Rorion and Davie didn't want a traditional roped ring, citing fears-by showing old Vale Tudo footage-that the fighters could escape through the ropes during grappling and use it as an advantage, or fall off and hurt themselves. SEG contacted video and film art director Jason Cusson to design a fighting arena for the event. UFC promoters initially pitched the event as a real-life fighting video game tournament similar to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Both TVKO and SET declined, but SEG-a pioneer in pay-per-view television that had produced such offbeat events as a tennis match between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova-became WOW's partner in May 1993. In 1993, WOW Promotions sought a television partner and approached pay-per-view producers TVKO ( HBO) and SET ( Showtime), and Campbell McLaren and David Isaacs at Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG). Davie drafted the business plan, and 28 investors contributed the initial capital to start WOW Promotions to develop the tournament into a television franchise. Milius, a film director/screenwriter and Gracie student, agreed to be the event's creative director. Gracie accepted, as he was interested in showcasing and promoting his family's own jiu-jitsu for an wide audience. The tournament would also feature martial artists from different disciplines facing each other in no-holds-barred combat to determine the best martial art, and would aim to replicate the excitement of the matches Davie saw on the videos. It was inspired by the "Gracies in Action" video-series produced by the Gracie family of Brazil which featured Gracie jiu-jitsu students defeating martial artists of various disciplines such as karate, kung fu, and kickboxing on Vale Tudo matches. History The former logo of the UFC, used from 1993 to 1999 Early 1990s competition Royce Gracie used Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the early years of UFC to defeat opponents of greater size and strength.Īrt Davie proposed to John Milius and Rorion Gracie an eight-man single-elimination tournament called "War of the Worlds". The merger is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023. In April 2023, Endeavor Group Holdings announced that UFC would merge with the wrestling promotion WWE to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with Vince McMahon serving as an executive chairman of the new entity and White remaining as UFC president. It earned US$609 million in 2015, and its next domestic media rights agreement with ESPN was valued at $1.5 billion over a five-year term. With a TV deal and expansion in Australia, Asia, Europe, and new markets within the United States, the UFC has achieved greater mainstream media coverage. In 2021, Endeavor bought out Zuffa's other owners at a valuation of $1.7 billion. In 2016, UFC's parent company, Zuffa, was sold to a group led by Endeavor, then known as William Morris Endeavor (WME–IMG), including Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and MSD Capital for US$4.025 billion. The UFC was initially owned by the Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) until it had financial issues and it was sold to the brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta in 2001, who formed the company Zuffa to operate the UFC, and placed Dana White as the president of the company. In subsequent events, more rigorous rules were created and fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create a separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts. 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 disciplines. 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. Under White's stewardship, it has grown into a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise. Dana White has been its president since 2001. As of 2022, it had held over 600 events. 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 is the largest MMA promotion in the world as of 2022. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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