Blood in the Cage by L. Jon Wertheim

ISBN-13/EAN: 9780618982615
ISBN-10: 0618982612

If you’ve ever contemplated how MMA (mixed-martial arts) ascended into standard American lexicon over the past years, the remarkably-detailed Blood in the Cage provides the answers. Author L. Jon Wertheim, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, draws on the experiences of MMA icon Pat Miletich and others to deliver an encyclopedic-type effort that brings readers directly to the heart of MMA’s journey to legitimacy.

Miletich, a former UFC welterweight champion and trainer of many champions, functions as Wertheim’s gatekeeper to the sport. The first chapter begins with play-by-play of Miletich’s first fight – a street fight that Miletich lost, but one Wertheim uses to capture the ingredients of motivation that drive many fighters to compete. He then digs deep into the formative years of Miletich to shed light on his difficult childhood and complex family dynamics. It’s these characteristics that help effectively outline why Miletich represents the perfect subject for Blood in the Cage.

With Miletich, Wertheim was also able to provide vivid accounts of experiences with some of the most-recognizable names in the sport via access to the members of the Miletich Fighting Systems Elite Team through the years like Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Tim Sylvia, Ben Rothwell, Robbie Lawlar and more.

You won’t put this book down too many times before finishing it. It’s a very quick read, complete with healthy descriptions of the sports seminal moments balanced with ones talked about on various chat forums but never discussed in the acute detail that Wertheim does. One of the ‘underground’ phenomenoms Wertheim explores is the famous out-of-the-cage confrontation between Tito Ortiz and Lee Murray outside the Funky Buddha Lounge in London following UFC 38. Many fans have long heard different versions of the story where the former light heavyweight champ Ortiz gets knocked out by middleweight Lee Murray. Wertheim dissects the incident to its core and provides both the casual fan and avid MMAer intriguing points for additional discussion.

Murray isn’t a stranger to Wertheim. If you haven’t already read Wertheim’s Sports Illustrated article “Breaking the Bank” from this years April 14th issue, access SI.com and do so. Wertheim rights a riveting account of how Murray and a crew of bandits conducted the largest cash heist in history – over $92 million.Blood in the Cage also pleasantly surprises in its breadth of inclusion of key industry players. You would expect to see the faces of the UFC, Dana White and the Fertita brothers, and Miletich’s ‘super manager’ Monte Cox mentioned regularly in the book, but Wertheim also successfully blends in a lengthy scroll of the sports other individual contributors .

Wertheim carefully molds their influence and those he had with other fighting organizations into the experiences in the book so as to not dismiss any minutia of history that helped shape MMA.What emerges in Blood in the Cage is a carefully woven chain of experiences you will anticipate as much as a Royce Gracie rear-naked choke.

Blood in the Cage is now available for purchase.

About the author

Jerome Cheatham is a staff writer for InsideFighting.com and is an extreme sports enthusiast with years of training and competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competitive bodybuilding. Cheatham has competed in a variety of BJJ tournaments and bodybuilding shows across the country. Most recently, Cheatham took first place in the Open Light-Heavyweight Division at the 2008 Illinois State Bodybuilding Championships.