Okay, so I’ve been diving deep into the history of the UFC lately, like really deep. It’s wild how it all started. I wanted to get a solid understanding of its origins, you know, the “founding” part. So, here’s how I went about it, step-by-step:
First Step: Wikipedia, Obviously
I started where everyone starts – Wikipedia. I just typed in “UFC founding” and boom, tons of info. I skimmed through the initial summary, getting a general feel for the early days. It gave me some names and dates to work with, like Art Davie, Rorion Gracie, and Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG). I wrote those down.
Digging into the Key Players
Next, I focused on those names I jotted down. I did separate searches for each of them.
- Art Davie: Turns out, he was the brains behind the initial idea. I read about his advertising background and how he came up with this crazy concept of a no-holds-barred fighting tournament.
- Rorion Gracie: He was the martial arts connection, representing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. I learned about the Gracie family’s history and their challenge to other martial arts styles.
- Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG): This was the company that actually put on the first events.I read about their struggles and it is really hard for them to do it.
I spent a good chunk of time just reading different articles and forum posts about these guys. My notes were getting pretty messy at this point, but I was starting to piece together the story.
Finding Old Articles and Interviews
I then tried to find older articles and interviews from the early 90s. This was trickier. A lot of the old websites are gone, but I used the Wayback Machine (internet archive) to find some archived pages. It was like digging for gold! I found some old newspaper scans and interviews with the founders. Super cool to see how they talked about it before it became huge.
Watching Documentaries and Old Footage
Reading is one thing, but I also wanted to see it. So, I searched for documentaries about the early UFC. Found a few good ones, and watched them while taking notes. It’s amazing to see the raw, almost amateurish production of those first events. Totally different from what it is now!
Putting It All Together
After all that, I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on the founding of the UFC. It was a combination of Davie’s crazy idea, Gracie’s martial arts expertise, and SEG’s willingness to take a risk.I can feel the power of those guys.
It wasn’t a smooth process, for sure. Lots of dead ends and rabbit holes. But it was a fun exploration, and I learned a ton. Now I can confidently say I understand how the UFC went from a wild idea to the massive organization it is today.
I plan to find more useful ways to discover this history.
