Random MMA Facts

*UFC 1:
*Widely known: Gerard Gordeau kicked one of Telia Tuli’s teeth into the audience (which flew by a group of sponsor’s from Gold’s Gym, who pulled their advertisement deal after the first event based on this). Lesser known: Two more of Tuli’s teeth were embedded into Gordeau’s foot, which doctor’s decided not to remove for the remainder of the night in fear of exposing the wound. Gordeau fought twice more that night with 2 teeth stuck in his foot. One of Teila Tuli’s teeth that Gordeau kicked out just missed John McCarthy’s wife when it flew into the crowd. She got up and left the event immediately.
*Big John McCarthy applied, but was told that Royce would be the only one to represent Jiu-Jitsu. He could enter after Royce was done with it.
*Ken Shamrock was recruited after one of his students had applied, they decided they wanted the teacher instead.
*Gerard Gordeau was invited because he was from the same gym as Ernesto Hoost and the organizers couldn’t afford Hoost.
*Zane Frasier was invited because he beat up Frank Dux in the lobby at a Karate competition.
*Boxers James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Leon Spinks were both considered for UFC 1 before settling on Art Jimmerson. Jimmerson subsequently backed out of the event once he learned the rules (as he had a fight with Thomas Hearns a month later) but Seg offered him $20,000 just to show, making him the highest paid appearance fighter at UFC 1 (the majority received $1000 for initial appearance). During the event, upon viewing the brutality, Jimmerson’s corner conspired backstage to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble, which they did, but the towel caught on the fence and the referee did not see it. Jimmerson then verbally quit.
*The promoters considered adding an electric fence and an alligator-filled moat around the Octagon.
Other Events:
*At UFC 12, Tank Abbot got into a backstage fight with Wallid Ismail
*At UFC 28, Josh Barnett and Gan McGee had the first and only UFC Super HW fight.
*At UFC 36, Matt Hughes fought Shooto’s former MW (167 lb) Champ, Sakurai, because the current Champ had trouble getting a visa. The Champ was Anderson Silva.
*At UFC 39, Ricco Rodriguez stopped Randy Couture, making it the ONLY fight in UFC history to be stopped in the 5th round.
*At UFC 47, Mike Kyle bit Wes Sims on the chest during their fight.
*At Vale Tudo Japan ’97, Enson Inoue was DQ’d against F. Shamrock because his brother Egan ran into the ring.
*At PRIDE 9, Matt Serra’s opponent was injured by the pyrotechnics and the match was called off. Serra was never invited back.
*At PRIDE 22, during the stare down, Rampage gave Igor Vovchanchyn a note that from “his mother” that said “Please don’t hurt my son.”
*At PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute, during the stare down when the ref finished the rules, Josh Barnett said to Mark Hunt “and no flying ass drops.”
*At PRIDE Final Conflict 2004, Big Nog was stuck in traffic, so ‘lil Nog did his walk in for the opening ceremony.
*At IFC 11, Rich Franklin vs. Aaron Brink was ruled a “no contest” when Brink got his leg stuck between the mat and the cage.
*At ADCC, Jeff Monson stripped bare naked (in front of everyone) in protest to the judge’s decision to DQ him. You can use a can opener for positioning, but not as a submission, his opponent (pe de Pano, I think) tapped when he did it so they ruled it a submission attempt and DQ’d him. He maintained he was positioning.
Gracies:
*Rorion Gracie was the fight scene coordinator for Lethal Weapon 1 (triangle at the end)
*Tito called out Renzo Gracie after becoming the >200 lb Champ.
*Carlson Gracie is Vitor Belfort’s adopted father. Vitor was going to take on the last name ‘Gracie’, but pressure from the rest of the family over Vitor’s skills, put a stop to it
Movies:
*Rich Franklin starred in “Cyborg Soldier” in the lead role.
*Chuck Liddell was in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” starring Jack Nicholson when he was 12.
Real names:
*Karapat ParisyanSebastiaan RuttenJacob OrtizKen Wayne Kilpatrick (Ken Shamrock aka Vince Torrelli)Frank Alisio Juarez III (Frank Shamrock)Jay Dee Penn (All his older brothers are named Jay also, hence Baby Jay)Francisco Santos Mir III
*Janigleison H. Tibau-Alves
*Jeremiah Cole Miller
*Thiago Anderson Ramos Da Silva
*Cheick “Kongo” Ouedraogo
*Gabriel Gonzaga-Nogueira
*Bradley Gray Maynard
*Charles David Liddell
*Thiago Alves Araujo
*Renato Sobral Da Cunha
Random:
*The Zuffa by-laws state that if Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta cannot resolve a dispute, they will have a sport JJ match to decide.
*Dana White owns 10% of the UFC, not Zuffa.
*Jason Delucia put a “curse” on Bas Rutten after Bas beat him a 3rd time because Bas refused to give him another rematch.
*Jeremy Horn has had 71 bone breaks and fractures.
*Kieth Hackney was considered for TUF 4, even passed the medicals, but was passed over.
*Ken Shamrock had a fight in Pancrase 4 days before his UFC debut.
*Mark Kerr beat Randy Couture for the 190lbs NCAA championship in 1992.
*Jorge Rivera defeated Tim Sylvia by Decision in an Ammatuer fight.
*TK actually reopened a cut Fedor received from Arona.
*Tito Ortiz used to be hooked on Meth.
*As an amateur fighter, Josh Neer's record was 87 - 1. His first professional loss came at the hands of Spencer Fisher.
*bj penn hit himself more times in the face (11) during his post fight celebration win over diego sanchez then diego hit penn in the 5 rounds of the fight (7)
*Prior to BJ Penn VS Joe Stevenson, all UFC 155lb title fights went to a decision.
*Chris Lytle has 15 decision losses
*Lee Murray once KO'd Tito Ortiz in an alley-way rumble outside a club than stomped his head in while Chuck Liddell was against the wall knocking anyone out that approached. Ken, Frank Shamrock and other UFC fighters were there to pull Lee Murray off Ortiz.
*jon jones was the first person to take matt hamill down in an MMA fight.
*frank lester is the only person in the history of TUF to lose, come back and win.
*Jeremy Jackson's ex-wife named their son Nick after Nick Diaz, who beat Jackson right before she gave birth to Nick. Jackson went on as a last minute replacement for Diaz in The Ultimate Fighter 4.
*PRIDE 12 was where the term Lay and Pray was coined. Quadros coined the term while calling the fight between Kazuyuki Fujita and Gilbert Yvel.
*Jason Reinhardt, before he lost his first fight to Joe Lauzon at UFC 78 was 20-0 with 20 finishes, 19 in the first round.
*Prior to “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic’s nickname was “Tiger.”
*Tim Sylvia, Ricco Rodriguez, Wes Sims, Josh Thomson, Tiki and Pete Spratt all were on a special UFC episode of Blind Date.
*Stephan Bonnar snuck out of the Ultimate Fighter house to get some Mad Dog at a liquor store. It never made it on air.
*Art Jimmerson, who lost to Royce Gracie at UFC 1 when Royce mounted him, is still listed as an active fighter on the UFC website.
*Drew Fickett is in a band called cock sandwich.