Have you ever wonder how the first UFC event looked? How many people were there? Prize Money? If your answer is yes, now you can see it for yourself.
The official UFC youtube channel has uploaded the full “UFC 1: The Beginning” event and now everybody can enjoy the show and see for themselves how the magic kicked off 25 years ago.
November 12, 1993. The venue is “McNichos Sports Arena” in Denver, Colorado.
As you could imagine, the beginning wasn’t anything like nowadays. The event included 8 fights and 7 of them were an eight-man tournament, with the winner receiving $50,000. The match only ended by submission, knockout, or the fighter’s corner throwing in the towel. Gloves were allowed, as Art Jimmerson showed in his Quarterfinal bout against Royce Gracie, which he fought with one boxing glove.
The 8 fighters who are participating in the tournament are:
Teila Tuli (sumo), Gerard Gordeau (savate), Kevin Rosier (kickboxing), Zane Frasier (American Kenpo), Royce Gracie (BJJ), Art Jimmerson (boxing), Ken Shamrock (Shootfighting) and Patrick Smith (taekwondo).
The only alternate bout was between Jason DeLucia and Trent Jenkins.
Just so you know, if any of these battles took place in 2019, not one fight will go to the second round.