UFC / MMA
PROFESSIONAL UFC & MMA
ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP & MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
PICTURES BELOW
PROFESSIONAL UFC / MMA
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world featuring most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport. Based in the United States, the UFC produces events worldwide. The organization showcases nine weight divisions and enforces the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC has held over 300 events to date. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC.
The first UFC event was held on November 12, 1993 in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early UFC competitions was to identify the most effective martial art in a real fight between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu,Sambo, wrestling, Muay Thai, karate, judo, and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.
With a TV deal and expansion into the University of Mary Washington, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and new markets within the United States, the UFC as of 2015 has gained in popularity, along with greater mainstream media coverage. As of 2015 viewers can access UFC programming on pay-per-view television in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Italy. UFC programming can also be found on Fox, Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 in the U.S., on ESPN in the Caribbean, on BT Sportin the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as in 150 countries and 22 different languages worldwide. The UFC plans to continue expanding internationally, running shows regularly in Canada, Brazil and the U.K., with an office established in the U.K. aimed to expand the European audience.
The UFC has also bought and absorbed rival promotions Pride, World Extreme Cagefighting as well asStrikeforce and EliteXC.
The Ultimate Fighter and mainstream emergence
Faced with the prospect of folding, the UFC stepped outside the bounds of pay-per-view and made a foray into television. After being featured in a reality television series,American Casino, and seeing how well the series worked as a promotion vehicle, the Fertitta brothers developed the idea of the UFC having its own reality series.
Their idea, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF)–a reality television show featuring up-and-coming MMA fighters in competition for a six-figure UFC contract, with fighters eliminated from competition via exhibition mixed martial arts matches–was pitched to several networks, each one rejecting the idea outright. Not until they approached Spike TV, with an offer to pay the $10 million production costs themselves, did they find an outlet.
In January 2005, Spike TV launched TUF in the timeslot following WWE Raw. The show became an instant success, culminating with a notable season finale brawl featuring finalists Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar going toe-to-toe for the right to earn the six-figure contract, an event that Dana White credits for saving the UFC.
On the heels of the Griffin/Bonnar finale, a second season of The Ultimate Fighter launched in August 2005, and two more seasons appeared in 2006. Spike and the UFC continued to create and air new seasons until the show moved to FX in 2012.
Following the success of The Ultimate Fighter, Spike also picked up UFC Unleashed, an hour-long weekly show featuring select fights from previous events. Spike also signed on to broadcast live UFC Fight Night, a series of fight events debuting in August 2005, and Countdown specials to promote upcoming UFC pay-per-view cards.
After a very successful run on Spike and with the upcoming announcement of the UFC’s new relationship with Fox, Spike officials made a statement regarding the end of their partnership with the UFC, “The Ultimate Fighter season 14 in September will be our last… Our 6-year partnership with the UFC has been incredibly beneficial in building both our brands, and we wish them all the best in the future.”
With the announcement of UFC’s partnership with Fox in August 2011, The Ultimate Fighter, which entered its 14th season in that September, moved to the FX network to air on Friday nights starting with season 15 in the Spring of 2012. Along with the network change, episodes are now edited and broadcast within a week of recording instead of a several-month delay, and elimination fights are aired live.
Surging popularity and growth – mid-2000s
With increased visibility, the UFC’s pay-per-view buy numbers exploded. UFC 52, the first event after the first season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring eventual-UFC Hall of Famer Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell avenging his defeat to fellow eventual-Hall of Famer Randy Couture, drew a pay-per-view audience of 300,000, doubling its previous benchmark of 150,000 set at UFC 40. Following the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s much-hyped match between Liddell and Couture drew an estimated 410,000 pay-per-view buys at UFC 57.
For the rest of 2006, pay-per-view buy rates continued to skyrocket, with 620,000 buys for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie—featuring Royce Gracie‘s first UFC fight in 11 years—and 775,000 buys for UFC 61 featuring the highly anticipated rematch between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz, the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 3. The organization hit a milestone with UFC 66, pitting Ortiz in a rematch against Liddell with over 1 million buys.
The surge in popularity prompted the UFC to beef up its executive team. In March 2006, the UFC announced that it had hired Marc Ratner, former Executive Director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. Ratner, once an ally of Senator McCain’s campaign against no holds barred fighting, became a catalyst for the emergence of sanctioned mixed martial arts in the United States. Ratner continues to educate numerous athletic commissions to help raise the UFC’s media profile in an attempt to legalize mixed martial arts in jurisdictions inside and outside the United States that have yet to sanction the sport.
In December 2006, Zuffa acquired the northern California-based promotion World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) in order to stop the International Fight League (IFL) from making a deal with Versus (now NBC Sports Network). At the time, the UFC had an exclusive deal with Spike, so the purchase of the WEC allowed Zuffa to block the IFL from Versus without violating their contract. The WEC showcased lighter weight classes in MMA, whereas the UFC featured heavier weight classes. Notable WEC fighters includedUrijah Faber, Jamie Varner, Carlos Condit, Benson Henderson, Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Eddie Wineland, Miguel Angel Torres, Mike Thomas Brown, Leonard Garcia, Brian Bowles, Dominick Cruz andJosé Aldo.
In December 2006, Zuffa also acquired their cross-town, Las Vegas rival World Fighting Alliance (WFA). In acquiring the WFA, they acquired the contracts of notable fighters including Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Martin Kampmann.
The sport’s popularity was also noticed by the sports betting community as BodogLife.com, an online gambling site, stated in July 2007 that in 2007 UFC would surpass boxing for the first time in terms of betting revenues. In fact, the UFC had already broken the pay-per-view industry’s all-time records for a single year of business, generating over $222,766,000 in revenue in 2006, surpassing both WWE and boxing.
The UFC continued its rapid rise from near obscurity with Roger Huerta gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated and Chuck Liddell on the front of ESPN The Magazine in May 2007.
Pride acquisition and integration
On March 27, 2007, the UFC and their Japan-based rival the Pride Fighting Championships announced an agreement in which the majority owners of the UFC, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, would purchase the Pride brand.
Initial intentions were for both organizations to be run separately but aligned together with plans to co-promote cards featuring the champions and top contenders from both organizations. However, after purchasing Pride, Dana White felt that the Pride model was not sustainable and the organization would likely fold with many former Pride fighters such as Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira,Maurício “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović, Wanderlei Silva and others already being realigned under the UFC brand. On October 4, 2007, Pride Worldwide closed its Japanese office, laying off 20 people who were working there since the closing of its parent company Dream Stage Entertainment(DSE).
On June 18, 2008, Lorenzo Fertitta accommodated the UFC’s growth by announcing his resignation fromStation Casinos in order to devote his energies to the international business development of Zuffa, particularly the UFC. The move proved to be pivotal, as Fertitta helped strike TV deals in China, France, Mexico and Germany as well as open alternative revenue streams with a new UFC video game and UFC action figures, among other projects.
Fighters exposed to the UFC audience—or who became prominent—in the post-Pride era includeAnderson Silva, Jon Fitch, Lyoto Machida, Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones, among others.
UFC 100 – late 2000s–present
Popularity took another major surge in 2009 with UFC 100 and the 10 events preceding it including UFC 90,91, 92, 94 and 98. UFC 100 was a massive success garnering 1.7 million buys under the drawing power of former NCAA wrestling champion and current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar and his rematch with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir, Canadian superstar Georges St-Pierre going head-to-head with Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Alves, and Pride legend Dan Henderson opposing British middleweight Michael Bisping; rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom.
UFC 100 was unique in that it drew significant interest from ESPN, which provided extensive coverage of the event in the days preceding and following it. In fact, ESPN would eventually devote additional coverage of the UFC and other MMA news with the television debut of “MMA Live” on ESPN2 in May 2010.
The buzz from UFC 100 was hampered significantly in the second half of 2009 after a rash of injuries and other health-related issues including Brock Lesnar’s life-threatening bout with diverticulitis forcing the organization to continuously scramble and reshuffle its lineup for several events.
However, the momentum gradually began to pick up in the first quarter of 2010 after victories from defending champions Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, as well as Lyoto Machida’s first career defeat to “Shogun” Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. These fights segued into a very popular clash between former UFC Champions and rivals Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson—rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights—at UFC 114, featuring the UFC’s first main event headlined by African-American fighters. The event scored over 1 million pay per view buys as Evans secured a unanimous decision victory.
This momentum carried into the summer of 2010 at UFC 116, which featured the return of Brock Lesnar defending his UFC Heavyweight title against the undefeated interim-champion Shane Carwin before 1.25 million PPV viewers. Lesnar survived an early barrage of Carwin’s punches in a contest that was nearly stopped by referee Josh Rosenthal. However, Lesnar recovered in the second round to submit Carwin via arm triangle choke to retain the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship. The event as a whole was critically acclaimed in the media for living up to the hype with a number of exciting fights that were featured on the televised card.
After a dramatic fifth round, last minute victory by UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, Lesnar finally surrendered his belt to the undefeated Cain Velasquez via 1st round TKO at UFC 121. The fight produced Velasquez’s eighth knockout or technical knockout in his first nine MMA fights.
UFC 129 featured Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is currently the largest UFC event in North American history, which coincided with a two-day UFC Fan Expo at the Direct Energy Centre. The event sold out 55,000 tickets for gate revenues exceeding $11 million, shattering previous MMA attendance and gate records in North America.
TRT
On February 27, 2014 the Nevada State Athletic Commission banned the use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). The UFC followed suit and banned the use of TRT for any of their events, including international markets where the UFC oversees regulatory efforts.
WEC merger
Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, purchased World Extreme Cagefighting in late 2006 and held the first WEC event under new ownership on January 20, 2007. Soon thereafter the WEC made its home on the Versus Network with its first event debuting on Versus in June 2007.
On October 28, 2010, Zuffa announced that its sister promotion, WEC would merge with the UFC. The WEC held its final card on December 16, 2010. As a result of the merger, the UFC absorbed WEC’s bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight weight divisions and their respective fighters. The UFC also made the last WEC Featherweight and Bantamweight Champions, José Aldo and Dominick Cruzrespectively, the inaugural UFC Champions of their new weight divisions.
Reed Harris, who started World Extreme Cagefighting with Scott Adams, had mixed emotions on the merger. “It’s kind of like when your kid goes off to college: at first you’re not happy, but after you think about it for a while, you’re really happy,” Harris told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview immediately following the announcement. “At the end of the day, I never imagined this thing would be where we’re at today. I’m extremely proud and happy that I was involved with something that will now be part of what may be, some day, the largest sports organization in the world.”
Strikeforce purchase
On March 12, 2011, Dana White revealed that Zuffa had purchased Strikeforce. White went on to explain that Strikeforce will operate as an independent promotion, and that Scott Coker will continue to run the promotion. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker announced the return of Fedor Emelianenko on an unspecified July or August event and said that Zuffa-owned company would continue to co-promote with M-1 Global. Following the purchase, the UFC signed many of Strikeforce’s top stars and champions, such as Jason Miller, Nick Diaz, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, and Cung Le. Under Zuffa’s ownership, Strikeforce made minor changes, including adopting the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts in full, closing the promotion’s men’s weight classes below lightweight, and ceasing promotion of amateur undercard bouts. After an extension was reached to continue Strikeforce through 2012, the promotion’s heavyweight division (sans Heavyweight Grand Prix finalists) was merged into the UFC, and the promotion’s Challengers series was ended.
The final Strikeforce show was Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine on January 12, 2013, after which the promotion was dissolved and all fighter contracts were either ended or absorbed into the UFC.
Fox partnership
| Event | Date | Rating | Share | Viewers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velasquez vs. dos Santos | November 12, 2011 | 3.1 | 5 | 5.7 million | |
| Evans vs. Davis | January 28, 2012 | 2.6 | 5 | 4.7 million | |
| Diaz vs. Miller | May 5, 2012 | 1.5 | 3 | 2.4 million | |
| Shogun vs. Vera | August 4, 2012 | 1.4 | 3 | 2.4 million | |
| Henderson vs. Diaz | December 8, 2012 | 2.5 | 5 | 4.4 million | |
| Johnson vs. Dodson | January 26, 2013 | 2.4 | 5 | 4.2 million | |
| Henderson vs. Melendez | April 20, 2013 | 2.2 | 4 | 3.7 million | |
| Johnson vs. Moraga | July 27, 2013 | 1.5 | 3 | 2.4 million | |
| Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 | December 14, 2013 | 1.8 | 3 | 2.8 million | |
| Henderson vs. Thomson | January 25, 2014 | 1.9 | 3 | 3.2 million | |
| Werdum vs. Browne | April 19, 2014 | 1.6 | 3 | 2.5 million | |
| Lawler vs. Brown | July 26, 2014 | 1.5 | 3 | 2.5 million | |
| dos Santos vs. Miocic | December 13, 2014 | 1.6 | 3 | 2.8 million | |
| Gustafsson vs. Johnson | January 24, 2015 | 1.8 | 4 | 3.0 million |
On August 18, 2011, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Fox announced a seven-year broadcast deal through the Fox Sports subsidiary, effectively ending the UFC’s Spike TV and Versus (now NBC Sports Network) partnership. The deal includes four events on the main Fox network, 32 live Friday night fights per year on their cable network FX, 24 events following The Ultimate Fighter reality show and six separate Fight Night events.
The promotion’s first broadcast television event – UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos – broke form by showcasing only one fight to television viewers. In the main event, Junior dos Santos abruptly dethroned then-undefeated UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez by knock-out at 1:04 in the first round. The telecast peaked with 8.8 million viewers tuning into the fight with an average audience of 5.7 million, making it by far the most watched MMA event of all-time and the most watched combat sports event since 2003’s HBO bout between Lennox Lewis and Vitaly Klitschko.
One of the other programming opportunities that is already in motion is a weekly UFC magazine-style show. When asked about the potential for a weekly magazine-style series, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta responded, “Not only weekly, but, potentially, multiple times per week you’ll have a UFC magazine (show).” The UFC will maintain production control of its product, including the use of its broadcast team of Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. Fox Sports will produce the pre- and post-shows.
Women’s MMA
On November 16, 2012, the eve of UFC 154: St. Pierre vs. Condit, Dana White confirmed with Jim Rome the UFC will feature women’s MMA with the signing of its first female fighter, Strikeforce bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. She subsequently became the first female UFC champion, the first Olympic medallist with a UFC title, and the first woman to defend a UFC title.
On December 11, 2013 the UFC picked up the contracts of 11 female fighters to fill up their 115-pound division. The Strawweights will take part in the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter: Team Pettis vs. Team Melendez, the season winner will be the first UFC women’s strawweight champion. Fighters include Felice Herrig, Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres, Bec Hyatt, Joanne Calderwood, and Invicta FC’s Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza.
International expansion
In addition to the PPV, Fight Nights and The Ultimate Fighter events in the United States. UFC events have been held in 15 other countries. Puerto Rico, a United States territory, hosted UFC 8 in 1996. The others countries are spread within Asia, Europe, Oceania, South Americaand North America.
Canada has been visited 17 times, starting with UFC 83 in 2008 and most recently in 2014 with UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Saffiedine. UFC’s biggest event to date was also in Canada, as Rogers Centre held UFC 129, featuring a record-breaking attendance of 55,724.
The United Kingdom has been home to 15 events. The first of them was UFC 38 held in London, in 2002. UFC returned to the United Kingdom in 2007 with UFC 70, including a visit to Northern Ireland for UFC 72. Their most recent event was UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa in 2014. Ireland held UFC 93 in 2009, only to feature a new event 5 years later as the UFC presented UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Brandao. Other European countries include Germany and Sweden, both visited 3 times. They held their first events in 2009 and 2012 respectively. They’ve also been visited in 2014 most recently.
The first Brazilian event was UFC Brazil: Ultimate Brazil, held in São Paulo in 1998. The promotion returned to Brazil in 2011 for UFC 134 and has hosted a total 18 events ever since. Their most recent visit was UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. St. Preux. In 2014, another Latin America country had its first event as Mexicohosted UFC 180.
Six UFC events have been held in Australia, beginning with UFC 110 in 2010 and most recently in 2014 withUFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping. New Zealand was another country that was first visited by the UFC in 2014 as they held UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs. Marquardt.
In Asia, the UFC has visited 4 countries. Japan had its first visit in 1997 for UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan. The UFC only returned to the country in 2012, after 12 years, with UFC 144. Their last visit was in 2014 for UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Nelson, making a total of 7 events. The promotion has also featured 2 visits to theUnited Arab Emirates. One of them in 2010 for UFC 112 and the last one in 2014 for UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Nelson. The promotion has also visited Macau in 3 occasions: China‘s special administrative region was first visited in 2012 with UFC on Fuel TV: Franklin vs. Le and last visited in 2014 for UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le. Singapore was the most recent country that the they have visited, with UFC Fight Night: Saffiedine vs. Lim in 2014.
The Ultimate Fighter has had international editions as well: Brazil (since 2012), Australia (vs. United Kingdom – 2012), China (2013), Canada (vs. Australia – 2014) and Latin America (2014).
Lawsuit
In December 2014, an antitrust lawsuit was filed against Zuffa by several fighters, claiming the organization restricts fighters’ control over their careers and earning potential. Named plaintiffs in the case are former fighters Jon Fitch and Nate Quarry and active fighter Cung Le.
Rules
The current rules for the Ultimate Fighting Championship were originally established by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board. The set of “Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts” that New Jersey established has been adopted in other states that regulate mixed martial arts, including Nevada, Louisiana, and California. These rules are also used by many other promotions within the United States, becoming mandatory for those states that have adopted the rules, and so have become the standard de facto set of rules for professional mixed martial arts across the country.
Rounds
UFC matches vary in maximum length, depending on whether the match is for a Championship title, or is a fight card’s “main event” fight. In all fights, each round can be no longer than five minutes. Championship fights last for a maximum of five rounds. Beginning with UFC 138 on November 5, 2011, non-championship “main event” fights (i.e. the final fight on the card) will also last for a maximum of five rounds. Non-main event bouts last for a maximum of three rounds. UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann featured the organization’s first two flyweight fights as part of its first flyweight tournament, which consists of bouts that, in the event of a draw, go to a fourth “sudden victory” round held to determine the winner, who advances. There is a one-minute rest period between rounds.
Weight divisions
| Weight class name | Upper limit | Gender | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| in pounds (lb) | in kilograms (kg) | in stones (st) | ||
| Strawweight | 115 | 52.2 | 8 st 3 lb | Women |
| Flyweight | 125 | 56.7 | 8 st 13 lb | Men |
| Bantamweight | 135 | 61.2 | 9 st 9 lb | Men / Women |
| Featherweight | 145 | 65.8 | 10 st 5 lb | Men |
| Lightweight | 155 | 70.3 | 11 st 1 lb | Men |
| Welterweight | 170 | 77.1 | 12 st 2 lb | Men |
| Middleweight | 185 | 83.9 | 13 st 3 lb | Men |
| Light Heavyweight | 205 | 93.0 | 14 st 6 lb | Men |
| Heavyweight | 265 | 120.2 | 18 st 13 lb | Men |
Non-title fights have a one-pound leniency. In addition, there is one weight class specified in the Unified Rules which the UFC does not currently use:
- Super Heavyweight: Unlimited (265 lb+)
Cage
The UFC stages bouts in an eight-sided enclosure officially named “The Octagon”. Originally, SEG trademarked the concept as well as the term and prevented other mixed martial arts promotions from using the same type of cage, but in 2001 Zuffa gave permission for other promotions to use octagonal cages, reasoning that the young sport needed uniformity to continue to win official sanctioning. Today Zuffa reserves exclusive use of the name “The Octagon”.
The UFC cage is an octagonal structure with walls of metal chain-link fence coated with black vinyl and a diameter of 32 ft (9.8 m), allowing 30 ft (9.1 m) of space from point to point. The fence is 5 ft 6 in to 5 ft 8 inheight. The cage sits atop a platform, raising it 4 ft (1.2 m) from the ground. It has foam padding around the top of the fence and between each of the eight sections. It also has two entry-exit gates opposite each other. The mat, painted with sponsorship logos and art, is replaced for each event.
Attire
All competitors must fight in approved shorts, without shoes. Shirts (except in the women’s division), gis or long pants (including gis pants) are not allowed. Fighters must use approved light-weight open-fingered gloves, that include at least 1″ of padding around the knuckles, (110 to 170 g / 4 to 6 ounces) that allow fingers to grab. These gloves enable fighters to punch with less risk of an injured or broken hand, while retaining the ability to grab and grapple. A mouthguard and jockstrap with protective cup are also required, and fighters are checked for these by a State Athletic Committee official before being allowed to enter the cage/ring.
Originally the attire for UFC was very open if controlled at all. Many fighters still chose to wear tight-fitting shorts or boxing-type trunks, while others wore long pants or singlets. Several wore wrestling shoes. Multi-time tournament Champion Royce Gracie wore a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gi in all his early appearances in UFC, while Art Jimmerson appeared in UFC 1 wearing one standard boxing glove. As of UFC 133 there has been a ban on speedo style shorts after Dennis Hallman wore one in his fight against Brian Ebersole. UFC president Dana White was so furious about the fighter’s choice of attire that he awarded an honorary “getting those horrifying shorts off TV as soon as possible” bonus to Ebersole for finishing the fight in the first round, and in following post-fight interviews made it clear that speedo style shorts will no longer be tolerated.
Reebok Uniform
On December 2, 2014, the UFC and Reebok held a press conference to announce an exclusive deal for Reebok to become the worldwide outfitter for the UFC, beginning in July 2015. Financial terms of the six-year partnership were not released, but UFC officials said that though the agreement represents the most valuable non-broadcast contract the company has ever signed, the UFC will not directly profit from the new deal. Instead, company execs said the deal is structured so that the “vast majority of the revenue” from the deal – taking out only the costs associated with administering the new program – will be paid directly to UFC fighters.
Under the terms of the new deal, UFC champions will be paid at the highest level per fight while the remaining fighters will be tiered based on their spot in the official UFC rankings. Fighters ranked No. 1-5 will be paid at one level, No. 6-10 at a lower level, No. 11-15 below that, and unranked fighters at a base rate. The payments will remain consistent regardless of where the athletes’ bouts air. In addition to the per-fight rate, fighters will also receive royalty payments representing 20 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness. The royalty program will also include retired fighters and continue in perpetuity. The deal itself is reported to be worth 70 million dollars which is what the fighters will be paid over the next six years which is roughing 260 thousands dollar per UFC fight card.
The new deal means that beginning with fight week for next summer’s UFC 189 event in Las Vegas, existing sponsors will no longer appear on fighter clothing – not only on fight night, but also at all pre-fight media appearances – and in-cage sponsor banners also will be eliminated. Fighter camps also will be outfitted with approved clothing to create a uniform look in athletes’ corners. Existing sponsors are still welcome to support UFC fighters. However, the companies will be tasked with finding a new activation process since third-party logos will no longer be allowed on UFC broadcasts, other than title-sponsor slots – similar to those seen with European soccer clubs – that the UFC may eventually sell to “a major, global brand” down the road.
Match outcome
Matches may end via:
- Submission: a fighter clearly taps the mat or his opponent, verbally submits, or clearly communicates being in pain (such as by yelling) to a degree that causes the referee to stop the fight. Also, a technical submission may be called when a fighter either loses consciousness or is on the verge of serious injury while in a hold.
- Knockout: a fighter is put into a state of unconsciousness resulting from any legal strike.
- Technical Knockout (TKO): If the referee decides a fighter cannot continue, the fight is ruled as a technical knockout. Technical knockouts can be classified into three categories:
- referee stoppage (the referee ends the fight because one fighter is deemed unable to intelligently defend himself)
- doctor stoppage (a ring side doctor decides that it is unsafe for one fighter to continue the bout, due to excessive bleeding or physical injuries)
- corner stoppage (a fighter’s cornerman signals defeat for their own fighter)
- Judges’ Decision: Depending on scoring, a match may end as:
- unanimous decision (all three judges score a win for fighter A)
- majority decision (two judges score a win for fighter A, one judge scores a draw)
- split decision (two judges score a win for fighter A, one judge scores a win for fighter B)
- technical decision (a fighter is rendered unable to continue as a result of an unintentional illegal element or move, resulting in a decision based on the finished and unfinished rounds if the number of rounds to be judged is sufficient)
- unanimous draw (all three judges score a draw)
- majority draw (two judges score a draw, one judge scoring a win)
- split draw (one judge scores a win for fighter A, one judge scores a win for fighter B, and one judge scores a draw)
- technical draw (the bout ends in a manner similar to that of a technical decision, with the judges’ scores resulting in a draw)
- Disqualification: a fighter intentionally executes an illegal move that is considered by the referee or opponent to be injurious or significant enough to negatively alter the opponent’s performance should the fight continue, resulting in the opponent’s victory.
- Forfeit: a fighter fails to compete or intentionally and prematurely ends the bout for a reason besides injury, resulting in the opponent’s victory.
- No Contest: a fighter is rendered unable to continue or compete effectively as a result of an unintentional illegal element or move and there is not a sufficient number of finished rounds to be judged to make a technical decision viable, or both fighters are rendered unable to continue or compete effectively. Also, a fight may be ruled a no contest if the original outcome of the bout is changed due to unsatisfactory or illegal circumstances, such as a premature stoppage or a fighter’s testing positive for banned substances.
In the event of a draw, it is not necessary that the fighters’ total points be equal (see, e.g., UFC 41 Penn vs. Uno, or UFC 43 Freeman vs. White). However, in a unanimous or split draw, each fighter does score an equal number of win judgments from the three judges (0 or 1, respectively).
Judging criteria
The ten-point must system is in effect for all UFC fights; three judges score each round and the winner of each receives ten points while the loser receives nine points or fewer (although 10–10 rounds are given in the rare event that a judge feels the rounds was too close to warrant giving one fighter 10 and the other 9.) Scores of 10–8 are typically awarded for dominant rounds and anything more dominant is scored less. 10–7 rounds are very rare.
Fouls
The Nevada State Athletic Commission currently lists the following as fouls:
- Biting
- Eye-gouging
- Fish-hooking
- Groin attacks
- Small joint manipulation
- Hair pulling
- Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent (see Fish-hooking)
- Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea
- Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh
- Grabbing the clavicle
- Intentionally attempting to break an opponent’s bone
- Kicking to the kidney with the heel
- Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck (see Piledriver)
- Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area
- Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent
- Spitting at an opponent
- Engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent
- Holding the ropes or the fence
- Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area
- Attacking an opponent on or during the break
- Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee
- Attacking an opponent after the bell (horn) has sounded the end of a round
- Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee
- Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury
- Interference by the corner
- Using any foreign substance that could give an unfair advantage
- Head-butting
- Striking to the spine or the back of the head (see Rabbit punch)
- Striking downward using the point of the elbow (see Elbow (strike))
Fouls against a grounded opponent
- Kicking the head of a grounded opponent
- Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent
- Stomping a grounded opponent
When a foul is charged, the referee in their discretion may deduct one or more points as a penalty. If a foul incapacitates a fighter, then the match may end in a disqualification if the foul was intentional, or a no contest if unintentional. If a foul causes a fighter to be unable to continue later in the bout, it ends with a technical decision win to the injured fighter if the injured fighter is ahead on points, otherwise it is a technical draw.
Match conduct
- After a verbal warning the referee can stop the fighters and stand them up if they reach a stalemate on the ground (where neither are in a dominant position or working towards one). This rule is codified in Nevada as the stand-up rule.
- If the referee pauses the match, it is resumed with the fighters in their prior positions.
- Grabbing the cage brings a verbal warning, followed by an attempt by the referee to release the grab by pulling on the grabbing hand. If that attempt fails or if the fighter continues to hold the cage, the referee may charge a foul.
- Early UFC events disregarded verbal sparring / “trash-talking” during matches. Under unified rules, antics are permitted before events to add to excitement and allow fighters to express themselves, but abusive language during combat is prohibited.
Evolution of the rules
- UFC 1 – Although the advertising said There Are No Rules, there were in fact some rules: no biting, no eye-gouging and no groin attacks. Fights ended only in the event of a knockout, submission or the corner throwing in the towel. Despite this, the first match in UFC 1 was won by referee stoppage, even though it was not officially recognized as such at the time.
- UFC 2 – Groin attacks were unbanned. Time limits were dropped ending the need for judges. Modifications to the cage were added (the fence became 5 feet tall but would continually grow in height afterwards and the floor became the canvas that is still used today).
- UFC 3 – The referee was officially given the authority to stop a fight in case of a fighter being unable to defend himself. A fighter could not kick if he was wearing shoes. This rule would later be discarded, then changed to ‘no kicking with shoes while on the ground’ and then reinstated, before finally being discarded.
- UFC 4 – After tournament alternate Steve Jennum won UFC 3 by winning only one bout, alternates (replacements) were required to win a pre-tournament bout to qualify for the role of an alternate.
- UFC 5 – The organizers introduced a 30-minute time limit. UFC 5 also saw the first Superfight, a one-off bout between two competitors selected by the organizers with the winner being crowned ‘Superfight champion’ and having the duty of defending his title at the next UFC.
- UFC 6 – The referee was given the authority to restart the fight. If two fighters were entangled in a position where there was a lack of action, the referee could stop the fight and restart the competitors on their feet, in their own corner. In UFC 6 they officially adopted the 5-minute extension to the 30-minute rule which had been used in UFC 5.
- Ultimate Ultimate 1995 – This event was the first to introduce the no fish-hooking rule and to reinstate judges. Time limits were changed to 15 minutes in the quarter-finals, 18 minutes in the semi-finals and 27 minutes in the finals.
- UFC 8 – Time limits changed to 10 minutes in the first two rounds of the tournament, 15 minutes in the tournament final and Superfight. Time limits would continually change in the later UFC events. Fights could now be decided by a judges decision if the fight reached the end of the time limit. The panel was made up of three judges who simply raised a card with the name of the fighter they considered to be the winner. In this fashion, a draw was not possible since the only two possible outcomes of a decision were 3 to 0 or 2 to 1 in favor of the winner.
- UFC 9 – To appease local authorities, closed fisted strikes to the head were banned for this event only. The commentators were not aware of this last minute rule that was made to prevent the cancellation of the event due to local political pressures. Referee “Big John” McCarthy made repeated warnings to the fighters to “open the hand” when this rule was violated. However, not one fighter was reprimanded. UFC 9 was also the last UFC event to feature the superfight.
- Ultimate Ultimate 1996 – This event was the first to introduce the “no grabbing of the fence” rule.
- UFC 12 – The main tournament split into a heavyweight (over 200 lbs.) and lightweight (200 lbs. and under) division; and the eight-man tournament ceased. Fighters now needed to win only two fights to win the competition. The Heavyweight Champion title (and title bouts) was introduced, replacing the Superfight title (albeit matches were still for a time branded as “Superfights”).
- UFC 14 – The lightweight division was re-branded middleweight. The wearing of padded gloves, weighing 110 to 170 g (4 to 6 ounces), becomes mandatory. Gloves were to be approved by the UFC. Hair-pulling, groin strikes and kicks to a downed opponent became illegal.
- UFC 15 – Limits on permissible striking areas were introduced. Headbutts, elbow strikes to the back of the neck and head and small joint manipulation became illegal.
- UFC 21 – Five minute rounds were introduced, with preliminary bouts consisting of two rounds, regular non-title bouts at three rounds, and title bouts at five rounds. The “ten-point must system” was introduced for scoring fights (identical to the system widely used in boxing).
- UFC 28 – The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board sanctions its first UFC event, using the newly developed Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Major changes to the UFC’s rules included barring knee strikes to the head of a downed opponent, elbow strikes to the spine and neck and punches to the back of the neck and head. Limits on permissible ring attire, stringent medical requirements, and regulatory oversight were also introduced. A new weight class system was also introduced. This new set of rules is currently the de facto standard for MMA events held in the U.S. and is still in use by the UFC.
- UFC 31 – Weight classes are re-aligned to the current standard. Bantamweight moves from 150 to 155 and becomes known as lightweight. Lightweight becomes known aswelterweight, middleweight becomes light heavyweight, and a new middleweight class is introduced at 185 pounds.
- UFC 43 – In the event of a stoppage fights restart in the position the fight was stopped.
- UFC 94 – After an incident where Georges St-Pierre was accused of putting vaseline on his back, corner men were disallowed from bringing vaseline into The Octagon.Petroleum jelly may now only be applied by UFC employed cutmen.
- UFC 97 – Foot-stomps are banned. (For this event only)
- UFC 133 – Speedo style trunks are banned.
- UFC 138 – First 5-round non-title main event.
The Ultimate Fighter
Fights that occur on The Ultimate Fighter are classified as exhibition matches under NSAC sanctioning, and thus do not count toward the professional record of a fighter. Match outcomes also do not need to be immediately posted publicly, which allows for fight results to be unveiled as the series progresses.
For two-round matches, if there is a draw after two rounds, an extra five-minute round (“sudden victory“) is contested. If the extra round concludes without a stoppage, the judges’ decision will be based on that final round.
These exhibition matches variably have two or three rounds, depending on the rules used for each season. In most seasons, preliminary matches (before the semi-final bouts) were two rounds; in season two, all matches had three rounds. All matches past the first round use three rounds as per standard UFC bouts. During the finales for each series, the division finals have the standard three rounds, plus a fourth round if the judges score a tie.
Comedian, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo black belt Joe Roganteams up with play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg to provide commentary during broadcasts of nearly all UFC events. The “Veteran Voice of the Octagon” is announcer Bruce Buffer. Arianny Celeste and Brittney Palmer are Octagon girls. Each fighter is assigned a cutman by the promotion who cares for the fighter before the fight and in between rounds. Jacob “Stitch” Duran is one of the best known working for the organization. Matches are made by matchmaker, and VP of Talent Relations, Joe Silva. Burt Watson is the production manager for all UFC events, including fighter weigh-ins and other public events held before fights that frequently draw crowds of fans and reporters.
UNDER THE KNIFE 
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