Is This Legal?: The Inside Story of The First UFC from the Man Who Created It
Art Davie is the creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the father of mixed martial arts (MMA). Davie came to sports and entertainment from the advertising agency business. Spectacle and creativity was always a theme in Davie's work. Davie even performed his own stunts in TV commercials. Davie had an epiphany in 1993, and created the television tournament that pitted boxers, wrestlers and martial artists against each other. This was the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the franchise that exploded on Pay-Per-View TV, and two decades later, is still going strong. In addition to being the UFC's founder and creator, Davie co-produced, created personalities, booked, matched fighters and served as the organization's commissioner. In 1998, Davie brought the popular K-1: The New Fighting Sport from Fuji TV in Japan to American television with a show at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The fire to create new TV shows brought him to Mandalay Sports Entertainment in 2003, where he developed pilots, including King of the Streets, a drag-racing reality show; Fight Quest, a mixed-martial arts reality show; and MAGIC (Making a Great Inner City), with Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Davie attended New York Military Academy (where his roommate was Donald Trump), St. John's University and Pace College in New York. After military service, he worked with youth gangs in New York City as a member of the Youth Services Agency - Crisis Task Force. As a United States Marine sergeant, he had top secret clearance, and worked at the Commandant's Communications Center in the Pentagon. He was later awarded the Navy Achievement Medal with combat "V" for his service in Vietnam. Sean Wheelock holds the distinction of being the only person to serve as play-by-play commentator on the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl, US Open tennis and world championship fights in mixed martial arts. One of the best known American commentators in both MMA and soccer, Wheelock's broadcasting work has taken him to over 25 countries, and dates back to when he was 18 years old. Wheelock is currently the play-by-play commentator for Bellator Fighting Championships, which airs nationally across the United States and Canada on Spike TV, as well as worldwide. He has also called numerous kickboxing and boxing matches for ESPN/ESPN2, Fox Sports International, EuroSport and Metro Sports Television. Wheelock has served as the BBC's North American sports correspondent since 1996. He has called three Super Bowls for the BBC, and hosted their weekly series on the NFL. Wheelock works annually as a commentator at the US Open for the international television broadcast. A lifelong Kansan, Wheelock lives in the Kansas City suburb of Shawnee, Kansas with his wife Kelly, originally of Odiham, Hampshire, England, and their young daughters Ellee and Hadlee.