If nothing else, you have to give the Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) credit for trying.

The MMA landscape is rife with promoters and organizations whose interest in MMA can charitably be described as "opportunity". They largely know little about fight sport or the fight business and in the process of unpacking their show, everyone from the fans to the underpaid fighters suffer.

Such was not the case with the UWC. While they could've spent a little more time crafting a creative or original name for the organization, they did almost everything else a smaller show is expected to do. In other words, given their abilities and given their reach, they delivered.

The show featured a tremendous amount of local stars with breakout performances by One Spirit Martial Art's middleweight Reshad Woods and Lloyd Irvin's stud featherweight Mike Easton. Saturday's "Invasion" show also blended high level if mostly anonymous (to the mainstream audience) fighters such as Zach Light, Marcelo Brito, Carlo Prater, Jason Von Flue and Pete Spratt. And on top of that were the real superstars of MMA who were on hand to corner fighters, talk to the media and take pictures with fans: Hermes Franca, Brandon Vera, Rampage Jackson, Frank Trigg, Carlos Condit and Andrei Arlovski. I also managed to catch the diminutive UFC matchmaker Joe Silva scouting talent and seemingly enjoying the show.

The crowd was a little smaller than I'd expected (roughly 5,000), but the turnout was respectable. Besides, the UWC did promote the show through radio sponsorship, television ads and media outreach to draw a crowd. I would say here, though, the UWC made some blunders. First, the Patriot Center is a great location for folks in the Virginia area, but not DC or Maryland. It's not a long drive, but it's not a short one either. I can't speak to the costs of putting on an event there, but perhaps a venue in DC would've been a more appropriate choice given the metro accessibility and the stronger likelihood residents of different cities and states would be willing to travel to a central location.

I also think that smaller shows like UWC tend to ignore the hardcore audience, often expecting them to show up or talk about the fight without prodding. But I no longer think that's realistic. The flood of new organizations and opportunities to watch MMA is making the dollar and time of even hardcore fans a little more selective. While the UWC did credential new media, there was very little promotion of the show or the fighters to outlets that traditionally serve hardcore fans. As such, even among hardcores there was very little buzz, including voracious fans in the DC area I spoke with about the show.

But back to what the UWC did correctly: the VIP room. This was one of the best and properly serviced VIP rooms I've been to at a MMA event. The food was plentiful and delicious, the décor of the room was surprisingly plush, and the attendance was at capacity. This isn't a make or break for how I would rate the event, but it's certainly a nice touch to make this a priority.

I was also impressed with the pre-fight entrances. Video montages of each fighter were played prior to the fights to give the crowd a quick look at the upcoming fighter. And during the fights, three large projectors showed the action as it happened to give fans without the best viewing angle a decent alternative. While I believe this to be a respectable addition to the UWC's product, there were two problems with it. First, the audio in the Patriot Center is terrible, so it was very difficult to understand what the fighters were saying in the pre-fight video montages as well as in their post-fight in-ring interviews with Frank Trigg. Second, for a smaller show this is an expensive addition to the evening's fights. Given that the Patriot Center doesn't appear to have the capacity to fully make use of the audio (I've seen several shows there and this problem is habitual) and the respectable but somewhat small attendance numbers make me believe cutting this out wouldn't make much difference to the fan but would a world of difference to the UWC's pocketbook.

Again, let me reiterate my gripes or critiques are minor. Top to bottom, this was a professional show with professional staff that put together a very respectable night of MMA action. And given the vacuum in the DC/MD/VA area in terms of a credible but smaller brand name fans can rely on for local MMA, the UWC has positioned itself as a potential leader in the region. What the DC area needs is a consistent brand leader that delivers an action packed, balanced fight card with big name appearances and a professional product on a consistent basis. On Saturday night the UWC demonstrated the capacity to be that leader and planned a September show to follow up on the momentum already created. Provided they can remain solvent and string shows together more regularly, the UWC has all the makings to become the region's brand leader and reliable go to for local MMA. We'll find out more in September.

Full results after the jump. More pictures on the way.