What Dark Side of the Ring did for pro wrestling, Dark Side of the Cage intends to do for mixed martial arts.
Vice Media is getting back into the MMA game, but this time they’re taking a deeper look into the shadows.
Longtime fans of the sport may remember Fightland, a combat sports focused arm of Vice Media that was largely funded by the UFC. When most of the money to fund your site is coming from the promotion you’re covering, that coverage tends to sand off most rough edges it finds. That was certainly the case with Fightland, and the quality of the site suffered because of it.
There’s no such softening going on with Vice’s ‘Dark Side Of’ shows, which started with Dark Side Of The Ring, focusing on the many horrible things that have happened in the world of pro wrestling. That was followed by Dark Side of Football and the less sports-centered Dark Side of Comedy, Reality TV, 90s, and 2000s.
And now: Dark Side of the Cage.
DARK SIDE OF THE CAGE. #BINK
Debuts Jan 8 on @VICETV @VICE @CraveCanada
Amazing year long process, a privilege to be part of it.
SO STOKED FOR PEOPLE TO SEE THIS. #martialarts #ufc #stories #life #Storytelling #art #ko pic.twitter.com/PSTSRqr4r2
— Robin Black (@robinblackmma) December 13, 2024
Dark Side of the Cage will cover some of the legendary sketchy and horrific incidents that have happened around the sport of mixed martial arts over the past three decades. The show debuts January 8th and is part of a larger pivot the recently restructured Vice Media will be making to sports programming.
No actual sports, mind you: just programming about sports. Documentary-style stuff, which is really how Vice took off in the first place.
The trailer for the show promises episodes on Evan Tanner, Kimbo Slice, Diego Sanchez, War Machine, The Ultimate Fighter, Nick Diaz, Ronda Rousey, Matt Hughes, and the rise and fall of PRIDE. Not a bad lineup for a first season, and there’s certainly a lot more skeletons in the closet if they want to do seasons two through twenty.