Like the majority of fans, Cornelius and Knight are white men under 40. Both train in the martial arts, and both consider the fighters their heroes. If anyone matches the ardor of ultimate fighting's fans, it may be the sport's critics. Ultimate fighting is violent. There is more genuine carnage than in professional wrestling.
Fighters break their knuckles and bleed from ugly cuts.
They are free to kick and punch a man long after he is down, a horrific sight. Lots of the fighting amounts to time-consuming scuffles, as combatants work each other into locks and holds of various kinds. The referee doesn't appear to do much. He peers down into the action like a man watching two cats trapped at the far end of a drain. This can happen in a matter of seconds, as it did in the first match of the evening in Alabama.