Just making it to the octagon is an achievement in itself for most fighters. Signing the bottom line of a contract that begins with the three simple letters—U-F-C—comes as the result of hours upon hours of hard work.
While most fighters have put in hours of training and have stepped inside a cage or ring multiple times, the bright lights of the UFC have a way of making you forget everything you’ve learned. The lights seem brighter, the crowds seem louder and, of course, there’s even more pressure to succeed.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the hoopla prior to making a debut, but the fighters on this list didn’t fall into the trap. Some entered the octagon as unknown prospects, while others had a certain mystique surrounding them due to their previous experience.
No matter the road taken by these men, whether it was through obscurity or intense scrutiny, these men made some of the most spectacular debuts in UFC history—even if they didn’t always come out on the winning side.