained the same bloodlessness. NAFTA made goods cheaper for some, the Clinton Crime Bill took all those nasty super predators off the street, there was a new set of platitudes about tolerance that everyone could feel good about...
"Cloud Traveler" by MARTIN DURU, JEAN-SEBASTIEN NOUVEAU, and JULIEN BONNEAU begins playing as CLINTON concludes his piece and hands his saxophone to a member of the band. It sets a very ethereal tone in place.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...as the lines between their professional and personal lives blurred,...
The CLINTON footage ends, and a black background appears on screen, with headlines made of white backgrounds and black text on top of it. The first headline reads, "Is politically correct speech just another political trick?" A second headline is shown to be peaking out from screen right, but no text is yet visible.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...or they were just totally dislocated in this new world they were told they'd love.
The first headline slides out of frame, screen left. The second slides into frame, from screen right. It reads, "Strangle the 'politically correct'".
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The term politically correct, and then the backlash against it, started taking hold at this time.
A third headline replaces the second headline in the same way the second replace the first. This new headline had been hiding off-screen entirely, unlike the second headline. It reads, "Politically correct are terminally bored and also r*******". While the headline was not censored with asterisks in original printing, it has been obscured by the editors of the video with a black blur.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
We usually hear complaints about PC when someone's told they can't shout racial slurs at a little league game, but it betrays something to think about.
This all started becoming a thing when our corporations began coalescing into state-like entities that could fill all our needs. Their human resources departments, afraid of backlash, instituted standards that often protected vulnerable employees but, at other times, enforced standards and beliefs, outside activities, and anything that would make one too different for the workplace through fear of being fired. Since we have such little recourse against our employers, it was a culturally significant tool.
There were obviously good outcomes. It's good to take people's feelings into consideration, but it was never PC culture; it was HR culture. The main point is not to protect the individual now, but the company. We never really stopped doing things because we cared about the feelings of others; we did them because we'd be shoved out of the window with no net to catch us.
Seeing a bunch of insane men with dumb tattoos cover one another in blood was a release from the bloodless brutality of life. As everyone in power swept up the macho, posturing violence of the Reagan years with the reserved, sanitized, new violence, it was stark to see men who said, "We're fucked up, we don't fit in anywhere, and we will beat each other to death if it means we can survive."
Of course, MMA had a very un-diverse audience at this time. While as a spectacle, it was noticed by many different types of people, its core fan base was overwhelmingly white and male. There were a great deal of suburban petit bourgeois who could afford to buy those pay-per-views consistently. Then, there were a lot of guys
who were lower on the totem pole. Among the latter there were those who felt their prestige in society had taken a hit and blamed that on whatever group they already hated the most, and then the others who were just checked out.
Regardless who their bitterness was directed at, the unambiguous nature of the combat portrayed was a cultural reprieve from an increasingly confusing world. The one-two path of a punch to a guy snoring on the ground was still the same.
"Cloud Traveler" ends, with BIEDERMAN sharply cutting into this end.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Unfortunately for the sport, the wrong people also took notice. Senator John McCain, who spent his early adulthood dropping explosives and napalm on a tiny agrarian nation until he was shot down, famously likened it to human cock fighting.
Of course, McCain was also a huge boxing fan, a sport that offers a similar degree of brain damage, in addition to being a market competitor for the then nascent UFC, and his wife, Cindy McCain, inherited a large distributor for Anheuser-Busch, a beer company that spent untold millions on boxing sponsorships, but it's not like John McCain had some documented history of abusing his pull for personal ends.
Anyway, McCain was so shocked and appalled by the trashy violence of the cage that he could probably barely watch B-roll of huts bursting into flames in Hanoi that night, so he initiated a campaign to effectively ban mixed martial arts.
"Arcanes of Time" by BONNEAU and DAVID KRUTTEN begins playing right after BIEDERMAN begins his next line of dialogue.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
UFC 9 was right after McCain's assault on the freedom to consensual violence. The main event saw a super fight between former tournament champions Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. With new rules in place, the two men could not strike each other with closed fists, lest they be arrested. What happened next was an interminable affair.
Shamrock immediately moved to the UFC logo in the center of the ring. He didn't leave that spot for 10 minutes and did nothing but pivot toward Severn and stare. Severn, for his part circled around Shamrock and stared back at him.
[ANNOUNCER #1, commentating on the fight]
...and neither one willing to take a shot.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
He circled him again and again and again.
[ANNOUNCER #1, commentating on the fight]
Still nothing happening...
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Neither fighter even attempted a strike, save for a single half-hearted jab every minute or two.
[ANNOUNCER #2, to ANNOUNCER #1]
...and you gotta keep your strategies, maintain your poise.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
This went on for 10 full minutes, until referee John McCarthy temporarily stopped the fight. By that time, Severn had made 35 complete orbits around Shamrock. By a rough estimate, Severin had danced about 2,900 feet, a little more than half a mile.
[JOHN McCARTHY, to SHAMROCK and DAN SEVERN]
You can't just stare at each other.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The half hour fight ended in a split decision. Although it's hard to imagine anyone who paid $19.95 for the pay-per-view sticking around until the end.
[ANNOUNCER #3, to the other ANNOUNCERS]
These are two of the greatest fighters in the world, but they're not fighting.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The damage was done. SEG, the UFC's parent company, suddenly had trouble finding places to fight. Within a matter of months, revenue had sharply declined.
"Arcanes of Time" concludes.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
Despite their best efforts to work with athletic commissions, it was taking its toll on the promotion, until an angel came in and saved the sport, a seedy, depraved angel. Let's dig up its bones.
"Drifting Memory (A)" by JOHN EPPING and MICHAEL HORNSTEIN starts playing.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
It's the 1950's in Galveston, Texas, a hotbed of organized crime. The Maceo family operates a racket that rakes in millions though gambling, prostitution, and the oil business. Joseph Francis Fertitta marries into the family, and soon the Fertittas and Maceos find themselves in the paper together.
In 1960, the law finally comes down in Galveston, and the Fertittas scatter. Some resurface in the desert, including Frances Fertittas' son, Frank Jr. Frank spends 15 years working in Las Vegas casinos before founding one of his own with a business partner, Carl Thomas. It's called Bingo Palace, and in a few short years it becomes the sole property of Fertitta, when Thomas is convicted by the feds for illegal skimming practices.
Fertitta changes the name and launches the Station Casinos empire, and it makes the family very, very rich, so rich that, in 2001, Frank's sons Lorenzo and Frank III, also known as Frankie Three Sticks (not making it up), team up with their childhood friend Dana White to buy the UFC.
Dana was a boxercise instructor who had to evacuate Boston because, according to him, feared New England mobster Whitey Bulger tried to extort him. It's a very normal company.
Previously, the UFC had cleaned up its rules and tried everything it could to lobby state governments to sanction their fights, but none of those politicians seemed to listen, but in the year 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Commission established some common sense rules. This set of prohibitions and standards was known as the "Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts". It established mixed martial arts as legitimate.
How did Dana White and the Fertittas push this through so quickly after years of futility on SEG's part? Well, the Fertittas were very well connected in republican politics and as for Dana White, well...
"Drifting Memory (A)" abruptly ends, with a slight boom.
[DANA WHITE, to THE 2016 REPUBLIC NATIONAL CONVENTION]
Good evening, everyone! My name is Dana White. I am the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
THE 2016 RNC offers applause and cheers to WHITE.
[DANA WHITE, to THE 2016 REPUBLIC NATIONAL CONVENTION]
Thank you! I'm sure most of you are wondering, "What are you doing here?"
"The Lair" by BRUNO LETORT and ROMUALD TUAL begins playing, setting the tone for the remainder of WHITE's speech.
[DANA WHITE, to THE 2016 REPUBLIC NATIONAL CONVENTION]
In 2001, my partners and I bought the UFC, and it was basically considered a bloodsport. State athletic commissions didn't support us. Arenas around the world refused to host our events. Nobody took us seriously, nobody, except Donald Trump.
THE 2016 RNC offers applause and cheers to WHITE.
[DANA WHITE, to THE 2016 REPUBLIC NATIONAL CONVENTION]
Donald was the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business. He hosted our first two events at his venue, he dealt with us personally, he got in the trenches with us, and he made a deal that worked for everyone.
On top of that, he showed up for the fight on Saturday night and sat in the front row. Yeah, he's that guy. He shows up. Donald championed the UFC before it was popular, before it grew into a successful business, and I will always be grateful, so grateful to him for standing with thos- In tho- With us, in those early days, so tonight, I stand with Donald Trump, and let's be honest folks, we need somebody who believes in this country! We need somebody who's proud of this country and who will fight for this country!
THE 2016 RNC offers applause and cheers to WHITE. The applause fades out, and soon after, "The Lair" does too.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
The dark age of the UFC was over. Those forgotten years, though, saw some new stars: guys like Bas Rutten,...
"Bionic Flavors" returns, thus finishing the chapter right where we started.
[FELIX BIEDERMAN, narrating]
...Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, these were people who specialized in styles like their predecessors but were well-rounded enough that they could implement their malice far more artfully, but still, if a juiced-to-the-gills man takes you down and smashes your head in, but you're banned in a bunch of places and you can't get on the air, did it really happen?
