Issue 052

July 2009

As the UFC approaches it’s 100th event, we compiled 100 facts from the promotion’s 16-year history in celebration of this monumental event.  

1. The Beginning 

The Ultimate Fighting Championship was the brainchild of Rorion Gracie, advertising exec Art Davie and producer Bob Meyrowitz. Rorion wanted to prove to the world that his family’s art was the supreme fighting style. Together with his more business-savvy partners, he put together UFC 1. The trio assembled eight men for a one-night ‘no holds barred’ tournament in Denver, Colorado. In front of a pay-per-view TV audience, they would battle it out in an octagonal cage to prove once and for all which martial art was the most effective. 

2-9. The Original Eight Competitors 

1. Teila Tuli: Standing 6’2” and weighing in at 410lb, Hawaiian Teila Tuli had genuine credentials as a sumo wrestler, but it was his imposing appearance that earned him a spot at UFC 1. He quickly lost to Gerard Gordeau.  
2. Zane Frazier: Frazier was the nominal karate representative. The kempo black belt was an experienced martial artist who had been personally recommended by Rorian.  
3. Pat Smith: With a tae kwon do background and a solid kickboxing record Smith was also known as a badass, a useful asset in an event that was as much about entertainment as fighting.  
4. Art Jimmerson: To achieve credibility with the public, it was vital to have a reputable boxer on the show. Art Jimmerson, with a record of 29-5, fitted the bill. The pugilist was paid a premium fee just to turn up. Jimmerson hardly trained in preparation and worried for his well-being as he found out more about the capabilities of his opponents. He achieved cult status after entering the cage wearing one boxing glove.  
5. Kevin Rosier: Rosier was a former kickboxer-turned-bodyguard to the stars. Although his waistline had expanded since the end of his ring career, he was still a threat and he out-brawled Frazier in a messy first-round fight.  
6. Gerard Gordeau: Dutchman Gerard Gordeau loved to fight. He held the Savate world championship and his reputation meant he was also sought after as a bouncer and bodyguard. Gordeau shattered any doubts about the authenticity of the UFC when he kicked two of Teila Tuli’s teeth out and into the gasping crowd during the opening bout. He fought the rest of the night with two more of the Hawaiian’s teeth embedded in his foot and a broken hand. This did not prevent Gordeau from stopping Rosier in less than a minute to earn a place in the final.  
7. Ken Shamrock: Shamrock went on to become one of the biggest names in the UFC. A legitimate submission wrestler, ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ earned a spot on the bill due to his success in the Pancrase shows in Japan. Shamrock took Pat Smith down in his first fight and finished him with a heel hook, earning him a shot at the chosen one.
8. Royce Gracie: Royce Gracie was selected to be the Gracie who would demonstrate the superiority of Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the masses. Art Jimmerson bailed out shortly after his fight with Royce hit the floor. Gracie then defeated Shamrock and Gordeau with chokes to claim the $50,000 winner’s check.  

10. In the final fight of UFC 1, Gerard Gordeau bit Royce Gracie’s ear, drawing blood. Gordeau never fought in the UFC again. In his only subsequent MMA fight, against Yuki Nakai at Vale Tudo Japan 1995, Gordeau gouged his opponent so badly he caused Nakai to go blind in one eye.  

11. The first UFC show attracted a live crowd of 2,800 and clocked up 86,000 pay-per-view buys.  

12. Royce Gracie went on to be crowned champion at UFC 2 and UFC 4 (he withdrew from UFC 3 after his fight with the brawler Kimo Leopoldo). He has a total of three UFC tournament wins to his name, a feat he shares with Dan Severn.

13. ‘Big’ John McCarthy entered the Octagon for the first time at UFC 2 in March 1994, appearing as a referee. Originally McCarthy had planned to enter as a fighter, but was told by his jiu-jitsu coach Rorion that only one jiu-jitsu representative would enter the tournament, and that would be Royce. McCarthy was instrumental in developing the rules as the promotion evolved and is in demand across the world as an official.  

14. UFC 3 was won by Steve Jennum, a police officer from Nebraska claiming to be trained in ninjitsu. Jennum’s scrap with Harold Howard in the final of the tournament was his only fight of the evening. He was an alternate who had replace the injured Ken Shamrock.  

15. UFC 4 saw the debut of future UFC Hall of Fame member Dan Severn, who was 40 years old at the time. The 270lb wrestler lost to Royce Gracie in the finals, who was outweighed by Severn by 85lb. Severn would go on to enjoy a long MMA career with a total record of 86-16-7.  

16. At UFC 4 in 1994, Guy Mezger and Jason Fairn made a gentlemen’s agreement not to pull each other’s hair during their alternate bout, despite the tactic being perfectly legal at that time. Both sported ponytails and kept to their agreement, with Mezger winning and going on to have a very successful MMA career, retiring nine years later.  

17. UFC 6 saw the debut of the original MMA bad boy, David ‘Tank’ Abbott. A street fighter with wrestling experience, he was the first fighter to wear fingerless gloves in an effort to protect his hands. The fingerless design would later be adopted and made standard.  

18. The first event to take place outside of the USA was UFC 8, which was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Titled David vs Goliath, it featured a tournament pitting lightweights against heavyweights and was main evented by Ken Shamrock vs Kimo Leopoldo.  

19. The first UFC event not to feature a tournament was UFC 9 in May 1996, which was made up of single fights. Due to popular demand, the tournament format was revived and appeared on every event from UFC 10 through to UFC 17 in May 1998.  

20. The UFC 11 tournament was won by Mark Coleman due to forfeit. Injuries to fight winners and alternates meant that there was nobody able to face Coleman in the final who hadn’t already lost a fight that evening. Subsequently, Coleman put on an exhibition wrestling bout with training partner Kevin Randleman for the crowd.  

21. The four-ounce gloves that are now synonymous with the sport became mandatory attire at UFC 14. The original gloves used were made by a company called Boxergenics, which was founded by a doctor with 18-years experience as a ringside physician.  

22. Four days before Christmas in 1997, the UFC took their promotion to Japan for the first time. Titled ‘UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan’, the event took place between UFC 15 and 16 and featured the MMA debut of Kazushi Sakuraba. His opening bout of the then-heavyweight tournament against Marcus ‘Conan’ Silveira was prematurely stopped when he dropped for a single leg and the referee mistook it for him dropping due to being KO’d. After much protestation by his camp, not to mention Tank Abbott dropping out of the other side of the tournament, the fight was ruled a No Contest and Sakuraba and Silveira fought again, with Sakuraba winning by arm bar. On the same event Frank Shamrock would claim the inaugural middleweight title by submitting Olympic gold medalist Kevin Jackson in only 16 seconds.  

23. The first tournament for lightweight fighters (deemed 170lb and under) took place at UFC 16, which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. A four-man tournament was held and won by future welterweight champion Pat Miletich.  

24-28. The Five Best Event Names

1. UFC: The Ultimate Ultimate: This could only have been made better by adding another ‘Ultimate’ in there somewhere. What about ‘Ultimate Fighting Championship: The Ultimate Ultimate Ultimate’? Kick ass!  
2. UFC 22: Only One Can be Champion: In a genius marketing move, the promoters decided that there could only be one champion. Really? We thought champion meant ‘One that wins first place or first prize in a competition’. Can there be two first places? No! Runner-up is first loser, baby.  
3. UFC 27: Ultimate Bad Boyz: How do you know they’re bad? Because they’ve got a ‘z’ on the end. That’s right. Boyz. Believe.  
4. UFC 47: It’s On! It’s off! No, wait – it’s on!  
5. UFC 87: Seek And Destroy: Apart from sharing a name with an awesomely metal-tastic Metallica song, Seek and Destroy. GSP didn’t just fight Jon Fitch in the main event; he sought, and then he destroyed.  

29. Though he only fought on a preliminary, untelevised bout, Chuck Liddell had his first taste of life inside the Octagon at UFC 17. Sporting his Mohawk but wearing wrestling boots, Liddell fought as an alternate in the middleweight tournament, but was not required to step into the tournament proper. The final of the tournament was contested by Dan Henderson and Carlos Newton, with Henderson winning by split decision.  

30. 1998, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The UFC arrive in South America for their one and only show to date on Brazilian soil. The event is infamous for the inauspicious UFC debut of Wanderlei Silva, who lost to renowned face-puncher Vitor Belfort in only 44 seconds. The fight spurred Wanderlei on to great things; he lost only once more in the next six years.  

31. UFC 18 saw the first appearance inside the Octagon of two MMA legends, namely Evan Tanner and Bas Rutten. Both men had fought numerous times in Pancrase in Japan. Tanner won his bout by submission, while Rutten took a step towards the heavyweight title by TKO’ing Tsuyoshi Kosaka.  

32. UFC 21 marked the introduction of significant rule changes. Main card fights were contested over the now-standard three five-minute rounds, and championship bouts were five five-minute rounds. UFC 21 was also the first UFC event to adopt the 10-point must system to judge fights. 

33-37. Tales from the Dark Days

1. UFC 15 was held in a tent in the parking lot of Casino Magic in Bay St Louis, Mississippi.  
2. UFC 15 also heralded a landmark in the development of MMA, when the promotion made head butts, groin strikes, strikes to the back of the neck and head, kicks to a downed opponent, small joint manipulation, pressure point strikes and hair-pulling illegal.  
3. The only case of a fighter attempting to throw another out of the Octagon occurred at Ultimate Ultimate 2 (December 1996) when Tank Abbott tried to execute the maneuver against Cal Worsham. Unfortunately for Worsham, this was also the event where the ‘no grabbing the fence’ rule was introduced.  
4. At UFC 24, headline fighter Kevin Randleman accidentally slipped and knocked himself out while warming up shortly before his bout. Suffice to say he didn’t fight that evening.  
5. Ken Shamrock took a six-year hiatus from the UFC, leaving at Ultimate Ultimate 2 to pursue a pro wrestling career, and returning at UFC 40. This pales into comparison against the 11-year hiatus that Shamrock’s former nemesis Royce Gracie took, leaving at UFC 5 in 1994 to return at UFC 60 in 2006.  

38. UFC 24 saw the appearance of the first Brit in the Octagon when Ian Freeman fought Scott Adams. It would be almost two and a half years before other Brits joined him at UFC 38.  

39. UFC 29 took place on December 16, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. It was the last event to be held by owners Semaphore Entertainment Group. The company was on its last legs and sold their assets to Zuffa LLC in January 2001 for $2 million.  

40. UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk, which took place on February 23, 2001, was the first event to be promoted by the newly formed Zuffa. Changes made by the new owners included allowing the fighters to choose their own entrance music, rather than enter to the standard UFC theme tune. UFC 30 featured the likes of Sean Sherk, Elvis Sinosic, Jens Pulver and Josh Barnett, and saw Tito Ortiz KO Evan Tanner with a body slam. 

41. UFC 31 was notable for two reasons. First was the debut of a young BJ Penn, only 21 years old and fighting MMA for the first time. Also, there was more restructuring of the rules as UFC 31 saw the weight classes reformed and renamed. Bantamweight was renamed lightweight and raised from 150lb to 155lb. Welterweights were now at 170lb, middleweights at 185lb, and light heavyweights at 205lb.  

42-46. The Five Most Important UFC Title Fights

1. Frank Shamrock won the newly created UFC middleweight (now light heavyweight) belt by submitting the undefeated Kevin Jackson at Ultimate Japan in December 1997. Shamrock is seen by many as the first true all-rounder, and his reign as champion alerted people to the need for cross training, effectively consigning the UFC’s original ‘style against style’ ethos to the history books.  
2. Chuck Liddell ripped the light heavyweight belt from Randy Couture at UFC 52. Chuck’s explosive sprawl ‘n brawl style appealed to the new generation of fans (turned onto the sport by the success of The Ultimate Fighter) and was instrumental in the rapid growth of the UFC.  
3. Anderson Silva’s domination of Rich Franklin to take the middleweight strap at UFC 64 was a taste of things to come. Silva’s seemingly untouchable position at the top of the pile is becoming a headache for an organization built on the idea of there being ‘no such thing as an easy fight’.  
4. When the heated rivalry finally came to blows, the Chuck Liddell-Tito Ortiz fight at UFC 66 was the first event to register over one million pay-per-view buys.  
5. Rampage Jackson defeated Dan Henderson at UFC 75 to unify the UFC and Pride light heavyweight belts. Any lingering hopes that the Japanese promotion might have been resurrected were snuffed out.  

47. UFC 33 is infamous in UFC history – they had recently returned to pay per view, and it was the first MMA event to be sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. On the night, five fights on the televised portion of the card went to a decision. If this wasn’t bad enough, three of these fights were title fights (five five-minutes) meaning that for many, the broadcast cut off midway through the headline fight between Tito Ortiz and Vladimir Matyushenko.  

48. Future heavyweight champion Frank Mir made his UFC debut at UFC 34 in November 2001. The slick submission artist tapped out BJJ specialist Roberto Traven.  

49. A mystery illness struck down many fighters and crew members at UFC 35. According to a December 2008 interview, Pat Miletich said a flu-like illness spread throughout the fighters, trainers, and production staff “like wildfire”. The show still went on.  

50. UFC 37 will go down as featuring one of the most controversial refereeing moments in the history of the sport. The normally excellent Big John McCarthy has admitted to his error in officiating Matt Lindland’s challenge on Murillo Bustamante’s middleweight title, in what has now become known as the controversial ‘double tap’ fight. Bustamante had an armbar locked on Lindland, who claimed he didn’t tap when Big John stopped the fight. Allowed to continue, Lindland later tapped to a guillotine choke. McCarthy has said he should never have restarted the contest.  

51-55. The UFC Title Belts

The story of each of the five title belts from inception to current titleholder.  

Lightweight (155lb)

Originally known as the bantamweight championship, the first holder of the modern lightweight title was Jens Pulver. Pulver defeated Caol Uno on February 23, 2001 and defended the title against BJ Penn but was stripped of the title in 2002, during a contractual dispute. A four-man tournament to decide a new champion ended with Uno and BJ Penn fighting to a draw. The title was shelved until 2006, when it was won by Sean Sherk. It is worth noting only three men have ever held the 155lb title: Jens Pulver, Sean Sherk and BJ Penn. Sherk was stripped of the title due to a positive drug test in 2007, and Penn won the vacant title in January 2008.  

Welterweight (170lb)

Conceived in 1998 and fought for in Brazil, what is now the 170lb title was originally named the lightweight title. Pat Miletich won the first belt and made four defenses before losing it to Carlos Newton. Matt Hughes snatched the title from Newton and would defend it five times before losing it to BJ Penn. Winning it back in 2004, Hughes has made more defenses of the 170lb title than any other fighter (a total of seven). GSP took the title from Hughes in 2006 but only held onto it for six months before Matt Serra took it from him in a huge upset. GSP held an interim version of the title, while Serra was out with injury, before becoming undisputed champ in April 2008.  

Middleweight (185lb)

The first middleweight title fight took place on September 28, 2001. Miletich-trained fighter Dave Menne won the title but lost it in his first defense to Murillo Bustamante. The Brazilian left the UFC to sign for Pride, leaving the belt behind. Evan Tanner briefly took the vacant title before Rich Franklin stepped in and became champ in 2005. He made two defenses before Anderson Silva arrived on the scene. The Brazilian became top dog at middleweight in October 2006, and has made five defenses of the belt in that time. Of all the UFC titles, only the lightweight title has been held by a lesser number of men.  

Light heavyweight (205lb)

The light heavyweight division has always been the UFC’s marquee attraction. Whereas boxing’s biggest fights have always been the heavyweights, the UFC’s 205lb weight class has not only provided some of the sport’s classic battles, but consistently attracted more attention than any other.  

Originally contested at under 200lb, the first champion was Frank Shamrock. Shamrock defended the title four times before retiring from the UFC in 1999. Tito Ortiz then picked up the vacant title by beating Wanderlei Silva, and defended it a record five times (more than any other light heavyweight). Since Ortiz lost the title in 2003, six men have had the title, with Chuck Liddell holding it the longest (from April 2005 to May 2007).  

Heavyweight (205lb+)

No other title has been held by more men than the heavyweight title. The UFC’s oldest championship, the heavyweight title came into being in 1997 when Mark Coleman beat Dan Severn at UFC 12.  

No less than 13 men can claim to have held a version of the UFC heavyweight title, with Randy Couture leading the way as the promotion’s only three-time champion. He first won the title in 1997, again in 2000 and most recently in 2007. With Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir scheduled to fight at UFC 100, the battle for the undisputed belt will see the title unified for the first time since 2007.  

56-60. 5 Fastest KO’s in UFC History

1. Don Frye beat Thomas Ramirez: UFC 8 (8 seconds)
2. James Irvin beat Houston Alexander: Ultimate Fight Night 13 (8 seconds)
3. Mark Weir beat Eugene Jackson: UFC 38 (10 seconds)
4. BJ Penn beat Caol Uno: UFC 41 (11 seconds)
5. Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig beat Jonathan Goulet: Ultimate Fight Night 3 (Officially 11 seconds, but a glance at the video shows Goulet was out in 4).

61. The first UFC event to take place on English soil was UFC 38. Featuring a rematch between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton in the main event, it saw four UK fighters enter the Octagon that night, a number not repeated until UFC 70 almost five years later. UFC 38 also saw the UFC debut of Genki Sudo.  

62. It is commonly held that the UFC has held events in seven countries, namely USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil, UK, Ireland and Germany, but technically, the UFC has visited eight countries (if you include Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States).  

63. The four-year feud that had been brewing between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock came to a head at UFC 40. Ortiz punished Shamrock over three rounds so that Shamrock could not answer the bell for the fourth. It would be the first of three fights between the pair.  

64. The only UFC title fight to ever end in a draw was that between BJ Penn and Caol Uno at UFC 41. The lightweight division was mothballed after UFC 49 and not reinstated until UFC 58, just under two years later.  

65. UFC 45 celebrated the UFC’s ten-year history with Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock being the inaugural inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame. Since then, they have been joined by Dan Severn, Mark Coleman and Randy Couture. 

66. The UFC’s only brawl in the Octagon not under the referee’s control took place at UFC 45 shortly after the bout between Tank Abbott and Wesley ‘Cabbage’ Correira. When the bout was stopped due to a cut on Abbott’s face, one of his corner took exception to Cabbage’s victory dance, which sparked a bench-clearing brawl between the two camps. Nobody was hurt and it was quickly defused, yet remains the only time this has ever happened.  

67-71. The Five Most Controversial UFC Moments

1. Joe Riggs narrowly missed weight at UFC 56. An official then discovered a fault with the scales and informed the fighter’s camp. Unfortunately, Riggs had already drunk two large bottles of water, meaning making the weight would be impossible. Riggs was denied a title shot due to the technical fault, though the bout with Matt Hughes went ahead as a non-title fight.  
2. Renato Sobral deliberately continued to choke David Heath after he had tapped at UFC 74. Babalu said he was teaching his rival “respect”. The Brazilian was fined by the athletic commission and his contract was terminated as a result.  
3. Michael Bisping’s points win over Matt Hamill launched a host of conspiracy theories. Forums buzzed with talk of the UFC robbing Hamill to protect their UK poster boy. Repeat viewings show that the fight was actually a lot closer than all the hot air at the time suggested.  
4. GSP’s masterly victory over BJ Penn was marred by the ensuing ‘Greasegate’ scandal. The NSAC launched an investigation into claims that the Canadian’s corner had applied Vaseline to his shoulders between rounds, but took no formal action.  
5. Kalib Starnes chose not to engage in his contest with Nate Quarry at UFC 83, running away for the full 15 minutes. He later sought to blame his performance on injury and dissatisfaction with his contract. Unsurprisingly, he was immediately dropped by the UFC.  

72. The Ultimate Fighter Era

A new era was ushered in during 2005. The first series of The Ultimate Fighter was broadcast on Spike TV, and culminated in a wildly entertaining tussle between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. The show was bankrolled and produced by the UFC themselves due to Spike’s lack of confidence in the idea, yet this soon changed when they saw the ratings. Since then, TUF has become an institution and has enjoyed nine seasons so far.  

73. The TUF 2 finale took place in November of 2005 and saw winners Rashad Evans (as a heavyweight) and Joe Stevenson (as a welterweight) crowned. In contrast to Evans’ success as a light heavyweight, Stevenson would enjoy the dubious honor of becoming the only TUF winner to lose his first professional fight in the Octagon after winning the show (a loss to Josh Neer, Ultimate Fight Night 4, in April 2006).  

74. The Ultimate Fighter 3 featured a man who would later return as a coach: Michael Bisping. One of two Englishmen to appear on the series, Bisping and countryman Ross Pointon were the first non-Americans to compete on TUF.  

75. TUF 4 featured a novel concept in that the contestants were entirely comprised of UFC veterans fighting for a chance to not only get back into the UFC, but for a shot at the title in their division. While Travis Lutter failed in his attempt to win the middleweight title, Matt Serra became the first TUF winner to win a UFC title when he beat GSP in April 2007.  

76. TUF 5 saw BJ Penn and Jens Pulver coach two teams of lightweights against each other, with the two coaches fighting in June 2007. Penn won by second-round submission, and it would be Pulver’s last fight for the UFC; he dropped to 145lb and moved to the WEC shortly after. Nate Diaz emerged winner of the 155lb finals.  

77. Matt Hughes and Matt Serra made no secret that they did not like each other during the filming of TUF 4, so sparks flew when they headed up opposing teams on TUF 6. The two never got to fight at the end of the show due to Serra herniating a disc in his back. They would have to wait almost 18 months (until May 2009) before they could fight each other. Mac Danzig cleared up as welterweight winner of the show but announced an immediate drop to lightweight.  

78. TUF 7 was the first series to see a contestant return as a coach. Forrest Griffin, the light heavyweight winner of season one, faced off with Rampage Jackson. Coaching two teams of middleweights, they met in July 2008 with Griffin capturing the title via decision. As a side note, Amir Sadollah won the middleweight bracket but has yet to fight in the UFC since, due to a series of injuries.  

79. Easily the most controversial series of The Ultimate Fighter yet, TUF 8 is infamous for the antics of Junie Browning. Coaches Frank Mir and Antonio Minotauro Nogueira met for the interim heavyweight title in December 2008, with Mir emerging victorious and earning a shot at Brock Lesnar. Efrain Escudero and Ryan Bader were crowned the lightweight and light heavyweight winners respectively.  

80. The ninth season of TUF saw a completely new twist as Team USA (coached by Dan Henderson) met with Team UK, led by Michael Bisping. With three of the final four spots taken by Englishmen, it has paved the way for a new generation of UK fighters to make it in the Octagon.  

81-85. The Best Entrances the UFC has ever seen

1. The Gracie family showed their solidarity with Royce by walking into UFC 1 in a train, each with their hands clasped on the shoulders of the one in front in what is now known as ‘The Gracie Train’. It was clear from the very beginning we were in for something different.  
2. At UFC 3, Kimo Leopoldo carried a cross on his back similar in size to the one used for the execution of Jesus Christ. To make sure no one missed the message, born-again Christian Kimo also dropped to his knees and prayed on the way to his fight.  
3. Tito Ortiz reached his bombastic peak before his UFC 40 clash with Ken Shamrock. Emerging from cascading flames, the bouncing, flag-waving Tito milked every second before striding down the ramp.  
4. Japanese entertainer Genki Sudo made one of the most stunning entrances in UFC history when he descended the ramp at UFC 38. Clad in a traditional Japanese kimono he showered the runway with silver foil as he strutted along in his trademark robot style.  
5. Akihiro Gono has pushed the limits so far, the boundaries of good taste are a distant memory. At UFC 94 he and his two partners in crime emerged dressed like classic ‘60s girl group, The Supremes, complete with wigs, sequined dresses and a cheesy dance routine.  

86. The biggest score difference recorded by a judge occurred at UFC Fight Night 6, when one judge scored the bout between Sammy Morgan and Forrest Petz 30-23 in Petz’s favor.  

87. UFC 83 was the first UFC event in Canada and broke two former records for the UFC, namely the fastest sell-out ever (most tickets were bought by UFC fight club members, with the rest being sold within one minute of going on sale to the public) and an attendance record of 21,390, beating the former record by just over 2,300.  

88. The only double-KO to have occurred in the UFC was on UFC 34, when Matt Hughes, caught in a triangle choke, lifted Carlos Newton into the air. Propping him against the fence, as he passed out from the choke he slammed Newton to the canvas, knocking him out. A confused Hughes woke up first and was declared the winner.  

89. The most-watched UFC fight on TV was Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock in October 2006. 6.524 million viewers turned in to see the fight for free on Spike TV. The second most-watched was Quinton Jackson vs Dan Henderson in September 2007 with 5.811 million viewers, and third was Michael Bisping vs Matt Hamill with 5.475 million viewers on the same show.  

90-94. The 5 Most Recognizable UFC Figures 

1. Dana White: The Boss. Seriously, if you don’t know who he is, where the hell have you been?  
2. Arianny Celeste: The face (and body) that launched a million fantasies.  
3. Bruce Buffer: “It’s time” to pay tribute. From his shiny suits to the mid air turns and in-your-face delivery, he is a one-off. It’s hard to imagine anyone else as the ‘Voice of the Octagon’.  
4. Joe Rogan: An inspired appointment as color commentator. Rogan’s passion and enthusiasm for the sport is infectious.
5. The “Just Bleed” guy: One man’s curious decision to attend UFC 15 shirtless with the words ‘Just Bleed’ painted on his chest created an Internet legend. The couple of seconds he was caught on camera, screaming and flexing his muscles, became one of the iconic images of the early UFCs. Over a decade on, his name regularly fuels long forum threads, mainly asking what became of him. It is widely believed that the Just Bleed guy is James Ladner. Ladner is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence in Mississippi for receiving stolen farm machinery.

95-99. UFC Records

1. The fighter with the most wins inside the Octagon is Chuck Liddell, with a total of 16. Close behind is Matt Hughes, who has 15 victories in the UFC, while the now-exiled Tito Ortiz comes third with 14 wins. In comparison, GSP only has 12 wins in the Octagon while Anderson Silva only has nine.  
2. Canada has twice set the record for biggest audience: UFC 97 in Montreal pulled in a crowd of 21,451 people.  
3. No fighter has fought in more title bouts than Randy Couture. The 45-year-old has contested for a UFC title no less than 15 times.  
4. The fighter who has graced the Octagon more than any other is former light heavyweight king, Chuck Liddell. The future Hall of Famer fought for the UFC a total of 22 times over 11 years.  
5. Anderson Silva holds the record for the most consecutive wins inside the Octagon with nine victories. The Brazilian has never lost in the UFC. In joint second place with eight consecutive wins are Jon Fitch and Royce Gracie. 

100. UFC 100 will actually be the UFC’s 134th show! Aside from the main ‘numbered’ UFC shows, there have been two ‘Ultimate Ultimate’ shows, Ultimate Japan and Ultimate Brazil, nine The Ultimate Fighter Finales, 19 Fight Nights and the little-known UFC ’37.5’.