Early UFC Facts You'll Never Believe

The UFC is now a part of the mainstream. However, it went through a lot of struggles in order to get to where it is now. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that there are a lot of crazy early UFC facts.

There Were Few Rules

To name an example, there were few rules in the early UFC, which made the fights very dangerous. At UFC 2, Pat Smith almost killed Scott Morris because a fight couldn't be stopped unless either a fighter or a fighter's corner gave up. The first option wasn't possible because Smith had knocked Morris unconscious while the second option wasn't possible because Morris's corner wasn't even paying attention. Smith didn't stop until he heard the referee yelling at Morris's corner because said official didn't have the authority to stop the fight.

Crazy Gimmicks That Fell Through Because of Funding

It isn't uncommon for crazy gimmicks to get tossed around during the start-up phase for attention-getting purposes. The early UFCs had proposals for putting electric fencing above the cage, live alligators around the cage, and live sharks around the cage. These proposals didn't fall through because people realized that they were dumb. They fell through because they would have been too expensive.

The Gloves Were Adopted Later

Gloves in combat sports can be a complicated topic. In the case of the early UFC, it didn't mandate the use of gloves until 1997. Before that, different fighters had different opinions on the matter. Some were dissatisfied by existing gloves at the time. Others wore them on their own initiative. However, the latter wasn't always permitted, as shown by how Felix Mitchell was refused entry to the cage at UFC 3 for wearing them.