Hawai'i's popular mixed martial arts scene has found a national stage.

Rumble World Entertainment, a mixed martial arts organization based in Hilo, finalized a three-year contract with the Showtime cable network yesterday.

"This is huge; it shows how far this sport has come," RWE matchmaker Richard Chou said. "Showtime has 14 million subscribers, so this is a really big audience we're looking at."

RWE will be responsible for setting up live mixed martial events for Showtime from 2007-09, starting with the first card on Feb. 10, 2007. Chou said they will try to promote one event per month.

He said the Feb. 10 event will be staged at a yet to be determined site on the Mainland, but future cards could be produced in Hawai'i.

The RWE events will be available to all Showtime subscribers.

"We're not looking at pay-per-view right now," Chou said. "Showtime already is doing great with its boxing cards, so we're looking at doing the same thing."

The Ultimate Fighting Championship — which is considered the biggest mixed martial arts organization in North America — is the only other organization that produces live fights on cable television. The UFC is currently under contract with Spike TV.

"Having seen the great success of Ultimate Fighting Championship on basic cable and pay-per-view, we knew that this programming held great potential for Showtime," said Ken Hershman, Showtime's senior vice president and general manager of sports and event programming. "MMA is a global phenomenon that is impossible to ignore. This will be the perfect complement to our boxing franchise and we are proud to be the first premium network to embrace it."

Jay Dee Penn is the president of RWE. He is the older brother of mixed martial arts superstar B.J. Penn.

Chou said he will try to sign top fighters from around the world to appear on the Showtime cards. He said many Hawai'i fighters will also be showcased, although he did not want to reveal any names.

B.J. Penn is currently under an exclusive contract with the UFC, so he is not expected to appear on Showtime anytime soon.

Among the fighters who have appeared on RWE's 2006 events at the Blaisdell Center Arena are Eric "Butterbean" Esch of Alabama, Anderson Silva of Brazil, Jake Shields of California, and Hawai'i fighters Wesley "Cabbage" Correira, Ronald Jhun and Renato "Charuto" Verissimo de Oliveira.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.