{"id":284,"date":"2018-11-26T12:19:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T12:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/Sports\/?p=284"},"modified":"2019-01-11T15:39:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T15:39:52","slug":"a-brief-history-of-the-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/a-brief-history-of-the-ufc\/ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of The UFC"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Quick History Of The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)<\/h1>\n
\"UFC

The Coveted UFC Belt
Andre Luiz Moreira\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Most sports fans, regardless of their chosen sporting preferences, will almost certainly of heard of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), or more specifically the leading competition the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). It is thought that the name Mixed Martial Arts can actually be partly attributed to John McCarthy, one of the most high-profile martial arts referees, also formerly an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). \u201cBig John\u201d as he became known, required the LAPD to grant him leave to referee at an event, he was asked what kind of event he was participating in, to which his reply was \u201cmartial arts\u201d, he was asked then, specifically what kind of martial arts to which he replied, after some thought, \u201cmixed martial arts\u201d. However, there is also some evidence that Howard Rosenburg of the LA Times also used the term MMA, in an article he wrote.<\/p>\n

Early Days of the UFC<\/h2>\n

As mentioned, the name most synonymous with the sport of MMA is the UFC. The name was coined by Michael Abramson a Vice President of sales for Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) who were the main original owners of the UFC promotion, alongside Rorion Gracie and Art Davie of WOW Promotions. Ownership was split approximately 50% to SEG, and roughly 25% each to Gracie and Davie, however, there were a number of small investors also involved on WOW\u2019s side of the equation.<\/p>\n

Art Davie, a business executive and entrepreneur, had the original idea to produce a televised martial arts contest, on the scale of what was to become the UFC, however the UFC 1 event was not the first-time opponents (fighters) from two different disciplines were to test their skills in a televised contest in the United States. \u201cJudo\u201d Gene Lebell and a boxer Milo Savage fought in such a contest on December 2nd 1963 in Salt Lake City. Lebell took the victory with ease, utilising a rear naked choke.<\/p>\n

The Gracie family have a history of fighting martial arts from different disciplines, these contests were known as Gracie Challenge contests. The Gracie\u2019s are widely recognised as world leaders in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Rorion was taught by his father Helio in their native Brazil and moved to Southern California in 1978. He was then joined by his younger brother Royce in 1985. Rorion lived in Hermosa Beach and taught BJJ out of his garage before he and his brothers Royce, Rickson and Royler opened the first Jiu-Jitsu academy in Torrance, California.<\/p>\n

Art Davie and Rorion Gracie founded War of the Worlds (WOW) Promotions with the intention of putting on a televised, 8-man single elimination tournament \u2013 you win, you continue to the next round on that same night. Martial artists from different disciplines would compete to determine which art was the best. As mentioned, the Gracie\u2019s had already competed in this kind of contest, as demonstrated in the Gracie In Action series, where Gracie students utilised their BJJ skills to fight opponents from different disciplines, such as boxing, karate and kung fu. Art Davie has stated that Rorion Gracie did not appear to be particularly interested initially. Art had read an article about Rorion Gracie in the September 1989 Playboy magazine and contacted the Gracie Academy, it took a few meetings before Art was able to convince Rorion, but eventually, Rorian was satisfied and WOW promotions were established.<\/p>\n

WOW Promotions did run into difficulties early on, with establishing a TV partnership proving to be problematic, having approached both HBO and Showtime without any success. WOW then approached the Vice President of Original Programming at Semaphore Entertainment Group, Campbell Mclaren. SEG was one of the first organisations to arrange content for TV Pay Per View events. Bob Meyrowitz was the CEO of SEG and he agreed to partner with WOW in May 1993. Campbell Mclaren, as Head of Programming for SEG, immediately put the concept into development<\/p>\n

With approximately $750,000 of investment UFC 1 was born, with the first event to be held at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver on November 12th 1993<\/p>\n

UFC 1 The Begining<\/h2>\n
\"UFC

Neil Lockhart\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Fought in an Octagonal Ring UFC 1 was staged in Colorado as they legally still allowed Bare Knuckle fighting. It was literally no holds barred and extremely brutal as the video below shows.
\nThe competitors were as follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gerard Gordeu (Savate)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born March 30 1959, Savate and Karate fighter from Holland and 8 times World Kyokushin champion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teila Tuli (Sumo)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born July 14 1969, Sumo fighter from Hawaii. Teila weighted in at 440 lb\u2019s and was undefeated in his first 14 fights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zane Frazier (American Kenpo)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born July 16, 1966, in California. He was an American Kenpo Karate and Kickboxing practitioner and the winner of many international karate titles. He became the United States and North American champion and won the World Kickboxing Federation title in 1993 prior to his fight at UFC 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Royce Gracie (Gracie BJJ)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born December 12, 1966, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a BJJ fighter and currently holds the rank of 7th Degree Red\/Black belt within Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He took the top place in UFC 1, 2 and 4 and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in UFC 5. Royce was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, with Ken Shamrock, in November 2003 \u2013 the first two to be inducted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Art Jimmerson (Boxing)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born August 4, 1963, in Los Angeles. He is a boxer with a professional record of 33 \u2013 18. He is now the head boxing coach at the UFC gym in Torrance California. He was the amateur national Golden Gloves middleweight champion in 1983<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ken Shamrock (Shoot Fighting)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born February 11, 1964, in Macon Georgia. He was a Pancrase hybrid wrestling champion and a favourite to win at UFC 1, due to his devastating submission wrestling. Later inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame<\/strong><\/p>\n

Patrick Smith (Kick Boxing, Taekwondo)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born August 28, 1963, in Coalgate, Oklahoma. He holds multiple black belts in Taekwondo, Hapkido, American Kenpo and Tang Soo Do. In the year of the first UFC event, he was ranked No 1 as a super-heavyweight kickboxer in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kevin Rosier (Kick Boxing)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Born January 6 1962, a Kickboxer born in Buffalo, New York. Rosier managed 66 wins with only 8 losses and was 3 times World Kickboxing Association super-heavyweight champion<\/strong><\/p>\n