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The Ultimate Fighting Championship
''The Ultimate Fighting Championship'' (later renamed ''UFC 1: The Beginning'') was the first mixed martial arts event by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), held at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, United States, on November 12, 1993. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view and later released on home video. Although the event was the lowest profile by the contemporary standards (the venue was less than half-packed, the grand prix of the tournament was as big as a regular sparring partner biannual salary, major martial arts observers and columnists did not bother to show up, the press in general neglected the event, ''Black Belt'' first mentioned it only several months later, big-name fighters turned down the offers to participate or to make a guest appearance in the audience), it pioneered the interstylistic match-ups between the practitioners of different martial arts, and set the pattern for the future sporting events of the kind. Background ''UFC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA promotion company in the world as of 2011. It produces events worldwide that showcase 12 weight divisions (eight men's and four women's) and abides by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. , it had held over 600 events. Dana White has been its president since 2001. Under White's stewardship, it has grown into a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise. The UFC was founded by businessman Art Davie and Brazilian martial artist Rorion Gracie, and the first event was held in 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions was to identify the most effective martial art in a contest with minimal rules and no weight classes between competitors of different fighting d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Davie
Art Davie (born April 5, 1947) is a business executive and entrepreneur formerly active in Southern California advertising circles. In 1993, he created and co-produced the tournament which became the televised Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 1998, Davie, as vice-president of K-1 USA, brought the successful K-1 kickboxing franchise from Japan to Las Vegas and North American pay-per-view television. In 2003, Davie was an executive producer with Mandalay Sports Entertainment. In 2006, he became vice-president of television at Paradigm Entertainment Group. In 2014, Ascend Books published Davie's book, '' Is This Legal?: The Inside Story of the First UFC from the Man Who Created It''. Sean Wheelock assisted in the book's research and writing. In November 2014, Davie was inducted into the Legends of MMA Hall of Fame, alongside Big John McCarthy, Pat Miletich, Fedor Emelianenko, and Rickson Gracie. On 5 July 2018 he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in the Contributors wing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Aerts
Peter Aerts (born 25 October 1970) is a Dutch semi-retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. Born in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Aerts began training in Taekwondo at the age of fourteen. He won his first world title when he was nineteen years old in 1990, taking the International Kick Boxing Federation's Heavyweight Championship. He would also add the Dutch heavyweight title and the World Muay Thai Association's heavyweight title to his mantelpiece before going on to compete in Japan. He competed in every K-1 World Grand Prix except one, in 2009. A three-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, he debuted at the inaugural K-1 World GP in 1993 where he was eliminated by fellow K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost. He won his first Grand Prix in 1994 by knocking out Rob van Esdonk and Patrick Smith in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rob Kaman
Rob "The Dutchman" Kaman (born 5 June 1960) is a Dutch retired 9-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion. He is often called "Mr. Low Kick" because of his feared low kicks which he used to set up his devastating offensive attacks. Biography Young age Rob Kaman was born in Amsterdam in 1960. In his early days, he played football for the AFC Ajax Youth Team. Kaman was a good player, but never liked team sports. At the age of 16, he became interested in martial arts and started training in pentjak silat. After he watched a fight of kickboxer Lucien Carbin, he started training in Muay Thai and kickboxing at Mejiro Gym under Carbin and later Jan Plas when he was 19. In 1980 Kaman became an A-class fighter in the Netherlands. He won most of his fights by K.O. The turning point for him was his fight with Blinky Rodriquez, the cousin of Benny Urquidez. Kaman knocked him out in the 2nd round with a low kick to the leg. That was his international breakthrough. From then on, Kaman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene LeBell
Ivan “Judo” Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American martial artist, stunt performer, actor, and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "The Godfather of Grappling", he popularized grappling in professional fighting circles, serving as a precursor to modern mixed martial arts. He worked on over 1,000 films and TV shows and authored 12 books. In 2000, the United States Ju-Jitsu Federation (USJJF) promoted LeBell to 9th dan in jujitsu and taihojutsu. On August 7, 2004, the World Martial Arts Masters Association promoted him to 10th degree. In February 2005, the USJJF made him 9th dan in judo. LeBell has been reported as the inspiration for the character of Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) in Quentin Tarantino's ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood''. However, Tarantino disputes this claim. Early life Ivan Gene LeBell was born in Los Angeles, California. He started training in catch wrestling and boxing from his early childhood, influenced by his mother, "Red Head" Ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Dillman
George Dillman (born November 23, 1942) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American martial arts instructor who popularized the use of pressure points (also known in Japanese as kyūsho jutsu (急所術)) among the United States' martial arts practitioners. Dillman is a member of '' Black Belt'' magazine's Hall of Fame, and in 1997 was named ''Black Belt Magazine''s "Martial Arts Instructor of the Year". For 30 years, he ran the Northeast Karate Championships. Dillman also conducts martial arts training seminars at the former Muhammad Ali training camp at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. Dillman has been subject to scrutiny stemming from the observation that many of his most famous techniques don’t work, especially those involving alleged touchless chi manipulation. Dillman calls his style Ryukyu kempo karate. Dillman began martial arts training in 1961 with Harry G. Smith. He went on to study with Daniel K. Pai, Robert Trias, Seiyu Oyata, Hohan Soken, Wally Jay and Muhammad Ali. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hee Il Cho
__NOTOC__ Cho Hee-il (born October 13, 1940) is a prominent Korean American, Korean-American Grandmaster (martial arts), master of taekwondo, holding the rank of 9th ''Dan (rank), dan'' in the martial art.Action International Martial Arts Association: Grandmaster Hee Il Cho Retrieved on 27 January 2010. He has written 11 martial art books, produced 70 martial art training videos, and has appeared on more than 70 martial arts magazine covers. Cho won several national and international competitions as a taekwondo competitor, and has appeared in several films, including ''Fight to Win (film), Fight to Win'', ''Best of the Best (1989 film), Best of the Best'', ''Bloodsport (film)#Sequels, Bloodsport II'', and ''Bloodsport (film)#Sequels, Bloodsport III''. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bart Vale
Bart Vale (born May 4, 1957) is an American former kickboxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is known for his "old school" American martial arts look, consisting of a mustache, mullet and American flag trunks. Career Bart Vale began his martial arts training in 1970 with kenpo. He later traveled to Japan where he was a professional wrestler in the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (a shoot-style professional wrestling organization) champion for close to three years. In Japan, he also studied a number of other styles and coined the term "shootfighting", a martial art that combines striking and grappling. He co-founded the International Shootfighting Association and in 1992, began the Shootfighting World Championships. Vale began participating in events for Fighting Network Rings in March 1993. He appeared in five matches for Rings, four of which took place during the organization's pro wrestling period. Rings began promoting mixed martial arts bouts rather than s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Smith (kickboxer)
Maurice L. Smith (born December 13, 1961) is a retired American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In kickboxing, he held the WKC (World Kickboxing Council) world light heavyweight championship, the WKA (World Kickboxing Association) world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA (International Sport Karate Association) world heavyweight championship. In mixed martial arts, he held the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC, and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017. A professional competitor since 1980, Smith has formerly competed in kickboxing for the companies All Japan Enterprise and K-1, Pancrase, RINGS, PRIDE, Strikeforce, International Fight League and RFA. Career Raised in Seattle, Washington, Smith got into martial arts at the age of 13 after watching Bruce Lee's '' Chinese Connection'', and having had to retreat from a fight. He trained in karate, taekwondo and wing chun, until he found the sport of kickboxing at age 18. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Roufus
Rick John Roufus (born June 3, 1966) is an American retired kickboxer. He is one of the most famous kickboxers in America, and has also competed professionally in boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ... and mixed martial arts. An accomplished professional fighter throughout his competitive career Roufus has won multiple world championships across the globe in several weight classes, he was world champion as a super middle weight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Roufus held titles for all the major kickboxing associations worldwide (Professional Karate Association, PKA, International Kickboxing Federation, IKF, ISKA, FFKA and KICK), and is known for his boxing skills and powerful kicks. He is the older brother of Duke Roufus who is also a kickboxer and a Muay Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer)
Jean-Yves Thériault is a Canadian kickboxer, kickboxing trainer, and author. Biography Jean-Yves Thériault was born in Paquetville, New Brunswick, Canada. He was the fifth of six sons. Thériault began his martial arts training in 1972 at age 17, achieving blue belt status in Jujutsu before becoming interested in Karate and Full Contact Karate few years later. He won his first Full Contact Karate competition in 1976 after only six months of training under the direction of John Therien (who now holds Hanshi degree in Ju-Jitsu), and subsequently became Canadian middleweight kickboxing champion two and a half years later. Kelly 2006 In 1980 he won the PKA Middleweight World title (Full-contact karate), and held the championship for a record of 15 years. He has also won world titles in both the ISKA and PKC associations. During the peak of his career, Thériault held only a yellow belt in Karate. He was referred to as "The Iceman," a nickname given to him by Rodney Batiste durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Longinidis
Stan "The Man" Longinidis (born 25 June 1965) is an Australian retired heavyweight kickboxer and 8-time world kickboxing champion. Born in Melbourne of Greek ethnicity, Longinidis is one of the few fighters to win world titles in four different styles of kickboxing competition: international rules, Oriental rules, full contact and Muay Thai. He holds notable victories over Branko Cikatić, Adam Watt, Peter Graham, Musashi and Dennis Alexio. He is also an actor and motivational speaker. Biography 1983-1989: Early career Stan Longinidis began practicing martial arts in 1982 after being inspired by watching a martial artist defeat five opponents in a night club brawl. His kickboxing career commenced in 1983, and he had won two amateur titles when he challenged Santiago Garza for the WKA World Light Heavyweight Championship in 1987. Despite the contest ending in a draw, Longinidis had displayed such potential that he was invited to train full-time at the prestigious Jet Cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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