The Hurt Business (2016) Movie Script

1
(dramatic orchestral music)
(electric buzzing)
(thump)
(heart monitor beeping)
(wind buffeting a microphone)
(crickets chirping)
(serene drone music)
(liquid sloshing)
(mechanical click)
[Interviewer] Have
you ever felt bad
about hurting anybody?
[Jon] I broke
a guy's orbital bone.
He insulted me a lot
before the fight,
and I shattered
his face pretty good.
(gunshot rings out)
His confidence was
never the same,
but if they could do
it to me, they would.
One thing I do, I pray for my
opponents before the fight.
What we do for a living
is a little taboo.
There's not many
who have the courage
to go in there and
be so vulnerable,
knocked unconscious in front
of all your friends and family,
your teacher seeing your
eyes roll back in your head.
No one wants to get embarrassed
in front of millions of people.
So we train
to do the things that
no one wants to do.
That's what makes
great fighters.
(thumping, momentous music)
(mechanical squeaking)
[Kevin Costner, narrating]
Over the past decade,
mixed martial arts has
become one of the world's
fastest-growing sports.
What began as a gathering of
variously trained fighters
competing for the right to
claim their technique as supreme
has become the household
name known today
as simply MMA.
(metallic clinking)
[Crew] Big on top.
[Costner] Most of the sport's
growth in popularity
is due to its
largest organization,
the UFC.
(crowd cheering)
One of the most anticipated
fights in UFC history
took place in April 2012
when two former teammates faced
each other in the Octagon.
Months earlier, the older
fighter, Rashad Evans,
was a mentor to his friend
and rising star Jon Jones.
But on that day,
the Las Vegas arena
was brimming with anticipation
for the two former
friends to exchange blows.
[Mike] Kept
Rampage at distance.
[Joe] Oh, big kick...
[Costner]
Unable to control his fury,
Rashad made crucial errors.
Jones remained composed,
unleashing strategic attacks.
[Joe] Just threw Rashad.
Oh, he tagged him.
[Mike] He would love
to finish this fight.
[Bruce] Has it 49-46,
and Richard Bertrand
scores the contest 50-45...
[Costner] Five rounds later,
Jones is declared the winner,
retaining his title as
the light heavyweight
champion of the world.
[Bruce] The undisputed UFC
light heavyweight
champion of the world.
[Costner] The UFC has
found its new superstar.
[Bruce] Bones Jones!
[Costner] Rashad
left New Mexico
after feeling betrayed
by his former team
at Jackson's Gym.
He's made a new home
base in Florida,
where he lives with
his girlfriend Beans.
After losing another
fight in a split decision,
Rashad suffered a
severe knee injury
(dog barking)
that put his career on hold
for at least a year.
The climb back up is
the hardest in many ways,
but I'm right there,
right there again.
And
I hurt myself.
(eerie ambient music)
(birds squawking)
(people talking)
(thumping drum music)
[Child] Do you
have some on my knuckle?
It sounds like you walking up,
like you are trying to be sassy.
[Guide] He's just
defending his house.
He's checking you guys out
like you are checking him out.
[Rashad] Wow.
(laughter)
[Costner] Rashad's children
from his second marriage
visit him once a month.
They miss
their father and it shows.
On a pleasant
afternoon like this,
the family enjoys
their time together.
[Interviewer] What
was your experience like
fighting Jon Jones?
I felt mentally drained
going into that fight.
There's a big, huge story behind
the whole me and Jon Jones
relationship,
and furthermore
the relationship,
which was fractured
because of the fight,
which was Jackson's Gym.
Greg Jackson was
my longtime coach,
and I had some of my best fights
training under them.
And I felt like
they sold me out.
At that point,
I'm just like... like,
"What happened?"
And it's weird
because you never know
at that point in which
you've lost that step.
And I'm thinking to myself like,
"Did I,
"did I lose my shit?
"Where did my shit go?"
You know what I'm saying?
Like "I can't hit the button.
"I can't find that thing."
It was a lot of
soul-searching, a lot of
why I started to fight.
What it means to fight.
[Robert] Keep your knee right
there, right there, right there.
Good.
(Rashad groans)
[Costner] Three times a week,
Rashad does rehab to
strengthen his healing knee.
(Rashad groans)
One, that's it.
Your muscle's not even shaking.
That's great.
Two.
(Rashad groans)
Now it's starting to shake.
I spoke too soon.
His injury changes everything.
Does he have the ability
to stand on his leg,
push off as hard as he wants,
and not have to worry about
it collapsing or falling?
It's okay.
No big deal.
Mentally speaking,
that period of time
can take just as long
if not even longer
to recover than just
the physical injury itself.
For me, fighting
is always overcoming.
Always overcoming,
always overcoming.
And now here I am
on the road to come back,
on the road to dominate
and
try to regain
what was once mine,
which is the UFC
light heavyweight belt.
(momentous music)
[Staff] He doesn't like me.
(people chatting)
[Greg] Okay, gear it up, guys.
Get geared up.
[Costner]
Since defeating Rashad Evans,
Jon Jones still
remains champion.
He is 27 years old and now
the UFC's biggest draw.
Huge endorsements with
Reebok and Beats Headphones
have made him a household name.
International
appearances take up
a lot of the fighter's time.
Now, with his next fight
just five weeks away,
the champ returns
to his training camp
at the famous Jackson's Gym
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Me and Rashad Evans,
we were training partners.
He was somebody who I
looked up to, growing up,
and he was one of
the main reasons
why I came to Jackson's Gym.
I was teaching 'em all these
cool, funky crazy techniques,
and they were teaching
me some of their
veteran techniques and stuff,
and I think my passion allowed
me to outgrow those guys.
[Greg] I like that
switch, Jon Jones.
I saw it.
They saw it pretty fast.
Every week, I was getting
a little bit closer
to beating them, and eventually
I was beating them both.
(momentous music)
Rashad got injured, and the UFC
offered me the opportunity
to fill in for him
to compete for the next
available world championship,
and obviously I took
the opportunity.
He felt as if I should've
waited for him to recover,
but that's not really
the way the world works.
I felt as if this was my time,
my opportunity to be great.
And I did.
I won that world championship,
really devastating fashion.
[Greg] Put some pressure
on him. That's all I wanna see.
Close the distance, you win.
[Jon] He started his own team
and challenged me for
the championship right away.
And we beat him up pretty good.
He badmouthed Greg Jackson;
he badmouthed the whole program.
Tried to twist
the story to the media
and tell people that
I had betrayed him.
And, really, I was just
a kid following my heart,
following my dreams.
(laughter)
You're still shaking
off Brazil a little bit.
You can see that travel's
a little getting you,
but that's
doesn't mean nothing.
Let's get you
outta here, though.
[Interviewer]
When you told your parents
you were gonna become
a professional fighter,
how did they react?
They were not about it.
My dad, being a pastor,
he always wanted me
to go the route of
a spiritual leader,
and I never thought
that was for me.
My mom thought that it
would change my character.
She thought that I would
become a violent person
or a person who didn't treat
people fairly or arrogant,
but it's changed
my life in a positive way.
It's given me a way
to provide for my family
and to share myself
with the world,
so now they realize
that it's the best thing
that ever happened to me.
(vehicle starts up)
(truck engine rumbles)
This is good.
Yep.
[Crew] Take two.
(crew man claps)
(gasps)
[Interviewer] What are
the actual origins of MMA?
Where did it come from?
Originally it started
I think it's
like 648 Before Christ.
I looked it up one day because
I had a real cool
script about it.
And it was
in the first Olympics
called Pankration.
Pancrase!
(looming ambient music)
[Costner] MMA's roots can be
traced back to ancient Greece.
A sporting event
known as Pankration
determined who was
the ultimate combatant.
Men faced off before
roaring crowds,
garnering the respect
of such figures
as Alexander the Great.
Contestants had
the ability to submit
by raising an index finger,
similar to the tap-out
technique used in modern times.
[Bas] It was mixed martial
arts pretty much.
Right there,
in the first Olympic sports.
Back in the days, gladiators,
they would have thousands
and thousands of people,
and they're killing each other
with swords and everything.
There's something about two men
that get inside of a cage
and compete against each other
that human nature
loves to watch.
Every human being,
even my mother
who's like a saint,
she wouldn't hurt nobody,
but I can still, even her,
put her in a situation
of life or death
or even for defending
someone that she love.
She gonna have to fight.
As a fighter, there's
nothing harder than MMA.
You gotta do the wrestling.
You gotta
do the kickboxing.
You gotta do the jiu-jitsu.
We're like a Rubik's cube.
MMA is.
You gotta make sure
all the colors match
at the same time
to win the game.
(film shuttering)
(gentle strummed music)
[Costner] In Brazil,
the Gracie family perfected
the ancient Japanese
martial art of jiu-jitsu,
molding it into
a brand all their own.
This Brazilian
jiu-jitsu would become
one of the key principles of
today's mixed martial arts.
[Rorian Gracie]
In 1914 Mitsuyo Maeda,
a jiu-jitsu
instructor from Japan,
came to Brazil as an aide
to the Japanese
immigration colony.
My grandfather was a very
influential man at the time,
helped the Japanese
gentleman get settled.
So to show his gratitude,
he offered to teach
jiu-jitsu to my uncle Carlos,
who at the time
was 13 years old.
My father Helio Gracie
was physically very frail.
Nobody knew exactly why.
And what my dad soon realized
is that the techniques he had
spent a few years memorizing
by watching his
brothers practice
require a certain amount
of physical ability
and strength and speed,
which he did not have.
So through trial and error,
he started modifying
those concepts
of the traditional
Japanese jiu-jitsu
that he had observed
so that he could
become proficient
in spite of his frail body.
And ultimately that was
the birth of Gracie jiu-jitsu,
Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
If you're gonna rely on strikes,
if he's 50 pounds
heavier than you,
there's a very good chance
that that guy can throw
a punch and knock you out.
So in jiu-jitsu,
we take that equation
out of the game.
The concept is to create
positions of leverage
that enable a weaker person
to become highly proficient
even against somebody
who's much bigger,
much heavier, much stronger,
because you're not relying
on speed and strength.
[John McCarthy] My first
view of a competitive match-up
between two guys that
were allowed to do more
than just punch with their hands
or kick with their feet
was when I was with the Gracies,
when they were showing me
fights that they had done
or other people had competed in
from Brazil.
[Rorian] The UFC was something
that was developed by me
when I came to the United States
with the objective of sharing
the knowledge of jiu-jitsu
with the rest of the world.
I came up with a concept
to develop a tournament
between different
styles of martial arts.
A boxer fighting a grappler.
A jiu-jitsu man fighting
a taekwondo guy.
(bell rings)
I specifically did
not want a boxing ring
because once they start
getting beat up,
they slip through
the ropes and get away.
In fact, John Milius, who was
a student of mine at the time,
did Conan the Barbarian, a
whole bunch of big, huge movies,
John and I used
to have discussions on
how should we make that ring
so the guys would not get away.
And we discuss having
a moat with alligators,
so if the guy tried to get away
he would be eaten up by
alligators and stuff like that.
Eventually, we settled for
what the Octagon is today.
One of my students
had actually
picked up a flyer,
and it said
no holds barred on it.
And when I looked at it,
I just thought, well...
(scoffs)
In those days,
it was pro wrestling.
You look at no holds barred,
it was Hulk Hogan.
When they first brought
the UFC on the scene,
it was billed as the fact
that somebody could die.
They were creating
that sensationalism.
[Ken] I go,
"Hey, it says no rules.
"Pull hair?
"Groin shot?"
He says,
"Yeah, everything's good.
"Only thing you
can't do is bite.
"Bare knuckle."
[Rorian]
I wanna show to the world
that if you throw
a punch at somebody's face,
it's very likely gonna
break your fingers.
Versus the illusion that we
see sometimes in the movies
where one guy walks in
and chops everybody up
and 50 people drop dead.
That's not reality.
[Announcer] Eight of the
deadliest fighters in the world
will meet in a no-holds-barred...
[Costner] In 1993,
the first Ultimate
Fighting Championship commenced.
[Danny Schulmann] I loved it.
It was very realistic.
Where back then,
there were a lot of
hocus-pocus type
of martial arts,
it showed everybody what
techniques actually work
in a real situation
and what techniques don't.
[Kenny Florian] That was
the first time that I really saw
martial arts go out and do
what they say they could do
and that was have a little guy
beat a big guy.
Gerard Gordeau
versus Teila Tuli.
That was as violent as it gets.
Gordeau kicks Tuli in the face
with the shin,
and his tooth flies and
they call off the fight.
It lasted like 30 seconds or so.
[Georges] When I saw that
a little guy like Royce Gracie
beating up the bigger and
more intimidating guy,
I felt very inspired because
they make me remember
my childhood when
I went at school
and got bullied.
So right away, I knew
I wanted to do this and I
wanted to be world champion.
[Tito]
The first pay-per-view did
like over 350,000
pay-per-view buys
on UFC 1
and just grew and got bigger.
They didn't realize
the sport that they had
intrigued fans to watch.
[Announcer] Thank you very
much for watching the first...
[woman]
The more I get, the more I get
The more I get,
the more I get
The more I get, the more I
It's a limousine
[Costner] Michael Guymon
has dedicated
his entire life to MMA.
Born and raised in
Orange County, California,
he is 39 years old
and has fought
22 professional fights.
He never achieved stardom.
Throughout most of his career,
Michael has struggled
with depression
and thoughts of suicide.
[Michael G.]
Yeah, I need to...
These refilled or filled.
[Pharmacist] Okay.
And, Michael, can you
fill your address
for me on that one?
What was birthday, also?
[Michael G.] 9/17/74.
(sniffs)
[Nicole Guymon] Since
we've got him on medicine,
it's kinda flatlined
him in the sense of
he doesn't
like think of just
picking up a gun
and shooting himself
or driving off a cliff.
I think it's more of just like,
"I'm okay if I die."
And he says that occasionally,
like "I'm okay if I die."
So I know that that part
of the depression
is still there.
I worried about him.
I don't want him to
do anything drastic,
and I worried about all
the injuries he suffer
when he was fighting,
because he had very
serious broken bones
in all his face and
his jaw and everything.
[Nicole] He got knocked out,
and he hit the ground.
And you can clearly
see that he was out.
And the ref was
coming in to stop
and do this.
And the guy came down and
hit him one more time.
And the guy gave 110%
and just shattered his face.
I broke my orbital,
my eye socket,
my cheekbone, my jaw.
I remember
on the way to the hospital,
all of a sudden
I see this pink fluid
coming out of my nose,
and I'm like "Ah,
"what the hell?"
And it ended up
being brain fluid.
The guy gets knocked out,
he gets carted off.
You don't see him the next week,
what he's like.
If you saw me the next day,
you would never
have recognized me.
It's not a game.
[Costner] Following
his recent injuries
sustained in the cage,
Joker has been
unable to compete.
This has led to a multitude
of financial problems
and uncertainty over the
future of his business venture:
his gym.
Stress for me is (chuckles),
it's going through the roof,
and I'm trying to be,
like, uh...
I'm trying to be as
positive as possible
on the outside.
Inside,
inside
sucks.
Am I gonna be able
to keep the gym?
How am I gonna make money
if I can't keep the gym?
Not being able to fight,
I mean I am able to fight.
It's just I'd have
to force my body
through
all that shit again,
which I don't wanna do.
(crowd cheering)
[Costner] For years,
unsanctioned amateur fights
have taken place on California's
Indian reservations.
This is how many of the
fighters today got their start,
Joker among them.
(crowd clamoring)
Today he leads his student Luke
along the same path
at this small amateur venue
miles away from the city.
[Michael G.] Luke's trying
to build his way up,
and this is the way to do it.
Build up your record here,
and then try and get
into bigger shows.
He's the new breed.
Future, right here.
The past, right here.
(laughter)
When you hit pads,
it's not gonna be like
that when you're fighting.
They're gonna be
throwing at you.
It's like Matrix;
everything slows down.
[Onlooker]
Aw, shit, he's hurt!
[Assistant] Hold his head.
I want you hold him
so he don't move.
Chris, come here.
[Cameraman] His teeth.
[Assistant]
Put your head back, bro.
[Cameraman] (chuckles)
Gonna stitch his mouth?
I just had surgery.
I don't wanna watch that.
[Michael G.]
Movement, movement, movement!
Make him commit, make 'em pay.
(men hooting)
(booming drum music)
[Announcer] To my left,
from Joker MMA
is Luke Adams!
(crowd cheering)
(bell rings)
[Attendant] Come on, Luke!
Yeah!
[Luke's Corner] Yeah!
[Coach] Get up!
Get up!
[Michael G.]
Oh, my God. (laughs)
(clapping and cheering)
[Cameraman] Give me
a thumbs-up. (chuckles)
Give me a thumbs-up, coach.
[Michael G.] Wow.
[Luke's Corner] Yeah!
(cheering)
(rhythmic pounding)
[Costner] Ranked
number six in the world,
34-year-old Sara McMann
is an active UFC fighter.
Prior to joining the league,
Sara was a wrestler on
the U.S. Olympic team.
She became
the first American woman
to win a silver medal
at the 2004 Olympics.
[Phil Nurse]
You wanna cut
and break a nose,
make some damage,
you gonna taper that tip.
[Costner] Recently separated
from her husband of five years,
the future of Sara's
marriage is now uncertain.
A devoted mother,
she is constantly balancing
the demands
of her fighting career
with the time needed
for her daughter.
[Sara]
Do you have a lot of homework?
Were you a naughty girl today?
You were a good girl?
My brother wrestled since
I was about three years old,
and I never really
had an interest in it.
I did cheerleading
for like one year.
And then when I
was 14, I was like,
"I think I wanna
go out for sports."
I wanted to do wrestling
'cause it just seemed like
the most natural sport.
But in North Carolina, that's
just wasn't really accepted.
It was, "Girls should be
"cooking and cleaning
for those boys,
"not wrasslin' with them!"
It was just a different time.
I've always kinda had
a stubborn streak, so
immediately when they told
me I couldn't do something,
especially 'cause they
told me I couldn't do it
'cause I was a girl,
I was like, "No way.
"I'm doing this."
Like, "You don't tell me
what I can and can't do
"and what I'm capable of."
And my mom was like,
"Oh, you're wrestling."
And I was like, "Yes!"
Some guys on the team
didn't think that
I belonged there,
like I was just there to
find a boyfriend or hook
up or something like that.
You know, "If she's gonna quit,
we'll help make her quit."
If they came after me,
I just came after them harder.
So I just kinda proved that
"Okay, you're
gonna stand up to me;
"you're gonna challenge me.
"It's just gonna make
me a better wrestler.
"You're actually helping me."
(glowing ambient music)
[Sara] There's a grasshopper
in the mouth.
It's trying to crawl out.
Grab it, quick.
Grab it.
Oh, look at it jump!
Grab it!
Quick.
[Bella] Got it!
Don't squeeze it.
(somber piano music)
My brother was murdered
when I was 18 years old
and he was 21.
And it was
at my first year of college.
The guy got beat
up by my brother,
and so he was insulted
and decided like,
"You know what?
"I'm gonna solve this problem.
"I'm just gonna
kill the guy."
My older brother was responsible
for me choosing to
wrestle and my character
developing the way it did,
my stubbornness
and my hard work and my drive,
and it was...
It was horrible.
It was horrible losing
somebody you looked up to
and that was your hero.
And, um...
Not even just losing somebody.
Losing somebody's hard enough,
but having somebody
taken from you.
It was really difficult
for an 18-year-old to
(rhythmic thumping)
process.
I didn't process it by
like crying all the time.
I threw myself into
wrestling, and when I wasn't,
I was just angry.
Angry at the world, angry that
that's the hand that life
dealt me at that time.
(mechanical buzzing)
[Ian McCall] I'm not a fan
of women fighting.
I think it's gross.
But that's just me.
You know, you wanna,
you wanna fight like a man,
you wanna act like a man,
then I'm gonna beat
you up like a man.
There's room for women
competitors, for sure.
There's an
opportunity for women;
they wanna compete.
They wanna be fighters.
It's cool.
I mean I don't see it too sexy.
But that's just
my sexist side of me
as being a man, I guess.
But if they wanna compete, cool.
That's awesome.
You know, I've
always had a fascination
with combat sports.
I can remember,
as a little girl,
and I'm talking
very little girl,
maybe six, seven, eight,
laying in bed, thinking,
"If I hit him like this,
he's gonna do this.
"If I do this,
he's gonna do that."
I think my mom thought
I was amazingly crazy.
(clippers buzzing)
[Ian] People like, "You're not
"gonna have your
daughter be a fighter?"
(chuckles) No.
Maybe a ballerina or something.
I had parents
that instilled in me
to try to be strong,
and martial arts
really did help me,
because I got into it so young,
build my confidence.
It kinda gave me a voice.
As female fighters,
we do have a voice,
and we can make our voice heard.
Every time we go in that cage,
we earn more and more respect.
And I think that
puts us in a position
of being the voice for
other women around the world
that don't have the opportunity
to have their voice heard.
It wasn't until Strikeforce
that I had the opportunity to
see legitimate female athletes.
[Michelle] For people that say
that there's no place
for women in the octagon,
I just say, "Watch."
You know?
"Watch, observe.
"Have an open mind."
If you bought
a ticket to an NBA game,
and you said, "All right,
"at halftime,
there's gonna be a WNBA game,"
a lot of fans would be
like, "What is this?
"We hate the WNBA."
You know how that is.
No one thinks twice.
The women's fights are just
as exciting
and looked forward to
as the men's fights.
There's obviously a lot
of women that wanna fight,
and there's a lot of guys
that wanna see 'em fight.
(lumbering drum-and-drone music)
[Interviewer] Do you
think women are finally
getting respect as fighters?
[Rachel Cummings]
Yes, definitely.
Well, especially since
there's Ronda Rousey.
She's definitely
deserved the respect.
How hard she trains,
her mental and her physical
everything is so prepared.
And that's what make
her a good fighter.
[Costner] Ronda Rousey,
a reigning UFC champion
and number-four
pound-for-pound
fighter in the world.
She has viciously
dominated her opponents,
beating many of them
within the opening seconds.
[Announcer] Here
is the action,
and there's not a lot of it.
[Color Commentator] Done!
[Announcer] That is the
end, ladies and gentlemen!
Seconds into
the first round, again.
Ronda Rousey looks unbeatable.
Phenomenal...
All right, y'all. Here she is.
Hi, everybody.
Hi.
Nice to meet you, too.
I found a scrapbook
in our house when
I was around eight,
and I discovered that my mom was
the first American
judo world champion.
I just found out that
she was actually Wonder Woman.
People all over the world
gravitate towards
fighting because
it's something
that's in everyone
and it's an actual instinct.
It's not a man's thing
or a woman's thing.
It's simple and it's natural,
and we're all
compelled to do it.
[Michelle] It's in our blood.
It's in our history.
We're instinctively
protective creatures
because we're mothers.
So if you ever watch
a female fight,
you see that
relentless passion
(Joe Rogan speaking)
to dominate and to survive.
[Costner] Recently,
Ronda took on Sara McMann,
dropping her with
a knee to the liver,
a stoppage that Sara still
believes was premature.
[Mike] It is all over.
[Costner] She
continues to train daily,
patiently awaiting
her next fight.
(mechanical rumbling)
[Announcer] Fighting out
of High Ridge, Missouri,
the former Bellator
lightweight world champion,
please welcome Michael Chandler!
(crowd claps and cheers)
(pensive piano music)
[Michael C.] Ever since I lost
that belt a couple years ago,
I knew that it was
only a matter of time,
only a matter of work,
only a matter of
positive thinking.
(people chatting)
[Costner] Losing extra pounds
to make weight is never easy.
It drastically affects
a fighter's mind.
[Michael C.] I'm very disciplined
for my whole training camp,
and I get my body down to
the best physical shape
it possibly can be,
four or five, 6% body fat,
and then that last
15 pounds or so
is a lot of water weight.
Once you make the weight,
then you have about 24 hours,
and you can finally breathe
because that first fight
was just making the weight.
Now you can focus
on the task at hand,
which is going out there
and winning that next fight.
Growing up in the Midwest,
my mom and dad worked two jobs
to make sure us kids had
every single thing
that we wanted.
My first love was wrestling.
And my mom worked two jobs.
My dad was a carpenter,
so he went to work
throughout the week
and then would do side
jobs on the weekends
just to scrape up enough money
to make sure I could
go to wrestling camps.
They truly wanted
to give us kids
more than they had
when they grew up,
and now kinda coming
into the sport of MMA,
it's really helped
me keep my roots
very strongly planted
in the ground.
[Man] Republicans'
bamboo trees.
Even though he is
completely different.
There was a guy that
dressed exceptionally good.
Kicking and striking,
it was unnatural
because I wasn't a
fighter growing up,
I never got into fights,
and I never really had
that adrenaline rush
of fighting and throwing
punches and kicks
and knees and elbows,
but I wasn't afraid
of anybody, and I knew
that I was already
gonna be tougher
than a lot of the guys
I stepped in the cage with.
I might not really understand
how a fight works, but I know
when it comes to
hand-to-hand combat,
I've already done it
at the highest level
in that
Division I wrestling room,
that Division I grind,
where for 12 months
out of the year
for five years straight,
you were literally putting
your body through a living hell.
You cannot go from
an elbow strike from 12 to six.
Now you can be on
your back and throw it from
six to 12.
That is legal.
(thumping drum music)
[Michael C.]
Having a loss is tough.
I've trained
so hard and so smart
and surrounded myself
with the right people,
the people I think
that are gonna help me,
and I never envision
seeing myself lose.
My first 12 fights I was 12-0,
ten finishes, and seven
of those in the first round.
[Announcer] Alvarez!
Bleeding terribly
out of the mouth
from Michael Chandler!
[Color Man] Now
giving up his back!
- [Announcer] Chandler looking...
- [Color Man] That's it!
[Announcer] There's the tap!
And we have a new champion!
Michael Chandler is Bellator's
new lightweight world champion!
My rematch against Eddie Alvarez
I lost by a tough,
tough split decision.
A lot of people thought I won.
I was put in this sport
to become a champion
and be put on
a platform to reach people,
so I couldn't see how
I could possibly lose
inside that cage.
And then it happens.
I came back
from the dead almost.
Not many guys lose
three fights in a row
and then came back and become
where I think that
I'm gonna end up.
[Michael C. on screen in
arena] You step in that cage,
you have one goal
and one mission,
and that's to dominate.
This is the hurt business.
[Announcer] Huge right!
I am pretty darn good at it.
I visualize myself on
top of my opponent,
hitting him or putting
him in a submission,
watching him crumble,
watching his facial
expression turn from
looking like he thinks
that he's gonna win
to that sunken-in facial
expression of "Oh, my gosh,
"this guy won't get off me.
"Oh, my gosh.
"It's only a matter of time
before I get finished."
(crowd cheering)
[Announcer]
Iron Michael Chandler!
[Trainer] You know what to do!
Lights out.
(bell rings)
(crowd clamoring)
(announcers speaking)
(Michael grunts)
(crowd cheers)
[Announcer] Chandler!
And it's over!
Michael Chandler came in
wanting to take
the fight to the ground.
Instead, he puts Patricky
Pitbull to the ground.
And we have a new
lightweight world champion.
[Color Man] Let me amend that.
[Michael C.] There definitely
are still some troubled guys
who wanna get in the sport
to channel their anger
or, "Hey, I wanna
make some money.
"There's girls around.
"Maybe I'll get on TV,
"and my friends'll
think I'm cool."
But it's starting to become
such a high-profile sport,
it's not easy to get
signed to these promotions
unless you are a quality fighter
and a quality human being.
It's interesting
the way the sport has grown,
matured, and advanced.
(crowd cheering)
[Costner] Clint Dahl,
a manager to many fighters,
studied the UFC formula
and soon began promoting
local fights in Orange County.
These local events
became a breeding ground
for some of the world's
greatest fighters.
There's a good example
of California's finest.
What up, buddy?
Time I had graduated
high school,
a large number of my friends
had been murdered,
and street fights
were a common thing.
You know, you just did it.
[Announcer] Fight fans,
1,000 strong
in an Orange County college gym,
cheer on the
bare-knuckle brawlers.
There are few rules,
and gloves are not required.
(slap)
(crowd cheers)
[Clint] The UFC had been
going,
and we started wanting to
be the UFC.
We started putting on fights
that we called shoot fights.
[Justin McCully] Shoot
fighting's not pro wrestling.
You really fight out there,
and you don't go out there...
Orange County
in the '90s was the mecca.
Orange County was truly
the mecca of mixed martial arts.
Well, the less rules there
are, the more intense it...
[Rob Emerson]
I have a scar on my palm
from when I hit a guy
and broke his nose,
and I guess his skull
went into my hand and just
blood everywhere.
[Clint]
One night this guy came in,
and he was a known badass.
He was like
the guy on the street.
He wasn't a big guy,
but he'd beat up big guys.
Everyone would talk about him.
And I'm like,
"Will you fight?"
And he's all like,
"Who am I fighting?"
I go, "I got a
16-year-old kid back here
"who trains here."
That 16-year-old kid
beat the shit
outta that street fighter.
Mangled him.
So this street fighter's
sitting on the floor.
I go, "Are you okay?"
And the $100 that I gave him
were in twenties,
and they were all crumbled up,
and he just
reached and grabbed 'em,
and he just like pulls
them into himself.
He's just afraid in that moment
that I'm gonna take his $100.
So there's
a street fighting story.
Street fighters lose.
And that's where
it started to progress.
[Announcer]
A practicing minister,
please welcome Kimo!
[Danny] In America,
since it's the melting pot
of all different cultures,
I believe that
same thing happens
when a martial art comes here.
Kickboxing, karate, taekwondo,
all of these things
got mixed together
to make mixed martial arts.
[Costner] The sport
of mixed martial arts
has constantly
reinvented itself.
Once dominated
by Brazilian jiu-jitsu,
today's fighters must develop
a more well-rounded approach
to stay competitive.
We learned about the Gracies.
A fundamental
ground fighting system
was revealed to us,
and we all went, "Holy smokes!"
But then when Stan Longinidis
beat Dennis Alexio
with a leg kick,
Muay Thai came around,
and everybody
went, "Holy smokes.
"What's Muay Thai?"
Then you get a guy
like a Don Frye,
who's a very good boxer
and a good wrestler,
that could stuff a takedown
and then start punching
and knock a guy out.
[Don Frye] UFC 8,
versus Gary Goodridge,
he was a monster.
UFC 9, Amaury Bitetti,
God bless him,
he almost died that night,
'cause he would not quit.
[Announcer] There it is.
"More," he's saying "More."
[Don] UFC 10,
Coleman almost killed me.
You got guys like Tito Ortiz
who reinvented
the ground-and-pound
after Coleman pretty
much invented it,
to a sprawl-and-brawl,
which Chuck Liddell mastered.
[Joe] Oh!
[Mike] Oh, and
a big right hand!
[Joe] Big left kick!
That's it!
Oh, it's over!
[Mike] It's all over!
[Joe] There has never been
a challenger like this before.
[Chuck] Knocking someone out,
it feels great.
If you play baseball,
it's like hitting that clean
line drive out of the park.
[Scott Coker]
The young guys at that time
said, "Okay, we gotta
be a complete fighter.
"Otherwise, if you have
a hole in your game
"and I don't, then
"I'm gonna probably
win the fight."
[Danny] In our schools,
we teach striking
and ground tactics.
You have to know both.
For a street situation
you have to know it,
and of course for MMA.
And I would never put
somebody in the cage
that's not well rounded.
It's putting it all
together, making it
as one.
If you can make it all seamless,
then that's the art of it.
Each fighter gets to
put his own flavor on it
and come out and express
himself to the world
in a canvas that's
painted in blood.
[Michael C.] This sport started
with barroom brawlers,
guys who were angry or
just getting out of prison,
and it was taboo.
But now you see so many
people coming into this sport
where they're just
passionate about it.
I have my degree from Mizzou.
If I wanted to stop
fighting today,
I could go use that degree
and do whatever I
wanted to do with it.
But I choose fighting
because I like it.
I'm not the kind of
guy who goes out to a bar
and gets into
a fight like an idiot.
I can't say I ever
got in a fight
that I wasn't paid for.
[Ariel] Now you're coming in
as a guy who started
training in MMA
as a 12-year-old
and now you're 21
with all those skillset.
It's fun to look
back at that time,
but that's wasn't sport;
that was more spectacle.
This is true sport.
[Rashad] All right,
guys, let's go!
Let's get, get it, get it.
[Costner] Rashad's knee
has yet to fully heal.
But he's eager to
begin his training.
[Girl] Thank you, my prince.
[Rashad]
Thank you, my princess.
[Costner] He steps
back into the gym
for the first time
in ten months.
[Rashad] What's up,
man, how you doing?
[Costner] This is just
the beginning of his comeback.
[Interviewer] What
was your childhood like?
[Rashad] I moved with my dad
when I was three years old,
and I stayed until I was seven.
He had very bad anger issues.
You know, he whooped
our ass a lot
to the point sometimes where
I didn't even fear
the paddle anymore.
Ha!
My mother was a good mom.
She was very strict.
She would give you
a couple warnings.
And if by the third warning
you didn't get it right,
it was bop, bop, bop, bop!
"Rashad, go get that belt!"
And I'm like, "Damn!"
[Trainer] Okay, here we go!
I used to love to fight.
That was like the funnest
thing in the world to me,
just to get into a street
fight with some other kids.
It was natural for me
because I grew up fighting.
Back when I was four
or five years old,
my brother Lance
would make me fight
other little kids.
They would love to fight me
because I looked like a wimp.
And I had to always
prove to them that
I'm 'bout it,
and I'm not scared of nothing.
It helped me
release a lot of frustration
and hurt that I had.
You know what I'm saying?
We grew up kind of poor,
very poor.
And it was just,
it was hard.
Bop, bop!
Once I got old enough to
really start to understand
that I was poor,
then I had a lot of resentment
for my father,
even resentment for my mother,
because I was like...
I used to think like,
"Why the fuck do I gotta
"grow up like this?"
(Rashad grunts)
(glove strikes pad)
It was one
of the things in my life that
always gives me drive
because I can still
remember that feeling.
(thumping orchestral music)
(girl grunts menacingly)
That's the business,
you know what I'm saying?
I got one chance
in my lifetime right now
to seize this opportunity
and make the most out of it,
and I gotta do what I gotta do
to make sure I'm doing that.
You know?
I been in this game since
2003, man.
(pool water splashes)
(kid shouting)
[Interviewer]
When you met Rashad,
did you know he was
a professional fighter?
[Beans] No.
I had no idea what I was in for.
He tried to tell me,
and I asked him,
"A fighter, what do you mean?"
And he said,
"Mixed martial arts."
I was like,
"Okay, that's a nice hobby,
"but what do you
do for a living?"
He asked how you
do it and cut off,
you not only controlled
but you cut off blood supply.
He's trying to prove
something. That's why.
[Older Man] No, no, no,
no, no, I'm just showing him.
I just wanna feel it.
Hold on, let me finish my tuna, man.
Come on, damn.
[Interviewer] Was it
difficult seeing him
not able to train?
Yeah, it's difficult because
it's like a child
that's not able to play.
[Older Man]
Don't hurt his neck.
(Rashad gurgles)
(laughter)
[Beans] Out of all
the sports out there,
it's the hardest one
to be connected with,
to watch him want
to do so much but
you can't.
(holiday bells ringing)
(gentle classical music)
[Costner]
With his upcoming fight
against Daniel Cormier looming,
Jon takes time
away from training
to fulfill his fatherly duties.
Oh, look.
Jon Bones Jones doll.
I let my kids watch
my fights, but
never live,
because you never know what's
gonna happen out there.
I've had some fights where
I've gotten pretty bloody,
and I've had some fights
where I've gotten other
people pretty bloody.
And I don't really like them
to see that type of stuff.
[Fan] Excuse me, Bones.
How's it going?
[Fan]
Pretty good, pretty good.
Good, good to see you, buddy.
[Interviewer]
Do a lot of fighters
bring their families
along during the training?
[Jon] That seems to work
for a lot of fighters.
I've also seen a lot of fighters
come down here by themselves.
And those guys really,
they don't really seem as happy.
They seem to get burned
out a little faster.
They miss their kids and
just having my kids run up to me
screaming "Daddy, Daddy!"
things in the gym
just don't seem
that serious.
Daddy!
[Jon] Guess what?
Got you guys
some toys tonight.
[Children] Yay!
(child laughs)
[Jon] Yeah.
[Interviewer] Your opponent,
Daniel Cormier,
keeps saying that you're
gonna poke him in the eyes
during the fight.
Why does he keep saying that?
So Daniel Cormier
is saying before the fight
that I'll end up
poking him in the eyes
at some point,
and the reason why he says that
is because I do poke
people in the eyes.
And it's very illegal.
But I do it.
Livies.
(children laugh)
- She hit me today.
- Did she?
I react to people
trying to punch
me in the face by
usually sticking my hand out
and pushing their face away,
kinda like you see on TV
where the big brother's
holding his little brother
and the little
brother can't hit him
'cause his arms isn't
long enough or whatnot.
And I do that in real fights.
Like if someone's coming at me,
I'll just put my hand
on their forehead.
And a lot of times they
end up missing the punch
that was intended for my face.
And sometimes it lands
in people's eyes.
And people hate that.
They're like, "Jonny, you're
a very talented fighter.
"You don't need to
use an illegal tactic
"to be successful."
And I try to tell people
it's not intentional,
but now I'm kinda
known for it, and
it's working.
Mwah!
Thank you.
[Interviewer] What gives
you the most stress in life?
My MMA career.
Definitely.
Not only winning, but performing
at people's expectations.
Being called the greatest
fighter in the world
pound-for-pound,
not only do you have to win
but you have to be impressive.
And I think that's
what causes me stress.
Oy!
(child chuckles)
Seat belts.
Seat belts,
seat belts, seat belts.
(ominous droning music)
(fans cheering)
[Costner] In August,
the press conference
of the upcoming
UFC 182 was held.
Jones and Cormier
finally got a chance
to size each other up.
Things escalated quickly
as the two fighters
met face to face
at center stage.
(crowd cheering)
Despite the melee,
the status of the fight
remains unchanged.
However, both fighters
were given serious fines
as well as community service.
[Daniel] You're the (bleep)
scum of the earth.
You are a terrible human being,
but you can sure
turn it on, huh?
Thank you.
I actually admire that you
can actually be this fake
and, like, when the TV comes on,
how you can just change.
It's like you're a chameleon.
[Costner]
Both managed to exchange
obscenities and even live
threats to the mainstream media.
The fact that you're
a pussy hasn't changed.
[Costner] Including
ESPN's SportsCenter.
I wish they would
let me next door
so I could spit in
your (bleep) face.
You know I would
absolutely kill you
if you ever did something
like that, right?
You could never kill me.
Oh, I bet you I could.
[Costner]
Cormier is a tough opponent,
and previous confrontations
have made it personal.
I would literally kill you
if you spit in my face.
Yeah, let's try that, Jon.
- Literally kill you.
- Let's try that, Jon.
I'm not saying
I would fight you;
I say I would kill you
if you did some
stupid shit like that.
So Jon, do you think
I'm just gonna sit there
and let you kill me, Jon?
I mean, really?
(crickets chirping)
[Coach]
Harder, harder, harder! Higher!
Go, go, go!
Five seconds, finish strong!
The best liver
kick that I see is
from catching a kick
or parrying a kick...
[Costner] Earlier in the day,
Sara received a call
from the UFC matchmaker.
She has been offered
to fight Miesha Tate,
one of the top-ranked
fighters in the world.
It will be the challenge
Sara has prepared for.
[Coach] Reset, back neutral!
One step back, come back in!
That's it.
Is she accounting for
elbows and down pressure?
Pull him into the ground.
[Interviewer] In
college, you had a fianc.
Was it easy for you
to get along with him
because he was a wrestler also?
Yeah. He understood
everything, you know.
Like he knew the stress
and pressure I was under.
There's so many things
that go unspoken
between two athletes.
Like I would never
have any question
of how he was feeling,
what was going on,
what was he experiencing.
And the same things vice versa.
You just have a different
understanding of it.
(somber piano music)
[Interviewer] What happened
in September of 2004?
[Sara] He'd gotten into
Columbia Law School.
And we were driving to go
move all of my stuff there.
And for whatever reason,
the car veered off the road,
and I tried to correct it.
And I overcorrected
it, and it rolled, and
I got injuries,
we were both ejected
from the vehicle,
and he passed away.
We were planning
on getting married.
So I lost him and everything
that he brings to the world,
and then I also lost
all of our future plans,
children we would've
had together,
all the things that
happen throughout
the course of a lifetime, so
I just went through
a really, really bad time,
struggling to come
to terms with things.
Like this is what
happened in life.
This is your life,
and whether you like it or not,
this is how it's going.
I really started
to review and realize
what life really is all about.
(light switch clicks)
You gonna brush your teeth?
You want help?
[Bella] No, ma'am.
[Sara] You kinda grow
up thinking that
certain things are expected
like, oh, if you
work really hard,
good things will come to you,
and if you're
a really good person,
you'll find somebody to be with
and it'll last forever,
and we don't realize
that we're living...
envisioning the fairy tale,
but we kinda are.
And then something happens that
just kinda wipes all that out.
And you just have to figure out
"Okay, this isn't
something that is
"outside of the range of life.
"This is life.
"This is what it's about."
Life offers some really, really
wonderful, beautiful things,
but it's almost pretty
much part of the package
that you go through
the really extremely
difficult ones, too.
I love you.
I love new!
[Interviewer]
Do you ever get scared
that if you get injured fighting
you might not be there
for your daughter?
It's something
I definitely worry about.
You only get one brain,
so will I be able
to be there for her?
(light switch clicks)
(crowd cheering)
(bell rings)
[Announcer] The winner!
[Costner] Throughout
professional MMA's existence,
maintaining a fighter's health
has always been a challenge.
Many careers have been cut short
as a result of injury.
[John]
When I first refereed,
the real two rules
there were was
no biting and no eye gouging.
Everything else was allowed.
I was put in there by Rorian
not because he thought I was
gonna be this great referee.
He actually told me,
he goes,
"You're not squeamish
about people getting hurt."
(laughs) So I guess that
was my qualifying factor.
[Announcer] His corner will
probably throw the towel in.
[John] The corner could
stop the fight
by throwing in the towel,
or the fighter
could stop the fight
by tapping out,
but in no way
was the referee supposed
to stop the fight.
And it got to the point
where I had guys getting hurt
in a significant fashion,
and they did not have the
ability to defend themselves.
I was screaming
at corners to throw towels,
but the fighter said, "Don't
you ever throw the towel,"
so they're not gonna
throw the towel.
And now the fighter
is unconscious.
And I'm supposed to
just let him get hit.
It was ridiculous.
And it was to the point where
when it got all over with,
I said, "Hey, thank
you very much.
"I will never do that again."
It was not sport.
[Bruce] The show itself back
then was a spectacle.
And as a spectacle,
it shocked the world.
And when it shocked the world,
we created a lot of critics.
One independently
was a politician
who said we were
human cockfighting.
[Don] John McCain,
the senator from Arizona,
(spits)
piece of dirt.
"It's the most brutal
thing in the world,
"and it needs to
stop immediately."
And then when he was asked
if he'd ever watched one,
he said no.
McCain can't
straighten out his elbows
to wipe his own ass.
So what's he gonna know
about mixed martial arts?
Don't trust a word
a politician says
especially when he's trying
to save you from yourself.
We were in
a lot of political pressure.
We ended up in federal court.
The cable networks
took us off the air,
with the exception of DirecTV.
So we went from the fastest-growing
pay-per-view in history
to now lucky to get 50,000 buys.
You can't tell me that
anything is a true sport
if you can kick somebody
in the balls, basically.
[Announcer] I can see you
taking deep breaths at home.
I saw Gary Goodridge
fighting The Pedro (chuckles),
going in his cup,
squeezing his cojones.
They started realizing, "We
gotta change something here."
I made up a list
of 18 different rules.
And those 18 rules, some
of 'em were stupid rules
just for me to try to give fluff
to say, "Oh, you can't do this."
Some of 'em were good rules.
All these were just
an attempt to try to
get people to understand
"Yes, there's rules
involved with it,
"you can regulate these rules,
"and this is not the barbaric
"action that you think it is."
[Rorian]
The conclusion was
not only you have
to put time limits
to control the amount of time,
which I understand and respect,
not what I think is
best for a real fight,
but it's necessary for the show.
The other thing is you can't
no longer put a huge fighter
against a little guy,
because
if it's a five-minute round,
by the time
the big guy gets tired
the round is over.
So it, for me, lost its purpose
because it's no longer
a comparison of styles.
Became a show of entertainment.
This is why I decide to sell
my interest in the company,
which I don't regret.
My name is Lorenzo Fertitta.
I'm the UFC's chairman and CEO.
And to my right, of
course, is Dana White,
our president.
[Bruce] The greatest day in the
history of mixed martial arts
was the day that Dana White
and Lorenzo and Frank
Fertitta bought the UFC.
Had they not bought the UFC
and done what they did with it,
even suffering
in the beginning themselves
with trial and error,
we would not be
where we're at today,
the sport would be
dead in this country,
it would be underground,
we wouldn't be having
this interview,
and I truly believe that.
They are the saviors
of the sport.
[Announcer] Gonna
let it all go.
The opening of tonight's
show, the bigger...
[Scott]
Any entertainment business,
there has to be a balance.
I used to this to gyms:
"Hey, you need to
support me, too.
"You can't just send
all your fighters to the UFC.
"You need to support us because
"if you only end
up with one buyer,
"what's that gonna
do to the industry?"
The league can control
the marketplace.
Right?
(dramatic music)
[Michael C.] Bellator is
a relatively new organization
that started in 2008.
I came in in the infancy stage.
My first fight, the cards
were getting jumped over
by like high school
girls' softball games,
and then Scott Coker
took over in 2014,
who ran Strikeforce
very successfully
until the UFC bought them out.
And now we're on this
worldwide platform of Spike.
Don't underestimate
the power of network television.
[Michael C.] He's about
building stars and building guys
and building people.
[Scott] This is
a business of star power.
At the end of the day,
we put fighters into the cage
that people want to see.
(crowd cheering and clapping)
(ominous drone music)
(shoes strike against stairs)
[Interviewer] What was
Michael like as a child?
[Rosa] Wonderful.
Very good.
Everybody like him.
He was friendly all the time.
[Interviewer]
Are you, as a family,
trying to help Michael
to get over his depression.
[Rosa]
Yeah, we try whenever possible,
but sometimes he
doesn't let you.
I have to drag
things out of him.
He say,
"No, Mom. "I'm okay."
You know.
I know he has gotten
to counselors,
but I don't know
how good they are.
(elevator humming)
(Michael G. sighs)
I hate doing this.
(elevator door opens)
Basically lie to the guy a lot,
because if I told
him the truth truth,
he would probably lock me up.
[Psychiatrist] Are you
still using the Xanax?
[Michael G.] Xanax, yeah.
I used that a lot
over the last, like...
(breathes)
I'd say over
the last, like, month.
Oh, and one thing...
You say "a lot."
Do you mean more than two a day?
Yeah, more than two.
Yeah.
I get concerned if you
say "a lot" meaning...
No, no, no, no...
[Ispirescu]
That you're taking...
- Oh, no, no, no, no...
- [Ispirescu] No, no, not like
taking it to kill yourself,
but just taking extra pills...
No, like I'll take
two at the most a day,
and then there's
a couple days I took three.
And I'm dead serious when I say
I've never had,
I guess, a panic attack?
But I was riding, I was cycling,
I cycle a lot,
and I'm cycling this one day,
and I literally
felt like I was gonna
break down, start crying,
and frickin'
I just couldn't catch my breath,
and I was literally
about to stop
in the middle of the ride
and just lay
on the side of the road.
That's not normal.
[Ispirescu]
Like a panic attack?
Yeah, yeah, like, "Oh, my God.
"I'm gonna be 40 years old.
"What do I do?"
Yeah.
Mid-life crisis?
(metallic groaning)
I hate traffic.
Just wish I could mount
cannons on this thing.
I'd shoot that guy.
I'd shoot that guy.
I'd shoot that guy.
I'd probably shoot
that guy twice.
(vehicle brakes whine)
(door squeaks)
Look at you guys!
(dog barking)
Hi, honey.
[Nicole] Hey.
[Michael] Hey, babe.
[Nicole] Huh?
[Michael] I love you, babe.
You got nice melons.
[Interviewer] How would
you describe your marriage?
You know, it's marriage.
It's up and down.
It's constant work.
We've been through a lot.
You know, that attempted suicide
and kinda dealing with that.
And sometimes it's a challenge
because with that name Joker,
he's always got
this smile on his face
and constantly joking around
so that he doesn't have to,
I think, a lot of
the times, face
his challenges inside
and whatever he feels that
he needs to accomplish
within himself.
[Michael] How was your day?
Great.
[Michael] What
was great about it?
Just another day in paradise.
(somber guitar music)
[Costner]
As a way to make extra cash,
fighters often make
appearances at expo events
and stage meet-and-greets
with their fans.
On a late afternoon, Joker
takes a drive to Las Vegas
for an MMA trivia game.
[Interviewer] Tell me about
the day you attempted suicide.
[Michael G.] I had my .45.
Put one round in the chamber.
I'm walking out to the car.
My friend Jim Arabino,
one of the heads at the sheriff's
department at the time.
Nicole's got his number,
calls it up and says,
"Mike's tried to kill himself.
"I got the gun from him,
"but he's gonna
find one of you guys
"to shoot him."
He said, "I'll take care of it."
A sea of patrol cars
pull into each side.
Bullhorn like "Come on, man.
"Everybody has a bad day."
My phone was ringing
off the hook.
It was Jim, and Jim's like,
"Don't get out of your car.
"Don't do anything.
"I'm coming there
to personally get you."
This little old guy.
Gets out of the car.
Officer's like,
"Jim, step back."
And he's like, "Nope.
"Nope, no." (chuckles)
"Nope. I'm gonna
go get my buddy.
"That's my friend.
"He's not gonna hurt me,
not gonna hurt himself."
(clears throat)
He gives me a big hug.
Tells me he loves me.
Yeah, that was,
that was that day.
[Bill Cole] I get people
crying in my office,
falling apart in the office,
thinking their life is over
'cause they've lost
a really big match.
I've even worried about
a few people, suicide.
I've worried.
Because they're
more prone to depression.
A lot of athletes
are perfectionists.
But the problem
with perfectionists is
they can drive
themselves mercilessly
to the point where
they're seeing
what's wrong all the time,
not what's right.
They have one little loss.
Okay.
Another little loss.
Okay, another one.
Now by the time the third
or fourth one pops in
or they have one
really big, bad one,
people around 'em
are telling 'em,
"You're in a slump.
"You're messing up;
you're going down."
[Michael C.] Those negative
thoughts take seed.
"Maybe you aren't as good
as you thought you were."
Negativity can be the most
powerful emotion on Earth
if you don't take care of it.
[Jay] It's the highest highs,
the lowest lows.
You feel like
Tarzan when you win,
and you feel like
Jane when you lose.
After the third loss,
I actually went and saw
a sports psychologist.
[Bill]
People will tell me,
"I look around at my
other competitors in MMA.
"They don't seem
nervous at all."
And I say, "Well,
"how many of them do you
really know personally?
"If you were to really
know those people,
"and they were to
tell you the truth,
"they would probably tell you
"they're actually as
nervous as anybody else."
But there is such
a thing as bluster
and bravado
and faking it.
Especially in a very macho
sport like the combat sports,
does anybody wanna walk
around dropping their head
and looking like a hangdog?
No way.
Because people are
gonna key on that
and use it against them.
So they're gonna puff up,
and they're gonna walk around
like they're all that
and a bag of chips,
because they wanna
show the illusion that
"I'm Superman."
But inside,
they could be very fearful.
(patrons cheer)
So don't assume
what you see is what you get.
[Emcee] Toh-gee Wan Kenobi...
(patrons cheer)
(Michael laughs)
[Interviewer] Did you
sustain a lot of injuries
when you were fighting?
[Don] Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
But you know what?
That's part of being a man.
[Fabricio Werdum]
I never have been scared
because I like my job.
When I walk for the cage,
I smile because I'm happy.
I like this moment.
All people have fear.
If anyone says, "I'm not afraid
"of being in that fight,"
they're lying to you.
I have experienced fear
in every one of my fights.
There's two things
I do before my fight.
I throw up
and I cry.
When I'm in the locker
room about to walk out,
(sighs)
there's a lot that
goes through my head.
I try not to overthink things
'cause that's
the worst time to do it.
But
part of me is telling me
I'm gonna go out
there and kill it.
The other part of me is saying,
"Oh, what if this happens?
"What if you lose?"
I think about getting
injuries all the time
because these girls,
they're not just going
in there trying to win.
They're trying to maim me.
They wanna be the one that
maybe they didn't beat
me but they gave me
a big enough gash on my face
where I wouldn't be able
to work in Hollywood.
It's not a bad
thing to be scared.
It's a bad thing to doubt.
I'm full of fear
but without any doubts.
(clippers buzzing)
I got 28 stitches.
I shattered
this whole knuckle out here.
Broke the hand and
shattered the knuckle.
People don't understand what
it's like to have back pain
unless they have it.
They have a ruptured disc
in their lower back.
I went through seven years
of competition with it.
Eating Vicodins every day
just to make my pain go away.
(kick snaps)
[Announcer]
Excellent kick by Rob...
[Partner] Oh, my God!
His bone is gone.
[Interviewer]
You think people are
drawn to violence generally?
Absolutely. It's in our DNA.
[Joe] His leg's broken!
His leg's broken!
Dana White once said that
you could have a corner,
there's a tennis match,
soccer on that corner,
baseball game over there.
A fight breaks out
in the fourth corner,
everybody's gonna
go watch the fight.
It's just the way it is.
Everybody wants to see blood.
Who doesn't wanna see blood?
You know what I mean?
That's why they pay the tickets.
They pay to see
two guys in there
bloody, sweaty,
one guy get knocked out.
That's what the sport is.
- [Joe] That's it!
- [Mike] He's down!
[Ben] Is MMA brutal?
Yeah, 100% it is.
Sometimes, especially
when I'm cornering a fight
and I'm watching these guys
hit and kick each other,
I'm like, "Shit! I gotta do this?"
"That's pretty brutal in there."
[Georges] It's very barbaric.
I'm not denying it.
That's the problem,
is that other guys
try to deny it.
It's not a form of entertainment
that is made for everybody.
We're willingly putting
ourselves through this
to see who's the best
in the world, you know?
[Joe] It really
poses the question:
What do you want to do?
Do you want to take
a chance and risk
getting knocked out!
[Costner] Some
critics still argue
that the sport is too cruel
and has no place
in modern society.
(bell ringing)
[Patricia Fahey] I recognize it's
a tremendously popular sport,
but what point
in a civilized society
do we draw the line
on violence-inducing sports?
And I think the whole
concept of the cage
is also rather disturbing.
We all have brain damage.
(clippers buzzing)
You don't get
into this, thinking like
"Oh, I'm gonna be fine."
[John] We're
gonna get lacerations,
but lacerations are
not a severe injury.
It gets sutured together,
and the guy is gonna be fine.
Hematomas where
we have swelling,
it's gonna go down.
The things that we
really try to mitigate
is that concussion.
[Interviewer] We talk to
a lot of former fighters
who are not all there,
you know, mentally.
How do you feel about that?
That's life.
(somber chiming music)
[Gary] Good morning.
I'm Gary Goodridge.
Okay, come on over.
Have a seat and
they'll call you.
[Costner] Many injuries
leave a permanent mark
on a fighter's physical
and emotional being.
[man] We're gonna go
ahead and have you sign in
right here.
And then they got one more
form for you to sign...
[Gary] I already
did this, didn't I?
[Costner] Gary Goodridge
is a retired fighter
that has competed in both
boxing and mixed martial arts.
A veteran of the infamous
Pride and K-1 fighting leagues,
he shows the scars
of numerous battles
both mentally and physically.
I became the boxing
champ of Canada with
eight months of...
from the time I
walked in the gym
to the time I was champion.
And then I had my fight
with the best in Canada
to face the best
in the United States.
And I fought
this guy David Bostice
in Florida.
And man, that was,
that was the first
concussion I ever had.
I won the first round.
The second round was
probably about even.
And the third round,
I don't remember at all.
[Facilitator]
The purpose of this study
is to help us identify brain
injury in professional fighters
and to create testing
to help better treat it.
'Cause, you know,
for concussions
the diagnosis is not
quite that clear.
So this will help create testing
which will help
catch that earlier.
My coach, he told me,
"Gary, I can't come with you,
"'cause I can't afford it,
"but after the fight,
"right after the fight,
I want you to call me."
After the fight,
the only thing I could
remember is "I gotta call Norm.
"I gotta call Norm.
I gotta call Norm."
My brain didn't
know anything else.
I didn't know where I was,
what I was doing.
The only thing I remember is,
"I gotta call Norm.
I gotta call Norm."
So I told everybody,
"I gotta call Norm."
I told everybody who was
listening, "I gotta call Norm.
"I gotta call Norm."
And we went to the
phone, and I called Norm.
He says, "How you doing?"
I say, "I don't know."
Said, "Did you win?"
I said, "Win what?"
"You fought; did you win?"
He said, "Put somebody
else on the phone."
(sighs) And, uh... Sorry.
And I put somebody
else on the phone, and
that's when he decided,
that's when he said,
he told them to take
me to the hospital.
And, uh...
I'm sorry.
I'm a little emotional because,
just 'cause (sniffles)
that's when he...
Nobody around me
knew that I was,
that I was messed up.
[Facilitator] There you go.
Side effects are
(clears throat) mental lapse,
forgetfulness,
the speech,
aggression.
So in your career,
do you have any sense of
how many concussions and
things you've had?
I had over 14.
Over 14 concussions.
- That you know of.
- Yeah, that I know of.
We've been very fortunate
to have funding for this study
by the major promoters, the
UFC and Bellator, boxing.
And this allows us to really
do the work we're doing.
All these organizations
really truly
have an interest
in the safety of the sport,
and hopefully,
as our findings come out,
it will be useful to the sport,
not only of MMA
but our society at large,
including military
and other people
that are exposed to head trauma.
[Gary] It all worked on
being knocked out.
When you see somebody
(pounds fist) pow!
He's knocked out,
drops on the floor.
Their eyes roll in
the back of their head
and they don't wake
up for two minutes.
Everybody sees it, "Wow!"
(bell ringing)
Cheering in the stands
and everybody getting up.
And it's a good fight,
and they're shaking
the guy's hand,
and everything's going on.
And really the concern
that everybody don't see
is the damage being
done to this individual.
And with every applause,
there's just as much
downward spiral.
And so is the UFC and Bellator
and all the rest of
them want it out?
Hell, no.
Of course they don't.
Because that sells tickets.
When you see somebody
gets knocked out,
when you see this happens,
that sells tickets.
And because it sells tickets
and it sells
to the public,
why stop it?
You know?
(vehicle horn beeping)
[Costner] All but one state
has accepted mixed martial
arts as a legal sport.
New York remains
the last holdout.
Many fighters still dream
of fighting under the lights
of Madison Square Garden.
Anyone that
can get over watching this
for any extended period of time
has to become desensitized.
[Patricia] We regulate a lot of
things to protect our children.
New York City has
been a world leader
in arts and culture.
Is this the type of arts,
culture, and sports
that we want to be known for?
[Ariel] The owners of the UFC,
the Fertitta brothers,
own the Station
Casinos in Nevada.
[woman] We want to send
a message to a Station Casino:
We are not
second-class citizens!
For around 15 years or so,
the Station Casinos
have been battling
the culinary union in Nevada,
because the culinary union
wants them to unionize.
(demonstrators clamoring)
The biggest company
doing MMA is the UFC,
so in order to essentially
stick it to them,
the culinary union's
parent company,
they're stopping MMA from
getting legalized in New York.
[Interviewer] So this has
nothing to do essentially
with a moral issue?
Nothing.
Nothing to do with it.
Nothing to do with the sport.
If all these other commissions
from California to Nevada
to New Jersey to Florida,
all of them sign off on it,
this is a sport that would bring
millions of dollars
to the state,
a state that would
sorely need that revenue.
[Interviewer] Do you think
bringing MMA to New York
would help at all to
boost the economy?
I don't. (laughs)
I don't.
I don't see MMA
as being something
that's gonna provide jobs
for a great mass of Americans,
good middle-class jobs
that we need to have
in this country,
so I'm not much into
the economic argument for it.
My top issue is the injuries,
particularly the concussions
and related brain injuries.
The best study I have
seen on brain injuries
is coming out of Canada,
which raise serious questions.
[Michael Hutchison]
What we really were doing
in the study was twofold.
One was just
actually to document
the frequency of knockouts
and technical knockouts,
then identifying any patterns
associated with the injuries.
What we were finding
was that almost one
in three were either
a technical knockout
or a knockout.
They're being struck in the head
quite frequently
prior to that time
and also for a certain
number of strikes
after that decision or
the outcome of a knockout
or the match has ended.
How many is too many?
When should we stop playing?
And it's kind of like
this golden question
that really no one
has the answer to.
I think what
is best practice at this point
is to say, "Listen,
"if you're starting
to sustain these injuries
"in closer proximity
to each other
"and they're causing
you to feel worse,
"you're probably not in the
best environment or sport."
You're always going
forward to fight.
You're always going
forward to fight,
although you've had enough
and you're ready to die.
Your feet are burning.
Your hands, you can't lift them.
"No, nothing's wrong.
Don't stop the bout."
Fighters will always say that
because you're always
chasing that rainbow.
It's gonna shine.
It's gonna shine.
If it lasts one more second,
you can probably win.
You can win.
I couldn't stop myself.
I lived by the sword, and I
basically died by the sword.
And do I regret it?
(machine buzzing)
It is me.
It's my story, my legacy.
It's who I am.
I loved my sport.
I would die for my sport.
And
that's what I'm doing.
(ambient electronic music)
(moves into lively
electronic music)
[Rashad] When I got married
and became a fighter,
I was pulled in so many
different directions,
and I really didn't
know how to handle it.
I have a career
that, any given moment,
can just be over.
So I always found
myself trying to seize
every opportunity that I had,
which ended up being
the downfall in my marriage.
And I didn't really know how
bad and how hard it was gonna be
until
it set in, like "Damn, I can't,
"I can't see my two children
"that I have with her
"every morning when I wake up."
You know, I gotta go sometimes
a month or a few weeks
without seeing them.
You move us.
You speak to us and we listen.
(crowd clapping)
And we give it back to you.
(jet engine zooming)
(people chatting)
[Costner]
Being away from the cage
means no income for a fighter.
Luckily for Rashad, his name
still bears recognition.
With the UFC's help,
Rashad travels to Los Angeles
for a paid appearance
on a weekly Fox Sports show,
where he serves as co-anchor.
[Interviewer] You and
Rashad have this Fox gig,
but what do you think
about other fighters
and their opportunities
after retirement?
[Matt Serra]
Well, there's the thing.
Hey, you have to think
of the future, obviously,
'cause the big checks
aren't gonna keep coming.
I've always been doing teaching
and fighting hand in hand.
My first two UFC checks,
I opened up my first
jiu-jitsu school,
little, modest, little school.
Now, 43 kids, two big
schools that are over
12,000 square feet.
Once in a while,
I'll get a gig like this.
(bellows)
And I'm whistling
to work every day.
I could pull this off!
That's all we got here, guys.
Back to you, K.B.
Dude, what's
the matter with me?
I knew I should hit
the steam this morning.
He's kvetching
like a hah-zuhm.
(laughter)
Look at this.
Look at this.
Is this normal?
(bouncy ska music)
(truck horn honks)
Holly.
I like your little bun.
We know that, Jon.
[Costner] Rigorous training
is an everyday practice
for the champion.
Today, he's going
for a resistance run
with a close friend
and new UFC contender,
Holly Holm.
I've done 12 before.
- See?
- Took me about an hour.
No.
I already know better.
[Costner] Holly is
chasing her own dream
of facing off
with the champ Ronda Rousey.
(Jon grunts)
(dog panting)
[Jon] Ready?
One, two.
(shoes clopping)
[Izzy] It's been crazy
training both of them and just
watching them push
each other 'cause
there's nothing else
like watching two champs
really truly thrive and
push off of each other.
That's what these two do.
(eerie piano music)
[Interviewer] Training
as hard as you do,
do you ever worry that
somebody who's using steroids
can take your title away?
[Jon] (sighs) You know,
like in all sports,
people want to get an advantage,
especially once millions
of dollars get involved.
People want to do
anything they can
to be the top dog.
(steady, fierce music)
Fighting means everything to me
and I work my tail off
to make my body work.
So if I can do it,
other people should be
able to figure it out, too.
[Ariel] I would call it
an epidemic at this point.
Now that they are trying
to clean up the sport,
we're starting to realize that
it's pretty ugly.
I've heard fighters say that
60 to 90% of the
fighters in the UFC
are using something.
I'm in the business.
I see what's going on,
and it's insane.
[Ariel] These guys aren't
going out there
and hitting
a baseball over a wall.
They're punching and kicking
each other in the face.
[Jon] Steroids is something
that's very real in the UFC.
Dan Gable, one of the greatest
wrestlers of all time,
said, "Once I found out
"that my opponent's
done steroids,
"I knew I could beat him,"
'cause he didn't
have that dog in him
to become victorious.
There's no shortcuts
to greatness.
[Chuck]
The penalties are stiff.
Year's suspension,
that's a year of
not getting paid.
I peed positive for steroids.
It did affect my career.
You're put into
that whole category.
You're not no longer
your individual.
Now you're labeled.
[Ariel] You don't want
a father to tell his son,
"This is not for us.
"We shouldn't be watching this.
"These are just roided-up guys
beating each other up,"
'cause once that happens,
it's hard to regain that trust.
(Jon breathing heavily)
[Izzy] Look at the view.
[Jon] Yeah, it's beautiful.
Spiritual, for sure.
(glowing ambient music)
[Michael G.] We're doing
the Muay Thai class.
This is Nadeer,
who's advanced.
He could fight professionally
if he wanted to,
but he's smarter
than any professional fighter
and got a real job
and makes real money
with, what do you call that,
security and
job stability.
Switch partner!
[Costner] After months of
uncertainty and unpaid bills,
Joker receives news
that he will be forced
to close his gym.
He finds the strength
to tell his wife
that they are
losing the business
and that the only way out
of their financial problems
is to restart
his fighting career.
[Interviewer] Michael told us
that he wants to get
back into fighting.
Oh, no, my God.
I hope not.
[Interviewer]
So you don't want him to?
You know, I been
praying to God every day
and several times,
late in the night,
"Lord, please give
them a retirement,
"a good job."
He's not that old.
He can start all over again.
You know?
But it's his life.
It's his decision.
[Interviewer]
Do you think this business
is fair to the fighters?
No, no, no, no.
Not even, no.
Not close.
The only people
really making money,
get that ass outta my way,
are like
the top three on the card.
Look at the UFC and
how much they bring in.
They're paying the fighters out
less than 2%
of what the total is.
If you put in all your hours,
training, dieting,
all the sacrifices,
I guarantee you I'd fall under
two bucks an hour.
When I first started fighting,
I basically had to pay
for my first fight.
I paid $25.
You know. (chuckles)
Then when you walk away from it,
you look back and go,
"God, I'm stupid."
[Glenn Robinson] There will always be
someone that says, "What I didn't get,"
but it's a business
at the same time.
It's a league and a business.
And the athletes
sometimes forget
that it's a business
and that the UFC
has to make money,
to be profitable,
to put on more shows,
to continue.
So there's a lot
of emotional feelings
that get mixed
into the business.
Of course, the most money's
gonna go to the promoters.
The promotion, the promoters.
The fighters get a little piece.
I mean,
what are you gonna do?
I've gotten
plenty of raw deals.
I'm still getting
raw deals, I'm sure.
Especially, I did not
start off drawing the most
professional, upright
citizens of the world.
If you put on exciting
fights and you win,
they take good care of you.
2012, I retired with the UFC.
I got sick of getting
bullied by Dana.
My mind wasn't there anymore.
I didn't like to train.
I didn't like to fight.
I didn't like to be
around any of it.
I was empty.
I was a shell of a person.
[Announcer] Dana White.
[Costner] Dana White is the
current president of the UFC.
Brash and opinionated,
his running feuds with
fighters past and present
have made him a lightning
rod for controversy.
Contrary
to popular belief,
I really respect everybody
in this industry,
everybody in this industry,
other promoters...
[Kimo] I give the owners
a lot of respect.
Dana White, he's just a face.
He's gained a lot of
experience along the way.
That I gotta give him.
He semi-knows what
he's talking about now.
He's one of those guys that
if you piss him off,
then he's just turn
his back on you
until
you tap out to him.
My free agency period
was very political
in nature.
And obviously
with one Dana White,
he's told so many lies about me,
and because he has
the largest mouthpiece,
a lot of people believe
what he's saying
even though it is very
far from what the truth is.
A lot of people
don't like him.
They think that
he's mean and stuff.
He is
absolutely passionate
about the UFC.
He's a great
businessman for UFC.
He's awesome.
He's great for the sport,
making everybody know who it is.
He turned himself into
a celebrity out of it.
The UFC was sold
for $4 billion, right?
So since there's
so much money to it,
that's a fantastic thing
'cause people like
myself can earn a living
from the sport
of mixed martial arts
where, say, you
couldn't in wrestling.
But at the same time,
there's a very negative side
'cause people are
greedy, sneaky,
and every other negative term
you wanna throw out there.
They've come to
a point where now,
now meaning within the
last year, two years maybe,
that they're,
they're respectfully
taking care of the fighters
adequately.
People get excited like,
"Oh, I'm gonna make
$20,000 in this fight."
Well, $20,000 is
a fart in a windstorm.
And I'm not saying that
to be like, "Oh, I am
better than everyone.
"I have way more
money than everyone."
No, just, you know,
in this world, $20,000,
are you kidding me?
There's very
few people that actually
have something when
it's all said and done.
I look at
so many athletes today,
especially on the men's side.
They have nothing.
They have spent their life
in this career, and
they haven't saved money,
they haven't done things, and
they are out there with nothing.
So many guys continue to fight
because they have to
make that paycheck
because they already
spent all the money
that they already had.
Me, I can literally
say that I've put away
90% of the money that I've made
in the last four years.
Some athletes are fine,
and they've saved their money.
Some spent the money
as if it was always
gonna be replenished
It's tough to see
these guys go through it,
but it's just part of life.
It's a rough sport.
It's the hurt business.
They don't call it
the hurt business for
no reason.
You gotta weather
a lot of storms
inside the cage,
outside the cage.
I don't care if you're paid
a million dollars to fight
or 10,000 to fight.
It's the hardest thing to do.
It's the loneliest sport
in the world.
Once you've left your team
and walked in that cage,
and that door closes,
it's only you, brother.
That's it.
And they deserve
every bit they can.
I want all of 'em
to be millionaires.
(ominous droning music)
[Interviewer] Have you studied
Daniel Cormier's
previous fights?
Yes, I've watched
his whole career
maybe six, seven times now.
Just from start to finish.
I've had some opponents
where I've watched them
50 times.
And so when I get
into the Octagon,
I kinda feel like
I already know him.
Freshman year, I got invited
to my first pay-per-view fight.
Chuck Liddell versus
Randy Couture.
All these people
were just so obsessed
with what was going
on on the screen.
People were looking
at this Chuck Liddell guy
as if he was a god.
The most memorable
fight was my UFC debut.
I watched the UFC
as a fan for so many years,
and to finally hear Bruce
Buffer's famous voice say,
"And the winner
is Jonny 'Bones' Jones!"
And to lift my hand up
and the people cheer.
I'm like, "Oh, my God,
I'm on TV right now.
"I just won a fight in the UFC."
Like, "It's so obtainable.
"If I made it here,
why not be the best?"
I've been fighting
some of the most
dangerous men on the planet.
Daniel Cormier is
an amazing athlete,
but I've been really
fortunate to make
a lot of great fighters
not look so great.
I'm a winner, he's a winner,
and one of us is
gonna have to give in.
But I don't think
it's gonna be me.
(exercise equipment humming)
(Rashad grunts)
(Rashad grunts)
[Costner] Closing
in on full recovery,
Rashad suffers
a devastating setback,
as his reconstructed
knee gives out.
A second surgery
is now imminent.
[Rashad]
I had an offer to fight.
I felt a little pop,
and I was like, "Damn,
"did my knee just go out?"
I'm just like, "No."
And sure enough,
the ACL snapped.
Man, I cried.
I cried; I was frustrated.
I'd never been injured before.
And I never thought
this'd happen to me,
'cause it just seemed like
not too long ago
that I was
just starting this sport.
Like I was
the new kid on the block.
And now,
I'm the old guy on the block.
[Staff] Have you had
anything to eat or drink...
It's really just put me
mentally in a bad place, like
"Is this it?
Is this how an athlete dies?"
(hand patting)
(machines beeping)
I don't know when
I'm gonna fight.
I don't know
if the UFC's gonna
stand behind me
and give me another
great fight or
have a chance to headline
a great card again.
(clippers buzzing)
This is definitely a sport of
"What have you done lately?"
I'm missing too much action.
People forget.
(button beeps)
(door rattles open)
[Doctor] Should I go in?
(machines beeping)
[Rashad] I don't
wanna go out like this.
[Staff]
So ACL's torn completely?
[Rashad]
Injured on the sideline.
(equipment whirs)
Forever wondering what
it would've been like if
I could've been
able to get healthy
just one more time.
(ominous drone music)
(door shuts)
(crowd cheering)
[Costner] Once only open
to the biggest boxing events,
the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
is now a major
attraction for MMA.
[Joe] McMann countered
with a nice right hand there,
caught her.
[Costner] Sara
finally faces Miesha Tate
with millions watching
her skill in action.
[Mike] Better watch out.
As Joe talked about,
that big right hand
for the Olympian.
[Joe] Oh, she hurt
her there, Mike.
[Mike] She's pushing forward.
Miesha's in trouble early.
Big, powerful punches
by Sara McMann.
[Costner] After dominating
the first round of the fight,
Sara begins
to lose on the ground,
as Miesha catches her
in a guillotine choke,
a move the calculating
Sara did not expect.
[Joe] Those are hard
elbows to the face
with the point of the elbow.
She has got to get up.
[Costner] The fight ends
and they go to the scorecards.
Majority decision,
Miesha 'Cupcake' Tate!
(crowd cheers)
(Miesha screams)
(eerie droning music)
(crowd cheering)
[Costner] After months
of training and trash-talking,
it's finally on.
[Joe] Nice knee
to the body by Jon.
Kick to the body.
[Mike] Caught.
(crowd cheers)
Good uppercut by Cormier.
[Costner] The fight
seems even at first.
- [Mike] Both men...
- [Joe] Elbow in tight.
[Mike] Motivated
by the other's verbiage.
[Costner] Cormier appears
to be strong and aggressive.
[Referee] Stop.
[Joe] Oh, the first eye poke.
[Referee] Stop.
(crowd booing)
[Joe] That's what a lot of
people are worried about.
[Costner] But as
the fight progresses,
Jon puts his skills
on full display.
[Joe] He's looking
to take him down again.
And he does.
[Mike] Wow.
Momentum
is rapidly rising
in the corner of Jones.
[Costner] It's looked at as
a moral victory for Cormier...
[Mike] There it is!
But Jon Jones springs
right back up to his feet.
[Costner] As one
of the few fighters
to take Jon the distance.
(air horn blares)
[Joe] Whew!
[Mike] Perhaps maybe
all the bad blood
has not boiled over.
[Bruce] The winner
by unanimous decision...
[Costner] Jon has
another title defense
to add to his flawless record.
(steady drum-led music)
(men laugh and converse)
[Man] Three o'clock
in the morning,
things get a little
bit outta control.
[Jon] Right now, I would describe
my current position in the UFC
a pretty darn good one.
A pretty good one.
Amongst the masses,
I'm considered the number-one
pound-for-pound fighter
in the world right now.
Working at something so hard
to becoming the best
in the world at it,
it's a phenomenal feeling.
(men argue)
(Jon laughs)
Derek, why you
punching like this?
(laughter)
Look at his eyes, too.
(laughter)
- [Derek] Come on, dude.
- [Onlooker] Wow.
[Wisecracker] Feliz said
he couldn't go 25 seconds.
[Men] Ooh!
[Feliz] Why you gotta
put me on blast like that?
[Wisecracker] 'Cause I can!
[Costner] It's a tough loss.
A defeat that will
lower her ranking
and potential salary
for the next bout.
UFC may even terminate
her contract.
This is the reality
of the fight game.
[Interviewer] When you
realized that you lost,
what was going
through your mind?
I wasn't upset
hearing the decision.
I was upset during
the third round that I didn't
get back to a good position,
and that's on me,
so I'm not gonna
be upset at judges
for something that's
my job to take care of.
I'm always looking
at my own fighting,
and win or lose,
even if it's a dominant fight,
I'll go out there
and find something
that I need to get better at.
My daughter's
kindergarten class.
[Woman] Aw.
Bunch of little hand prints.
[Sara] (laughs) "Win, Mom!"
Win. (laughs)
"Don't give up, Sara."
(chuckles)
Aw, that's really sweet.
(cart wheeling)
[Rashad] Yeah.
Good.
[Beans] You ready to go.
- [Rashad] Mm-hmm.
- [Beans] You strong?
I'm ready to train.
[Beans] Wow. (chuckles)
[Interviewer]
What are the chances
that Rashad might
injure his knee again?
[Dr. Gelb] There's always
a possibility of that.
There's no ACL that you put in
that can never be re-torn.
Otherwise, we could
just do 'em once
and you'd never
hear about it again.
So, going back to the sport
gradually, following protocol,
that's the best thing,
but Rashad,
he's like "Ready to go.
"I wanna go.
"I wanna fight."
It's the attitude
of the athlete.
But it's definitely
against medical advice.
You always end up with
Brett Favre, for example.
He had such
a great career and then
he just kinda played
a little bit too long
and then people
remember those last
couple seasons that he had.
He was injured, or he had
some bad performances.
I would hate for my legacy
to be tarnished because
I'm 37 years old, and I'm slow,
and I shouldn't be fighting,
and I'm doing it just
to collect a paycheck.
(referee blows whistle)
(TV announcer speaking)
[Interviewer] Do you
remember the moment
when you decided to
retire from the sport?
Actually I had
a dinner meeting
with Dana White.
He was worried, actually,
I was coming to tell him
that I wanna ask
for another fight.
And I was actually coming
to tell him I wanna retire.
First of all I
wanna thank my fans.
[Chuck Voiceover] It was
a tough decision for me.
[Costner] The career
of a professional
MMA fighter is short,
an average of nine years.
(roaring applause)
Many are forced to
retire due to injuries,
while countless others
are dropped by the league
after suffering multiple losses.
I love this sport.
I was always training
for something.
And then now, that's done.
And it's kinda weird.
There's people
that need to stop.
Find another way.
Maybe you can create
something new.
But they don't have the
right people around them
to tell them just that.
The fans, they're always
gonna want you to fight again.
They're never gonna be
happy when you retire.
That's a decision that
myself and Brie and my team
are gonna sit down and say,
"Hey, maybe it's
time to hang 'em up,"
because of health issues,
or maybe I just don't
wanna continue to
juggle family life and
fighting life, you know?
People talk about
"Oh, this guy should retire.
"This guy should retire.
He's done.
"He took two losses,"
or whatever.
But the thing is,
at the end of the day,
one, they're fighting
'cause they enjoy it,
and two, it's work.
They're getting paid, so
for you to tell
a guy to walk away from
making money (chuckles)
is basically,
what are you telling
him to go do?
(dogs panting)
(phone jingles)
[Michael G.] What up, Zach?
I'm doing good, buddy.
Hanging out here with the Danes.
[Zach] Well,
I know I told you
I'd get back to you.
Got some not-so-good news.
Decided not to pick you up
on the next Bellator fight.
It's really quite bad for you,
but just with your
injuries and everything.
I know that's not what
you wanted to hear,
but your safety's first,
and we got another guy to...
(Zach speaking, muffled)
(ominous, droning music)
[Operator] 911, operator 3830.
Where is your emergency?
[Caller] Yeah, there was
a car accident right here
on Juan Tabo and
Southern Boulevard.
Three-car accident.
[Operator] Anyone injured?
[Caller] I'm not sure.
[Costner] In April of 2015,
Albuquerque police
respond to a report
of a suspect fleeing
the scene of an accident
involving a pregnant woman.
[Operator] Which way did he go?
What direction?
[Caller] He's going
onto a gated community.
[Operator] Okay, we'll
get somebody out there.
[Officer] Yeah,
there's cash in here.
Yeah.
True Honor?
Dude, I wonder
if this is that fighter's car?
- [Partner] Hm?
- [Officer] Jon Jones?
They did?
[Partner] Pro MMA, bro.
Right there.
[Officer] Where?
[Partner] Pro MMA.
It's right here.
(dispatch speaking)
Pro MMA.
[Officer] Yep, that's him.
Well, he's (bleep).
[Partner] Yep, he is.
[Costner]
Jones turned himself in
and was later arrested.
[Officer] He almost
killed both these people.
Where's that pipe at?
[Costner] Following
the aftermath,
the UFC suspended Jon,
stripping him of his
light heavyweight title.
(eerie ambient music)
This year had so much great
MMA for the fans to consume.
Right, guys?
(crowd cheers)
There really was.
And honestly there's
so much more to come.
[Interviewer] Where do
you think MMA's headed
in the next five to ten years?
Right now,
it seems to be exploding.
Women's MMA is getting
to a point where it's
pretty independent of me,
and they won't really
need me much anymore.
[Michael C.] You're seeing
guys switching organizations
a lot more than you used to.
There's no longer that
clear distinction of
what organization is better.
Maybe one's bigger.
Maybe one takes care
of fighters better.
It really matters what
your personal goals are.
Jon Jones said, "He's
considering going to Bellator,
"because he heard
their president is a Coker."
If you think about
ten years ago,
there was no MMA on TV
outside of Spike TV.
Because it was like, oh, taboo.
Now it's
on almost every network.
[Bruce]
We've seen a sport be created
and go to mainstream.
I can't name another sport
that's ever done
that in my lifetime.
It's become just
a normal thing.
Not just in America
but worldwide.
[Urijah Faber] I went
to the Super Bowl this year,
and it was like
a whole different level.
Even our biggest events
in mixed martial arts
aren't even a speck
compared to the coverage
that those bigger
sporting events get,
so we have that room for growth,
but there's no secret this
is the fastest-growing sport
in the world.
We're not quite at the
level of the Big Four,
which I considered to be
NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL.
But it's on Fox,
it's on free TV,
Bellator's on Spike,
and if you go to
any major UFC event,
you'll see ESPN there.
USA Today is there.
All major outlets
are there, as well.
The UFC is sometimes
obsessed with this idea
of it becoming the number-one
sport in the world,
surpassing soccer.
That's never gonna happen,
and I think that's okay.
Folks, one of the things
that's not gonna go
tumbling this year
is worldwide expansion of MMA.
From Sweden to Japan, Macao,
this thing only grows further.
Now, unfortunately,
there's one guy
you guys won't
see here tonight...
(pensive piano music)
(wind buffeting a microphone)
(Michael G. laughs)
Oh, get off me.
These guys give me great joy.
(car drives past)
I'm trying to get
more positive things
'cause it can't just
be fighting alone
and kickboxing or
wrestling or jiu-jitsu.
I understand that now because
my body, I'm losing it.
I can't do it for
the whole time,
and I need to figure
something out.
Any time I look off
into long distances,
I sit there and
I try and imagine, like,
what normal people think.
From my eyes, I think that
everybody's better than me,
and I'm trying to figure out
how I could be like them.
(dog panting)
Oh, my gosh.
(water running)
[Bill] 50 to 100 years
ago in this country,
life was probably more real.
People were born at home,
and people would die at home.
So people would see
the whole cycle of life
from life to death.
Very real.
As we've progressed
as a society,
it kinda seems like we're
becoming more sterile.
There's
not a whole lot of things
that are more real than MMA.
It has this kind of graphic,
raw quality to it
that maybe people are
longing for?
Life is a little
too plastic, maybe.
And MMA is very, very real.
[Michael G.] Simplify it.
Simplify it, simplify it.
A lot easier.
Don't have a choice now,
do we?
(somber piano music)
(geese squawking)
[Sara] Bella, do you
wanna hand 'em some?
Here's a long one.
You can go hand it to one.
Walk slowly.
[Costner] For those that put
their bodies and
minds on the line
for the sake of pride,
glory, and entertainment,
whether they travel
steadily along that journey
or their bodies and
minds fail them,
they are always fighting,
because for these men and women
there is no defeat that
keeps them on their backs,
no referee to stop their fight.
[Judge] Make any other promises
to you about this matter...
[Costner] No corner
to show them the way.
[Jon] Yes, sir.
[Judge] According to this,
you are to plead guilty
of one allegation
of leaving the scene
of an accident...
[Costner] They must find
the strength to carry on
within themselves.
[Judge] That's
a fourth-degree felony.
A fourth-degree felony...
[Costner]
And that is why we follow
their stories so intently.
Their magnificent victories
and crushing defeats.
So that just for a moment,
we can put
our own struggles on hold
and witness
the triumphs of another.
(dramatic orchestral music)
(wind howling)
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
All alone as I walk
through this darkness
Just another man in
the land of the heartless
Where it's do-or-die
And you can see
the fire in my eyes
And if you only knew my hunger
You could hear stomach
growl like thunder
Hurt business,
you can't show it
No matter the pain,
you push forward
Get it, get got,
move, or move over
No guts, no glory
Roll or roll over
Where only
the strong gon' survive
And if it's up to me to decide
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
Blood on my face
Scars on my hands
Signs of a gladiator,
I should fear no man
It ain't no bending,
ain't no breaking
Ain't no goddamn draws
Either you winning
or you losing
Ain't no pities in war
It's every man for his self
Ain't no friends among us
Either you predator or
prey when you in this jungle
No surrender, no retreat
When your family gotta eat
And the cost of living is high
And the struggle
is all you see
They say many are called,
but the chosen are few
When your past don't matter,
only your present'll do
To sum it up, either
you can or can't
A warrior, either
you are or you ain't
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
If I can't run I'ma walk
If I can't walk I'ma crawl
But I'ma keep on going
Till I can't go at all
If I can't run I'ma walk
If I can't walk I'ma crawl
But I'ma keep on going
Till I can't go at all
I'm a warrior
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Till I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
'Cause I'm a warrior
I'm a warrior
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Till I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
Fight through the struggles
Fight through the pains
Nothing to lose
Everything to gain
Until I take my last breath
I'ma fight to the death
I'm a warrior
Kimo-san.
Banzai.
Kamikaze!
Osu!
(exhales raggedly)
(inhales)
(block clatters on the ground)
(exhales)
Didn't even look like you
had to (bleep) that time, dude.
(laughter)
[Onlooker] Coconut head.
(laughter)