When it comes to sports and entertainment, the glitz and the glamour of celebrity life, most of us only aspire to gain something small such as an autograph. Few of us ever have the chance to sit down with stars and discuss their lives, or rub shoulders with those closest to them. Being up close and personal with UFC, boxing and entertainment stars is just part of Fiaz Rafiq's daily routine. He's worked closely with some of the most revered champions and pioneers of UFC. In this gripping memoir he shares riveting behind-the-scenes stories of the top MMA and boxing champions and legends - from Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Cormier and Conor McGregor to Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee (to many the Godfather of MMA) - their gritty beginnings and their most triumphant moments. The result is the culmination of over two decades of work, gaining the trust and confidence of the greatest fighters and personalities in MMA and combat sports. To the Top is a fascinating odyssey that uncovers the hidden history of the most brutal combat sport on the planet.

What would you do if you discovered that the world you were born into was a complete lie? "There is a veneer to this world we live in. A kind of covering, like a mask. If you start to peel back the layers, you will see things that you may not want to see..." In the future there is no war, no famine and no poverty. In the future the zombies didn't come. The apocalypse didn't happen and no virus wiped-out humanity. In the future the world is good. There is order, minimal crime and a content, well-fed society. Or so it seems... But if everything is so good, so perfect, then why does Jon Kobe, a First Year law enforcement graduate feel that something is not quite right with the world that he lives in? When the tortured body of a young girl is discovered in an alleyway, branded with a symbol meaning Hell, Kobe begins to see the frayed-edge of his world and the horrors that lie beneath. Below the surface of an idyllic society, awaits the sadistic truth where human lives are just fodder for the entertainment of the privileged few. For Kobe to survive, he must find the courage to abandon everything that he believes in and become something that he is not. Octagon is a gripping, page-turning sci-fi thriller and a brutal exploration of true human nature. Every future has a price. But are you willing to pay that price?

Mixed martial arts (MMA)—unarmed fighting games permitting techniques derived from a variety of martial arts and combat sports— has exploded from the fringes of sport into a worldwide phenomenon, a sport as controversial as it is compelling. This is the first book to pay MMA the serious philosophical attention it deserves. With contributions from leading international scholars of the philosophy of sport and martial arts, the book explores topics such as whether MMA qualifies as a martial art, the differences between MMA and the traditional martial arts, the aesthetic dimensions of MMA, the limits of consent and choice in MMA and whether MMA can promote moral virtues. It also explores cutting-edge practical and ethical topics, including the role of gender in MMA, and the question of whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in the women’s divisions. The contributors to this anthology take down, ground and pound, and submit many essential questions about this fascinating recent development in the culture of sport and spectacle. This is important reading for anybody with an interest in combat sports, martial arts, or the philosophy, sociology, culture or history of sport.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is often identified with violence and greed, but is that an accurate portrayal? Many MMA fighters grew up having to overcome bullying, gang activity, drugs, and violence. Success as a fighter is their opportunity to share life-altering concepts and inspire others through the sport they enjoy.

From its humble, pioneer beginnings to its current incarnation as the largest independent county fair in the United States, the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, is a beloved western New York institution. Annually, over one million people flock to its historic fairgrounds located just south of Buffalo to celebrate agriculture, showcase time-honored traditions, keep the spirit of competition alive, and, most importantly, come together as a community. Through vintage photographs, Erie County Fair presents a visual narrative of the fair's history and stimulates cherished memories rooted in decades of excitement found at this annual summer gathering. The continuity of the American county fair spirit is most evident through these images from the archives of the Erie County Agricultural Society.

FIGHT CARD MMA: WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON Belfast 2013 Mickey The Rage Rafferty has gone through some tough times, but he's not ready to tap-out just yet. The Belfast widower has to take care of his eight-year-old daughter, Lily. However, his main talent is fighting and the only way he can make enough money off it to support his girl is to take dodgy underground matches paying off in bloodstained cash. Mickey's trainer, Eddie Smith, doesn't approve. He wants his most promising student to step into the cage as a real martial artist, not as a fool for thugs and gangsters. With Eddie on the verge of cutting him loose, Mickey is up against the cage – crushed between fast cash and a legitimate career. Mickey has some big decisions to make and some even bigger opponents to face. The MMA life can be harsh, and it's never easy ... Welcome To The Octagon. Praise for WEE ROCKETS “Gerard Brennan stands apart from the Irish crime fiction crowd with a novel rooted in the reality of today's Belfast. The author's prose speaks with a rare authenticity about the pain of growing up in a fractured society, shot through with a black humour that can only come from the streets. Wee Rockets is urban crime fiction for the 21st century, and Brennan is a unique voice among contemporary Irish writers.” – Stuart Neville “In Wee Rockets Gerard Brennan has written a fast paced, exciting story of West Belfast gang culture; brimming with violence, authentic street dialogue and surprising black humour. This is a great debut novel. Brennan takes us into the heart of Belfast's chav underclass, in a story that lies somewhere in the intersection between The Warriors, Colin Bateman and Guy Ritchie. This is the first in what undoubtedly will be a stellar literary career.” – Adrian McKinty "Brennan impressed me hugely with his debut novella The Point, and Wee Rockets has cemented my opinion that he belongs among the top rank of Northern Irish crime writers." – Loitering With Intent "So assured and mature you'd think this was his eight or ninth book, not one of his first." – Spinetingler Magazine "This is a tremendous book and I urge you to read it." – I Meant To Read That

The flowering of Gothic architecture depended to a striking extent on the use of drawing as a tool of design. By drawing precise "blueprints" with simple tools such as the compass and straightedge, Gothic draftsmen were able to develop a linearized architecture of unprecedented complexity and sophistication. Examination of their surviving drawings can provide valuable and remarkably intimate information about the Gothic design process. Gothic drawings include compass pricks, uninked construction lines, and other telltale traces of the draftsman's geometrically based working method. The proportions of the drawings, moreover, are those actually intended by the designer, uncompromised by errors introduced in the construction process. All of these features make these drawings ideal subjects for the study of Gothic design practice, but their geometry has to date received little systematic attention. This book offers a new perspective on Gothic architectural creativity. It shows, in a series of rigorous geometrical case studies, how Gothic design evolved over time, in two senses: in the hours of the draftsman's labor, and across the centuries of the late Middle Ages. In each case study, a series of computer graphics show in unprecedented detail how a medieval designer could have developed his architectural concept step by step, using only basic geometrical operations. Taken together, these analyses demonstrate both remarkable methodological continuity across the Gothic era, and the progressive development of new and sophisticated permutations on venerable design themes. This rich tradition ultimately gave way in the Renaissance not because of any inherent problem with Gothic architecture, but because the visual language of Classicism appealed more directly to the pretensions of Humanist princes than the more abstract geometrical order of Gothic design, as the book's final chapter demonstrates.