There once was a time, before a certain double champ became the biggest star in the sport, that no one really cared about smaller fighters. You’d better believe there was always a clash of titans at the top of a UFC bill to attract fans in the promotion’s developing years.

That is until the hottest talent pool in the sport allowed lightweights take center stage.

BJ Penn came into UFC 35 as the uncrowned 155lb champion. He’d only had three pro MMA fights in six months, but he’d wrecked everyone inside a round.

Caol Uno had only lasted 11 seconds in his last fight. Fans expected him to run through champion Jens Pulver. Some even suggested the Hawaiian’s first name was short for ‘Beat Jens’.

‘L’il Evil’ was all but written off as a stepping stone for Penn on his way to the throne. He was just some guy who’d had a boring last defense.

But he came from Miletich Fighting Systems – the best camp in mixed martial arts – and delivered an amazing performance in a hell of a fight to secure his place in history.

ICE COLD

MMA icon Chuck Liddell beat Amar Suloev, but the fight was hardly vintage ‘Iceman’.

The crowd even booed him. He outlanded his opponent by almost double the number of strikes, but the Armenian ate everything and somehow stayed standing for the full 15 minutes.

TRUE GRIT

Pulver found the main event hard going at first and tapped out to an armbar at the end of round two, but he’d been saved by the bell a second before his limb was almost snapped.

That close call – and a severe talking to by cornermen Jeremy Horn and Pat Miletich – was what he needed to get going.

By showing some real Iowa toughness, he beat Penn to the punch for the final three rounds to take a majority decision and hang on to his belt.

“Sometimes hype just ain’t enough,” he sneered. “This is my f**king cage.”

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

There were no official ‘Knockout of the Night’ bonus back then, but if there were it would surely have gone to Andrei Semenov.

He flattened a flame-haired Ricardo Almeida with a huge right hook.

DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS

Sometimes even the toughest men in the world soil themselves. Not because they were scared – a terrible stomach bug took out fighters, trainers, event staff and media members at UFC 35.

Symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting swept the Mohegan Sun Casino and no one knew what caused it – though fingers were pointed at a hotel restaurant, which was coincidentally called The Octagon.

Kevin Randleman won his fight despite defecating in his pants – a fact hidden because he was wearing three pairs of shorts.

Poor Dave Menne was apparently dehydrated and hallucinating during his middleweight title match – likely why he was knocked out.

MEDIA MATTERS

Who cares what the press thinks? Well, 2002 might as well have been a different dimension rather than just 15 years ago, because back then, the UFC wanted to pick reporters’ brains.

As it had only owned the company for less than a year, Zuffa held its first media dinner so Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta could get reporters’ opinions about tweaks they could make to the company.

Almost everyone said staredowns take place before fights. The owners weren’t convinced at first, but by UFC 40 face-to -face confrontations were a main-event staple.

ALSO THROWING DOWN AT UFC 35

• Ricardo Almeida wouldn’t fight in the UFC again for six years. He jetted off to compete in Japan until 2004, then retired to focus on his BBJ school in New Jersey. He made his return at UFC 81.
• By improving his Octagon record to 1-1 with a win over Chris Brennan, Gil Castillo earned a 170lb title shot against Matt Hughes. He was beaten down in a round and never seen in the Octagon again.
• He didn’t fight, but Randy Couture made his debut as a color commentator beside Mike Goldberg and Jeff Osborne. ‘The Natural’ returned to the cage at UFC 36, where he lost his heavyweight belt to Josh Barnett.