Blood In The Cage: Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC

by L. Jon Wertheim

Based on unique access to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its rival organizations, Blood in the Cage peers through the chain-link Octagon into the frighteningly seductive world of mixed martial arts, which has exploded in popularity despite resistance. Wertheim focuses on Pat Miletich, who runs the most famous MMA training school in the world. Single-handedly Miletich has transformed a gritty town on the Mississippi into an unlikely hotbed for his sport. He has also transformed many an average Joe into a walking weapon of destruction.

Wertheim intertwines Miletich's own life story, by turns tragic and triumphant, with the larger story of the unholy rise of the UFC, from its controversial, back alley roots to the fastest-growing sports enterprise in America. Blood in the Cage takes readers behind the scenes, right down to the mat, from a punch in the kidney to the ping of the cash register, as Wertheim brilliantly exposes the no-holds-barred reality of the blood sport for a new generation.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Mixed Martial Arts, Martial Arts, Biography, Audiobook, Journalism

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

L. Jon Wertheim is the executive editor of Sports Illustrated. A sports journalist with a passion for psychology and economics, he is the author of such New York Times bestsellers as Scorecasting (written with Toby Moskowitz) and You Can’t Make This Up (written with Al Michaels).

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) book I've read that is written for people who aren't already fans. The author, a Sports Illustrated writer, sets out with the basic question is MMA a real sport or is it in the words of failed Presidential hopeful John McCain, "human cock-fighting"? (Or is it just merely a spectacle a la professional wrestling? Or is it a barbaric blood-sport?)

The author starts out not being a fan, or even terribly knowledgeable about the sport or the people who participate in it (he admits to looking up Randy Courture on the internet to find out who exactly he is right before his first interview with him, which for non-MMA fans is sort of like if you had an interview with someone like Larry Bird having to google him to find out that he was a really important player for the Celtics back in the day); which is a blessing to the book. Instead of getting a fanboy account of the sport you get someone who has no real knowledge and is curious to figure out what the appeal could be. He ends up becoming enthralled by the sport and the book turns out to a multi-thread narrative that mixes a brief history of MMA with the personal story of the first UFC Welterweight World Champion Pat Miletich and a skeptical telling of the UFC's history.

It's an interesting approach to the book. One, because Pat Miletich isn't exactly the first person you would think of focusing on if you were going to write an MMA book for non-fans. He was (is) important to the sport first as a fighter but more importantly as a trainer and coach to fighters like Matt Hughes, but he's not exactly a huge name. Partly because he stopped fighting in the UFC back in 2002 and coaches aren't exactly celebrities in the sport (and if you were going to go for a 'celebrity' coach you'd obviously go for Greg Jackson (free betting / picking a winner tip for an MMA fight? When in doubt, if one of the fighters is coached by Jackson pick him, his fighters always have phenomenal game plans that work really well against their opponents). There are flashier and bigger names from the early UFC days that could be featured in a story about MMA. The second interesting approach to the book is the amount of criticism thrown at the UFC in all its various incarnations. The UFC doesn't like it's dirty laundry aired and it routinely black-lists journalists whom don't toe the party line. I don't imagine a fanboy author would have given as realistic picture of Dana White (UFC President and the 'face' of the UFC) out of fear that their career of writing about the UFC could be in serious jeopardy.

So how is the book? It's good. If you've done something sort of dumb and ordered every MMA biography you could think of from the library and read them in the past month there will be quite a bit here that is re-hash and that is where the focus on Pat Miletich is a welcome bit of fresh-air. His story is kind of sad, in that he was a fairly important fighter in the early / middle days of the UFC who got left behind and never had a chance to personally cash in on the bigger money that came along later. Some of it had to do with injuries, some had to do with the fact that he had to choose between himself and the fighters he was training at Miletich Fighting Systems, and some with his uncompromising approach to life and way he fought. Like just about every other fighter I've read about recently, at some point Miletich was fucked over by Dana White and Co., (in his case it was getting snubbed at being a coach on the second season of "The Ultimate Fighter" after he had been privately promised the spot) but unlike everyone else he for whatever reason he didn't kiss and make up to be dragged back to have the shit beaten out of him by younger fighters for bigger paychecks (I mean, to have a comeback---seriously, you guys are dragging Mark Coleman out again for a fight this summer? Really? Can't he just retire already). There is also the case that Miletich fought well, and fought to win but he generally fought in the 'boring wrestler' style of dragging someone to the ground and grinding out a victory through superior grappling. Critics of his style like to call it, "lay and pray", because to most people it looks like one guy is just laying there on top of the other guy. The dominant fighter is 'winning' the round since he's controlling the fight but unless you are fascinated by the nuances of the wrestling game there isn't much excitement to the fight. This style of fighting has become less prevalent lately for a number of reasons. One, fans don't like it much and generally a lot of boos will be heard when there is just a lot of laying around on the mat. Two, the organization and the refs know this so they are quicker to stand up fighters who aren't being active enough on the ground (which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes gets in the way of some interesting technical fighting, but that doesn't happen to often). And third, fighters are much more dynamic, or well rounded these days. When in the early days someone who was predominately a boxer met a wrestler, the wrestler could usually take the boxer down and once on the ground the boxer was like a fish out of water, these days there are specialists in the game but no one can compete at the level of the UFC by being a specialist while totally ignoring all other facets of the fight game (ie., everyone knows enough wrestling to generally not be completely dominated by some guy laying on top of him).

Fuck, what does any of this have to do with the book? Not too much I guess. I guess everything I just wrote in the second half of the last paragraph is a nice way of saying that as a fighter Miletich was something of a throw-back to the earlier era of the sport. But as a coach he did help create a Miletich 2.0 in Matt Hughes who is usually given the superlative, the most dominant champion in the UFC history (this same superlative is used for Anderson Silva, too. And I wouldn't be surprised that GSP hasn't been described as the most dominant too, although both of them are more likely to be described as 'the pound for pound best fighter in the world', this particular superlative is used for at least Jose Aldo and Fedor Emelianenko regularly (not to mention fighters currently in the Bellator Fighting Championship, where all of their champions are described as potentially 'the pound for pound best fighter in the world'). Similarly just about every fight on every UFC card has a fighter who has 'arguably the best stand-up / take-downs / take-down defenses / jiu jitsu / wrestling / knees / elbows / hands in all of MMA'. The use of superlatives in the world of fight commentators is astounding), so in a way Miletich did get his redemption in the UFC he just did it by molding another fighter into a newer sleeker version of himself.

This is the one book I'd recommend to booknerds who might be interested in knowing what the appeal of watching MMA is. Oh, and what is the answer to the basic question behind the book? Yes, it is a sport with world-class athletes. No, it's not human cock-fighting and it isn't a blood sport and it's actually safer than boxing and professional football, there just happens to be a copious amount of blood in some of the fights. But if you were already a fan of MMA you already knew that.

[Ari Damoulakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. If you are not at all interested in Mma, still read it as maybe an Anthropological study.
There are so many Mma promotions now around the world, it is growing so much, but the thing that makes this ridiculous is that, unlike boxing or tennis, you don’t know and can’t rank who are the greatest, even in the present time.
But the fighters aren’t paid enough.
Anyway I think most people, even if they don’t like sport, will find this book interesting.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why would anyone want to read a book about mixed martial arts? Especially someone who doesn't really have all that much interest in the sport?

Well, what's funny about this book is that the title and cover really convey how I feel about the sport in general. The book itself, as an object, is really kind of a representation of everything good and bad about the sport.

The good parts of the book are mostly the sections that serve as a biography of Pat Miletich, a smalltown bar fighter who finds his way in the world through mixed martial arts. The guy starts out fighting anyone and anything that gives him a hard time, including at one point fighting a jeep. Yes, as in the vehicle.

In a weird way, delving into the world of cage fighting was the beginning of Miletich's calming down just a bit. His life became more regimented, and he started to build relationships with other people, eventually becoming an excellent and generous trainer as well as a respected fighter.

Which sort of brings us to the bad part of MMA and the book itself.

As Miletich became a better fighter, his skills got to be more technical, but his fights were not as exciting to watch unless you were so into the world of MMA that you could understand exactly what he was doing. Which meant he never really got his due, in my opinion, and the world of MMA passed him by.

So here's the thing, what I learned from this book. After reading the book and learning a bit more about the history of the sport, I feel like the world of MMA has room for people who are willing to play good versus evil roles in the style of pro wrestlers. It has room for people to have ridiculous ads slapped all over their trunks. It has room for energy drinks and some of the most egregious affronts to the world of fashion that t-shirts have ever made. What it doesn't seem to have room for is someone like Pat Miletich, which to me kind of explains everything that's wrong with it.

The promoters of fights, the ones making the money, don't care about the sport one bit. They just care that people pay to watch it. As long as people will pay, they're happy.

The sport has definite potential, and underneath the shell of bullshit and outright douchebaggery, there's a legitimacy and a stable of super, ultra-elite athletes who are doing a hell of a lot of work for a hell of a small paycheck, in most cases.

So the book, as a read, was pretty good. You learn a lot of interesting stuff, and if you ever question the legitimacy of MMA as a sport, it gives you something to think about. Especially as it's sort of considered the bad boy cousin of boxing, when in actuality boxing is far more damaging long term as fighters are taking repeated shots to the head as opposed to damage to the body or even tapping out before real damage is done.

Here's what I hate about the book, which is also what I hate about the sport. Why do we have to have this decent book wrapped in a cover and title that is so silly? It's not really what the book is about, as evidenced by the long subtitle. I honestly found the book to be fairly critical of the UFC overall, which I don't think was suggested by the title. Just the way we have this sport that's wrapped in a bunch of nonsense, silly sponsors, horrible music, entering an arena through machine-provided smoke, we have a book that is also wrapped in nonsense and makes a person like me embarrassed to even be associated with it.

I understand that people want to make money. And if MMA went the way that makes sense to me, it would be about as popular as Olympic wrestling. Same deal with the book. They had to sell it to SOMEONE.

But for my money, I feel like there are plenty of activities and products that appeal to assholes, and it sure would be nice if there was something out there for the rest of us.

The real tragedy of the sport and this book is that the only way for them to sell is to submit to a terribly flawed market system that ends up polluting the end product. It's such a waste.

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello. My name is Ellis, and I am a Mixed Martial Arts addict.

There I've said it. To any of you who didn't know this about me you do now. I'm currently indulging in an MMA-related reading binge. After I've read all the MMA-related books in my public library system (which will happen too soon, unfortunately) I'll give it up for a while (which is good for my long-overdue Black History Month reading series).

Now, more about the book and less about me. I liked this book. As the title accurately suggests, this book is mostly a biography of Pat Miletich and partly a look into the UFC and other elements of the MMA world. It was an interesting read. Pat Miletich was one of the first figthers that was a true mixed martial artist. Arising from the days when fighters from distinct and singular martial arts backgrounds would meet to determine the most dominant discipline, Pat Miletich was one of, if not the first to train in several of the most important disciplines (Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo, Muay Thai, Boxing) and put his skills together semelessly in a way that made him a true MIXED martial artist.

Thanks, Pat. You were a Pioneer.

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bloated magazine feature that exaggerates the importance of Pat Miletich and misses one of the most intriguing thing about MMA, which is that its athletes have interior lives that don't fit comfortably into magazine feature tropes. Worth the read for MMA fans as it's one of the better books on the subject out there, but that's largely for want of competition. You get the idea that Wertheim wanted to be more gripped by the sport than he was.

[Belal Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My major takeaway from this book:
The philosophy of winning fights in The Octagon applies to real life. You need GUTS, balls, a warrior spirit that drives you to EXECUTE. And, you also need mastery of TECHNICAL SKILL. Only way to win is if you have if you have both elements.

As a student of martial arts, I found this book exceptionally inspiring.

Author Lewis Jon Wertheim, sports journalist and writer for Sport Illustrated, does an excellent job of telling a real-life Rocky story. In fact, Rocky has nothing on this real-life account.

This is the story of the rise of mixed martial arts and no holds bar fighting and its transformation and rebranding into what we know as "MMA" and "UFC" told through the eyes of Pat Miletich, the first UFC welterweight champion.

(Spoilers below)

Now retired from fighting, Miletich still coaches fighters and his system of fighting is known among the best that train champions.  His story, as told through the book, is one that really inspires. He's one of four sons to Croatian immigrants. Growing up in midwest America, abandoned by his father, having witnessed the the death of two brothers and the jailing of the third, and being consistently broke, he had a lot of anger that emotionally fueled his constant street fights.

When he discovered Karate in his late twenties, it instilled in him a sort of discipline. Later on came to discover BJJ which then later led to participating in tournament fights. These fights became the avenue for him to release all that built up anger and rage which ultimately led to his championship.

By that point his experience gave him the strength and self control to be a leader and example for other fighter which he then began training.

MMA started as NHB (no holds bar) fighting events and had a gruesome/brutal gladiator-like reputation. Blood, injury, and death were words that came to people's minds. Initially UFC was minting money with pay per view, but after political pressure lead by John McCain, TV networks started banning the sport, and states wouldn't allow the event to take place in their jurisdiction without heavy regulation.

It's interesting that the same networks that refused to continue showcasing UFC fights had no problem with pornography.

Hemmorging money, owners sold the brand to Dana White and his team, who after struggling for a few years were able to gain some support through basic regulation.

What really pushed the sport to becoming accepted into the mainstream was the reality tv show, "The Ultimate Fighter" which allowed folks to connect with these fighters on an emotional level, and see that these fighters are middle-class college educated folks with some emotional scars.

The show was positioned to air right after WWE on SpikeTV. Station folks figured if it flops, no one would notice. People stuck around became invested in the fighters and looked forward to the actual fights they'd participated in.

This is a biography of sort, and a marketing and branding case study for UFC.

[John Schwabacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tries to be an introduction to mixed martial arts for the general audience. As the subtitle says, this book is a bio of Pat Miletich spliced to an account of the early days of the UFC.
Miletich's story is an appealing one. Like many fighters, he comes from an ugly background. Like most (all?) successful fighters, he is a scrappy stubborn son of a bitch who doesn't know how to quit or back down.
I enjoyed the book. I liked learning about Miletich's background in martial arts in general and with the UFC in particular, as well as a few stories about other fighters at his camp. I hadn't known that Miletich had a beef with the the UFC dating from when they'd promised a title fight to him and then, without telling him first, announced on TV that instead they'd be giving it to Matt Hughes (a fighter who trained at Miletich's gym).
Wertheim also repeats the classic story about "Judo" Gene Lebell choking out Steven Seagal on a movie set.

[Josh Liller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good recap of the history of UFC and a biography of one MMA fighter (Pat Miletich) that generally paints the sport in a positive light. The writing style is mostly good, though the author's jumping between Miletich's life and the UFC in general is a bit uneven and he also jumps back and forth chronologically in places. The last couple chapters also sort of felt like they meandered on, hitting various remaining points left uncovered. It does have the advantage that the book is not a UFC-sanctioned publication; I get the impression any official history of UFC would be a bit revisionist, ironically something WWE is notorious for in their official biography/history books.

It also gave an interesting but probably accurate presentation of UFC's president Dana White as a controlling jerk yet also an intelligent guy who will not BS you.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awfully entertaining, I must admit. We each have our poison, and I guess martial arts happens to be mine. It's also a fascinating glimpse at the rise of MMA and the penetration of the UFC into mainstream culture -- in which lies a valuable business lesson: no matter how compelling your product, distribution (in this case by cable companies and network TV) is super important.

Beyond that, though, what I got most from this read was a sense of the personality of the American midwest, through the biography of Pat Miletich, a central character. "Salt of the earth", tough, hardworking, resourceful, clinical. Yet also devoted to his mother (who brought them up singlehandedly), and said to throw fighters out of his gym for beating up their girlfriends.

[Luis Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nonfiction. A look inside mixed martial arts, focusing on the life of Pat Militech from his childhood to his legendary MMA career to his ultra-successful training school, and the correlating rise of the sport.

A really fascinating look into the mindset of an MMA champion and future star trainer. You get a sense of the level of dedication and willingness to accept pain as a constant in your life is needed to achieve success in this violent sport. I read an advance copy, which had numerous errors.

[Josh Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read that does a good job of blending the biography of Miletich with the rise of UFC and MMA more broadly. The author treats the topic well, though he tends to be a bit squeamish about the reality of physical conflict throughout (but like many, this tends to be overshadowed by respect for the skill, technique and determination of the fighters). A must read for those with an interest in the sport, but probably not of too much interest for those without some fighting or martial arts background.

[Hemants · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a MMA fighter and a fan of Pat and the Militech Fighting System that produced a lot of great fighters, this book was a fun, easy and fast read.

It weaves Pat's personal biographical information with the rise of MMA and the UFC.

One thing I really appreciated the author doing was justice to the art and the hard work that goes into becoming an elite fighter. It is a lot harder than it looks and the technique involved is far more than appears on the surface to the casual MMA watcher.

Overall a good read, I would recommend it.

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this book off the shelf at the library on a lark and was pleasantly surprised. Wertheim does a tremendous job of bringing his main subject to life and exploring the rise of MMA from every angle. I enjoyed just about every part of this book, and I say that as someone who knows next to nothing about the sport.

[William Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miletich is an interesting character to choose as a vessel for explaining MMA. While he was an important character in its development, there are far more important characters, many (like Matt Hughes) from his own camp. Still, this book was informative and well-written, a good one if you are interested in the early days of new UFC, ie, the Hughes era, give or take a few years.

[SLT · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like the UFC, and are curious about its history, you should definitely check this out. Informative, but also fun, Wertheim does a good job. For a more thorough analysis, check out my (mostly) book blog: http://dunceacademy.com/3187/blood-in...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for people who don't know much about the sport... I'm a pretty old hand at this, so a lot of this was redundant, however it was well written overall.

[Kathleen Lombari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, it was exactly what I was looking for.

[Katie M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of how the UFC became the powerhouse it became today. The author is an idiot, but if you can look past that, it's an excellent book.

[Sascha Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, to me, is a sort of prequel to one of my favourite books and MMA books - "A Fighter's Heart" by Sam Sheridan. The name "A Fighter's Heart", if memory serves me, actually was taken from an email Pat Miletich sent to Sam Sheridan. Miletich is the instructor under whom Sheridan goes full MMA. In that part of the book Sheridan trains with pro-MMA fighters.
This is the story of Pat Miletich, a man's man who tells his fighters: "You've got your team in one fist and your mum in the other". I had read about Miletich time and time again but he was from an era before I had found my interest in MMA. But that itself, is one of the big conclusions of the book. Pat Miletich came to early. He was ahead of his time. He was a legend before MMA had legends, before George, Khabib, Conor, Miesha, Dustin and Ronda (etc.). As with "Beast" by Doug Merlino, the book establishes a clear picture of the real roots of modern MMA in the USA being steeped deep in the culture or college wrestling. Wertheim in "Blood in the Cage" also restates the fact that MMA fighters are probably redefining athleticism. Pat Miletich serves as the anchor to which Wertheim tethers his anthropological study - as he remarks on one page - of the early history of MMA. Often he uses the term "no holds barred fighting". Pat Miletich is really, really worth a book. If one is an MMA or fighting nerd, "Blood in the Cage" is an awesome book. Wertheim is also very eloquent and witty. The book also serves as a great study on masculity.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

a pretty good profile of pat miletich (though he sort of vanishes around page 160 or so) combined with the rise of the UFC (even if Japanese MMA gets short shrift, which of course it would have to in '08-'09 because obsessive internet researching/endless video viewing wasn't entirely possible yet). i think snowden's book is better because it's more detailed, but wertheim is a professional writer, and the difference shows.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining

[Betsy Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional.
Whether you are new to the sport, or a veteran; curious or a die hard fan, this is definitely worth the listen and a read.

[Todd Wittenmyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple review! If you like combat sports, if you like MMA, you will like this book! 4.0 stars!

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Student
Anthony Ramirez
American Literature
8 January 2016

Blood in the cage
Blood in the cage. L. Jon Wertheim. Published in New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January 15th 2009. 251 pages.

Blood in the cage, by L. Jon, focuses on Pat and talks about his students such as Joe one
the students that goes to Miletich’s MMA training school and becomes a successful MMA fighter. Wetheim is new to the UFC sport where there are many fighting styles you can use and is sometimes hard to watch as each move is can be brutal.
Wertheim spends his time experiencing the MMA sport as he calls “The new generation”. Wertheim met Pat Miletich the 6 time UFC championship fighter by contacting him and making plans and meet up in New Jersey. Pat’s team was currently in a competition where Wertheim was present and saw how great MMA is and how rough it is. Mixed martial arts has a little bit of every kind of fighting style which Wertheim thinks it's great. MMA got very popular where people all over the world started watching it in pay-per-view. This is when Wertheim said that this is the next level of fighting and it will be the new generation which is currently today in recent times.
Blood in the cage, is fairly the most interesting sports book that is about a guy discovering new things about a sport he hasn't known anything of after being a sports illustrator. The best thing about this book is that it escalates really intense when in the last round Davis one of Miletich’s students got injured and still accepted fight. At this moment you can see why Miletich is one of the best UFC trainers because he shows his students not be tough and not give up and it all reflects from his students.

Word Count: 306

[Sorenconard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have so many mixed emotions with this book. I orignally avoided the book when it came out due to the sports media blizkreg that occured at the time and also becuase the name of it, Blood in the Cage, is extemly low-brow attention grabbing BS.

Starting to read the book I started disliking it more becuase it was sensationizing the really brutal parts of MMA and using way out there discriptions"Knocked his brainpan" and other over the top discriptions mostly focused on blood.

I later got into it, having been a long time fan and a very active particpent on the internet during the UFC blackout days I was hearing stories and perspectives that I hadn't heard. Sure alot of it was repeat UFC/mma history stuff but it was done well. I didn't like the switch between the UFC biography and Pat M.'s biography at first but midway through the book I thought the two complemented each other just fine.

Then I started not liking it again. This book has so many small details wrong I feel like I can barely trust it. Elivs Sinosic from England!?!?! He's a fucking Aussie MATE!! NHL team Columbus YELLOWjackets!?!?!?!? You can't get a sports team right!?!?! There are countless little errors just like those two that make me question this guys ability to research anything.

I give it a 2.5.

[K, Nz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book out of the library - because I grabbed a DVD from a friend (the movie 'Warrior') to challenge myself to appreciate just what it is about fighting (after reading TKO which has I felt interesting insights into the art of fighting, underlying the main story), and being curious. I didn't understand the reference to UFC in the movie, so thought I would give this book a go.

Good read, great background and insights.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised me. I only picked it up because I enjoyed Wertheim's book about the Federer-Nadal 2008 Wimbledon Final ("Strokes of Genius") so much. I've actually never sat through an MMA match (more of a boxing fan).

But while I was reading, the dual stories of the rise of the UFC league and the life of Pat Miletich really grabbed my attention. I look forward to more Wertheim books, because he's an excellent sportswriter. Well worth a read.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent overview of the history of MMA fighting. Primarily follows the fighting and training career of one guy that was around near the beginning of the UFC.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good mind dump from a Sports Illustrated writer who spent a great deal of time hanging around MMA. Sure wish it had an index, however.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

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