The UFC Story, Part 2: The dark years

UFC Founder Art Davie

In the second installment of the UFC story, we looked at what happened after UFC 1 till the entrance of Zuffa and all the ups and downs that came along the way.

UFC 1 was a massive success. Royce Gracie had put the promotion on the map and now the martial arts world was abuzz about what would happen next. During these early years, the UFC billed itself as a no holds barred, winner takes all tournament. They even used the tagline ‘There are no rules!’ in their marketing campaigns.

In the early days, the UFC had a reputation of being an extremely violent event. In fact, it was so violent that before UFC 5 they had to put out a disclaimer warning audience of the violent and gory nature of the sport.

While there was a market of loyalists who craved such blood and guts action, Art Davie, and his compatriots wanted to bring in a larger audience. This was never going to happen with the open rules style events that the UFC was putting on. Slowly but surely, they began enacting stricter fight regulations.

The first thing they outlawed was biting and eye-gouging. Then head-butting, groin strikes and fish hooks went out the window. However, there was still something missing.

UFC 5 was a flag pole event. It changed the course of the UFC and MMA as we know it today. All the previous 4 editions had been elimination style tournaments which meant the eventual champion wold have to fight two to three times in the same night.

UFC 5 however, was the birth of the ‘Super fight.’ 3-time champion Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock faced off in a one-off bout. This was the first time a singles match had been introduced. The singles matches would become a staple in the UFC for years to come.

At UFC 6, the ‘Super fight’ evolved into a non-tournament fight that determined who would face the winner of the tournament itself for the opportunity to be crowned ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ UFC 6 was the first event to feature the crowning of a non-tournament champion, Ken Shamrock.

Ken Shamrock became the first non-tournament champion in the UFC

As the events rolled on, the UFC continued gaining traction, moving from one high point to another. They were on the cusp of mainstream acceptance and that is where the problem began.

When the UFC was a small, almost underground promotion, nobody in a position of any real authority was paying much attention to it. However, with UFC now growing in size, U.S. authorities were quickly drawn to it.

They took exception to the violent nature of the sport and came out strongly against it. Senator John McCain became the UFC’s biggest detractor after he saw a tape of the first few UFC events.

He led a campaign to ban the UFC and wrote a letter to the governors of all fifty U.S. states asking them to ban the event which he described as, ‘Human cockfighting.’ Almost overnight, 36 states banned no rules fighting. One of these states was New York. What made the New York ban more painful than the rest was that the ban was enacted on the eve of UFC 12.

Art Davie was forced to move UFC 12 to Dothan, Alabama. With the moral outcry against the sport and a campaign against them led by one of the most powerful men in America over the last 25 years, the UFC began to fall. It was hard enough finding locations willing to put on fights but getting them on TV was even harder.

Their audience figures fell and their fan base was miniscule compared to their aspirations.

John McCain led a campaign to ban the UFC in America

In response to the criticism, the UFC increased its co-operation with the athletic commissions of various states. A code of conduct for fighters was drawn out, gloves were introduced and the UFC began rebranding itself as a sport rather than a spectacle.

However, despite the changes, the results were slow. The UFC was still looked down upon across America and they were still banned from a majority of states.

On top of all of this, there was a bigger problem brewing. SEG, the company that owned the UFC, was bankrupt. With the UFC unable to earn much money, they were on the verge of collapse. The promotion and the sport of MMA itself needed somebody to come bail them out. Enter Zuffa.