UFC 28 years: The day that revolutionized the history of mixed martial arts

Octagon set up at the first UFC event Photo: Disclosure

November 12, 1993. A tournament created to define which was the best and most effective martial art was taking place in Denver, Colorado (USA). What perhaps no one imagined was that the largest mixed martial arts organization in history was born on that day and that 28 years later, the company still had so much prominence in the world of fighting. In celebration of the 28th anniversary of Ultimate Fighting Championship: SUPER FIGHTS takes a brief look back at the history of the event.

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The creation

North-American Art Davie, a well-known businessman, had the idea of creating a tournament without rules, with athletes from different martial arts to define which was the best modality. To do this, Davie asked Rorion Gracie, then owner of his family's gym, and John Milius, a notable film director and screenwriter, for help. The initial planning was to call the event 'War of the Worlds'.

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Together, the three creators called up eight athletes, from seven different disciplines: Patrick and Kevin Rosier (Kickboxing), Gerard Gordeau (Savate), Zane Frazier (Karate), Ken Shamrock (wrestling), Teila Tuli (Sumo), Art Jimmerson ( Boxing) and Royce gracie (Jiu Jitsu).

The First event. The first champion.

R. Gracie was the UFC champion 1 Photo: Instagram

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On November 12, 1993, in McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado (USA), the eight athletes met to decide which martial art would win the tournament. To the surprise of many, the Gracie family chose its youngest member to represent the clan: Royce. The prize for the champion, in addition to the trophy, would be US$50.

During the night of fights, everyone was astonished to see how the slight member of the Gracie family won his fights in a dominant way. It took Royce just 4:59 to submit his three opponents on that card: Jimmerson, Shamrock and Gordeau. On that day, jiu-jitsu was 'officially' presented to the rest of the world.

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What was supposed to be just one night of shows, extends into another event and then another. In an interview with the UFC's official YouTube channel, current president Dana White summed up the success of the night of November 12th well: 'He (UFC) did so well on pay-per-view that they decided to do another and another. Never in a million years did they think they were creating a sport.'

Royce was champion in three of the first four editions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and his performances in the early days of the event inspire fighters to this day.

The following years: from near bankruptcy to absolute success

Cast of the first edition of 'The Ultimate Fighter' Photo: Disclosure/ UFC

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The UFC's first decade was not all glory, as expected. The lack of rules and the violent nature of the new sport, the ban in several North American states and the low television audience almost made the company close its doors. Until in 2005, came the 'last shot' of Dana White and the new owners, the brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, owners of the company ZUFFA.

The reality show 'The Ultimate Fighter' was launched in January 2005 on the North American channel Spike TV The objective of the program was to show the routine of an MMA fighter and give the winner a contract with the organization. The show was a complete success on TV, achieving excellent ratings. The mix of coaches Chuck Liddel and Randy Couture with promising and talented youngsters like Diego Sanchez, Chris Leben, Josh koscheck, Forrest griffin, among others, gave the UFC the visibility and audience it needed to stay alive.

Consolidation in the market

D.White among the Fertitta brothers Photo: Instagram

After the impulse given by 'The Ultimate Fighter', the UFC has once and for all established itself as the largest mixed martial arts organization on the market. In 2007, Dana and the Fertitta brothers announced the purchase of the Japanese event PRIDE Fighting Championship, until then the company's biggest rival worldwide.

In 2010, the WEC (World Extreme Championship), an organization belonging to ZUFFA, but which housed fighters in categories below 70kg, had its squad incorporated into Ultimate. In 2011, what would be the UFC's definitive blow towards monopoly happened: the company bought the only rival that still managed to bother it in the United States: STRIKEFORCE. A few months later, the organization also had its athletes (some) incorporated into the Ultimate ranks.

the greatest champions

A.Silva was middleweight champion between 2006 and 2013 Photo: Disclosure/ UFC

During its 28 years, the UFC has had several champions. Many of them were dominant and sovereign in their categories for several years: Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Amanda nunes e Demetrious Johnson were some of them. See the list of the five longest reigns in Ultimate.

1 - Demetrious Johnson – 11 belt defenses

2- Anderson Silva – 10 belt defenses

3- Georges St-Pierre – 9 belt defenses

4- Jon Jones – 8 belt defenses

5 - José Aldo – 7 belt defenses

current champions

C. Do Bronx displays the belt won after the knockout over M. Chandler in the UFC 262. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram

With a greater number of categories than when it began, today Ultimate has 12 linear champions on its roster. Among these divisions, we have three Brazilians with belts from four different divisions: Charles of the Bronx (Lightweight), Glover Teixeira (light heavyweight) and Amanda nunes (Female Rooster and Feather).

See the list of champions:

MALE

Heavy Weight (up to 120,2kg) – Cyryl Gane (Interim Champion) and Francis NGannou (Linear Champion)

Light Heavyweight (up to 93kg) – Glover Teixeira

Average weight (up to 83,9kg) – Israel adesanya

Welterweight (up to 77,1kg) – Kamaru Usman

Light weight (up to 70,3kg) – charles do brox

Featherweight (up to 65,7kg) – Alexander Volkanovsky

Bantamweight (up to 61,2kg) – Petr yan (interim champion) and aljamain sterling (lineal champion)

Flyweight (up to 56,7kg) – Brandon Moreno

FEMININE

Featherweight (up to 65,7kg) – Amanda nunes