Martial Arts Professional Magazine

FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS—Proving the old adage, be careful what you wish for, Sacha Baron Cohen, comedian, satirist and creator of the characters Borat and Ali G, almost experienced more realism than he wanted when he and another man stripped to their underwear, kissed and rubbed against each other at two cage-fighting events, which Cohen may have secretly produced and promoted.

The two June fights were billed as “Red, White and Blood” and Blue Collar Brawlin’,” and were advertised on various Web site forums, promising “hot girls, cold beers [and] hardcore fights.”According to members of the audiences, they paid $5 to enter the event and were told to leave their cell phones and cameras in their cars. They were also required to sign release forms, in the event they were recorded. They were also given “Straight Dave’s United Straights of America” T-shirts and, dur-ing the event, were encouraged to sing anti-gay songs.

Someone, identifying himself as “Straight Dave”, although some in the crowd thought it was Cohen, incited the crowd between fights. It was near the end of the Fort Smith event that “Straight Dave” entered the ring and started to fight another man. Suddenly, the two men were kissing and performing other homoerotic acts. The audience booed and threw cups of beer at the two men, who escaped through a specially prepared tunnel.These pranks are very similar to those Cohen staged for his movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which was released in 2006. Cohen’s bumbling, sexist, prostitute-loving Kazakh journalist character deceived Americans and Romanian villagers into making fools of themselves on camera, leading to several lawsuits against the actor.

Cohen initially gained popularity in the UK with his Da Ali G Show in 2000.Cohen is currently working on a new film, starring as a gay Austrian reporter who loves to wear mesh T-shirts. The film’s working title is Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt.