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The UFC Hall of Fame was introduced in November 2003 to mark the 10th anniversary of the promotion which debuted back on November 12, 1993.
The inaugural inductees were veterans of UFC 1, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, who both received their awards inside the Octagon at UFC 45 on November 21, 2003.
Since then, the UFC Hall of Fame has been a (near) annual tradition and as of 2018 features 19 fighters such as Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Ronda Rousey and four fights, including the legendary bout between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar in the Ultimate Fighter 1 finale back in April 2005.
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Since 2017, the UFC has awarded its Hall of Famers at a dedicated Hall of Fame ceremony held each July.
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In 2018, the UFC inducted its first female performer in Rousey and also added former Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra.
It also inducted the legendary UFC 129 fight between Dan Henderson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and co-creator of UFC, Art Davie and former producer, Bruce Connal.
The UFC's Hall of Fame is divided up into wings such as the "pioneer wing" which features fighters who performed in the first decade of the organisation's history and helped popularise the sport in the mainstream of the sporting world's consciousness.
Contemporary fans are rewarded with the "modern era wing" which has seen more recent Octagon fighters inducted such as Rousey and Forrest Griffin.
The people who are so important behind the scenes such as Davie and his fellow co-creator of the UFC Bob Meyrowitz are members of the "Contributors" wing and the "Fight wing" features such legendary fights as Henderson vs Rua and infamous battles such as the "kick heard around the world" fight between Pete Williams and Mark Coleman.
But who will be inducted in 2019? We look at the possible candidates for the pioneer, modern era and fight wings.
Fights
Robbie Lawler vs Rory MacDonald - UFC 189 (July 11, 2015)
So, much has already been written about the Welterweight Championship encounter between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald. Suffice to say, it could well be the greatest fight UFC has ever staged.
For five brutal rounds, Lawler and MacDonald busted each other open and pounded away in a battle that ebbed and flowed to an astonishing degree.
The closing stages were amongst the most sickening you could ever witness, as a well-timed jab from Lawler audibly smashed MacDonald's nose.
This fight shouldn't so much as be inducted, it likely deserves its own wing.
Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard - UFC 125 (January 1, 2011)
Rarely has a draw been such a satisfactory result but it absolutely was in the classic contest between former Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar and his challenger, Gray Maynard.
Maynard was the only man to have ever defeated Edgar back in 2008 and he was eager to repeat the feat and with it, win his first UFC gold.
It wasn't to be but not due to lack of effort. The pair came out swinging and would continue to do so, for five gruelling rounds. One judge scored the bout for Maynard, whilst the other two, scored it a draw. What a war! What a fight! It deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
Pioneer Wing
Frank Shamrock
It is pretty remarkable that the adopted brother of Ken Shamrock is not in the Hall of Fame already. Few MMA fighters have gone their entire UFC careers unbeaten, however, that is exactly what Shamrock did as we won all five of his fights for the promotion; often in the main event.
He defeated Kevin Jackson at UFC Ultimate Japan in December 1997 in his UFC debut as the company crowned its first Middleweight Champion (a belt that is now known as the Light-Heavyweight Championship) and successfully defended that title four times, most notably versus Jeremy Horn and Tito Ortiz. He retired from UFC following his defeat of Ortiz citing a "lack of competition."
As one of the most dominant performers of UFC's early years, his induction is definitely a "when" rather than an "if."
Kevin Randleman
Kevin Randleman competed for UFC between 1999 and 2002, in which time he was a UFC Heavyweight Champion; just the fifth in the belt's history.
He defeated Pete Williams to win the vacant title after Bas Rutten had relinquished the title due to a desire to compete as a Light-Heavyweight.
In truth, Randleman should have already been champion but was robbed on the judge's scorecards in his title match with Rutten at UFC 20.
As champion, Randleman successfully defended the strap versus Pedro Rizzo at UFC 26, before losing it to Randy Couture at UFC 29.
Randleman beat Renato Sobral in his final UFC fight at UFC 35 before joining Japanese promotion, PRIDE FC.
Unfortunately, as Randleman passed away in 2016 at the age of 44 from a heart attack, his induction would be a posthumous one.
Modern Era Wing
Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar has been heavily linked with a UFC return in 2019; possibly in a Heavyweight Championship versus Daniel Cormier. However, if he does not return to the Octagon, he could well return to be inducted into the Hall of Fame instead.
Lesnar only competed for UFC eight times in total, but more than made his mark. He dominated former Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir in his UFC debut in February 2008, before getting caught with a heel hook and being forced to tap out.
Lesnar then won his next four bouts, over the who's who of MMA legends; Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Mir in a re-match and Shane Carwin. That run saw Lesnar become Heavyweight Champion and successfully defend that title twice before he dropped the bout to Brazilian prodigy, Cain Velasquez, temporarily retiring from the sport when he dropped a second consecutive fight with Alistair Overeem.
Lesnar is the second greatest draw in UFC history with five of his headline or co-headline bouts drawing over a million pay per view buys. He may be hated by much of the MMA world but Lesnar certainly cannot be ignored. His Hall of Fame credentials are real.
Michael Bisping
Michael Bisping, at the time of his 2018 retirement, held two impressive UFC records. He has the joint most number of wins in company history, 20, with Donald Cerrone and George St. Pierre. Cerrone made it 21 in November 2018. He also held the record for most number of fights with 29; a feat matched this year by Cerrone and Jeremy Stephens and surpassed by Jum Miller with 30 in September 2018.
You don't win 20 times inside the Octagon unless you are a true legend of MMA. The British born Bisping rose to fame when he won the third season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show and embarked on an early winning streak in the promotion, winning his first four official fights.
His first defeat was a memorable one, coming on the historic UFC 100 card when he was knocked out cold by rival, Dan Henderson. That loss was one he would avenge seven years later at UFC 206 in 2016.
Bisping, despite his plethora of Octagon wins only won one title in the company; the Middleweight Championship which he won from Luke Rockhold and defended for 18 months before losing the belt in a classic encounter with the returning GSP at UFC 214 in November 2017.
Bisping's entertaining striking game and outrageous microphone skills made him one of the most memorable characters to ever set foot inside the Octagon. 2019 should be the year of "The Count."
