The first UFC tournament in 1993 became a sensation: these were real fights without rules — bloody and merciless. In the cage, steroid musclemen, sumo wrestlers and fighters in gi (kimono) fought with their bare fists.
You won’t see this now: we remember the first UFC tournament, which shocked the world.
Bare fists and minimum rules
Fighters from different schools came to the first UFC tournament: boxing, kickboxing, karate, sumo, taekwondo, shoot-wrestling, and French Savate boxing. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was represented by Royce Gracie, a member of the legendary clan of jitzers who popularized the martial art in the West.
The fights took place in the Grand Prix format: to win, you need to get from the quarterfinals to the final — in one evening. This is normal for old school tournaments where fighters fight 3–4 times a day. In the final, the fighters were exhausted and the one who retained more strength and avoided injury won.
At the first UFC tournaments, fighters fought without gloves and had to follow only two rules: do not bite your opponent and do not put pressure on his eyes. The rest was allowed, but was silently condemned by the fighters, who rarely resorted to dirty tricks (however, there were exceptions — blows to the groin and pokes in the eyes).
First fight in UFC history: a sumo wrestler’s teeth were knocked out with a kick
The debut fight for the UFC was between sumo wrestler Teyla Tuli and karateka Gerard Gordeau. The 200-kilogram Tuli had no chance — Gordo was a drummer. Already at the 20th second, he knocked out his opponent, who had lost his balance, with a kick and broke his jaw. According to eyewitnesses, Tuli’s teeth flew onto the judge’s table with a loud crunch.
Two teeth remained in Gordo’s leg: the doctors did not pull them out because they were afraid of infection. Gordo continued to participate in the tournament and reached the finals, where he was met by Royce Gracie.
The tournament was won by the smallest jitser
Royce Gracie was the smallest in the tournament — height 183 cm, weight 80 kg. In the quarterfinals, he faced average boxer Art Jimmerson, who fought with the glove on one hand. Gracie easily took his opponent to the ground, where he knocked without waiting for the choke.
In the semi-finals, Gracie defeated the oversized wrestler Ken Shamrock (future UFC legend), who fought well. This fight was called an early final: Shamrock had the initiative, but gave Gracie his back and surrendered to a choke. The judge did not notice this and wanted to continue the fight, but Shamrock himself admitted defeat.
In the final, Gracie faced Gordo, who had been limping throughout the tournament due to teeth in his heel. Proudly surpassed his opponent in height — 196 cm versus 183. The audience liked the show: almost 100 thousand watched the broadcast of the final.
Gracie knew he would lose standing up, so he used wrestling. Gordo grabbed the net to stay on his feet, but still ended up on the ground. In the second minute, Gracie hit his opponent with his head a couple of times, grabbed him and strangled him — despite Gordo biting him.
The era of “no rules” in the UFC will end because of Senator McCain
Gracie received a prize of 50 thousand dollars. After UFC 1, jiu-jitsu became popular in the United States, and people saw it as an ideal means of self-defense. Sales of memberships to the Gracie Family Hall grew within a month from a few dozen to a thousand or more.
But things will not be so smooth for the UFC: they will continue to hold tournaments, but with UFC 9 they will begin to introduce rules to limit cruelty. The problem was Senator McCain: he received a tape with recordings of the tournaments and announced a large-scale campaign to fight the UFC. The conservative called the UFC “human cockfighting” and tried to ban it.