It’s been said that chicks dig the long ball. But ask Cale Yarbrough, and he’ll tell you that mixed martial arts, the ultimate tough-guy sport, attracts a whole different breed of fanatic – dudes.

Yarbrough, a Georgia student, is now recognized frequently as a top-8 finisher on the MMA reality show “The Ultimate Fighter.” And while being a professional fighter probably earns him his fair share of female admirers too, the sport’s overwhelming popularity with the male demographic is apparent.

“A lot of guys. A lot of drunk guys,” he said. “A bunch of guys want to buy me beers and stuff, it’s pretty weird.”

“He gets hit on by tons of dudes,” said Todd Duffee, his roommate.

Duffee isn’t as well-recognized as his counterpart right now, but that will change soon enough. Also a fighter and a student at Georgia, he made a name for himself in September, and just signed a four-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the marquee name in MMA.

“He went to Brazil by himself and beat up a hometown UFC dude,” Yarbrough said. “Smashed him. It kind of put him on the map.”

That “hometown UFC dude” was Assuerio Silva, a veteran UFC and PRIDE fighter.

“There’s two top-10 heavyweights that weren’t able to finish him, and I did, so I guess that got the buzz going,” said Duffee, a mammoth, 265-pound specimen of a heavyweight.

“It’s all about hype. It’s where you are, the right moment at the right time.”

‘There’s no free time’

MMA is a lot of work, especially as a student. Duffee and Yarbrough both train at Athens’ own Hardcore Gym, well-renowned for spitting out fighters like Forrest Griffin, Brian Bowles and co-owner Rory Singer. Duffee hopes to have his first UFC fight in June, and estimated that he’ll be spending five to six hours a day working out as he prepares, all while finishing classwork.

Yarbrough, who wasn’t in school last year while taping The Ultimate Fighter, is currently taking 12 hours, while Duffee is enrolled in online classes so he can make frequent training trips to Hardcore’s sister gym (American Top Team) in Coconut Creek, Fla.

That said, neither Yarbrough, 22, nor Duffee, 23, are entirely sure what they’re studying – they both say they just want to get a degree and “join the club.”

“There’s no free time,” Yarbrough said. “You go to class, train, go to class some more, and come back here at night.”

Singer and his brother Adam have three engineering degrees from Georgia between them, and started Hardcore while still in school.

They’ve always emphasized the importance of education to their fighters, and know how hard it can be to balance.

“I’ve always had a lot on my plate, so I know as well as anybody how hard it can be to juggle all those balls and keep it all going,” said Rory Singer, a 1999 graduate. “I know what it’s like and it’s not easy … But I tell all my guys who are students or who are thinking of dropping out, get your degree. Education is important to us. It’s what you have to fall back on after a fighting career, and if something terrible happens and your career is cut short, you have to be a college graduate.”

Like a lot of mixed martial arts fighters, Duffee and Yarbrough found MMA as another competitive outlet after exhausting all of their opportunities in more traditional sports.

“Both of us played [sports] all the way through high school and everything. I wandered into a boxing gym when I was 18 after I lost my football scholarship,” said Duffee, originally from Illinois.

“I saw some guys grappling, the next thing I know I’m watching the UFC and I’m like, that’s what I want to do. No question, it’s the coolest form of competition I’ve ever seen.”

Despite the violent nature of their sport, Duffee and Yarbrough coexist peacefully in the same comfortable, albeit stinky, apartment.

They’ve tried living with so-called “normal” people. It didn’t work.

“This is way easier. You live with a normal person and they don’t understand,” Duffee said. “To see somebody else going through the same thing, it makes it way easier.”

Added Yarbrough: “They’re not having parties all the time, and they’re not wondering why your place reeks like a locker room.”

‘It’s all or nothing’

It may seem that a pro contract and a stint on a popular TV show would tend to create big profits for Duffee and Yarbrough. But the notion that all the blood and sweat leads to big bucks can be thrown out the window. Duffee simply used a four-letter word to describe the little pay he and other fighters get from sponsorships and other deals.

Yarbrough gave more detailed, and optimistic, insight.

“I’ve been able to pretty much support myself this past year-and-a-half and totally break it off with my parents, which is a good feeling,” he said. “When I first started they’re shaking their heads but now they don’t have to support me on anything. And I’m on HOPE right now, so it’s good going to school for free and making enough money to support myself.

“I’m making enough money to do that at least, but I’m not riding on dubs or anything. We’re not out in the club making it rain or anything, that’s for sure.”

In a world that’s all about hype, opportunities to prove yourself in mixed martial arts only come around once, if at all. So when Duffee walks into the octagon for his first official UFC fight this summer, in many ways it will be make-or-break, feast-or-famine.

“We’ve obviously always known Todd had a lot of ability,” Singer said.

“He’s a stud and he should go very far.”

Said Duffee: “I better not miss this shot, that’s what it all comes down to. It’s all or nothing.”