Art Davie

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Art Davie
Born Art Davie
Brooklyn, New York
Residence Pahrump, Nevada, United States
Nationality American
Years active 1990–present
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Art Davie is a business executive and entrepreneur formerly active in Southern California advertising circles.[1] In 1993, he created and co-produced the tournament which became the televised Ultimate Fighting Championship.[2][3][4] In 1998, Davie, as vice-president of K-1 USA, brought the successful K-1 kickboxing franchise from Japan to Las Vegas and North American pay-per-view television.[5] In 2003, Davie was an executive producer with Mandalay Sports Entertainment. In 2006, he became vice-president of television at Paradigm Entertainment Group.[6] In 2014, Ascend Books published Davie's book, Is This Legal?: The Inside Story of the First UFC from the Man Who Created It.[7] Sean Wheelock assisted in the book's research and writing. In November 2014 he became an inductee of the Legends of MMA Hall of Fame, alongside Big John McCarthy, Pat Miletich, Fedor Emelianenko, and Rickson Gracie.

XARM

Davie's new venture, XARM,[8] is a hybrid sport that combines kickboxing and arm wrestling. While at a meeting in 2008 with executives from Piranha entertainment in Seattle, Davie announced he wanted back into the MMA industry, but estimated it would take millions of dollars to create a new brand that could compete with the UFC. Rather than do that, he decided to brand a whole new sport all together, and XARM was created. Contested across a 28 in × 16 in (71 cm × 41 cm) table, adjustable for height from 34 to 46 in (0.86 to 1.17 m). Bouts consist of three one minute rounds, with a one-minute rest period between rounds. Athletes are allowed one second to accompany and assist them table-side. To prevent the fighters from separating, their arms used for the arm wrestling portion are bound together with a strap leaving the other arm free to punch and submit the other fighter. On June 2008 Art teamed up with fight Promoter Ted Williams to film the first pilot. Ted provided Art with his main card fighters from Gladiator Challenge.[9] XARM was originally scheduled to have its first TV air date in 2012[10] but, was put on hold. Davie, in 2011, announced a partnership with Sallyann Salsano, the show runner for Jersey Shore[11][12] The Show was hosted and coached by professional movie actor and Arm Wrestling legend, Andrew “Cobra” Rhodes.[13] With longtime MMA Fighter Cal Worsham[14] as the referee. In 2012, XARM announced a partnership with Machinima to produce online reality show episodes.[15][16]

Book

Davie wrote, with Sean Wheelock, Is This Legal?: The Inside Story of The First UFC From the Man Who Created It. It was published by Ascend Books on July 1, 2014. It chronicles the period October 1989 through November 13, 1993 when Davie worked on the first UFC event.[17]

References

  1. Gentry III, Clyde; No Holds Barred: Evolution (1st edition) page 24, Archon Publishing 2001 ISBN 0-9711479-0-6.
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  3. Hester, Todd; Is the Octagon Outdated?, Grappling, July 2002, page 4.
  4. Hester, Todd; The Art of War, Grappling, January 2002, page 107.
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  6. [1] Archived July 9, 2006 at the Wayback Machine
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External links