UFC Co-Founder Art Davie Talks: Documentary, 12 November; Progress on His Feature Film, UFC Heading to New York, More
Earlier this month, the author of Is This Legal? The Inside Story of the First UFC From The Man Who Created It, Art Davie, went back to Torrance, California with a documentary film crew. Torrance could well be considered the birthplace of the UFC.
The documentary being filmed, 12 November, is slated to air in Brazil first, with future distribution in America. It will focus on the UFC’s first promotion, which took place on November 12, 1993. Understandably, returning to his old stomping grounds brought back memories for Art.
We welcome back Art Davie for a chat about the 12 November documentary. You can read the highlights and listen to the entire CYInterview:
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Art Davie tells us about some of the memories he had, while filming 12 November:
“As we walked around the neighborhoods, I was pointing out things that I had forgotten, places that I would go in the evening. I use to walk over to the Torrance High School where they filmed Beverly Hills 90210, the opening segment for that TV show. And I use to go over there and sit on the steps and sometimes I would use that as one of my thinking places. And I had forgotten about that. So as we’re walking the neighborhood and I’m pointing out things to them, it jogged my memory.
I was showing them the alleyway, the little shortcut I would take from the WOW office over to the Gracie Academy and I hadn’t walked through that alley in probably 20 years. And I was showing them where I met Oleg Taktarov. He was living in a car at that time and he drove up and parked the car in the alley. And when I came in that morning, I believe it was a Monday morning, who was sleeping in my doorway, Oleg Taktarov, who later won UFC 6 as the tournament champion.”
As for the feature film that is in the works about his life story, the UFC Co-Founder shared this:
“Things have been moving forward with investors. You know, this is an independently financed movie. The budget is 30 million and we’ve been talking to people in Chicago and we’re talking to people in China and Hungary. So things are moving along there. You know, it took ten months and three writers and we’ve generated what I believe is a really fine script at this point.”
Last month, the New York State Athletic Commission started taking applications for MMA fighters to compete in the Empire State. It has been a long road for the UFC to finally have the chance to hold events in New York. On the topic, Art offered this:
“This is a great opportunity to continue to advance the sport of MMA, long overdue. But you know, sometimes when something is new and radical and different it takes a while for acceptance.”
You can purchase a copy of Art Davie’s book clicking here..
Art Davie’s official website is here.
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You can email Chris Yandek at ChrisYandek@CYInterview.com
You can follow Chris Yandek on Twitter here.