Paul Margitas has his hands raised in triumph by the referee and is wearing the Romanian flag. His fight has another flag on the band of his shorts, with a copper star against a series of red and gold ribbons.

The 20-year-old mixed martial artist from Phoenix wipes his forehead with a gloved hand and wears a red band on his wrist emblazoned with the letters “AZ.” He just defeated undefeated Tucson fighter DeShaun White in a split decision at Celebrity Theater in southeast Phoenix.

‘Phoenix is ​​my home,’ said Margitas phoenix new times After the battle last August. “If I become UFC champion, I want to bring that belt back to Phoenix.”

If so, he is not the first. He is neither second nor third. Country is what Nashville is to singers and what Hollywood is to actors is Phoenix to MMA fighters.

epicenter of excellence

MMA is an ancient global sport with roots in Japan, Greece and Brazil. But today the fighter of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the world’s largest MMA promotion company known as UFC), although he represents more than 70 countries, broadly agree The United States is a global hub for sports and the country with the most champions.

Also, the UFC, which is headquartered next to Arizona in Las Vegas, has won more champions associated with Arizona than any other state. Grand Canyon State has been punching above its weight during the unprecedented growth of the sport in his decade, and many of its prizefighters are being developed here in Phoenix.

MMA Soccercovers the industry as part of Toronto-based Last Word on Sports, and Arizona “The best wrestler in the country.” They include fighters like Arizona State University legend Cain Velázquez. bleacher report As “World’s Greatest Heavyweight”

Then there’s Phoenix-based Henry Cejudo, the only person to ever win an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title. We also have a young prospect in the world’s top bantamweight, Sean O’Malley, who lives in Scottsdale.

Justin Gaethje is a two-time Arizona high school champion from his small hometown of Graham County. He became the UFC lightweight champion.

And let’s not forget Ryan Bader, Phoenix-based former ASU standout, current Bellator Heavyweight Champion, and first two-belt champion.hello Black belt become magazine Best fighter from Arizonaever.

bad or bad

Vader defended the Bellator Heavyweight World Championship belt at Footprint Center in Phoenix last year. In February, Fedor of Russia made another successful defense with his technical knockout against Emelianenko in Inglewood, California.

“I love knowing that Arizona is represented in the world of MMA,” said Bader, 39 new times“It was a relatively young sport when I started. It’s incredible to see it grow to what it is today. I love to see Arizona succeed, not just me.” is.”

Fifteen years ago, fresh out of ASU, Bader had a desk job answering phones. Feeling trapped on a road with nowhere to go, he gave up his company life and turned to MMA. The bet paid off. In his long career, “Darth Vader” has won more than four contests with each loss.

But Vader’s origins are humble. Early in his career, he described “fighting for peanuts” all over Arizona, appearing on the fight card at camps in his verde and barn in Grove, and even at the bullring in Nogales, Mexico. bottom.

“It was the wild, wild west era of MMA,” Bader laughs, explaining how he crossed the border and walked from an Arizona motel to fight in a small rodeo in Mexico.

At the time, Vader was teaming with RUF MMA, a Native American-owned fight promoter that began in Phoenix nearly 20 years ago.

RUF MMA Promoter Cj Pitman recalls Bader’s bullring days. “Vader smothered that man to death in Nogales,” he said.

After graduating from high school in Reno, Nevada, Bader was recruited by several colleges and offered a full ride to the University of Oregon. But he “really fell in love with Arizona” on his 12th grade trip to ASU and has been here ever since.

“Arizona is perfect for me,” he said.

During his time on the ASU wrestling team, Bader shared the spotlight with six dozen other eventual MMA fighters, including Tempe-based UFC fighter Jesse Forbes. That college connection made Bader fall in love with MMA.

However, a career in Phoenix has meant that Vader has always been forced into the limelight. He doesn’t bother the champions.

“I’m not worried about that,” Bader said. “I have a goal and I stick to it. I stay focused on myself. There has never been jealousy or competition.” of Arizona people. “

Bader partly believes that UFC has grown rapidly in the United States over the past decade, tripling viewership and increasing brand value by 500%. According to StatistaThe UFC has been growing year after year since 2001.

“All of us on the biggest stages have contributed to the growth of the sport, especially here in Arizona,” Vader said. “You want to root for guys coming out of your city, so the more guys coming out of the valley, the more fans you’ll have.”

Phoenix next?

Like Bader his age, Margitas is now promoted by RUF MMA.

Margitas entered the cage alongside former UFC champion Benson Henderson, also based in Phoenix, before his August bout, where he posted a 1-0 record. Henderson holds the record for most UFC title defenses as a lightweight.

Margitas was eight years old when he met Henderson at MMA Lab, a martial arts gym on Bell Road near Interstate 17 in Phoenix. The gym has produced many UFC studs over the years, including top-rated bantamweight O’Malley, whom Margitas has trained with since 2015.

The gym looks unassuming, surrounded by strip malls alongside thrift stores, pizzerias and motels. But the gym’s head coach, John Crouch, says the fighters who train there are “the best in the world.” And rightly so.

Crouch describes his philosophy as follows: Sometimes it’s a shiny, freshly minted penny. It can also be a black and dirty penny coin. But in the end, every dime (or rather, a fighter’s effort) is worth the same, and that wealth builds over time.

Margitas stacks pennies well, says Crouch. The hungry young fighter says he spends up to six hours a day at the gym, sparring and attending classes. When he gets home, he often goes jogging or goes to his weight room.

“I train every day. I show up every day,” said Margitas. “I will do whatever it takes to be the best in the world. And I will be the best in the world.”

Margitas was born in Arizona to immigrant parents from Romania. His mother, six months pregnant, won the visa lottery and arrived in Phoenix in time for the birth of her youngest son.

The family “came here with nothing,” said Margitas. His parents started a small home care business in Phoenix.

“They always pushed me to work harder,” Margitas said. “My mom and dad had to leave them behind, but because of that sacrifice they can see me go all the way to the top.”

His mother wanted to enroll him in a dance class, but Margitas had another idea. He started taking jiu-jitsu classes, which ignited his dream of becoming a UFC champion.

during his interview new timesMargitas creates an old photo — showing grade-schooler Margitas grinning next to Henderson, with the UFC championship belt draped across the table.

“At the time, I didn’t realize I was choosing the hardest sport in the world,” Margitas said. “But now I don’t think about anything else. I need this. I need this to live.”

Just one game into his career, Margitas already had a cracked rib, a sprained wrist and a badly injured lower back, unable to stand up straight. He says that by MMA standards, he is “basically injury free.”

Margitas, now 21, is so committed to the sport that he doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or smoke weed.

His second bout will be on May 19 at Chandler’s Wild Horse Pass showroom.

“I want to fight my whole career in Phoenix. When the fight is over, I’m still going to live in Phoenix,” Margitas said. “I love Arizona. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.” .”

‘The best in the world’

According to a recent study from middle easyBased in Denver, Arizona, the leading website for UFC news, is currently among the four most UFC-obsessed states.

Researchers at the outlet analyzed 2022 Google search data and found that more than 250,000 people in the state searched for “UFC,” “UFC news,” and “UFC fight night” last year.

Arizona is not only a hotbed of generational MMA talent, but many firsts have happened in the sport since the state government established the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission in 2010.

The state hosted the first ever bare knuckle fighting championship event in 2011 and in 2018 became the first state to allow UFC players to wear turbans during fights.

UFC now earn over $1 billion Since 2005, it has averaged 21% annual growth. Ten years ago, the UFC had amassed 173,000 viewers for him. By 2022, that number has increased to 259 million.

more than ten years ago, Phoenix Business Journal correctly predicted Arizona will become a “hotbed for MMA fighters” and the premier destination for MMA training in the nation.

“Phoenix is ​​such a hot place. I think the level of talent that has come out of Phoenix is ​​because of Jim,” said Pittman, a local promoter. “We have world-renowned gyms like MMA Labs here and literally started this growth here.”

Pittman says one of the biggest drivers of this growth has been the acceptance of MMA as a sport. Fans of individual fighters still attend matches, but general MMA fans buy tickets year after year.

“You can see the Cardinals, Suns and Coyotes supporting the league,” he said. “You have football fans, hockey fans. You didn’t have MMA fans.

“The fanbase is getting bigger and bigger,” Pittman said, because MMA now attracts “real sports fans” rather than individual fans.

Heavyweight champion Bader attributes this growth to his general education about the sport itself. “People thought it was a barbaric sport,” he said. “Now it’s more mainstream.”

Bader predicts that the level of talent coming out of Phoenix will continue to rise to unprecedented heights.

Growing up in Nevada in the 1990s, he played baseball and football since MMA never existed.

“Unlike me, these kids have been doing it their whole lives,” Bader said. I’m glad it’s gone.”

At his gym in Gilbert, Bader said he sees more and more young kids pledging to become MMA fighters, dreaming of one day signing with the UFC.

Sound familiar?

“There are a lot of great UFC fighters here in Phoenix,” Margitas said. “Honestly, we are the best in the world.”