In what we hope is just the beginning of a big ‘30 Years’ celebration, the UFC released a video highlight to commemorate it’s birth in 1993.
It’s 2023, and not only is it a brand new year, it’s the 30th year of the UFC’s existence. The first Ultimate Fighting Championship went down on November 12th, 1993 and to celebrate its thirty year anniversary the UFC released a new video on January 1st called ‘Changing The Game Since 1993.’
The highlight / documentary video takes us all the way back to those first bloody unpredictable events where a young and unexceptional Royce Gracie took the martial arts world by storm, beating out three opponents in one night to be the first UFC tournament winner. He’d repeat the feat at UFC 2 and UFC 4, establishing himself (and Brazilian jiu jitsu) as a force to be reckoned with.
“I was eager to have Rickson (Gracie) be the Gracie athlete and (UFC co-founder) Rorion (Gracie), by July, had not made a selection,” UFC co-founder Art Davie said in a UFC Turns 30 article on the promotion’s website. “Rorion said, ‘You know, forget my political problems with Rickson; it would be better to have Royce.’ I said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘He looks like a little altar boy in that white gi. If he wins the event, it’s the Bruce Lee thing. A little guy with skill can beat a big guy.’ They wanted to see if the skill was going to be dominant.”
“Ken Wayne Shamrock looked like Captain America. And with that name, it was a marquee name, he had that handsome face, that big jaw, the muscles and the red speedo. If he wins, I’m not sure we’d be talking today.”
We certainly are talking about the sport today, and while UFC president Dana White hasn’t quite managed to build mixed martial arts up to the point where it’s ‘bigger than soccer,’ the sport is thriving with endless promotions holding their own events around the world and the UFC sitting at the pinnacle of MMA competition (sorry Bellator).
It’s unclear exactly what the UFC has planned for its big 30 year anniversary, and we can only hope the promotion continues to delve deep into its history, holding up the athletes who sacrificed everything back when there was little money or mainstream respect that came with a UFC championship belt. We’re off to a good start though with videos like the one above and articles on UFC.com with the founding fathers of UFC and MMA.