Sports Taking it to the
In a town where folks make a living pushing their physical limits, so
do their sports By Nathan Walls
Crown Coliseum and to thousands across the country watching it live on cable television. Music blared as each competitor walked to the Octagon, the eight-sided caged UFC ring. The sport’s biggest stars, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell and heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar shook hands and signed autographs for Fort Bragg soldiers. By the end of the night, fans phoned in $4 million in donations for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, an organization that will build a Bethesda, Md., facility for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries experienced by troops fighting overseas. Bill White, president of Intrepid, said it was the most money the organization had ever raised in three hours.
T
“We’ve got to be there for these troops,” White said. “They fight for us, and we’ve got to fight for them.”
he camouflaged crowd of 12,000 stood and chanted for America’s fastest-growing sport.
This was their night, their fight.
UFC – or Ultimate Fighting Championship – brought its Fight for the Troops to the
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