MTV has become more and more synonymous with “reality” programming. January 9 will see it premiere “Caged,” a docu-series about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in northwest Louisiana which was shot largely in Minden.

Featuring many local places and residents, the show is the first major television series set almost entirely in Minden. Many of the show’s main subjects are from Minden, including Daniel Payne who is known as “Golden Boy” on the show.

“After three years of working on this, I never really thought anything would come of it,” Payne said. “Now I actually still won’t believe it until it comes on MTV. I still won’t believe it up until that moment.”

He and others initially went through a casting process. A course of interviews, filming of fights for a “pitch” to be shown to producers and filming of a pilot all led to the show being picked up for production.