Art Of War 3

A small dream came true last week. I was given media creds to the Art of War 3 mixed martial arts fights. USA team versus a tough Brazilian team. Some incredibly famous fighters were on the card! I was allowed to photograph and have lunch with them last Wednesday. Then on Friday, I was there for the weigh ins. One of my all time favorite fighters, Marco Ruas was there! I turned around searching for a shot and there he was just standing there! I took a quick tourist shot and shook his hand. He's now one of the trainers for the Brazilian fight team. As I scanned around some more, I recognized easily a dozen famous fighters from the past and current events. wooooow! It was nuts!

So fight night comes around and I make my way to cage side. I ask the media organizer where was my spot among the other sports photogs...Uhhhhh well....sorry you're just going to have to roam around, we don't have a spot for you. I thought for a bit that life had just kicked me in the Jimmy and I was going to get junk shots all night. I was a bit bummed for a while. With fight photography, you need to be close to the cage or you get a shot with lots of chain link fencing, and you must balance this with keeping out of VIP's/spectators/cameras/fighters/managers/ring girls/security's way. Which means if you don't get a dedicated spot...you're just in the way.. Soooo what's an MMA photog to do??
Get in the CAGE! YES! Since I was a roamer, I was therefore given a license (in my feeble mind) to do what I want :) Inbetween matches, when they were cleaning up blood and waiting for fighters to enter, I would jump in the cage and take some shots! It was so wild being in there! I took 2054 shots that night. Over 1000 were in the cage :) NO OTHER photog got shots like these :)

And now I'd like to share with you a very small sample of my night!

Waterman, HUGE dude!
I met him, he's super cool!
And very well spoken, obviously educated. ;)
He won his fight.

Jeff "The Snowman" Monson
Another gigantic dude.
He didn't win, but he fought a good hard match.
An intense moment for all. Monson, knocked down, checking his hand for blood.
The ref beckoning him to stand up and fight as his opponent Rizzo waits.
Another knock down...Monson contemplates getting back up. He looks to his right...directly into my camera and I take this shot. One thing, I'll never forget, is this icy cold stare.
(even if you don't like MMA, click this pic for the big version...it's wicked!)

Jorge Santiago celebrating his victory!

Thomas Schulte, awaiting the results of a long, hard fight.
(he lost)

Luis "Banha" Arthur Cane entering the ring.

Carlo Prater victorious!

Carlo may have won, but he took a few shots to earn it!

Alex "El Toro" Andrade gives Fabiano Capoani a good swift kick to the ankle! ;)
(Andrade wins)

-Mark