dimitri
20-08-2009, 15:51
• Boxers James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Leon Spinks were both considered for UFC 1 before settling on Art Jimmerson. Jimmerson subsequently backed out of the event once he learned the rules (as he had a fight with Thomas Hearns a month later) but Seg offered him $20,000 just to show, making him the highest paid appearance fighter at UFC 1 (the majority received $1000 for initial appearance). During the event, upon viewing the brutality, Jimmerson’s corner conspired backstage to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble, which they did, but the towel caught on the fence and the referee did not see it. Jimmerson then verbally quit.
• Widely known: Gerard Gordeau kicked one of Telia Tuli’s teeth into the audience (which flew by a group of sponsor’s from Gold’s Gym, who pulled their advertisement deal after the first event based on this). Lesser known: Two more of Tuli’s teeth were embedded into Gordeau’s foot, which doctor’s decided not to remove for the remainder of the night in fear of exposing the wound. Gordeau fought twice more that night with 2 teeth stuck in his foot.
• Ken Shamrock only had 3 ‘real’ fights before entering UFC 1, all in Pancrase. It was decided he would be given the title of ‘#1 Shootfighting Champion of Japan’, along with a dozen more wins on his record (which were in reality, toughman fights) to build his stats and help promote Pancrase
• Freek Hamaker (in a UFC 2 dark match) was a porn theatre owner. He won his fight and was set to be on the PPV, but chose not to continue.
• The Patrick Smith/Scott Morris fight ended only because Smith stopped hitting him. McCarthy didn’t have the power to end a fight as a referee, and Morris’ corner stated beforehand he would never throw in the towel and looked away from McCarthy when Big John motioned to him. With Morris all but unconscious and not in a state to submit, Smith simply got up and walked away, which ended the fight.
• Rorian Gracie tried to replace Royce with brother Rickson at UFC 3. The decision was made, but Rickson wanted more money from Rorian to fight. When he did not receive this, he parted ways with the family and no longer cornered or trained Royce
• Kimo entered UFC 3 only weeks before the event when Joe Son drove to Art Davies’ office, shirtless and in a convertible Porsche and convinced him to let Kimo on the show. Davies’ agreed solely by Kimo’s appearance. Kimo was only a streethfighter with zero credentials, but was elevated to third degree black belt (tae kwon do) for the event. ~ The giant cross that Kimo carried to the ring: David Isaac wouldn’t allow props to the ring (in fear of having the event look like pro wrestling) so Joe Son told SEG that the large box shipped to the arena the day of the event contained special ‘training equipment’. In fact, it was the cross.
• Emmanuel Yarbrough could curl 315lbs. This feat of strength didn’t help when Keith Hackney hit him a total of 41 times with fists and forearms on the ground.
• Lee Mitchell wanted to wear boxing gloves in his fight with Shamrock, and even wore them to the ring, but was forced to remove them as they were not cleared beforehand by McCarthy
• Kimo wrote an apology letter to the Gracies for running out and celebrating in the Octagon when Royce couldn’t continue. Relson Gracie confronted Joe Son after the ordeal and challenged him to fight due to the disrespect, prompting the letter of apology to clear the air.
• Dan Severn had no professional fighting record to speak of when entering the UFC – and filled out an application in a magazine to apply. There was no ‘wrestling’ category, so he checked ‘other’. UFC was weary of this, and in order to be cleared he had to sign a contract stating “In case of your accidental death, we are not liable.” ~ Severn trained for the UFC with pro-wrestler Al Snow (who cornered Severn in the UFC for a while)
• 52 year old Ron “Black Dragon” Van Clief couldn’t persuade the UFC to allow him to fight at his age. In order to convince them, Van Clief agreed to enter the New York City Marathon to prove his athleticism, and if he completed the race, he would be allowed to compete.
• In 1994, SEG took a chance on David Hasselhoff’s singing career and made a pay-per-view for it. The event could never be measured by success as it was cut short by OJ Simpson driving his Bronco on the same evening.
• Before the Gracie/Shamrock Superfight was signed, UFC attempted to secure Emin Boztepe, a Kung Fu stylist who blasted the UFC in martial art magazines. The second choice was Bart Vale who was a popular stiff-working fighter in Japan. Neither came to fruition, so Shamrock was signed for the fight.
• Andy Anderson was a self-made millionaire who owned several businesses, including the Totally Nude Steakhouse in Longview, Texas. The city paid Anderson to shut it down, though it was very popular.
• Tank Abbot got his nickname as a reference from the movie ‘Every Which Way But Loose’. He was compared to ‘Tank Murdock’.
• Abbot was in-house for UFC 5 but got so drunk he lost his front-row tickets and ended up sitting high in the rafters. His discipline of ‘Pit-Fighting’ was a made up term by Art Davie to use instead of ‘streetfighter’. (Scott Ferrozo received the same title)
• Tank was suspended by the UFC for an altercation in the crowd with Allan Goes. This alone would have been bad enough, but Tanks’ girlfriend got into an argument with Elaine McCarthy (John’s wife) over the occurrence, and when Tank returned and found out, he approached Elaine McCarthy and threatened to ‘kill her’. This prompted John to force UFC’s hand in saying “either he goes or I go”. Ultimately, Tank got a (paid) suspension from fighting, and signed a letter of apology and since made amends.
• In 2001, Brian Johnson collapsed of a stroke while preparing a training partner for a pro-wrestling match. He was given a 50% chance of survival, and even if he did, would be a vegetable. Today, with his nickname “The Miracle”, he is able to move around unassisted.
• Gary Goodridge was offered status of ‘4th degree black belt in kuk sool won’, and a free gi, if he would represent their school at the UFC. His only true credentials were arm wrestling and a boxing background. The only submission he learned in the 2 classes he attended before the event, was called a goose neck. This is the very hold he put Herrera in, only instead of submitting him, he dropped 8 elbows on Herrera and knocked him out in 13 seconds.
• Coleman had no opponent for the finals at UFC X1, with Scott Ferrozzo withdrawing due to dehydration. The reserve fighter, Roberto Traven, claimed a broken wrist that many speculated was not broken at all. UFC considered bringing out Tank (whom Ferrozzo beat), but the decision couldn't be finalized, and Coleman was handed the championship. To appease the audience for not getting a final fight, Coleman and Kevin Randleman staged a wrestling exhibition.
• Carlson Gracie is Vitor Belfort's adopted father. Vitor was going to take on the last name 'Gracie', but pressure from the rest of the family over Vitor's skills, put a stop to it
• UFC XV was set to feature Maurice Smith vs Dan Severn. Pride 1 was held 6 days before UFC XV, and Tank Abbott was set to fight Kimo on the card. Some law trouble kept Abbott from leaving the country, so Severn went over and fought Kimo @ Pride 1. The fight was so boring it was actually left off the dvd release when Pride went to video. Severn also got hurt in this fight, and Abbott subsequently filled in for Severn for the UFC fight, who had filled in for him in Japan.
• In Ultimate Japan, John McCarthy halted the fight between Conan Silveira and Kazushi Sakuraba, believing Sakuraba was hurt while on the ground and covering, though Sakuraba was fine. McCarthy admitted his mistake, but the decision was made. Sakuraba was so upset over the loss, he refused to leave the octagon for more than 45 minutes during the show. The Japanese crowd was irate, and later on in the same show the UFC decided to rule it a no contest and have them come back out and fight again. Sakuraba won this second contest.
• Widely known: Gerard Gordeau kicked one of Telia Tuli’s teeth into the audience (which flew by a group of sponsor’s from Gold’s Gym, who pulled their advertisement deal after the first event based on this). Lesser known: Two more of Tuli’s teeth were embedded into Gordeau’s foot, which doctor’s decided not to remove for the remainder of the night in fear of exposing the wound. Gordeau fought twice more that night with 2 teeth stuck in his foot.
• Ken Shamrock only had 3 ‘real’ fights before entering UFC 1, all in Pancrase. It was decided he would be given the title of ‘#1 Shootfighting Champion of Japan’, along with a dozen more wins on his record (which were in reality, toughman fights) to build his stats and help promote Pancrase
• Freek Hamaker (in a UFC 2 dark match) was a porn theatre owner. He won his fight and was set to be on the PPV, but chose not to continue.
• The Patrick Smith/Scott Morris fight ended only because Smith stopped hitting him. McCarthy didn’t have the power to end a fight as a referee, and Morris’ corner stated beforehand he would never throw in the towel and looked away from McCarthy when Big John motioned to him. With Morris all but unconscious and not in a state to submit, Smith simply got up and walked away, which ended the fight.
• Rorian Gracie tried to replace Royce with brother Rickson at UFC 3. The decision was made, but Rickson wanted more money from Rorian to fight. When he did not receive this, he parted ways with the family and no longer cornered or trained Royce
• Kimo entered UFC 3 only weeks before the event when Joe Son drove to Art Davies’ office, shirtless and in a convertible Porsche and convinced him to let Kimo on the show. Davies’ agreed solely by Kimo’s appearance. Kimo was only a streethfighter with zero credentials, but was elevated to third degree black belt (tae kwon do) for the event. ~ The giant cross that Kimo carried to the ring: David Isaac wouldn’t allow props to the ring (in fear of having the event look like pro wrestling) so Joe Son told SEG that the large box shipped to the arena the day of the event contained special ‘training equipment’. In fact, it was the cross.
• Emmanuel Yarbrough could curl 315lbs. This feat of strength didn’t help when Keith Hackney hit him a total of 41 times with fists and forearms on the ground.
• Lee Mitchell wanted to wear boxing gloves in his fight with Shamrock, and even wore them to the ring, but was forced to remove them as they were not cleared beforehand by McCarthy
• Kimo wrote an apology letter to the Gracies for running out and celebrating in the Octagon when Royce couldn’t continue. Relson Gracie confronted Joe Son after the ordeal and challenged him to fight due to the disrespect, prompting the letter of apology to clear the air.
• Dan Severn had no professional fighting record to speak of when entering the UFC – and filled out an application in a magazine to apply. There was no ‘wrestling’ category, so he checked ‘other’. UFC was weary of this, and in order to be cleared he had to sign a contract stating “In case of your accidental death, we are not liable.” ~ Severn trained for the UFC with pro-wrestler Al Snow (who cornered Severn in the UFC for a while)
• 52 year old Ron “Black Dragon” Van Clief couldn’t persuade the UFC to allow him to fight at his age. In order to convince them, Van Clief agreed to enter the New York City Marathon to prove his athleticism, and if he completed the race, he would be allowed to compete.
• In 1994, SEG took a chance on David Hasselhoff’s singing career and made a pay-per-view for it. The event could never be measured by success as it was cut short by OJ Simpson driving his Bronco on the same evening.
• Before the Gracie/Shamrock Superfight was signed, UFC attempted to secure Emin Boztepe, a Kung Fu stylist who blasted the UFC in martial art magazines. The second choice was Bart Vale who was a popular stiff-working fighter in Japan. Neither came to fruition, so Shamrock was signed for the fight.
• Andy Anderson was a self-made millionaire who owned several businesses, including the Totally Nude Steakhouse in Longview, Texas. The city paid Anderson to shut it down, though it was very popular.
• Tank Abbot got his nickname as a reference from the movie ‘Every Which Way But Loose’. He was compared to ‘Tank Murdock’.
• Abbot was in-house for UFC 5 but got so drunk he lost his front-row tickets and ended up sitting high in the rafters. His discipline of ‘Pit-Fighting’ was a made up term by Art Davie to use instead of ‘streetfighter’. (Scott Ferrozo received the same title)
• Tank was suspended by the UFC for an altercation in the crowd with Allan Goes. This alone would have been bad enough, but Tanks’ girlfriend got into an argument with Elaine McCarthy (John’s wife) over the occurrence, and when Tank returned and found out, he approached Elaine McCarthy and threatened to ‘kill her’. This prompted John to force UFC’s hand in saying “either he goes or I go”. Ultimately, Tank got a (paid) suspension from fighting, and signed a letter of apology and since made amends.
• In 2001, Brian Johnson collapsed of a stroke while preparing a training partner for a pro-wrestling match. He was given a 50% chance of survival, and even if he did, would be a vegetable. Today, with his nickname “The Miracle”, he is able to move around unassisted.
• Gary Goodridge was offered status of ‘4th degree black belt in kuk sool won’, and a free gi, if he would represent their school at the UFC. His only true credentials were arm wrestling and a boxing background. The only submission he learned in the 2 classes he attended before the event, was called a goose neck. This is the very hold he put Herrera in, only instead of submitting him, he dropped 8 elbows on Herrera and knocked him out in 13 seconds.
• Coleman had no opponent for the finals at UFC X1, with Scott Ferrozzo withdrawing due to dehydration. The reserve fighter, Roberto Traven, claimed a broken wrist that many speculated was not broken at all. UFC considered bringing out Tank (whom Ferrozzo beat), but the decision couldn't be finalized, and Coleman was handed the championship. To appease the audience for not getting a final fight, Coleman and Kevin Randleman staged a wrestling exhibition.
• Carlson Gracie is Vitor Belfort's adopted father. Vitor was going to take on the last name 'Gracie', but pressure from the rest of the family over Vitor's skills, put a stop to it
• UFC XV was set to feature Maurice Smith vs Dan Severn. Pride 1 was held 6 days before UFC XV, and Tank Abbott was set to fight Kimo on the card. Some law trouble kept Abbott from leaving the country, so Severn went over and fought Kimo @ Pride 1. The fight was so boring it was actually left off the dvd release when Pride went to video. Severn also got hurt in this fight, and Abbott subsequently filled in for Severn for the UFC fight, who had filled in for him in Japan.
• In Ultimate Japan, John McCarthy halted the fight between Conan Silveira and Kazushi Sakuraba, believing Sakuraba was hurt while on the ground and covering, though Sakuraba was fine. McCarthy admitted his mistake, but the decision was made. Sakuraba was so upset over the loss, he refused to leave the octagon for more than 45 minutes during the show. The Japanese crowd was irate, and later on in the same show the UFC decided to rule it a no contest and have them come back out and fight again. Sakuraba won this second contest.