MMA on Hawaii Public Radio

When worlds collide. With the inaugural Hawaii Mixed Martial Arts Sports & Fitness Expo landing in Honolulu this weekend, Hawaii Public Radio is going to take a serious look at a serious phenomenon that, nevertheless, falls far outside of the usual public radio comfort zone.

Tonight on "Town Square," airing at 5 p.m. on KIPO 89.3FM, host Beth Ann Kozlovich will sit down with pro fighter and model Mia St. John (who appeared on the cover of Playboy in November 1999) and expo coordinator Louis Mansanas to talk about mixed-martial arts. The cross-disciplinary and largely anarchic fighting style has grown from a grassroots, underground practice to a multi-million dollar business. Once seen mostly in shaky clips posted to YouTube, MMA is now a knockout hit on cable and recently made the jump to network television.

Curiously, MMA is not merely an obsession of pimply-faced teens and adrenaline-craving young men, but women as well... even whole families. Kozlovich will explore how something so starkly violent and sensationalistic has still managed to hook adults and kids across a wide swath of America.

If you can't tune in on your radio, you can listen to KIPO live online. Call in your comments or questions at (808) 941-3689 or toll-free from the neighbor islands at (877)941-3689. If you miss the show, you can grab it later via the Town Square podcast.