Bob Meyrowitz was a co-founder of the UFC back in 1993.
All these years later, Meyrowitz will be honored with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The event takes place next month during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, which all centers around UFC 200.
Meyrowitz worked in the music industry before joining Art Davie and Rorion Gracie in creating the UFC. He was part-owner from 1993-2001.
“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” he told UFC.com.
Asked if he regretted selling the UFC to Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, Meyrowitz said, “No, I don’t.”
The Fertittas were willing to invest 40 million dollars into this. I don’t know if I had that money that I would have. And the Fertittas had an incredible passion for the sport. It is quite astounding what a brilliant job the Fertittas and Dana White have done. But we didn’t even know what we were creating, and it slowly kept taking form as you were watching it,” he said. “The entertainment business is the most honest business. Only the fans choose who’s a star. You can do whatever you think you can do, but you have to see what the fans like and then you have to give them their visibility and you have to give them their visibility so that they can work their stardom.
“The other thing that I say is that people don’t watch sports; people watch people. So when I created the UFC, I knew that we had people that no one knew. So we did a tournament. And looking back, it was not really fair to ask people to fight three times in one night, but the idea was that we started with eight guys nobody knew. By the end of the night, in one night, you knew the two final fighters and you had a rooting interest.”
Bob Meyrowitz was a co-founder of the UFC back in 1993.
All these years later, Meyrowitz will be honored with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The event takes place next month during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, which all centers around UFC 200.
Meyrowitz worked in the music industry before joining Art Davie and Rorion Gracie in creating the UFC. He was part-owner from 1993-2001.
“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” he told UFC.com.
Asked if he regretted selling the UFC to Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, Meyrowitz said, “No, I don’t.”
The Fertittas were willing to invest 40 million dollars into this. I don’t know if I had that money that I would have. And the Fertittas had an incredible passion for the sport. It is quite astounding what a brilliant job the Fertittas and Dana White have done. But we didn’t even know what we were creating, and it slowly kept taking form as you were watching it,” he said. “The entertainment business is the most honest business. Only the fans choose who’s a star. You can do whatever you think you can do, but you have to see what the fans like and then you have to give them their visibility and you have to give them their visibility so that they can work their stardom.
“The other thing that I say is that people don’t watch sports; people watch people. So when I created the UFC, I knew that we had people that no one knew. So we did a tournament. And looking back, it was not really fair to ask people to fight three times in one night, but the idea was that we started with eight guys nobody knew. By the end of the night, in one night, you knew the two final fighters and you had a rooting interest.”
The 2016 UFC Hall of Fame will air on Fight Pass Sunday, July 10 as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
The ceremony begins at noon PT from the main stage theater of the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Four different categories are used in honoring those who have excelled in MMA, as there are the Pioneer Era, Modern Era, Contributors Wing and Fight Wing.
Athletes who have been enshrined in the hall of fame include Forrest Griffin, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.
The newest inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.
A complete list can be found below of previous honorees:
Modern Era
Forrest Griffin (inducted 2013)
Pioneers
Royce Gracie (inducted 2003)
Ken Shamrock (inducted 2003)
Dan Severn (inducted 2005)
Randy Couture (inducted 2006)
Mark Coleman (inducted 2008)
Chuck Liddell (inducted 2009)
Matt Hughes (inducted 2010)
Tito Ortiz (inducted 2012)
Pat Miletich (inducted 2014)
Fights
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar I, April 2005 (inducted 2014)
Contributors
Charles “Mask” Lewis (inducted 2009)
The 2016 UFC Hall of Fame will air on Fight Pass Sunday, July 10 as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
The ceremony begins at noon PT from the main stage theater of the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Four different categories are used in honoring those who have excelled in MMA, as there are the Pioneer Era, Modern Era, Contributors Wing and Fight Wing.
Athletes who have been enshrined in the hall of fame include Forrest Griffin, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.
The newest inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.
A complete list can be found below of previous honorees:
Modern Era
Forrest Griffin (inducted 2013)
Pioneers
Royce Gracie (inducted 2003)
Ken Shamrock (inducted 2003)
Dan Severn (inducted 2005)
Randy Couture (inducted 2006)
Mark Coleman (inducted 2008)
Chuck Liddell (inducted 2009)
Matt Hughes (inducted 2010)
Tito Ortiz (inducted 2012)
Pat Miletich (inducted 2014)
Fights
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar I, April 2005 (inducted 2014)
Their theory? Miletich is one the schedule for the UFC’s fan expo next week in Las Vegas. Do you know what else is also on the schedule? Pat Miletich’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So I guess we shouldn’t call it a rumor so much as it’s either fact or one of the UFC’s web design interns made a huge mistake.
Their theory? Miletich is one the schedule for the UFC’s fan expo next week in Las Vegas. Do you know what else is also on the schedule? Pat Miletich’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So I guess we shouldn’t call it a rumor so much as it’s either fact or one of the UFC’s web design interns made a huge mistake.
If true, this would be a tremendous boon for the UFC’s Hall of Fame–which is currently little more than Dana White‘s equivalent of a Myspace Top 8 (yes, a Myspace reference). Inducting Miletich–the first-ever UFC welterweight champ and one of the most notable coaches of his day with Miletich Fighting Systems–into the UFC Hall of Fame would bestow some much-needed legitimacy on the institution after White promised to induct the likes of Bobby Southworth and Jason Thacker earlier this month.
And by the way, is it a coincidence that the day CagePotato publishes the 95 Theses of MMA (one of which decries leaving legitimate legends out of the UFC) is the same day we find out about the UFC’s conciliatory nature towards Miletich? We don’t think so…
If/when Miletich is inducted, we’ll be sure to brief you with the details.
(And just like that, a robot-voiced MMA fighter from the future star was born.)
Without coming off too anti-UFC (LOL!), I think we can all agree that the promotion’s Hall of Fame is about as meaningless as their rankings system, right? Aside from picking and choosing its inductees based around whoever Dana White isn’t fueding with at the moment, it’s page on UFC.com hasn’t been updated in years, so much so that recent additions Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Forrest Griffin are not even featured on it. Although to be fair, Ortiz probably never will.
Regardless, Dana White has been teasing his media cronies that the UFC Fan Expo at this year’s Fourth of July International Fight Week — you know, the one featuring musical guests Papa Roach, POD, and Lit (double LOL!) — will serve as the induction ceremony for the UFC Hall of Fame’s next member, as it has in years past. The big difference being that this year could serve as the induction for not just one man, but the entire cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 1 (via Fox Sports):
I think that’s a must. I think that entire season should be inducted. Without a doubt that group of people are all game changers. I’ve thought about the whole cast should be (in the hall of fame). Even the Canadian Jason Thacker — without the group of people that we had and the way the synergy worked and the way things went down, that season really launched everything.
Man, Frank Shamrock must have snapped an entire box of pencils in half when he heard this news.
(And just like that, a robot-voiced MMA fighter from the future star was born.)
Without coming off too anti-UFC (LOL!), I think we can all agree that the promotion’s Hall of Fame is about as meaningless as their rankings system, right? Aside from picking and choosing its inductees based around whoever Dana White isn’t fueding with at the moment, it’s page on UFC.com hasn’t been updated in years, so much so that recent additions Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Forrest Griffin are not even featured on it. Although to be fair, Ortiz probably never will.
Regardless, Dana White has been teasing his media cronies that the UFC Fan Expo at this year’s Fourth of July International Fight Week — you know, the one featuring musical guests Papa Roach, POD, and Lit (double LOL!) — will serve as the induction ceremony for the UFC Hall of Fame’s next member, as it has in years past. The big difference being that this year could serve as the induction for not just one man, but the entire cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 1 (via Fox Sports):
I think that’s a must. I think that entire season should be inducted. Without a doubt that group of people are all game changers. I’ve thought about the whole cast should be (in the hall of fame). Even the Canadian Jason Thacker — without the group of people that we had and the way the synergy worked and the way things went down, that season really launched everything.
Man, Frank Shamrock must have snapped an entire box of pencils in half when he heard this news.
Honestly, it’s hard to form much of an opinion either way on this statement given the aforementioned lack of legitimacy the UFC Hall of Fame has in the broad scope of things. Do I think that the likes of Lodune Sincaid, Josh Rafferty, and Sam Hoger deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame over the likes of Shamrock or Bas Rutten? Helllllllll no. But am I going to get up in arms over a sports entertainment company excluding some perhaps more deserved fighters from its make believe awards ceremony? Please, I’ve got Fight Pass cards to shit on.
Yesterday morning I watched the video of Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is embedded at the end of this post. Really, I watched to see and hear from Bonnar.
Nothing against Forrest. I love watching the guy fight and he embodies everything that is great about MMA, but I’ve always had a special interest in “The American Psycho.”
Bonnar, or “RoboCop” as they used to call him back in Chicago where he trained with Carlson Gracie Sr. and began his career, was just the second guy I ever interviewed for a professional story, back in 2005. The guys you’ve covered for nearly the entirety of their careers always hold a special place in your heart.
I interviewed Bonnar a number of times over the first few years of his UFC career but since then I have only connected with him a couple times for interviews. The last time I spoke with Stephan was over the telephone for a feature at UFC.com when he came out of retirement to fight Anderson Silva last year. It has been a rough roller-coaster year for Bonnar — who sort-of retired after putting together a three-fight win streak in the Octagon, came back only to be shredded by Silva at UFC 153, retired again (for real this time), had a son, and failed a drug test for steroids — and I was interested in what he had to say at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Especially since so many writers have taken the occasion to criticize him and give the UFC flack for including him in its Hall of Fame. I’d always taken it for granted that he and Forrest Griffin both would one day be inducted.
It just made sense. The two of them lifted The Ultimate Fighter and the UFC out of obscurity with their epic slobber-knocker in the season one finale. Griffin won, but Bonnar fought so well that he too was given a UFC contract.
In all, Bonnar would have two razor-close decision fights with Griffin, who himself made history as the first-ever fully unified (UFC, Pride, Pride Grand Prix) linear 205-pound champion. For nearly a decade, Bonnar fought the best and toughest the UFC had to offer and the only guy to truly out-class him was Anderson Silva. That fight, of course, happened because Bonnar was willing to come out of retirement and help save an event for the UFC and the fans.
There’s good reason to believe that professional mixed martial arts would not exist today if not for the UFC. There’s also good reason to believe that the UFC would not exist today if not for TUF 1, and the unforgettable climax that Griffin and Bonnar provided in their finale bout.
Yesterday morning I watched the video of Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is embedded at the end of this post. Really, I watched to see and hear from Bonnar.
Nothing against Forrest. I love watching the guy fight and he embodies everything that is great about MMA, but I’ve always had a special interest in “The American Psycho.”
Bonnar, or “RoboCop” as they used to call him back in Chicago where he trained with Carlson Gracie Sr. and began his career, was just the second guy I ever interviewed for a professional story, back in 2005. The guys you’ve covered for nearly the entirety of their careers always hold a special place in your heart.
I interviewed Bonnar a number of times over the first few years of his UFC career but since then I have only connected with him a couple times for interviews. The last time I spoke with Stephan was over the telephone for a feature at UFC.com when he came out of retirement to fight Anderson Silva last year. It has been a rough roller-coaster year for Bonnar — who sort-of retired after putting together a three-fight win streak in the Octagon, came back only to be shredded by Silva at UFC 153, retired again (for real this time), had a son, and failed a drug test for steroids — and I was interested in what he had to say at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Especially since so many writers have taken the occasion to criticize him and give the UFC flack for including him in its Hall of Fame. I’d always taken it for granted that he and Forrest Griffin both would one day be inducted.
It just made sense. The two of them lifted The Ultimate Fighter and the UFC out of obscurity with their epic slobber-knocker in the season one finale. Griffin won, but Bonnar fought so well that he too was given a UFC contract.
In all, Bonnar would have two razor-close decision fights with Griffin, who himself made history as the first-ever fully unified (UFC, Pride, Pride Grand Prix) linear 205-pound champion. For nearly a decade, Bonnar fought the best and toughest the UFC had to offer and the only guy to truly out-class him was Anderson Silva. That fight, of course, happened because Bonnar was willing to come out of retirement and help save an event for the UFC and the fans.
There’s good reason to believe that professional mixed martial arts would not exist today if not for the UFC. There’s also good reason to believe that the UFC would not exist today if not for TUF 1, and the unforgettable climax that Griffin and Bonnar provided in their finale bout.
Modern MMA is a young sport. Pioneers and saviors of sports always have and always will deserve a place in those sports’ halls of honor. George Mikan and his peers were nowhere as good as, say, Tim Duncan and his, but there’s ample space in the Basketball Hall of Fame for all of them.
Griffin and Bonnar both are on a very short list of truly integral pioneers and saviors of MMA. Even if they hadn’t both gone on to build very long and successful careers in the UFC during which they competed against the best of the best and rarely looked out of place, Stephan and Forrest earned their place in the UFC Hall of Fame long ago.
I’ve read the critics’ articles. At best, most are poorly focused and self-important. Few present well-balanced ideas as Seth Falvo did a few days ago on these pages.
Critics of Bonnar and his induction seem to simply glance at Wikipedia and recite his record (15-8 overall and 8-7 in the UFC) with disdain as if the thing speaks for itself. As if we didn’t learn from the likes of BJ Penn and Randy Couture that MMA isn’t a sport for perfect records, even among all-time greats.
Critics of Bonnar’s induction into the Hall of Fame yell, “steroids!” Bonnar tested positive in 2006, and then again after he fought Silva on short notice.
Singling Bonnar out for his steroid use is either annoyingly sanctimonious or reveals an overall ignorance on the part of most media about how prevalent banned performance enhancing drugs and procedures are in sports, including MMA. Banned substances and procedures are not the exception in MMA and all high-level sports, but rather the expected standard — perceived as necessary by athletes because we demand that they train and compete harder, faster, and more often than is naturally possible.
Did Bonnar use steroids? Yes.
And he served out punishments for doing so. The larger point is that the odds tell us that so did most of his opponents. Demonizing individuals while ignoring overall prevalence won’t help us deal with the actual scale of problems.
In the end, much of the Bonnar and UFC Hall of Fame criticism is likely just a power grab by members of the media, conscious or not. Media that covers MMA do not have a say in who gets into the only real hall of fame that exists for the sport, as media covering other sports like baseball do.
This rubs some members of the media the wrong way, I’m sure. We are a self-important and insufferable bunch.
Few things are more dangerous than asking someone to write down their opinions or analysis and then paying them for doing so. It’s hard to maintain a healthy sense of one’s own importance when you get paid for saying whatever comes to your head.
The media’s outrage at Bonnar’s inclusion into the UFC Hall of Fame is a lonely one. The fans filling the expo in Las Vegas this past Saturday to see Bonnar and Griffin get inducted did not seem outraged.
There were no fan protests of Bonnar reported. Instead, the fans cheered Bonnar’s heart-felt words and his induction into the hall.
Bonnar once told fans in a post-fight interview, “I have spilled pints and pints of blood for you guys and it has truly been my pleasure.”
The multitude who cheered him then, and who cheered him Saturday during his induction ceremony understood the significance of that sentiment. The fans know an important, exciting and good fighter when they see one, at least over the course of an entire career. And they know that Bonnar is one of them.
So, members of the fight media get no say in who gets into the UFC Hall of Fame. Good.
Maybe Dana White shouldn’t be the only guy deciding who is in MMA’s only hall of fame, but the media certainly wouldn’t be a better replacement. While we’re at it, let’s take it out of the hands of other sports media as well.
Media members are just as susceptible to voting based on capriciousness or personal relationships as critics worry Dana White is. Media in other sports have also never proven themselves to be the consistent, independent vanguard of historical judgment that they’d like you to believe they are.
If they were, Pete Rose would be in the baseball hall of fame even though the MLB brass doesn’t like him.
Griffin gave a great, short acceptance speech Saturday. Bonnar, perhaps more emotional, grateful and with a sense of having something to prove and defend, went on for much longer.
“My whole life, I had never been the best athlete. I was always average in everything. I had two older brothers who beat my ass a lot and they were better than me at everything. So, a big part of me was wanting to become a big, bad ninja so I could kick their ass. That motivated me a lot. That was the beauty of MMA. You didn’t have to be great at everything. You could be pretty good at everything and be a good MMA fighter. So, if I had decent wrestling and decent Jiu Jitsu and decent boxing, and a lot of heart, then hey, I could pull this MMA thing off,” Bonnar said.
Stephan went on, explaining what the honor meant to him at this point in his life. “This last year has been really tough for me. It’s been, retirement. It’s been putting the sport behind me, it’s been trying to unveil the new chapter of my life,” he said.
“And, as I sat down and peeled all these versions of myself away…every version of Stephan Bonnar was UFC. I just want to thank these guys for letting me be a part of this organization. Because, really, ever since I saw the UFC for the first time, I fell in love with it.
“I’m nothing more than a fan like you guys. I love this sport more than anything.”
Stephan Bonnar didn’t need to tell fans that he loves MMA more than anything — we’ve always been able to tell. Bonnar is the fan who made good.
Every sport’s hall of fame should be so lucky as to have a Stephan Bonnar in it. Someone who ate, slept, lived and breathed his sport. Someone who succeeded despite not being the most talented guy in the room. Someone who didn’t flinch when it was his turn to put the fortune and fate of the entire sport on his shoulders.
Stephan Bonnar has never claimed to be something he wasn’t and has never approached MMA with anything but earnestness and effort. Like Griffin, he is honest about his shortcomings and feels that if there’s anything special about him at all, it is simply that he is willing to get back up after getting knocked down.
To close his induction speech, Bonnar quoted former President Calvin Coolidge.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full with educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on,’ has solved and always solved the problems of the human race.”
Bonnar showed fans everywhere what they themselves might be able to accomplish if only they worked hard enough.
Halls of fame should be for accomplishments in and contributions to a sport. Maybe Bonnar’s critics have trouble accepting that someone so normal could have been such an important and legendary figure in his sport. Maybe that’s why they have a problem with his induction into the Hall of Fame.
This fan, however, believes that Bonnar’s normalcy, juxtaposed with his accomplishments and contributions to the sport, is precisely why the fighter deserves to be a hall of famer.
Even if he never wore a belt, Stephan Bonnar is an everyman champion in an everyman sport.
Stephan Bonnar & Forrest Griffin’s UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony:
By the time that this is published, the ceremony that will make Stephan Bonnar an official member of the UFC Hall of Fame will be underway. Bonnar’s resume includes an 8-7 UFC record, a flawless 0-0 record in UFC title fights, two failed drug tests and the significance of his TUF Finale bout against Forrest Griffin – a fight so important to UFC history that it has its own Wikipedia page. Bonnar also is on good terms with Dana White, which is arguably the most important criterion for induction into what is supposedly the UFC’s highest honor.
Regardless of how you feel about Bonnar’s induction, that last sentence should make you feel uncomfortable. A company that already has trouble convincing non-fans that it isn’t glorified professional wrestling selects people into its hall of fame the same way that the WWE does – by allowing one person to dictate who is worthy of the honor. Both halls have some debatableinductions. Both halls have some notableomissions. Neither hall is taken seriously by most fans of either sport.
While many articles have been written about how Bonnar’s induction highlights everything that’s wrong with the UFC Hall of Fame selection process, pretty much none of them offered any solutions. Below you’ll find a few suggestions to fix the hall, as well as reasons that they may not work. Let’s start off with the most obvious fix…
(Well? Photo courtesy of Getty Images.)
By the time that this is published, the ceremony that will make Stephan Bonnar an official member of the UFC Hall of Fame will be underway. Bonnar’s resume includes an 8-7 UFC record, a flawless 0-0 record in UFC title fights, two failed drug tests and the significance of his TUF Finale bout against Forrest Griffin – a fight so important to UFC history that it has its own Wikipedia page. Bonnar also is on good terms with Dana White, which is arguably the most important criterion for induction into what is supposedly the UFC’s highest honor.
Regardless of how you feel about Bonnar’s induction, that last sentence should make you feel uncomfortable. A company that already has trouble convincing non-fans that it isn’t glorified professional wrestling selects people into its hall of fame the same way that the WWE does – by allowing one person to dictate who is worthy of the honor. Both halls have some debatableinductions. Both halls have some notableomissions. Neither hall is taken seriously by most fans of either sport.
While many articles have been written about how Bonnar’s induction highlights everything that’s wrong with the UFC Hall of Fame selection process, pretty much none of them offered any solutions. Below you’ll find a few suggestions to fix the hall, as well as reasons that they may not work. Let’s start off with the most obvious fix…
Let the Journalists Vote
Why it would work – Because that’s pretty much what every legitimate Hall of Fame does. It may not make too much of a difference as to who gets inducted (more on that in a second), but at least then we’ll be able to take the hall seriously.
Why it wouldn’t work – Or will we? If the only journalists who are allowed to vote are those who are on good terms with the UFC – and unwilling to do anything to jeopardize this – the results will inevitably be just as biased as those adorable “official UFC rankings.”
Let the Fans Vote
Why it would work – Because halls of fame are for the fans in the first place, so why not let them decide who they want in them? Also, current UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz seems to believe it would work. Via MMA Junkie:
“I think [the Hall of Fame selection process] should be a fan vote,” Ortiz said. “That’s what it should really come down to. The fans should consider how much they’ve known the person, how much they’ve watched them fight and so forth and just how much the fighter had significance in the sport in general. I think that’s the answer.”
Why it wouldn’t work – How’s this for irony: Ortiz doesn’t think that Bonnar deserves to be in the hall of fame, but thinks that allowing the fans to induct their favorite the most worthy fighters is the solution. If you’re even slightly familiar with the voting process for the NBA All Star Game, then this requires zero explanation. If you aren’t familiar with it – and were too lazy to click the two links in this section – then let’s just say that guys like Bonnar would only be more likely to be inducted into the hall if the fans were allowed to vote.
Mark Cuban’s Weighted Fan Vote
Why it would work – The problem with letting the people vote on the Internet is that anyone with an unhealthy obsession with an athlete and too much free time can significantly affect the outcome, regardless of how often they even watch the sport. In an attempt to fix this, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban offered a solution – count votes cast in arenas during events twice as much as Internet votes. This not only rewards fans who are loyal enough to buy tickets to events, but also helps ensure that votes from educated fans aren’t immediately cancelled out by votes from people looking to troll the election. Win/win.
Why it wouldn’t work – At best, counting arena votes twice as much as Internet votes is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound; if you’re trolling an election online, you aren’t just voting once. At worst, keep in mind that it’s estimated that as much as 60% of a sporting event’s live gate comes from casual fans, which means that the Affliction clad oaf who thinks Brock Lesnar is the best fighter on the planet would now havetwice as much influence on the outcome as the hardcore MMA fans watching the event from home.
Use Statistics
Why it would work – If the current problem facing the UFC Hall of Fame is human bias, then adding even more humans to the mix isn’t going to fix anything. Let’s just take a look at the stats – Win/loss record, takedown percentage, strikes landed; etc. – and let the numbers determine who really belongs in the hall of fame.
Why it wouldn’t work – The fighter who has landed the second-most strikes in UFC history, the third-most takedowns and left the organization with a 14-3-1 UFC record isn’t a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. Is this proof that we need to use statistics to determine who should be in the hall?
