Welcome to the most exciting,
the most provocative,
the most brutal martial arts
competition that there is.
In the '90s,
a controversial new sport
hits television.
America can't look away.
This is the real deal here.
Everything goes...
No gloves, no rules.
Oh, that is brutal.
They'd never saw anything
like this.
- Suplex...
- Wrestling, kickboxing,
boxing, submission holds,
all these things
wrapped into one fight.
The fight could end by
you throw in the towel,
you get knocked out, or you die.
He's out. My goodness.
But the violence inherent
in no-holds-barred combat...
Someone's gonna
get seriously hurt.
Will leave the UFC in
a fight for its own survival.
Banned in North Carolina.
Banned in Mississippi.
Is Jack Kevorkian the referee?
It's just a disgusting way
to make money.
We don't let roosters engage
in c*ck.
We don't allow human beings to
engage in this kind of activity.
The judge said, "Your show's
gonna get shut down."
♪♪
[ Dial-up modems screeching ]
♪♪
*DARK SIDE OF THE 90s*
Season 02 Episode 04
Episode Title:
"UFC Pt. 1: No Holds Barred"
Aired on:
July 05, 2022.
This first match in UFC history
sounds like the setup
to a bad joke...
A sumo wrestler
and a French kickboxing champion
walked into
an eight-sided cage...
- [ Bell dings ]
- And they go.
But there's no punchline here.
Just this.
When he kicked him in the face
and teeth went flying,
everything just stopped.
Like, did he just do that?
♪♪
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
We never seen something like
that other than on the street.
And that was a pretty heavy way
to start
the Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
It also gave people who tuned in
exactly what they were
looking for.
A first glimpse
at a sport popular overseas,
mixed martial arts or MMA.
Mixed martial arts
is a tournament format
whereby you can kick, punch,
and you can grapple.
It incorporates karate,
tae Kwon do,
judo, wrestling, jiu-jitsu.
This is the real deal here.
Everything goes...
No gloves, no rules.
It's exciting.
It shows who the real men are.
If you're a real fight fan,
you might see the guy
doing a reverse arm bar,
that impresses you.
If you're
just a casual observer,
it's the mayhem, it's the blood,
it's the guts.
That's what it's all about.
The best part is the blood.
- And they loved it.
- Finish him!
With its intoxicating mix
of fighting styles
and a roster packed
with steely-eyed competitors,
- the early UFC is a far cry...
- Bombs away!
From the predetermined matches
and scripted characters
seen in professional wrestling.
Whoa! André...
And it bears no resemblance
to the glitz and glamor
- of professional boxing.
- Mike Tyson.
[ Crowd cheering ]
This is not even the UFC
you know today.
This is an anything goes,
unregulated, unsanctioned
free-for-all...
Oh, that is brutal.
...that attracts fighters
from around the world
to a series of cage matches
- where anything can happen.
- Pushes him out of the ring.
UFC in the '90s
sold the blood, the violence.
And that's part of it.
But that's not the whole truth.
The real story
of how the UFC grew
to become a multibillion-dollar
sports franchise...
♪♪
begins with a 46-year-old
salesman in California
who makes a living hustling
everything from office machines
to health club memberships.
I was a classic entrepreneur.
I owned a car dealership
in San Diego
where I did my own stunts.
[ Screams ]
Hurtling 25 feet through the air
is a very big risk.
You would not do it.
Why take the same risk
when you buy a new car?
I jumped off
a 10-story building.
I got shot with a .357 Magnum.
[ Sirens wail ]
I got set on fire.
And then I got dangled
from a helicopter.
Anything to sell a car.
But I also got burned out
selling things
that other people created,
and I was ready
to create something myself.
I'm Art Davie,
the creator of the UFC.
Having trained as a boxer
in his youth,
Davie is fascinated
by the huge array
of fighting styles
from around the world.
During the 1980s
in the martial arts magazines,
there were articles about
who would win in a contest
between different
martial arts styles...
The boxer
versus a sumo wrestler.
What about kung fu
versus karate?
My tiger kung fu
is better than yours.
I started to think about
what I could do
in the way of a tournament.
And one of the things
I discovered was an article
in a national magazine
about an individual
named Rorion Gracie.
The Gracie family was a family
of martial artists from Brazil
who innovated a particularly
modern style of martial arts.
They called it Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Standby.
I'm Robin Black.
I analyze and commentate
fighting all over the world.
The statement the Gracie family
was trying to make
was that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
could defeat anyone
regardless of size.
Rorion learned jiu-jitsu
from his father.
And when Rorion Gracie
emigrated to America,
he told the martial arts
magazines
that he was ready to issue
the Gracie Challenge.
Didn't matter where you came
from or who you were...
You like boxing,
you study karate
all your life...
Come into our gym
and test it,
and we believe we will defeat
you using Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
And they did.
They were able
to defeat almost every style.
The Gracie Challenge
is the clash
of competing fighting styles
that Davie has been
dreaming about.
Who better to partner with than
this famous family of fighters?
I wound up working
right down the street
from the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
Academy in Torrance.
♪♪
So I went down
and I presented to him the idea
that maybe we could do this
as a big tournament.
To promote the supremacy
of this family's fighting style,
Gracie agrees to partner up
on an MMA tournament,
if Davie can overcome
the state laws
and athletic commission rules
that would prohibit
this kind of fighting event.
He said, "How do we do that?"
I said, "I've got a plan."
I said, "I have figured out
that the state of Colorado
has a loophole in the law
that will allow us to do
a bare knuckle tournament."
And I went up to Colorado.
I got us a limited liability
company for Rorion and I.
We called it Wild Promotion's
"w*r of the Worlds."
So I said to Rorion,
"We've got to raise some money."
And find someone to air
the events on TV.
I got turned down by HBO,
I got turned down by Showtime,
and I got turned down by ESPN.
They all said
the same thing to me...
"Are you crazy?"
Television of the future?
I've got it now.
But in 1993, the television
landscape in America
is going through
a transformation.
Newly launched communications
satellites make
up to 150 channels available
to homes across the country.
"WrestleMania" is coming
at you live.
It also opens the way
for pay-per-view events
where audiences pony up
a one-time fee
to see live events
at home on TV.
Davie is hoping
his "w*r of the Worlds"
will be one of them.
There was a company
in New York called
Semaphore Entertainment Group.
Now they had been doing concerts
and comedy on pay-per-view,
you know,
like "The Judds Farewell Tour,"
Andrew Dice Clay.
Maybe I'll piss
on you tonight, huh?
But they didn't
have a franchise.
I said, "Young men
all over North America,
eventually the world,
will pay to see this."
Semaphore's executive,
Bob Meyrowitz,
is intrigued by the idea
and agrees to
a 50/50 partnership
with "w*r of the Worlds"
productions,
joining Davie as
one of the UFC's co-creators.
They were looking for something
that could be repetitive.
What could they do and then do
it again and then do it again?
And that became why
Semaphore Entertainment Group
really decided, "Okay,
we're gonna go in on this."
I'm "Big" John McCarthy.
I'm known as one of the original
referees and officials
for the UFC.
Still ugly as ever.
A guy named
Michael Abrams on from Semaphore,
eh, close to last minute
was the one that said,
"Hey, you know,
'w*r of the Worlds'
tells me that this is a movie."
Fire!
[ g*nf*re ]
This isn't a movie,
this is real life.
This is the ultimate
fighting championship,
and everyone went, "Hey, that's
a pretty good name."
The title sticks.
With funding secured,
Davie and his creative team
are eager to heighten
the drama of the competition
by creating a fighting platform
perfectly suited to the UFC's
unique style of combat.
I thought about
some sort of a cage,
but maybe with a moat...
We could put sharks in it.
Then I had thought about
some sort of a... a circle,
and then maybe the outer ring
would be electrified.
Eventually it came up,
"What about chain link?"
We could use chain link
that would keep them
from falling outside
of the fighting surface.
And they put all these
straight panels together.
It becomes an octagon.
♪♪
But Davie still needs fighters
courageous enough
or crazy enough
to enter this octagon and defeat
three different opponents
to be declared champion.
My plan was
an eight-man tournament,
and I said to Rorion,
"Can one of your brothers
compete against three different
fighters in one night?"
Rorion immediately offers up
his younger brother,
Royce Gracie,
a skilled master of the family's
Brazilian fighting style.
Royce was chosen by the family,
not because he was the biggest
and the strongest,
but because he was the smallest.
If Royce could defeat bigger,
stronger man,
it proved the effectiveness
of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Soon, other contenders, like
sumo wrestler Teila Tuli
and boxer Art Jimmerson,
are added to the card.
But Davie is still looking
for the face of this new sport.
What he finds is a powerful
and expl*sive fighter
whose rivalry with Royce Gracie
will come to define the UFC
and be its first major draw.
This changes everything here.
This will outsell
the Frazier fight,
outsell the Fullmer fight,
all the fights in the history,
- this will be...
- In June of 1976,
America's most famous athlete,
boxer Muhammad Ali,
agrees to fight
Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki
in a highly publicized event.
I didn't come to Japan
to leave my title to you.
I come to destroy you.
It's an unusual match up that
brings together two fighters
from wildly
different disciplines
and one that anticipates
the birth of mixed martial arts.
[ Crowd shouting ]
Despite a handful of
expl*sive moments,
Inoki spends most of
the 15 rounds on his back,
with Ali standing over him,
barely able to throw a punch.
[ Bell rings ]
The fight was ultimately
declared a draw
and dismissed as
a bizarre one-off.
But in the '90s,
is poised to bring
mixed martial arts
back to the mainstream
with his Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
Most of the fighters
for the eight-man tournament
have been chosen,
but Davie isn't satisfied.
I was very clear
that I was in show business.
In addition to looking for
the world's best fighter,
I also had to find the world's
most entertaining fighter.
in Tokyo, Japan...
Shamrock Ken!
...a young grappler
from the U.S.
is already making a name
for himself
as a mixed martial arts
champion.
My DNA is a fighter.
I lived and breathed
being a fighter.
I'm Ken Shamrock,
former UFC Heavyweight Champion
and Pancrase Champion.
I want to go back a little bit,
because I think
that there's a story here.
Born Ken Kilpatrick in 1964
in Macon, Georgia,
the future fighter,
his two brothers,
and their single mom
live in extreme poverty.
We slept in one room, no bed.
Sometimes we didn't
even have food.
And I remember stealing food
out of the trash can.
It was... It was bad.
I don't remember
ever being hugged by my mother.
I didn't know my father.
That's my childhood.
After his family moves
to Napa, California,
runs away from home.
♪♪
I was hanging out
with bad people
and surviving only in ways
that you know how,
and that's stealing and robbing.
It was lay down and die
or stand up and fight.
♪♪
One fateful day,
Ken has to fight for his life.
Some other kids came walking up
that weren't from
our neighborhood.
And words were said.
And the next thing you know,
fists were throwing.
And I had a knife on me.
And I ended up
trying to stab a guy
and end up
getting stabbed myself.
I lost consciousness, because
I was spurting blood out.
And I woke up in a hospital
handcuffed to a bed.
The police were looking for me
for a while.
My rap sheet
was like that thick.
Ken becomes aware of the court.
Then at the age of 14,
he meets the man
who will give him his last name
and a glimpse
at a better future.
Bob Shamrock dedicated his life
to helping at-risk kids.
When I walked into
the Bob Shamrock Boys' Home,
this was a mansion.
It was 18 boys in there.
And then Bob Shamrock comes up
and he goes,
"Come on over here."
And then he walked us over
to this... this bar that had,
like, soda and candy
and ice cream.
And I was like,
"This is not real,"
pinch, pinch, pinch.
And he goes, "I'm telling you
right now in this house,
you have a fresh start."
He said, "Ken, you're violent,
and you fight all the time."
He goes, "Let's figure out
how we can vent
that frustration
into something positive."
Come on, men, let's go!
Bob Shamrock enrolls Ken
in the local high school.
It's on the football
and wrestling teams
that Ken discovers a place
where violence is rewarded.
I look around my teammates
are jumping, "Yeah! Nice job."
And the coaches, like, were
like, "Yeah! Do that again."
And I'm like,
"This can't be right."
I hurt this kid, I hit him,
and they're telling me
it's okay.
And Bob said,
"You've got to know the rules.
And if you play
within those rules,
whether it's sports or life,
you can be successful
in anything you want to be."
A father-son bond forms
between Bob and Ken.
I love my biological mom,
but she didn't have the means
to take care of us.
We got into trouble.
I couldn't go back there.
I felt like my life with Bob,
that's where I was supposed
to be.
And in 1982, Shamrock formally
adopts the teenager.
That's who took care of me.
I was a part of this family.
In his final year
of high school,
Shamrock is definitely getting
noticed on the football field.
But he's become disenchanted
with the sport.
I just didn't want to do that.
So I ended up
going into pro wrestling.
- Vince Torelli.
- Working under stage names
like Vince Torelli
and Mr. Wrestling,
Shamrock becomes an expert
in pro wrestling style
of choreographed combat.
But eventually he tires
of pulling his punches.
Everything was working
in pro wrestling for me,
but I was always that guy trying
to find the most extreme level
that I could actually get to.
And I ran into a friend of mine,
Dean Malenko,
and he showed me this tape.
And then I saw these
two Japanese guys on there.
In the early '90s, Japan's
Universal Wrestling Federation
is pioneering a new,
more aggressive style
of pro wrestling,
where fighters often
incorporate elements
of martial arts in the ring.
I'd never saw anything
like this.
Judo, kickboxing, boxing,
submission holds...
All these things wrapped
into one fight.
Now, if you can do that,
you are truly a bad a*s.
And I looked at him and I said,
"Yeah, I want to do that."
And he goes, "All right, man,
I'll hook you up."
Shamrock!
Shamrock is invited to join
the organization's
roster of fighters.
[ Bell dings ]
It's the beginning of his career
as a so-called sh**t fighter,
where the fighting inside
the ring is unscripted
and unplanned
up to a certain point.
I literally made sure
that everything I did landed.
I hit them, kicked them,
I threw them,
I put submission holds on them.
But there was always
a predetermined ending.
In other words, we always knew
who was going to win.
I was tired of that,
and I wanted something more.
I wanted the real deal.
In 1993, Shamrock joins Japan's
Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling,
which promises real
hand-to-hand combat.
And this time,
there's no script.
We're gonna take pro wrestling,
and we were
going to make it real.
We were so far
in advance of anyone,
even if they were
world champion kick boxers,
we would take them down,
we would destroy them.
Yes!
Whoo!
[ Applause ]
Not having to lose to somebody,
there was nothing
better than that.
That was the elite of elites.
Shamrock becomes the first
King of Pancrase
open weight champion.
I felt that I was good enough
to beat anybody.
This is my world.
This is it.
And then all of a sudden, I hear
about this thing called the UFC.
Ken Shamrock was exactly
what I was looking for.
He's Captain America.
♪♪
He's 6'1".
He's 212 pounds.
He's got a bodybuilders body,
and he competes in red Speedos.
And I knew
he was gonna be a star.
- [ Bell rings ]
- Whoo!
And I said, "Tell me about
what you're doing in Japan."
I said, "I fight in
a mixed martial arts company
where it was kicks, punches,
throws, submissions."
He said,
"Well, it's the real deal."
I said, "No, what I want to do
is the real deal... a sh**t."
And he says,
"Anything goes, no rules."
And I was like,
"All right, okay."
He said,
"Well, I'm interested."
Well, I wound up signing him.
But in my mind, I'm like,
"Dude, there's no way
they can let this happen."
It's sanctioning bodies
everywhere.
There's no way that
they're gonna allow somebody
to kick somebody in the head.
But I'm literally
the mixed martial arts champion.
I have to go defend my title.
Days before the event,
the eight elite fighters chosen
for the UFC's
inaugural tournament
begin arriving in Denver.
We fly in.
The whole time I'm like,
"It's not gonna happen."
We get in there,
there's a press conference,
and I notice one guy,
Gerard Gordeau,
who I saw fight in Japan,
and I see Royce,
and he's walking around
in his gi.
And I'm like, "Who walks around
in their gi?"
Dude, I mean, come on,
like, that's weak.
I'm thinking to myself,
"There's no way
I'm gonna destroy these kids.
Man, I'm gonna k*ll them."
But after the press conference,
the fighters are surprised
to be called into a meeting
to discuss the rules
of the tournament.
I'm like,
"What do you mean rules?
I thought there was no rules."
There was only three rules
for the fight...
No groin shots, no biting,
and no eye gouging.
The fight could end by
you throw in the towel,
you get knocked out, or you die.
And we now want you
to sign on the rules.
Rorion was there to talk
to the fighters.
He winds up talking about
the fact
that the kicker punchers
can't wrap their fist.
He said you wouldn't do that
in the street
if you were in a fight,
you wouldn't have time.
Well, that doesn't appeal to
Zane Frazier, who's a kick boxer
and Art Jimmerson who's
a professional boxer.
Both of them are now arguing,
"We need to be able
to wrap our hands."
Shamrock is also given
a handicap by the organizers.
They took away
my wrestling shoes.
If you understand that
everything starts
from your foundation,
which is your feet,
your movement for take downs,
and then all of a sudden you get
these shoes taken off of you.
It's like being on ice because
you've never been there before.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Well, now the room
is turning into chaos.
I figured the next thing that's
gonna happen is a brawl.
I'm gonna have fighters in jail,
fighters in the hospital,
and there's no event
tomorrow night.
The night before the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's
first match,
fighters are
in fierce disagreement
over the last-minute addition
of new rules and regulations.
UFC creator Art Davie is worried
the tournament is in jeopardy.
Who saves my butt is
the sumo wrestler,
Teila Tuli.
He picks up
the one-page release.
He says,
"I've already signed it."
He slams it down on the table
and he says, "I'll see
everybody else tomorrow night."
[ Applause ]
When he stood up and said that,
it really took away
any opportunity
for anybody to say,
"Wait a minute,
this is supposed to be no rules,
anything goes.
Why are you taking things away?"
Ken Shamrock comes up to me
and he says,
"Is this a sh**t or work?"
A work is a scripted bout,
a sh**t is a real fight.
Leading right up to it,
it was almost like a question of
is this real or is it not real?
I said, "Ken, we've been all
through this before,
you know that."
[ Indistinct chatter ]
It has all the hype
and trappings
of a Vegas boxing match...
Smoke, lights,
cameras, and women.
The following night with
pay-per-view cameras rolling,
local fight fans trickle
into Denver, Colorado's
McNichols Sports Arena
to witness the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's
first-ever
mixed martial arts tournament.
There are no rules,
no judges' scores,
and no time limits.
And no how-to manual
for the video crew
hired to capture the action
for the pay-per-view audience
watching at home.
There was a chain-link fence,
and, I mean, your normal
cameraman on the ground
is just gonna be sh**ting
through a fence all night.
That looks horrible.
They got to get them
higher over this barrier.
And that's when I said, "Okay,
there's one thing missing,
and that's looking down 'cause
guys are gonna be down there."
It was kind of a cool angle.
Nobody had ever
used that before.
Are we good?
Yeah, he said, "Good."
My name's Mark Lucas,
and I was
the first live TV director
of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's
hell of a ride.
I'm a little worried.
I see this almost-empty
McNichols Arena,
which is like 18,000 seats.
I think maybe there was 3,000.
And so I had to get
all the cameramen.
Don't give me wide shots
where you see empty seats.
The arena was so empty,
I figured maybe
there's only five people
watching on a pay-per-view.
Please welcome the contestants
for the first match up tonight's
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's a shocking sight...
savate champion,
Gerard Gordeau,
facing off against Teila Tuli,
a sumo wrestler
twice Gordeau's size.
Make room for the giant.
[ Cheers and applause ]
What follows
is a bloody spectacle.
Tuli lowers his head,
extends his arms,
and charges
him like he's a bull.
Gerard Gordeau throws
a right kick
and it hits Teila flush
in the middle of the face.
What do you think?
That's Gordeau.
I think that
he's missing teeth there.
[ Crowd cheers ]
And you see one of his teeth
come flying out.
And then he finishes up
with the right hand,
which catches him in the eye
and bust the eye open.
And all of a sudden, blood,
just tons of blood.
- Horrifying.
- There's a bit of blood flowing
- out and into that eye.
- Yes.
And I said,
"Okay, this is real.
This is really real."
The match has been called.
Gerard Gordeau is the winner.
I'm back at that point
in the dressing area.
Who's back there watching
the monitor is Ken Shamrock.
That kick, there's no way
you can believe that.
He turns around,
and he looks at me and he nods.
That's when he knew
it was a sh**t and not a work.
[ Crowd cheering ]
That was a clear groin shot.
The second match pitting
kick boxer Kevin Rosier
against karate champ
Zane Frazier
is also horrifically violent,
but it's the final matches
of the quarterfinals
that introduced audiences
to the UFC's future superstars.
Out of the red corner,
Royce Gracie.
Royce Gracie was not
a very imposing guy.
I thought, "How long is this guy
gonna last?"
Here it is.
There's the grapple.
And he's on the ground.
Well, he was like
a boa constrictor.
- [ Crowd chanting ]
- Royce! Royce! Royce!
And then there was
Ken Shamrock.
He was put together
like a brick sh*t house,
no fat on him.
I have to admit,
he looks pretty fantastic.
He looked the part,
and he could fight.
There's the tap out right there.
Just too painful.
I'm like, I'm way up here.
[ Laughs ]
I didn't think
anybody could beat me.
Ladies and gentlemen,
our second semifinal match
of the evening.
Now, in the semifinals,
we've got Royce Gracie
facing Ken Shamrock.
I think this will be a very
exciting bout.
Here they go. Look at that.
- Look at that right there.
- Leg drop right away.
Shamrock, in his red Speedos
immediately appears to have
the upper hand,
but Gracie, wearing the white gi
Shamrock found laughable,
proves he's no joke.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is about
weaponizing human body
or in this case, as Royce did,
you can use the fabric
of your clothing.
Here's where the gi comes in,
Bill.
Look at that left hand of Royce.
It's grabbing
the right gi lapel.
As he's choking me
with his gear,
I'm going like, "Wait a minute.
Hold up. What's going on?
I can't wear my wrestling shoes,
but he's choking me
with his gi."
The more that he struggles,
the more it starts
to just tighten up
and so Ken was in trouble.
Royce... there's the tap,
there's the tap.
And I tap.
And I remember sitting
there going, "I just lost.
I lost to this guy in pajamas."
[ Laughs ]
It's the opening bell of what
would be a bitter rivalry
between the two fighters.
Gracie goes on to defeat
Gerard Gordeau in the final...
These Gracies are anacondas.
It's over.
To become the UFC's
first champion,
proving the dominance
of his family's fighting style.
Art Davie and his partner,
Bob Meyrowitz,
worry their creation
hasn't connected with audiences.
Then they hear
the pay-per-view numbers.
$14.95 was the price.
We wound up doing more
than 87,000 subscribers
on pay-per-view.
It was stunning.
It was huge.
Bob Meyrowitz
was a very happy guy.
His gamble paid off.
It was a big success,
and right away they knew,
"Oh, we're gonna
do another one."
Four months later,
the UFC returns to Colorado,
this time
with twice as many fighters.
People come to see skill.
They come to see courage.
The fresh roster of contenders
aren't the only new faces
appearing
in the dreaded octagon.
Rorion Gracie suggested to me,
"What about 'Big' John McCarthy
as the referee?"
John McCarthy is a Los Angeles
police officer
who trains with the Gracies,
but he's hesitant to accept
the new job offer.
I did not want to be a referee,
I wanted to fight.
I thought I could
do okay with that.
But I love the Gracies,
I love the sport,
I love what
they were trying to do.
As I was asked
to go up and see Art Davie,
he goes, "I need you
to start these fights.
I want a statement,
and I want a hand signal."
I said, "I got two guys standing
inside a cage, one over here,
one over there that want to beat
the sh*t out of each other,
and I'm gonna ask,
'Are you ready'?"
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
"Let's get it on."
And he goes, "That's it.
That's exactly what I want."
- And I said, "Okay."
- Let's get it on!
I turn to the two at one point,
and I say,
"Is he saying,
'Let's get it on'?
That's... ing great.
I love this."
And it became
his signature thing.
Let's get it on!
"UFC 2" is an even bigger
success than its predecessor,
more than tripling UFC 1's
pay-per-view subscribers.
The event also multiplies
the unfettered violence.
It was the bloodiest.
The UFC's growing fan base
may be thrilled
by the bloodshed,
but McCarthy is left shaken
by the events.
The referee was not supposed
to be able to stop the fight.
The fighter will tap out or the
corner will throw in the towel.
I had one instance where
Scott Morris
was against Pat Smith.
Pat Smith starts to open up
and hit him with big elbows.
It cuts him
in a couple of places,
and he gets just
basically knocked out.
And I'm screaming at the corner,
"Throw your towel," you know.
And they looked at me,
and they shook their head,
and they threw the towel
into the audience.
And you've got a corner that has
been told by the fighter,
don't ever throw the towel.
And now the fighter is so hurt
that they can't even tap
because they don't have that
functionality in their brain,
then someone's gonna get
seriously hurt.
- He's out.
- He's out.
- My goodness.
- That's intense, folks.
I can't be the guy
that stands there
and lets someone
get beat to death,
and I do nothing about it.
I said, "When a fighter cannot
intelligently defend themselves,
the referee has to be able
to have the power
to stop the fight."
Organizers agree with McCarthy
and institute the new rule.
♪♪
What UFC 2 doesn't deliver
is a rematch
between its breakout stars.
Okay. We're back here
with Ken Shamrock.
Ken, when you think about it,
it's so far?
Ken Shamrock is out due
to an injury.
How would you beat Royce
next time?
It's a secret.
And so Royce Gracie is
crowned champion once again.
- Art Davie writing in the name.
- But organizers make the promise
of a second cage match
between the two fighters
the centerpiece of UFC 3.
I think Ken Shamrock
and Royce Gracie's rivalry
was very real.
Everything that they've learned
is being brought to this moment
to fight each other in a cage.
Despite the hype, the rematch
doesn't go as planned.
Shamrock is in fighting shape,
and he's even allowed
to wear his wrestling shoes.
But then the unthinkable...
The towel is in, Royce Gracie
is out of the competition.
What a shocker. Unbelievable.
Gracie drops out mid-way
through the tournament.
He threw in the towel,
and said he was exhausted,
like his body was exhausted.
Royce was hurt big time for him
not to get in the fight.
To me,
I thought that was chicken.
Everybody's exhausted.
I'm exhausted, I'm hurt.
When he backed out of the fight,
I say I'm not going into
the finals,
because I wanted Royce, and I
made no bones about it.
I said, "I want Royce."
His father's there,
Bob Shamrock.
And he says to him,
"You're walking away
from $60,000."
Ken said, "I'm going home."
He walked out,
but it allowed the feud
to continue between
Royce and Shamrock.
♪♪
The following year,
it finally happens.
It will be
their bloodiest battle yet.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
But waiting in the wings
is a man who threatens
to put a choke hold
on the UFC itself.
Sooner or later someone's gonna
get very badly injured.
At least seven people are dead
after a suspected car b*mb.
A lot of blood gushing
from the man's head.
Boxes with human body parts.
There's a saying in
American newsrooms,
if it bleeds, it leads.
And in the early '90s,
bloody confrontations
consume television news.
[ g*nf*re ]
From the mayhem
of the Gulf w*r...
Chaos in downtown
Oklahoma City.
To the breathless coverage
of the Oklahoma City bombing,
broadcasters seem intent
on satisfying
their viewers' fascination
with extreme violence.
It's against this backdrop
that the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
emerges as must-see TV
for bloodthirsty audiences.
- Why're you here, man?
- To see blood.
- Blood.
- Break his legs!
They got the blood going now.
The blood is flowing.
After four
blood-soaked tournaments,
organizers are lighting up
the octagon
for their most anticipated
fight ever,
a rematch between
their two biggest stars,
Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie.
The match you've
all been waiting for.
♪♪
It's called a super fight,
a face off between two fighters
that exists outside of the
evening's regular tournaments.
And here we go.
But in order
to keep the broadcast
within the two-hour
pay-per-view window,
a new rule is once again
being added at the last minute.
It has a 30-minute time limit.
Shamrock and Gracie are two of
the UFC's toughest fighters,
but neither one of them
can land a definitive blow
to turn the fight
in their favor.
These two are so good
we might have another long bout
right here.
The fight ended up going
And I stop the fight,
give them a minute's rest,
then put them back
for a five-minute overtime.
- Let's get it on!
- Five-minute OT under way.
Ken landed one punch
that, you know,
it puffed up Royce's eyes,
cut him and stuff.
He nailed Gracie.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
It looks like Shamrock
is finally
besting his longtime foe,
which will make the grappler
the first Super fight Champion
in UFC history.
All right, pull it apart,
pull it apart.
- Pull it apart.
- And that is the end
of the super fight.
But it isn't meant to be.
It was a draw.
[ Crowd booing ]
And the crowd does not
like it at all.
It was a draw,
that's the way it is.
The crowd is treating Shamrock
as though he's the winner.
I just had fought Royce
to a so-called "draw"
after he was beat up to snot.
Why aren't you labeling me
the champion?
The Gracies,
who were instrumental
in creating the no rules UFC,
are equally upset
after the super fight.
Rorion said, "Oh, we can't
fight with time limits.
We're gonna get
out of this now,"
and he pulls Royce
out of the UFC.
Shortly after the Gracies exit
the Fighting League,
a Republican senator
from Arizona
embarks on a crusade
to destroy the UFC forever.
We would prevent such matches
between animals.
I'm not sure why you can argue
that we would allow such things
between human beings.
He'd written a letter to all
"Please do not let this
come to your state.
This is human c*ck."
We expect certain standards
of behavior in our society,
and this is clearly
in gross violation of that.
I really noticed it
when John McCain
debated Bob Meyrowitz on CNN.
The fact is that nobody has
been injured, seriously injured,
doing this
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
outlawed them.
It won't be long
before all 50 do.
Community outrage has led
to it being banned
in North Carolina,
banned in Mississippi.
All of these states were
starting to come up
with ways of trying
to stop the events
and so we were
ending up in court.
The UFC finds itself fighting
a battle for survival,
and Art Davie can't see a path
to victory for the brutal sport
he helped create.
I saw where we were going.
Maybe we would be banned,
maybe McCain would win.
So I figured, let me get out now
while the getting is good.
After the UFC's
fifth tournament,
Davie decides to sell his share
to his co-founder,
Semaphore CEO Bob Meyrowitz.
But first, Davie needs
to convince his partner,
Rorion Gracie.
Rorion was very upset.
He didn't really want to sell.
And I said, "We should sell.
It's the right thing."
So Bob made me a seven-figure
offer for Wild Promotions,
and it was a good
seven-figure offer.
♪♪
And I said yes.
Two weeks later, I get a call
from Bob Meyrowitz and he says,
"I don't know how to put
together the fights.
I need to have you still be
the booker, the matchmaker."
I became the
Ultimate Fighting Commissioner,
The greatest martial arts
competition in the world,
the Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
Now just an employee
of the organization
he helped create,
Davie sees
his worst fears realized.
The judge said, "Your show's
gonna get shut down."
♪♪
Is it a thrilling sport
or a k*lling sport?
- Man-to-man blood combat.
- It is called
Ultimate Fighting.
By the late '90s,
the UFC is more often
making news for its battles
outside of the company's
famous octagon.
Is Jack Kevorkian the referee?
It's just a tacky, disgusting
kind of way to make money.
The owner is in a constant
state of damage control
as he's forced to find ways
to appease state regulators.
Anyone who thinks they can
tell us a way to make this
a better, safer sport,
we're happy to have it.
♪♪
All that drama,
all that controversy
got in the way of me focusing
on going out there
and doing my job.
Ken Shamrock is the UFC's
highest paid fighter.
But as he struggles
to maintain his spot
at the top of the UFC's roster,
he also finds ways
to deal with the stress.
I did abuse drugs.
I did do that stuff.
I wanted to be able
to k*ll the pain,
I wanted to have a good time,
and I didn't want to think
about anything.
I got to tell you something
about mixed martial arts.
It's a very hard sport.
If you add that also the
pressures of being a celebrity,
quite frankly,
some of them crack up.
We all go out and fight
and then we would club it.
And you get in those clubs,
alcohol make people brave.
And with my face, my name,
guys would want to fight me.
The one guy who hit me
in the back with a bat
and I just react.
I turn around and hit him, bam.
Hit him in the temple
and blinded him.
There was another time
I put a dude in a coma,
shoved his cheekbone
up into his brain,
put him in a coma.
I must have had two $300,000
in lawsuits,
paying attorneys to defend me.
And I got to a point
where I just I decided
I wasn't going to clubs anymore.
If I was gonna do something,
it was gonna get my house.
The UFC has a run in
of its own,
this time with lawmakers
in New York State
who threaten to deliver a
death blow to the organization.
We were scheduled to do UFC 12.
We had already sold
several thousand tickets.
The state of New York all of
a sudden starts saying,
you got to follow what we want.
And the UFC goes back to court
saying, "We can't do this."
Among the new rules proposed
by the state,
a requirement
that the 32-foot octagon
be widened to a minimum
of 40 feet in diameter.
There's no time to rebuild,
and floor seats around the stage
are already sold out.
With a sold out show set
for tonight in Niagara Falls,
promoters filed a $32 million
lawsuit against the state,
arguing such rules would have a
catastrophic effect on business.
The judge in the end is saying,
"Look, they're saying
these are what our rules are.
If you want to follow the rules,
you can put on your show.
If you don't follow them,
your show's gonna get
shut down."
Semaphore Entertainment's
last-minute appeal
in federal court is thrown out.
♪♪
And after all the work to create
the league, the broken bones,
the blood on the canvas,
it looks like the final bell
is being run for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
We had to leave in the middle
of the night
because the court
had shut us down.
There's got to be a law
against that.
All of a sudden, they come in
after you've already spent
all of that money and then tell
you, "No, you can't be here."
Can you imagine all the people,
all the cameras, the cage,
the people
who sell the T-shirts,
everything canceled.
The show's over.
[ Lights click off ]
When you're part of a team
that feels like a family,
where all of us together
are creating this thing
that's a very special period.
It emboldens and strengthens you
as a human,
as a team, as individuals,
and it strengthened the UFC.
These fighters,
this is what they needed.
This is who they were,
their purpose.
They needed the producers.
They needed the cameras,
the referee.
Everybody needed each other.
And so we're gonna go
put a show on somewhere else.
The show must go on.
♪♪
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