When powerful forces line up to get something done in Wisconsin, it gets done, even if it's something as crude and outrageous as putting gladiators in a coliseum to see who can bleed the most.

Evidence of this became even clearer last week when Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation to regulate Mixed Martial Arts fighting in Wisconsin.

Shame on you, Jim Doyle. Shame on you.

Let me see if I can make this clear.

An organization called Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the biggest dog, by far, in the world of MMA fighting. They've got the best fighters, the pay per view television shows, the hugest events. One of the goals of UFC is to be seen as a legitimate sport. They don't want people to think they are barbarians but rather, promoters of healthy sporting events.

In order to help create this fantasy, UFC decided years ago that it would only stage fights in states where MMA was regulated. They didn't really care much what kind of regulations got passed. As long as there was some kind of municipal governance they felt that they had a stamp of approval and legitimacy.

Wisconsin was one of the last holdouts. That meant that the Milwaukee market -- and to a lesser extent Green Bay and Madison -- was off limits to UFC, an intolerable situation as far as revenue-producing events goes. So, they started their campaign.

They hired a great lobbyist. I know who it is but I'm not going to name him because he's one of my oldest friends and I want to spare him the embarrassment. He is great at what he does. He lined up a couple of unsuspecting legislators, Sen. Dave Hansen and Rep. Pedro Colon. He helped them write a bill that they introduced. They held hearings, stacked with MMA supporters.

This is a classic case of talking out of both sides of your mouth. On one side they tried to get us to believe that they cared about the safety of these events. On the other side (and much quieter) they were rubbing their hands in glee over the fact that the Bradley Center was waiting for them to call. The dollar signs were blinding.

When you talk about something happening in the dead of night, this bill seems to fit the bill. Nobody, it seemed, objected to anything. The bill sailed through. The vote in the Assembly was 96-0.

I've got to wonder how many of those 96 men and women have actually seen one of these fights.

Think for a moment about the sublime grace and dignity of baseball. Or the discipline and controlled force of football. Then think of the exact opposite and you've got MMA. It is barbaric pummeling of one individual by another. They snarl and kick and jump on damaged opponents. They pound heads into the ground. I don't think they bite, but I can't be sure. Blood doesn't stop the show, in fact it just fuels the battle.

And the crowds that attend these events are as much of a show as they fighters. They hurl blood-curdling screams at the fighters. They roar for pain and damage. There is no admiration for pure skills. The praise is showered on the most brutal in the ring.

And when UFC finally gets to stage an event in the Bradley Center, it's going to sell out with 20,000 or so young men who will shell out big bucks to work themselves into a frenzy. These events resemble nothing so much as pro wrestling. Pro wrestling, though, makes no pretense to being anything other than entertainment. Both events draw the same demographic, young men with too much time and money who are looking for cheap thrills and no anger management for a couple of hours.

Want to know who some of these people are? On one of the MMA Web sites, somebody named Stevia wrote the following post regarding the passage of this legislation in Wisconsin: "The government should not make us get blood tests, get insurance, or any of that stuff. If a guy that is 10-0 wants to fight a guy that is 0-0, then who cares. It is a free country. If I want to have knife fights with HIV positive inmates and sell tickets, then screw the government."

Ah, yes, and the MMA guys keep telling us about all their college graduates and professional men who just fight on weekends between the time they either perform brain surgery or deliver medical supplies to Haiti.

Listen for a minute to a comment from Sen. Hansen during the signing ceremony: "By regulating, we can bring the top flight competition here, draw great cards and provide a lot of economic drive for the state of Wisconsin."

I can't believe that this guy would suggest that by paving the way for UFC to come to Milwaukee we would be providing a lot of economic drive for the state of Wisconsin. This will provide a lot of economic benefit for the UFC organization, but not much for the average unemployed Wisconsinite who really needs some economic drive.

But it's a done deal. The forces of evil have won and it wasn't even much of a battle. The good guys didn't even show up for this one so the black hats rode out of town, loaded down with bags of cash and smiles on their faces.

Shame, shame, shame on us.