By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
ccarlton@dallasnews.com

Not long ago, Travis Lutter became so uneasy about his profession, he worked a white lie into every introduction.

Whenever he was asked what he did, he replied that he ran a gym. The few times he told people he was a mixed martial arts fighter, he drew blank stares.

His vagueness was probably a good thing. If he told people that he entered a metal cage with the intent of pounding another human being into submission, the reaction might have been worse.

"I didn't want to have that conversation," said Lutter, who runs a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy in Fort Worth. "Now, I don't get a chance to answer that question much anymore."

Many more people know Lutter, thanks to The Ultimate Fighter, a TV reality show. And mixed martial arts has become the next big thing.

Somehow, a brutal spectacle has begun evolving into a mainstream sport, becoming a cable TV staple and even cracking the cover of Sports Illustrated. Mixed martial arts – especially as embodied in the Ultimate Fighting Championship – has become this year's version of the poker craze. Top fight cards routinely draw more than 10,000 in Las Vegas and have become pay-per-view money-makers. American Airlines Center has already successfully hosted one mixed martial arts event this year and has another scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

The octagon, the shape of the sport's fighting ring, has turned into a dollar sign.

The sport has attracted all kinds of interested parties, including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Pop culture references are trendy, such as the scene in Napoleon Dynamite, when geeky Kip brags that he's "training to be a cage fighter."

Some wonder if mixed martial arts could hasten the long-predicted demise of boxing. At the very least, some say, it's beginning to fill the void for fans weary of boxing's self-inflicted wounds.

"I thought boxing was the death knell for boxing," said Guy Mezger, a longtime mixed martial arts star who runs the Lion's Den gym in Dallas.

Others see mixed martial arts as the perfect outlet for a demographic weaned on mortal combat in cyberspace.

"You have the whole X-generation kids that have grown up with the video games, the kick to the body, ripping the head off. ... Now they're adults looking for more excitement and more action," said C.J. Comu, the CEO of Addison-based Sun Sports & Entertainment, a UFC competitor.

At its core, mixed martial arts offers an intriguing premise: If you combined all the different forms of hand-to-hand combat, what would emerge? Disciplines as diverse as boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing were blended.

REX C. CURRY / Special to DMN

Mixed martial arts fighters Cody Walker (left) and Jay Serra spar at Guy Mezger's Lions Den Dallas.

The result was intriguing and violent – one reason that mixed martial arts almost didn't survive the 1990s.

Mezger, who had a background in full-contact karate and kickboxing, feared the whole thing might be shut down after watching UFC 3, one of the early fight cards. Only a few rules existed. Biting, hair-pulling and head-butting were fair game.

"They were out of their mind," said Mezger, who resembles Grey's Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey – only with a nose that's been broken 14 times. "I was going, 'Guys, this is America. We like our violence in America. We just like to disguise it by calling it games.' "

After he agreed to fight in UFC 4, he experienced two essentially sleepless months.

"Am I the only one here who is scared?" he asked during an interview.

Nonetheless, Mezger scored an impressive first-round technical knockout of Jason Fairn at UFC 4.

By the late 1990s, pressure was building with elected officials decrying the sport's violence.

Some fighters took a timeout.

Dallas fighter Alex "El Toro" Andrade didn't compete from 2001 to 2007. He has won both of his matches this year in a comeback, though, and his career is on the rise.

Lutter stepped away, too, taking a hiatus from 1998 to 2002.

"There was no reason to be getting hit in the head for $100," he said.

The sport changed in 2001. Brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who had made a fortune in the Las Vegas casino business, purchased the UFC for $2 million.

Then, a breakthrough came in 2005 when the UFC placed a reality series on Spike, a struggling cable network. The Ultimate Fighter became a huge hit.

It also made careers and opened doors. Lutter, a former college wrestler in South Dakota, won Ultimate Fighter 4 in 2006.

Mixed martial arts' growth has prompted others to become involved.

One of the most recent, at least indirectly, is Cuban, who had already partnered with Comu and his Art of War production. Now, Cuban is working with Mezger to program mixed martial arts on HDNet.

"We think we can put together a very, very compelling lineup of fights across the country that will be featured on HDNet," Cuban wrote in an e-mail.

HDNet plans to debut a weekly show as soon as August, although Cuban declined to offer details.

"We think it will be a huge move forward for MMA," Cuban wrote.

Interest remains strong at the grassroots level, including in Texas. Lutter and Mezger each estimate they get about 12 phone calls per week from novices wanting to be the next UFC champion.

"My answer to that is you want to be that up to the time you get punched in the face," Mezger said.

There are still concerns. Some suggest building a strong amateur program, such as boxing's Golden Gloves, to grow the sport. Most of the big money is reserved for elite fighters. Beginners might be lucky to get $1,000 for their first fight after months of intense training.

Violence will always be a concern. No one quite knows about long-term damage to fighters; short term, broken arms, legs, ribs and noses are common. Concussions aren't quite the issue they have become in boxing, because the sport features few clean knockouts.

If anyone doubted the danger, they only have to look at Johnnie Morton. The longtime NFL receiver (624 career catches) made his mixed martial arts debut and lasted 38 seconds before being knocked out. He was taken to a hospital wearing a neck splint.

That hasn't deterred would-be competitors, such as those at Mezger's Lion's Den. It is nothing like the spartan gyms associated with boxing. Lion's Den is on the second floor of a modern office complex, above a fitness center, and adjacent to an upscale hotel.

The fighters are a mix of age and motivation. Jason House loves the competition since seeing the first UFC with some buddies. He's 30 and sports a 7-3 record as a professional.

"It's become way more than an obsession," House said. "I think about different moves all the time and how we can perfect it. I think it's about bettering myself, learning and growing from your losses."

Cody Walker, a freshman at UT-Arlington, represents a generation that grew up with the sport.

He took every opportunity as a student at Plano West to give reports and speeches on the history of mixed martial arts. His mother noticed that he had some of Mezger's fight tapes. She got them autographed for him as a birthday present and arranged a private lesson. Mezger told Walker, then 16 and 140 pounds, that he had potential.

Now, Walker is trying to arrange a couple of quick amateur fights after missing eight months because of rotator cuff surgery

Chris Bowles, a former wrestler at Oklahoma City's Casady School, noticed the mixed martial arts classes while working out with his wife, Amy. A 30-something computer software engineer by day, Bowles has compiled a 6-1 record as a pro while balancing his job and family, including two preschool children.

His "intense hobby" hasn't become an issue at work, because many clients and co-workers are fans.

"If I walk in with a black eye," he said, "they aren't going to look at me funny."