Inside a warehouse that sits in a rugged area near the border between Los Angeles and Glendale, filming was underway in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's most vigorous effort yet to tap a wider Spanish-speaking audience.
"El Octagono," an hourlong Saturday night series set to debut Saturday on the cable network Galavision, will include fighter interviews, highlights and mixed martial arts education for Latino fight fans who traditionally have flocked to boxing.
"It's important to get those fans," UFC lightweight Kenny Florian said. "They're so passionate about boxing, and this is very much in line with what they like about combat. We know they support Latino fighters in boxing, and now it's just about giving them more awareness about our sport, and showing them how exciting our fights are. Awareness has been the main obstacle."
Florian, 31, is a fluent Spanish speaker from Boston whose parents are from Peru. He's preparing for an August fight at UFC 87 in Minneapolis against Roger Huerta, 24, a Latino best known for being the first UFC fighter featured on a Sports Illustrated cover.
"Once Hispanics see there's plenty of fighters they can relate to, guys who speak the same language, that'll be a big plus," Huerta (22-1-1) said. "It's like a brotherhood, they can relate to us."
The Florian-Huerta winner will earn a lightweight title shot against the winner of next month's B.J. Penn-Sean Sherk title fight, and the UFC already claims a Spanish-speaking champion in Brazilian heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
"I love boxing for what it is, but you see so many different things, and a higher pace, in UFC fights," Huerta said. "You can see punching, wrestling, submissions. If boxing is like shooting a 9-millimeter, imagine adding in a bazooka and machine gun. With the more weapons we have, the interest will come around. The key thing is just to educate."
Until now, the UFC has devoted most of its energy attracting the 18-to-34-year-old (usually white) males, who routinely pack arenas and purchase monthly pay-per-view cards headlined in recent years by Mohawk-wearing Chuck Liddell and veteran fighter Randy Couture, both white.
Meanwhile, veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum is making a bundle of cash on his pay-per-view "Latin Fury" cards, featuring popular Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Jorge Arce.
