THE BEGINNING:
Starting up in 1993, The Ultimate Fighting Championship(UFC) is the fastest growing sports organization in the world. In the beginning of the sport, nobody including the promoters had any idea how it would turn out. There was no set main card, no rules, no weight class, nor need for gloves. The only two rules were no eye-gouging and no biting, other than that everything was fair game. The UFC began as one big tournament in where they had elimination rounds until there were only two fighters left in the final. The first UFC fight ever was Gerard Gordeau vs Teila Tuli.
What began as a barbaric, non structured organization in regards to rules and the safety of the fighters evolved into a phenomenon in the sports world. What was referred to as "human cockfighting", has shaped and molded itself into one of the fastest growing sports in existence today. The founding purpose for the creation of the UFC was to find out which martial arts was superior to all.
The Original 8:
In UFC 1, the bracket was small and consisted of only a few different types of martial arts. The goal was to show the world which martial art was the strongest, which came along with honoring their country and families. Boxing, Sumo, Savate, Kickboxing, American Kenpo, BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), Shootfightng(Muay thai/ wrestling), and Teakwondo. These were the original styles of fighting that were brought to light for the world can see in the first broadcasted tournament of this kind. The only ways to win in each fight was either from one of four ways. Technical knockout (TKO) in which the referee sees that the fighter is no longer defending himself. A knockout (KO) where the opponent is left unconscious due to a strike. A submission (SUB) is when a fighter is caught in a choke or lock and is forced to tap, which means he is submitting to his opponent. Lastly, your corner can throwing in the towel which means your coach and team believe you had received enough punishment and force you to forfeit the match.
Styles and orgins:
Boxing originating all the way back to 675 BC in Greece, consists of strikes using your fist. The art has spread throughout the world and evolved from what it first started out from. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) developed in the 20th century, consists of grabbling and ground fighting using locks and chokes to defeat opponent. Wrestling, originated in Great Britain and also consists of grabbling but doesn't involve chokes like BJJ does. Teakwondo, originated from Asian arts and started up while Japan occupied Korea and consists mainly kicks... also including Kickboxing and Sumo.
Royce Gracie was the winner of the first UFC and showed the world how powerful BJJ really is. He changed the way people viewed the art and how fighters began to train for upcoming UFC events or any mix martial arts competition of that matter. As the sport changed, so did the organization. Forced to modify it's rules slowly but surely it began to shape into what it is today. Not only the rules changed for the better but the marketing, popularity, media, and people's perspectives of it being an actual sport began to change.
the business side:
The original owners of the UFC faced a down fall and were forced to sell the company ... then later on bought by the Fertitta brothers in which they took a risk, hired Dana White to be the president. They struggled for a while but big name fighters who brought great character to the sport brought fame. Fighters such a Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. The company continued to struggle until a unexpected marketing strategy came about. With a reality show named "The Ultimate Fighter" that boosted the viewing numbers and basically kick started the company to what it is now. The UFC began to recruit fighters from other organization such a Pride FC and brought them to fight for the UFC in america. As more known names came together so did the revenue for the company. Recently in 2016 the brothers sold the company for 4 billion to WME | IMG Co-CEOs Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell.
The ufc today:
The Fertitta brothers and Dana White turned the UFC from $2 million dollars in to $4 billion. Big names in the business include Conor McGregor ("Notorious") who is the Lightweight Champion fastest knockout (13), Ronda Rousey ("Rowdy") who lost her title but made UFC popular for women, Anderson Silva ("the Spider") holds the most title defenses in U.S history(10) longtime middle weight champion, jose aldo also a long time featherweight champion (10year winning streak until McGregor), George St Pierre ("Rush) long time Welterweight champion nine time title defenses before retiring, Brock Lesnar first WWE wrestler to come in to fight for the UFC and brought a lot of WWE fanbase into the UFC , Jon Jones ("Bones") long time light heavy weight champion , Demitrious Johnson ("Mighty Mouse") best lb for lb fighter in the world.
