History of the UFC Tournaments

Here are all the men that won a UFC Tournament and a background on the tournament.

UFC 1 : Royce Gracie you all know this, Royce submits 3 men including Ken Shamrock via choke to win the inagural tournament. Beat Gerard Gougeau in the Finals. Royce, Shamrock, and Pat Smith were the names of this tournament.

UFC 2 : Royce Gracie again, repeats by beating Patrick Smith in the finals. In 6 fights in the UFC Gracie has never been in any real danger. Not as many names in this tournament.

UFC 3 : Steve Jennum an alternate that replaces Ken Shamrock. Royce Gracie after beating Kimo pulls out as well, Jennum defeats Harold Howard in the final. This was so whack and crazy, initially after it was learned Royce pulled out, Kimo and his little trainer Joe Son bum rushed the cage and the crowd went nuts. They then were told they didnt get to fight in the finals. This will forever be the tournament that the alternate won. The tournament met its first problem, wen Ken Shamrock learned Royce Gracie was pulling out he pulled out as well. Also best tournament to this point featuring Gracie vs Kimo. Also featured Keith Hackney vs a Fatso.

UFC 4 : Royce Gracie . In his greatest performace ever in the UFC Royce Gracie is getting smashed around for 15 minutes by Dan Severn. He then introduced the world to the triangle choke. The announcers had no clue what the hell was going on when it happened. Tournament saw the emergence of Dan Severn and Keith Hackney destroy Joe Sons nuts.

UFC 5 : Dan Severn. While Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie were fighting for the SuperFight Dan Severn was running through the tournament with virtual ease. Beats Oleg Taktarov and Guy Mezger made his debut in this UFC.

UFC 6 : Oleg Taktarov. The best tournament up to the time. Without a doubt. Tank Abbott emerges and knocks out his first 2 opponents easily. Oleg Taktarov chokes out his 2 opponents. Paul Varlens and Steve Jennum and Varlens vs Abbott were great fights. The finale pitted Taktarov vs Tank , around the 15 minute mark Oleg sinks in a choke and its over.

UFC 7: Marco Ruas . First fighter to win a tournament via different finishes everytime. Tournament featured Remco Pardoel, and Paul Varlens. Definently not the deepest tournament to this point. Ruas chopped down the 6'7 Varlens in the finale.

Ultimate Ultimate 95: Dan Severn. Deepest tournament ever in my opinion. of the 8 men fighting 4 had won a UFC tournament already. 2 were runner ups. Tank Abbott, Steve Jennum, Dan Severn, Oleg Taktarov, Marco Ruas, Keith Hackney, Paul Varlens, and Dave Buenteteau. DAMN. Highly controversial fight, Severn won a decision over Oleg Taktarov in the finale after 30 minutes of fighting. Very bloody fight. Oleg defeated Ruas, and Severn beat Abbott, and Varlens to meet Oleg in finale.

UFC 8: Don Frye . Great tournament, David vs Goliath, I was at this one . Saw Gary Goodridge damn near kill Paul Herrera, also Jerry Bohlander choking Scott Ferrozzo with his own shirt. Goodridge vs Frye in the finale was good but Frye steam rolled through this tournament.

NO TOURNAMENT AT UFC 9

UFC 10: Mark Coleman. Emergence of Ground and Pound, Frye really started it IMO but Coleman was better at it. Tournament featured Goodridge, Mark Hall, Don Frye, and Brian Johnston in a good tournament. Coleman beat Frye pretty easy in the final.

UFC 11: Mark Coleman. First back to back tournament winner since Royce Gracie. Really ran through the tournament this time and defeated Brian Johnston in the semi final. But there was a forfeit and no replacement. First Tournament without a finale. Abbott vs Ferrozzo happened in this tournament.

Ultimate Ultimate 96: Don Frye. Another good tournament. Ken Shamrock defeats Brian Johnston and pulls out in his last UFC fight under old company. Don Frye beats Gary Goodridge and mark Hall replaces Shamrock. Very Controversial fight, cause Mark Hall says Frye told him he would pay him to lie down for him, only Frye never paid. Frye beat Tank Abbott in the finale. Kimo, Paul Varlens and Cal Worsham participated also.

UFC 12 : Light Heavyweight : Jerry Bohlander . Beat 2 nobodies in under 3 minutes to win the tournament. Walid Ismael did horrible in the tournament.

Heavyweight: Vitor Belfort . Beats Tra Telligman and Scott Ferrozzo in dominating fashion.



UFC 13 : Light Heavyweight : Guy Mezger . Beats Christen Leninger and Tito Ortiz in the finale to win the tournament. In a very nice moment the UFC match maker gives Guy a Gold medal and says I have been waiting for you to shine for a long time.

Heavyweight: Randy Couture is the only notable of the 4 in the tournament, and he wins easily.

UFC 14 : Light Heavyweight : Kevin Jackson wins versus a no mans land group of opponents.

Heavyweight : Mark Kerr . Same thing except Brian Johnston was in the tournament as well.

UFC 15 : Mark Kerr wins another weak tournament with Dave Buentea being the other best fighter in the tournament.

The tournaments have clearly lost some luster.

Ultimate Japan : Kazushi Sakuraba. In one of the weirdest tournament wins ever. Sakuraba was defeated in the first round by Marcus Silviera. Tank Abbott defeated his opponent but withdrew. Tra Telligman the alternate was ready to go. The UFC badly wanting to start up the organization in Japan didnt want an unknown american winning . Sakuraba was allowed back in and rematched Silviera and won. winning the tournament.

UFC 16: Pat Miletich . Light Heavyweight Tournament.Miletich wins in some close fights. Mikey Burnett pulls out after winning entertaining fight with Eugenio Tadeu.

UFC 17 : Middleweight : Dan Henderson . Hendo had a tough time defeating Allan Goes and then beat Carlos Newton in the finale. Tough fights but good wins.

UFC 23 : Kenichi Yammamato . Without a doubt the forgotten tournament. THe Last one also. Yammamato Takase and Kaz Fuji to win the Japan Tournament.

Hope you enjoyed.

Everyone notice that some really big stars made their splashes and names in the tournaments. Look how many greats won a tournament. Its impressive.

The UFCs initially were 8 man tournaments then went to 4 man tournaments.

The exception was UFC 2 which had 16 participants.

History - a usually chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events:

hahaah damn then I was pretty spot on wasnt I

should have called it History of the Tournaments

Which one was your favorite tournament to watch if you saw them live LA?

Nice write up. Can you breakdown the Pride tournaments too?

sure wolf, I will do that when I get out of class tomorow

what was your fav. tournament?

curiuous what yalls were?

Mine was UFC 8 or UFC 6

Excellent post.

glad you enjoyed it ninja

I dont think it was even close
the tournaments from 1-10 were better IMO

But there were certainly bright spots in the other tournaments.

Still wish Mikey Burnett got the decision he deserved vs Miletich, the UFC 16 tournament set that fight up cause Burnett looked so good vs Tadue.

everytime I hear the name Pat Miletich I cringe. Not cause I dont like Pat, its just that I always thibk, damn if Mikey gets the decision he deserved he is champ and racking up that long line of defenses IMO.

WHY?

Cause he was flat out better than Miletich and no one could touch Miletich for a long time in the UFC after Mikey left.

I had the 2003 UFC game and Mikey Burnett was in it. I've never actually seen the event he was in. Some of the old UFC's I have not seen.

Nice visit down Memory Lane! My favorite was UFC IV. Severn was just awesome and his awesomeness made Royce look that much better.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

I had the 2003 UFC game and Mikey Burnett was in it. I've never actually seen the event he was in. Some of the old UFC's I have not seen.

At the Ultimate Brazil Burnett scored numerous takedowns and knocked Miletich down twice from punches

Miletich wins the fight, didnt have 1 takedown or knock Burnett down at all, one of most conroversial fights of early UFC days. Check out Burnett vs Tadue one of the first great stand up wars in UFC

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

Nice visit down Memory Lane! My favorite was UFC IV. Severn was just awesome and his awesomeness made Royce look that much better.

That one was nuts, I had met Anthony Macias before and knew he was big and tough, Severn was throwing him around like a rag doll, I remember my dad just being like holy shit, also classic to see Macias trying to land backwards head butts !

Good stuff, good stuff. My fav was Ultimate Japan (duh). Saku didn't lose the first fight, he was screwed by Big John and Saku was livid, he tried to take the mic and shit lol. Not that I have anything against Big John, he's the best there ever was or ever will be but he made a mistake in that fight. It was called way too early. Justice was served though

agree Ohio but technically I thought Sakuraba lost that fight on paper atleast.

Interesting that Ultimate Japan was your favorite, didnt expect tht , cool stuff

Only cuz I'm a Saku homer. #5 was a very close second.

well that makes sense

Its just neat to see that with the exception of Steve Jennum and Kevin Jackson pretty much the best fighters of that era were winning these tournaments

Kevin Jackson had a good little run with a good tournament win. Jackson had a win over John Lober. Lober at the time was undefeated and had beaten Shamrock, even if he goes on a five fight losing streak after this fight. Tony Frykland is a good win too for the era.

I think Jackson would have been a lot better if he didn't retire.

well Jackson kind of got embarassed by Frank Shamrock and Jerry Bohlander and had to retire cause of his Olympic Wrestling ties

also Franks loss to Lober basically sparked his amazing run but good point Jackson won impressively. I just always thought UFC was preying he would be a big star and he ended up being more big head case

As a big Don Frye Fan the UFC 8 is my favorite. How old were you Birdofthad when you went to that UFC?

oh man I really cant remember to tell the truth
I am 22 right know

want to say that it took place in 1996 it was in Puerto Rico, I was 9 to 11 range, Funny that your a big Don Frye guy, I got to meet him the day before the tournament actually happened, he was real nice, he was a Fireman !
It was great was Jerry Bohlander's UFC debut and I just remember before me and my dad being like Jerrys just a nice guy hope he does ok. We were impressed to say the least. Was actually sitting with Frank Shamrock during the show
Sucked though cause we were getting beer and other shit thrown on us all night long

First and last time I will ever go to Puerto Rico, at the hotel we went to they didnt have the right amount of beds we asked for so we called front desk and I am not lying, we asked if they had any roll away beds and they said, "No and even if we had them we wouldnt bring them to you!"

Kevin Jackson's wrestling creds are the best in MMA history. Had he stuck with it, he would have been another Couture/Coleman.

Why did he retire?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Kevin Jackson's wrestling creds are the best in MMA history. Had he stuck with it, he would have been another Couture/Coleman.

Why did he retire?

AT THE TIME he was the hgihest decorated wrestler ever in the UFC they were banking on him bringing a shit load of legitimacy to the sport he was a gold medalist Olympian.

Did good initially then got subbed by Frank Shamrock in about 15 seconds after getting a double leg. Jerry Bohlander was beating Jackson before subbing him at 10 minute mark.

Jackson had ties with Olympic Wrestling Team and USA Military.

He was told stop fighting in UFC and MMA or NHB (No Holds Barred) as it was called back then or stop being with the Olympic wrestling team.

Shows you how far the sports come, this was in the height of COngress' shut down and black balling of the sport.

He quit fighting and remained a Olympic wrestling coach

Such a shame.

I don't think losing to Frank or Bohlander, two of the top guys period at the time is that bad of a knock on him.

Jackson is still the most decorated wrestler in MMA history, wouldn't you say?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Such a shame.

I don't think losing to Frank or Bohlander, two of the top guys period at the time is that bad of a knock on him.

Not at all those were 1 and 2 IMO

and it was total bullshit
Know MMA fighters are training the Military and UFC is sponsoring Marines

Yet 15 years ago they didnt want to be associated

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Jackson is still the most decorated wrestler in MMA history, wouldn't you say?

ya you know what your right

He had the gold medals hard to argue wtih that. He is.