Mixed martial arts, a sport in which athletes of different fighting styles and disciplines compete against each other, has exploded into arguably the most popular single-opponent competition sport of the past two decades. Born from the idea of “who would win if a boxer went up against a sumo wrestler, or if a Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist locked up with a Muay Thai fighter,” mixed martial arts fights are among the best-selling pay-per-view events. The top competitors in the sport – Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Frank Mir – have become as recognizable as Derek Jeter or Peyton Manning, with fan-based websites and internet message boards touting the superiority of one athlete over another.

And now, thanks to Round 5 World of Mixed Martial Arts, a Markham, Ontario, Canada-based company, many of these athletes now exist in 6-inch miniature action figures – yet even in their protective packaging, these action figures look to break free of their plastic prisons, ready to step into an octagon and pummel, pulverize and “pound and ground” any opponent.

“We work directly with the athletes of MMA to create these figures,” said Damon Lau, President of Round 5. In other organizations, like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), that company owns all the licenses for all the guys in their organization. In MMA, although the fighters do work with different promotions - you could be fighting two fights in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships, one of the top mixed martial arts companies) and then the next three fights could be in another organization - the organizations don’t own the rights to the players’ names and likenesses. We work directly with the athletes, and sign over exclusive licensing directly with the guys.”

Along with his brother Barron Lau, who is the CEO of Round 5, Damon Lau drew inspiration for their MMA figurines from a line created a decade earlier by Hao Arts Office of Japan. That line featured such champions and legends from the K-1 and PRIDE fighting organizations as Bob “The Beast” Sapp, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović and Fedor Emelianenko. “Hao had a limited edition run of MMA figures,” said Lau. “We modified that line to what we thought would be a great toy line for the North American market.”

To that end, Round 5 gave unprecedented control over the design of each action figure to the athletes. Everything on the figurine, from tattoos to facial expressions, were replicated. As an added bonus, athletes who had sponsors on their trunks were allowed to retain sponsor advertisements on the action figure’s trunks – the action figure of former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes has Toyo Tires, while Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s trunks promote Boost Mobile phones.

“We actually get our athletes involved in what the figure looks like and what pose it should take,” said Lau, “and they’re allowed to solicit their own sponsors on their shorts, and if it’s a financial complication for that, they can arrange that all on their own.”

The response from the MMA athletes and their fans has been overwhelmingly positive. Sean Sherk, who won the UFC Lightweight championship in 2006 by defeating Kenny Florian in a unanimous decision, is enthusiastic about his involvement with the Round 5 MMA toy line. “When I was approached by the company about a Sean Sherk action figure, I thought it was a great idea and I jumped on board. I was a part of the process since the very beginning. I was involved in the molding stages, the posing, and how the shorts and the sponsors on the shorts had to look. It’s a long process, it took almost a year to get it to a finished stage. But it was definitely worth it. I’ve seen other figures in the series, they all look realistic – although a couple of the guys look a bit more ‘ripped’ than they actually are, ha ha. I think Round 5 is doing a great job with these figures.”

Another satisfied and celebrated figure of the mixed martial arts world is “Big John” McCarthy, arguably the toughest referee in the sport – so tough, in fact, that if Satan and God the Father wanted to set up a rematch from Paradise Lost in a UFC octagon, Big John McCarthy would be the only official they could both agree on to “call it down the middle.” “Randy Couture, who had been part of Round 5’s first series, got in touch with me, he talked to me about doing it, and it sounded like a good idea,” said McCarthy. “I saw the figures they were doing for Randy and Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz and I thought they were great, they reminded me of what I had seen from Japan with some of the PRIDE fighters. I liked the concept of them, and was more than happy to be part of that.”

McCarthy’s action figure was carefully sculpted to the MMA referee’s specifications – even containing a tattoo on the figurine’s left bicep. “To make it authentic, it had to be as ugly as me. They had the figure posed with my hand out as if I were to start a match, and they did a great job with the figure. They gave me the opportunity to give them feedback on how the figure should look. Even on mine, I have a tattoo on my arm, and the sleeve on the figure has the tattoo that looks like the one I have. I admit, I’m ugly, and the doll has the ugly face and it matches up.”

McCarthy, like Sherk, was also impressed that Round 5 captured the essence of each fighter’s signature pose or fighting stance, and for McCarthy, some of the figures actually brought back memories of the sport. “They have Rampage Jackson in his famous ‘howl’ position,” said McCarthy. I did his fight with Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 when he knocked out Chuck, and there’s a classic picture of Quentin doing that howl, and they used that pose for his figurine. That’s what everybody knows Quentin by.”

Round 5’s first series of action figures have sold well, with a line that includes five-time MMA champion Randy Couture, UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, and Muay Thai / Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialists Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva (no relation). Future action figures in the Round 5 MMA series will include Russian heavyweight and current World of Mixed Martial Arts champion Fedor Emelianenko, as well as female mixed martial artist and Muay Thai fighting specialist Gina Carano.

“I think everyone who watches anything with regard to MMA has realized how big the sport has gotten,” said Lau. “Attendance and pay-per-view numbers has eclipsed anything that’s been done before. The athletes realize that they’re now icons of the sport, a sport that’s grown to be so large, where they can be immortalized as action figures.”

“If you look at the Round 5 figures,” said McCarthy,” the figures have a lot of characteristics of that fighter, the body style type and everything, whereas you look at a GI Joe figure, it’s the same body on each one and they change the face a little bit.”

“When I was a kid,” said Sherk, “I used to have Star Wars and GI Joe action figures – but I’m sure my figurine would choke out a GI Joe doll like he was nothing.”