The MMA Minute – A Brief History of the UFC, Part 1

We still have over a week until the MMA schedule picks up again. So in order to keep our regular schedule of a weekly Friday post, we’ll delve deeper into MMA and how it’s reached such high levels of popularity.

In case you’re just joining us now, over the last two weeks I’ve gone over a bit of the history of MMA, with alot of help from Wikipedia. Part 1 and part 2 have covered most of what you’d need to know and I’d encourage you to at least give them a once over if you are still in the learning stages of MMA fandom.

Wikipedia has some great info, so instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’ll just bring the best it has to offer to you, which is quite a bit. Let’s face it, the UFC is main reason why we have MMA today, so there’s alot to cover here. This week we’ll cover the UFC from it’s first event to the Zuffa purchase:

The UFC, short for Ultimate Fighting Championship, held its first competition in Denver, Colorado in 1993. Showcasing fighters of different disciplines—including boxing, Brazilian jiu jitsu, wrestling, Muay Thai and other styles—the UFC sought to identify the most effective martial art in a real fight. UFC 1 used an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $50,000. The tournament had no weight classes and consisted of fights to the finish with five minute time limits and unlimited rounds. The match only ended by submission, knockout or throwing in the towel.

The television broadcast featured kickboxers Patrick Smith and Kevin Rosier, savate fighter Gerard Gordeau, karate expert Zane Frazier, shootfighter Ken Shamrock, sumo wrestler Teila Tuli, boxer Art Jimmerson and 175 lb. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Royce Gracie—younger brother of UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie who was hand-picked by Rorion himself to represent his family in the competition. The show became an instant success, drawing 86,592 television subscribers on pay-per-view.

The show proposed to find an answer for sports fans to questions such as: “Can a wrestler beat a boxer?” As with most martial arts at the time, fighters typically had skills in just one discipline and had little experience against opponents with different skills. Even the equipment reflected this lack of discipline, boxer Art Jimmerson entered the ring against Royce Gracie, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu submission specialist, with a boxing glove on 1 hand. Gracie’s submission skills proved the most effective in the inaugural tournament, winning the entire 1st tournament, which totaled 3 matches, in under 5 minutes.

However, the promoters did not intend for the event to become a precursor to a series. “That show was only supposed to be a one-off,” eventual UFC President Dana White said. “It did so well on pay-per-view they decided to do another, and another. Never in a million years did these guys think they were creating a sport.” This was never more evident than in the first 10 seconds of the broadcast when the broadcaster, Bill Wallace, belched and had to excuse himself before he could finish introducing the event!

With no weight classes, fighters often faced significantly larger or taller opponents. For example, Keith “The Giant Killer” Hackney faced Emmanuel Yarborough at UFC 3 with a 9 in height and 400 pounds weight disadvantage. Many martial artists believed that technique could overcome these size disadvantages, and that a skilled fighter could use an opponent’s size and strength against him. With the 175 lb Royce Gracie winning three of the first four events, the UFC quickly proved that size does not always determine the outcome of the fight.

Although the UFC used the “There are no rules!” tagline in the early 1990s, the UFC did in fact operate with limited rules. There was no biting, no eye gouging, and the system frowned on (but allowed) techniques such as hair pulling, headbutting, groin strikes and fish-hooking. In fact, in a UFC 4 qualifying match, competitors Jason Fairn and Guy Mezger agreed not to pull hair—as they both wore pony tails tied back for the match. Additionally, that same event saw a matchup between Keith Hackney and Joe Son in which Hackney unleashed a series of groin shots against Son while on the ground.

UFC 5 introduced the first singles match, called “The Superfight.” This was an important development because singles matches would feature fighters who suffered no prior damage from a previous fight in the same event, unlike tournament matches. Singles matches would also become a staple in the UFC for years to come.

“The Superfight” began as a non-tournament match that would determine the first reigning UFC Champion for tournament winners to face; it later evolved into a match that could feature either title matches or non-title matches. The “Superfight” would eventually completely phase out tournament matches; by UFC Brazil, the UFC abandoned the tournament format for an entire card of singles matches (aside from a one time UFC Japan tournament featuring Japanese fighters). UFC 6 was the first event to feature the crowning of the first non-tournament UFC Champion, Ken Shamrock.

The quick rise of the sport garnered plenty of attention, including that of the U.S. authorities, particularly Senator John McCain (R–AZ). McCain spearheaded a movement that resulted in the UFC being banned in 36 states. In response to the criticism, the UFC increased its cooperation with state athletic commissions and redesigned its rules to remove the less palatable elements of fights—while retaining the core elements of striking and grappling.

UFC 12 saw the introduction of weight-classes. From UFC 14 gloves became mandatory and kicks to the head of a downed opponent, hair pulling, fish-hooking, headbutting, and groin strikes were banned. UFC 15 saw more limitations on permissible striking areas: strikes to the back of the neck and head, and small joint manipulations were banned. With five-minute rounds introduced at UFC 21, the UFC gradually re-branded itself as a sport, rather than a spectacle.

As the UFC continued to work with state athletic commissions, events took place in smaller U.S. markets. SEG could not secure home-video releases for UFC 23 through UFC 29. The UFC held its first sanctioned event, UFC 28, under the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board‘s “Unified Rules”. McCain’s opinion of the sport has changed since reform. He stated, “The sport has grown up. The rules have been adopted to give its athletes better protections and to ensure fairer competition.”

After the long battle to secure sanctioning, SEG stood on the brink of bankruptcy when Station Casinos executives Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, and aerobics instructor Dana White approached them in 2001, with an offer to purchase the UFC. A month later, in January 2001, the Fertittas bought the UFC for $2 million and created Zuffa, LLC as the parent entity controlling the UFC. With ties to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (Lorenzo Fertitta was a former member of the NSAC), Zuffa secured sanctioning in Nevada in 2001. Shortly thereafter, the UFC returned to pay-per-view cable television with UFC 33: Victory in Vegas featuring three championship bouts.

Although the UFC wasn’t quite yet out of the woods financially, the purchase by Zuffa is where they really started to expand their horizons and become the product that you see today. We’ll cover the rest of their evolution in next week’s post.