UFC on FOX and the 5 Most Significant Events in MMA History

Mixed martial arts has been clawing its way towards acceptance for almost 20 years now. While other parts of the world have accepted the traditions of Vale Tudo and no-holds-barred combat for a while, it was the UFC that took those foundations and modernized them, turning them into a sport that rivals any out there in terms of excitement.

In doing that, along the way there have been some milestone events. The UFC has been responsible for most, though other promotions got in on the MMA craze and impacted the landscape as well.

Let’s take a look at the five most significant events that have taken place to this point.

UFC 129

In April 2011 the UFC finally took its show to the most populated part of Canada, the province of Ontario. Long an opponent of mixed martial arts, Ontario got with the times in late 2010 and okayed the sanctioning of the sport within its borders.

The result...55,000 people showed up at Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays, to watch Georges St-Pierre defend his title against Jake Shields. The gate and attendance were North American MMA records, and showed the viability of MMA and the UFC in the modern sports market.

UFC 100

July 2009 was a special time for the UFC, as UFC 100 marked a milestone for a company that was on life support less than a decade earlier. The idea of getting to 100 pay-per-view events seemed outrageous then, and yet here they were with their two biggest stars—Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar—defending titles and serving as co-main event draws.

The event did around 1.6 million buys on pay-per-view, an MMA record, and drew over 10,000 people to the Mandalay Bay Events Centre in Vegas. It marked the realization that, not only was the UFC and mixed martial arts very much here to stay, it was also much closer to mainstream success than people realized.

EliteXC: Primetime

While their business model proved problematic and they got ahead of themselves in terms of promoting fights on network television, the fact remains that EliteXC did it before anyone else. They got their promotion on free television in May 2008, pushing street fighter Kimbo Slice as the next big thing in MMA.

Through no fault of his own, Kimbo was eventually exposed as being pushed too far, too fast, and his KO loss to journeyman Seth Petruzelli at a later CBS-televised show basically killed the promotion.

However, the fact that EliteXC got on network television at all was huge for modern MMA, as it represented a shift in the mentality of network executives.The idea of MMA as a bloodsport was losing steam; the idea of MMA as legitimate athletic competition was growing.

UFC on FOX

Though it hasn’t officially taken place yet, the UFC will debut on FOX this weekend with a fight for the ages. The heavyweight title will be on the line, and more eyes are likely to see it than have seen any live fight in the history of mixed martial arts.

That alone represents a benchmark for MMA, as having one of the biggest networks in the world partner with the top promotion in the sport shows that it’s no longer a niche, and definitely isn’t going away. It may not be fully mainstream yet, but the idea that it could be wiped out any day is definitely a thing of the past.

Add to those points the fact that the two men competing on FOX are soft-spoken, humble, respectful competitors that any sponsor would love to have, and it gives a whole other dynamic. It’s likely to be a showdown that people will talk about for years.

UFC 1

The one that started it all. Without UFC 1 there’s no telling where mixed martial arts would be today, or if it would be as big as it is at all.

Initially conceived by the Gracies and some American promotional minds as a way to showcase the art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, the original UFC was the event that showed the world what fighting really was. All the time that people had spent arguing over what martial art was best and who would win in a real fight, and there would finally be an answer.

The answer ended up being one that most people had never even heard of in 1993, as Royce Gracie represented his family and its art by dominating everyone put before him on the way to the tournament title. Suddenly, the world saw that no matter how many black belts a man hung on his wall, if he couldn’t fight on the ground, he couldn’t fight.

From there, the sport garnered more attention (not all of it good), and a genuine phenomenon was born over the years. MMA is now growing faster than any other sport in the world, and is producing revenue at a baffling pace considering the state of the global economy. 

And it all started with a skinny Brazilian guy in a gi, beating people senseless in Denver on the most significant night in the history of the sport.