Sports

Rage in cage a knockout in Mass.

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Blood will be spilled and brains rattled. Body parts will be wrenched and battered, some damaged.

Caged men will fight, and a 21st-century crowd with a taste for primal combat rooted in ancient civilizations will spend big money to celebrate the spectacle.

It’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship, once a widely banned novelty decried as “human cockfighting,’’ now one of the world’s fastest-growing sports — a smash hit from Boston to Belfast to Abu Dhabi.

Newly sanctioned by Governor Deval Patrick and the Legislature amid the hunt for fresh revenue, the UFC will debut in Massachusetts Saturday at TD Garden as one of the highest-grossing events ever on Causeway Street. With box-office prices ranging from $75 to $600, the UFC’s inaugural mixed martial arts night in Boston is expected to generate nearly $4 million in ticket sales and pump an additional $6 million into the recession-racked local economy.

No single indoor sports event in Boston history has generated a greater financial boon for the state, industry analysts said. The UFC, in addition to possibly selling out the Garden (average ticket price: $244), expects to draw as many as 30,000 to a Fan Expo Friday and Saturday at the Hynes Convention Center (advance ticket prices: $50 for both days, $30 for Friday only, $35 for Saturday).

Full story: Rage in cage a knockout in Mass. – The Boston Globe