a recorder and a press pass to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, author Clyde Gentry III set out to tell the story of MMA in the late 1990s when the sport was barely treading water due to the political backlash that threatened to relegate the sport to smoky bars and venues typically reserved for tough-man competitions and low-level professional wrestling matches. Instead, MMA has become a billion-dollar business and has changed martial arts forever. This book takes readers from the controversial event that spawned it all in 1993 to the breakout reality show The Ultimate Fighter and beyond. An unprecedented 125 interviews, along with boxes of rare documents and notes collected over 10 years, serve as the backbone for the ultimate tome on the ultimate sport. The phrase no holds barred may be a misnomer for MMA, but it aptly describes the true, compelling story of how the sport evolved in America. This is the most definitive, in-depth and thoroughly researched book on the history of the sport ever written and a must-have book for every mixed martial arts fan.

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