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SHAWN ENNIS
JASON BENT
MIKE JARSULIC
MATT PELKEY
ALEX WILLIAMS
BRUCE MITCHELL
JED GOODMAN
FRANK HYDEN
JASON BENT
JOHN TAYLOR APPLY TO JOIN OUR TEAM
On August 9th, 2008, the UFC made its debut in Minnesota at the Target Center in Minneapolis. 15,000 strong were in attendance, garnering a gate of $2.2 million, making this the highest grossing event in the history of the Target Center.
I've attended many sporting events in my life, and I can honestly say there is nothing I've attended that compares to the atmosphere in the Target Center on Saturday night. The UFC has a wholly unique feel to their events, from the differing styles of dress, to the celebrity attendance, to the rabid fanbase, to the fights themselves; the UFC's got a style all their own.
Only at a UFC event will you see male fans dressed in styles ranging from the classis jeans and a t-shirt look, to full on business suits, to a guy literally hooked up to an I.V. to attend the show. Only in the UFC will you see female fans dressed for a night on the town, ready for the after parties, and cheering all the while wearing very little.
Only at a UFC event will you see television stars, professional athletes from different sports, comedians, and politicians mixing it up in the same seating area to witness a sporting event. In attendance at UFC 87 were Laura Prepon, star of That 70's Show and the short lived October Road; Nick Swardson, comedian out of Minnesota who has appeared in written and appeared in several films; Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings. Even former professional wrestler and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura was cageside for this event.
Only at a UFC event will you get fans willing to travel from the far reaches of their country, into ours, to cheer on their countryman, this night being Georges St. Pierre. Our brothers and sisters from the north were out in full swing in Minneapolis, with an estimated 30% of those in attendance coming from Canada. They made themselves known, too, giving St. Pierre an adopted hometown crowd here in Minnesota.
Only at a UFC event can Brock Lesnar prove he belongs in MMA in front of a hometown crowd and against a top level fighter. If there were any questions about whether Brock Lesnar belonged in the MMA world, he quashed them with his unrelenting ground dominance against a fighter with more than 12 times the fights he's had. Heath Herring was in great shape for this fight, and he simply got overpowered and outworked from start to finish.
Brock Lesnar deserves to be looked at in a different light by MMA fans than he has been. He's been pegged as the "pro wrestler" coming in to make a mockery of the sport. Truth be told, and he's said this before, if the UFC were at this level when he finished college, he would have gone that route. He did the "pro entertainment" thing because his size and athletic ability could get him top dollar. It cannot be overstated that the man was an NCAA wrestling champion, and has an amateur background that rivals anyone in the UFC, and yet people still want to peg him as something he's not. Brock Lesnar is not a professional wrestler. Brock Lesnar is an MMA fighter; he's one of the most gifted athletes to come into the game in a long time, and he's only going to get better, which makes him scary.
Only at a UFC event can you witness the best version of the sport of MMA. UFC 87 provided a top notch night of fights, and the three most hyped fights delivered what they set out to deliver.
Only at a UFC event can you experience the intensity and excitement of a crowd of 15,000 swelling to insane decibel levels to a seemingly neverending crescendo. The crowd could be felt throughout the building by how loud it got. The three biggest pops of the night went to the two out of Minnesota, Lesnar and Roger Huerta, and to the Canadian Champion himself, GSP. I've been in attendance for the NHL playoffs and for some big time NFL, NBA, and MLB games, and I don't think I've ever been in a crowd like Saturday's.
With the UFC branching out into new states and cities, and with their plan to promote, quote Dana White, "literally everywhere," more and more people are going to get a chance to experience this atmosphere. If you've never been to an event, it's something that needs to be experienced to be understood; so mark your calendar when they announce a show in your area, because you won't want to miss out on what you can only find at a UFC event.
