On November 12, 1993, the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held in Denver, Colorado. The sport (if you could even call it that at the time) was billed as a no holds barred spectacle that would determine the ultimate martial artist on planet Earth.
The event featured an eight man single-night tournament, with no weight classes and essentially no rules. Royce Gracie won the tournament, submitting three much larger opponents, and introduced North America to the phenomenon that is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Now, nearly 20 years later, the UFC has evolved into one of the most successful businesses in the entire world and is set to return home to the city where it all began.
UFC 135 brings the organization back to its Denver, Colorado roots. The fight card, which features a light heavyweight championship headliner between champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, will be the first time the UFC has been to its birthing grounds since 1995.
The action takes place this Saturday night, September 24, live on pay-per-view. With that said, let’s take a look at every fight on the card from top to bottom.