The UFC Turns 14

"Come on over, you've gotta see this!" Those were the words that started it all for me and my love of fighting. Me and my dad drove over to my uncle's place where watching pay per view events was a regular thing; the only catch was that we had to watch them in spanish because we needed satellite codes to get the english. I had become accustomed to the "en espangol" versions of WWF pay per views, so I figured this wouldn't be much different. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was definitely not WWF and that this was something completely different.

It was two guys, no gloves, three rules, and the only way to win was by submission, knockout, or having your opponent's corner throw in the towel. It was brutal. But I loved it. I watched as this small fighter dominated each of his larger opponents. Since I was watching it in Spanish, I went by the name that was displayed on screen which was Royce Gracie. This is how I had come to know him; as Royce (Pronounced just as it's spelled). It wasn't until years later that I found out that it is actually prounounced 'Hoyce'.

This guy that I called 'Royce' used these submission moves to make his opponents quit. I was only 11 years old at the time and didn't pay much attention to what martial arts discipline he was trained in; I really only cared about watching two guys beat eachother up inside a cage. I hadn't been familiar with the term 'tapout' or 'submission' but I was captivated by the way he could beat larger men in a fight without throwing a punch. I was amazed and I was hooked from the very first show.

The date was November 12, 1993.

The show was held at the McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado.

On Monday, November 12, 2007, the UFC turned 14 years old. There have been a lot of changes to the organization since those early days of watching it in Spanish at my uncle's place.

The fighters now wear gloves, there are weight classes, rounds with 5 minute time limits, and a whole list of rules to ensure the safety of the fighters. The fighters don't train in one single discipline anymore, they train in a wide variety of martial arts including boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, judo, and jiu jitsu. This mixture of martial arts became known as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) ; a sport that is being sanctioned in more and more states every year.

Dave Meltzer from Yahoo! Sports wrote an interesting article on the UFC's 14th birthday and details the first few UFC events.

You can check out his article here.