The birth of Mixed Martial Arts MMA
What do an NFL star, a United States Secret Service agent, Sylvester Stallone’s bodyguard, and Muhammad Ali’s sparring partner all have in common? They were all characters cast in America’s original “anything goes” reality fighting drama—an open call that led to the birth of a new sport: mixed martial arts.
Long before the Octagon became iconic or Royce Gracie made his pay-per-view debut; decades before the UFC became a household name and while the likes of Dana White were still in elementary school, two martial artists—Bill Viola and Frank Caliguri—set out to prove, once and for all, who the world’s greatest fighter was by creating a radical new sport in 1979.
Tough Guys reveals the clandestine story behind the first mixed martial arts revolution in American history, one poised to challenge boxing as the king of combat sports. Thwarted by a freak accident—a death in the ring—and plagued by widespread corruption, a massive struggle ensued over money, power, and respect between boxing’s establishment and an upstart MMA company from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CV (Caliguri and Viola) Productions ignited a bitter turf war with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, sparking a spectacular David-versus-Goliath battle for legitimacy and leverage.
This legendary story, buried beneath decades of rhetoric and revisionist history, casts a wide net, drawing in everyone from politicians to mobsters—each with ulterior motives and their eyes fixed on a billion-dollar blueprint. From boxing’s “holy territory,” the hometown of Rocky Balboa, to a bizarre connection with the Supreme Court that led to the first legal precedent for MMA—ever—this is the ultimate insider’s account.
Tough Guys is a testosterone-fueled whirlwind of ambition, controversy, and perseverance—a tale of “what might have been” told by the trailblazers who fought to make it a reality. Relive the epic adventure of the original Tough Guys, later known as Superfighters—the first mixed martial arts league in history.
More than thirty years before the UFC captured a mainstream audience, the media had already embraced MMA. KDKA-TV dubbed CV’s new sport “organized, legalized street fighting,” while the Philadelphia Journal proclaimed, “No holds barred as Superfighters take over.”
Take a journey back in time to the Iron City and meet the fighters, the foes, and the visionaries who helped create modern MMA.
