Before the MGM Grand and the Mandalay Bay Events Center, fights were on a strip outside of Bend, or a farmhouse in the outskirts of Salem, recalls Robb Andersen, 41, veteran cage fighter and mixed-martial-arts trainer. Before pay-per-view it was word-of-mouth, and it wasn’t particularly organized.

“We didn’t have cell phones then, we didn’t have computers, it was word-of-mouth, phone calls, you know, FFA get-togethers, high school football games,” said the Aumsville native and father of four.

“Essentially what it was was mostly country folk from Stayton, Bend, Scio, Sweet Home … and you’d hear it in high school: ‘Hey, there’s gonna be a brawl at this guy’s place,’ you’d get the instructions on how to get there, and we’d go out and we’d brawl.

"It wasn’t about fighting an enemy or someone you didn’t like, it was just about getting out there, letting go, and showing I could protect myself."

Even as a teenager, Andersen knew there was something compelling about these barnyard brawls, something that apparently could draw an audience. He saw it when a brawl was set up at his house while his parents were away.

“My parents were on vacation in Hawaii, and I came home. There were about 40 cars lined up with their headlights on outside of our horse arena.

“That was when I realized, ‘Wow, this is really taking off.’”

How could he have possibly known how right he would be?

Today, mixed-martial arts fights (MMA), put on by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and its companion World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) League, are regularly broadcast on Spike and Versus. The UFC, the sport’s largest, most visible league, has grossed over $200 million yearly from its numerous pay-per-view contests. The league also has a popular reality contest series, The Ultimate Fighter. Last fall the series’ 10th installment, The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, held an average of 3.4 million viewers, and drew 5.2 million viewers for its finale last December.

ESPN now covers bouts online, and clothing and accessories with the mixed-martial-arts-inspired TapouT brand logo are ubiquitous on sidewalks and businesses everywhere.

Anyone who watches a bout can pick up a distinct Pacific Northwest flavor. Featured fighters, like Ultimate Fighter contestant Chris Leben and star Uriah Faber, routinely hail from (and train in) places like Spokane, Vancouver, Portland, and Sacramento. It’s no accident, according to Andersen.

He estimates around 400 active fighters in the Portland to Albany area, almost too much for the 13 area fight promotion companies to handle.

“It’s huge here,” he said.

It’s a far cry from the days when the sport was likened to cockfighting, when cable and television outlets refused to carry fights, and when various government leaders once called for an outright ban of the activity.

But the octagon that Andersen now occasionally patrols as a corner man for his fighters is far removed from the no-holds-barred bloodsport of its past, the literal winner-take-all contests where he recalls audiences often throwing cash onto the fighters as if they were strippers.

Rules changes – no knees to the head of an opponent on his knees, and no striking the back of the head, for example – and stricter enforcement by referees have brought coveted sanctioning by boxing commissions and state sporting authorities nationwide, and an overall cleanup of the atmosphere has pulled the sport from the Fight Club-style underground bars to the mainstream. Now, where once they could have seen hair-pulling or eye-gouging, viewers can witness world-class experts in ju-jitsu, Greco-Roman wrestling and Muay Thai compete safely and professionally.

“Before you ever go into a fight nowadays in a cage, the coaches, the referees, the boxing commissioner, they make sure you’re able to handle yourself inside of a cage, or you don’t go in there,” Andersen said.

James Klass, owner of Salem-area Capital City Cagefights, takes steps to enable his amateur fighters to wait longer, and learn the craft, before becoming professional. He knows the dangers of fighters not being fully ready and capable when they step into the ring.

“I’ve seen a lot of guys go pro too fast, and get fed to people who have been in the cage a long time, to build their records,” Klass said.

The evolution of the sport has some purists crying foul, but not Andersen. The rules are there to protect the fighters, he said, who have also evolved with the sport to become more effective.

“Back when it was underground, people didn’t have as many skills to be as dangerous. Now you get the people that, in a split second, could cripple you, break your knee, just absolutely break your back,” he said.

For a fighter, without these protections, there is the potential in a bout of things getting dangerously out of hand in a hurry.

“When you’re inside a cage when that happens, it’s a very panicky, ‘What do I do now?!’ situation. It’s not really a sport at that point. That’s not what the attraction is, or ever has been," Andersen said.

Today, Andersen manages fighters for his Xtreme Team. He is also a promoter for Capital City Cagefights. He runs a training center, Capital MMA Training on River Road, open to the public, where anyone of any skill level is welcome to train and learn about the sport. A veteran of decades of fighting, he recently stepped out of the ring for good.

“I’m done,” he said.

At the training center, fighters can experience the addictiveness of pure competition, of full athletic exertion and constant learning of multiple self-defense techniques that pulls more people to the octagon every day.

“Once you start, you don’t care, you don’t want to give up,” Andersen said.

There’s just so much that fighting has to offer, said Chris Nelson, 32, an amateur fighter who trains at Capital MMA Training.

“It’s a challenge for myself, to train and prove myself, that’s the biggest part of it.”

And that’s what appeals to so many MMA enthusiasts, according to Andersen.

“You take the wrestlers out of high school, you take the amateur boxers out of boxing, you take the martial artists out of their point system, and you teach them everything – of course they’re going to love it better than just having one art.”

As for its appeal to spectators, Andersen muses.

“I think we’re all cavemen inside. We want to see who’s better.”

Anyone, any skill level or experience, is welcome to train and participate. For more information, contact:

Capital MMA Training

3040 River Rd. in Salem

Robb Andersen – 503-269-0982

James Klass – 971-218-5770