https://youtu.be/loY9HmtUCrY
As UFC wraps up their eventful International Fight Week in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, they take a look back and honor some of the legends who helped get the sport where it is today.
Featured above is a recap of the …
https://youtu.be/loY9HmtUCrY
As UFC wraps up their eventful International Fight Week in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, they take a look back and honor some of the legends who helped get the sport where it is today.
Featured above is a recap of the 2016 UFC Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony, where Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Don Frye, Bob Meyrowitz and the Pete Williams vs. Mark Coleman fight from UFC 17 were honored by the UFC.
Included in the recap of the ceremony are highlights from the speeches of the aforementioned inductees, as well as quick hosting spots from UFC’s Megan Olivi.
The complete 2016 UFC Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass on Sunday, July 10, 2016.
This week, UFC announced the fight that will be inducted in this year’s UFC Hall Of Fame class.
The historic showdown from UFC 17 between Pete Williams and Mark Coleman, a fight that was long-considered one of the best “highlight reel” knockouts of …
This week, UFC announced the fight that will be inducted in this year’s UFC Hall Of Fame class.
The historic showdown from UFC 17 between Pete Williams and Mark Coleman, a fight that was long-considered one of the best “highlight reel” knockouts of all-time with Williams head-kicking Coleman and shocking the MMA world by pulling off the upset.
The Williams-Coleman fight will be inducted this year, along with UFC legend Don Frye, former UFC promoter Bob Meyrowitz, former NSAC executive director and current UFC executive Marc Ratner, and one of the best heavyweight MMA fighters of all time, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
The 2016 UFC Hall Of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled to take place on July 10th during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will air on UFCFightPass.com.
Bob Meyrowitz was a co-founder of the UFC back in 1993.
All these years later, Meyrowitz will be honored with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The event takes place next month during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, which all centers around UFC 200.
Meyrowitz worked in the music industry before joining Art Davie and Rorion Gracie in creating the UFC. He was part-owner from 1993-2001.
“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” he told UFC.com.
Asked if he regretted selling the UFC to Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, Meyrowitz said, “No, I don’t.”
The Fertittas were willing to invest 40 million dollars into this. I don’t know if I had that money that I would have. And the Fertittas had an incredible passion for the sport. It is quite astounding what a brilliant job the Fertittas and Dana White have done. But we didn’t even know what we were creating, and it slowly kept taking form as you were watching it,” he said. “The entertainment business is the most honest business. Only the fans choose who’s a star. You can do whatever you think you can do, but you have to see what the fans like and then you have to give them their visibility and you have to give them their visibility so that they can work their stardom.
“The other thing that I say is that people don’t watch sports; people watch people. So when I created the UFC, I knew that we had people that no one knew. So we did a tournament. And looking back, it was not really fair to ask people to fight three times in one night, but the idea was that we started with eight guys nobody knew. By the end of the night, in one night, you knew the two final fighters and you had a rooting interest.”
Bob Meyrowitz was a co-founder of the UFC back in 1993.
All these years later, Meyrowitz will be honored with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The event takes place next month during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, which all centers around UFC 200.
Meyrowitz worked in the music industry before joining Art Davie and Rorion Gracie in creating the UFC. He was part-owner from 1993-2001.
“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” he told UFC.com.
Asked if he regretted selling the UFC to Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White, Meyrowitz said, “No, I don’t.”
The Fertittas were willing to invest 40 million dollars into this. I don’t know if I had that money that I would have. And the Fertittas had an incredible passion for the sport. It is quite astounding what a brilliant job the Fertittas and Dana White have done. But we didn’t even know what we were creating, and it slowly kept taking form as you were watching it,” he said. “The entertainment business is the most honest business. Only the fans choose who’s a star. You can do whatever you think you can do, but you have to see what the fans like and then you have to give them their visibility and you have to give them their visibility so that they can work their stardom.
“The other thing that I say is that people don’t watch sports; people watch people. So when I created the UFC, I knew that we had people that no one knew. So we did a tournament. And looking back, it was not really fair to ask people to fight three times in one night, but the idea was that we started with eight guys nobody knew. By the end of the night, in one night, you knew the two final fighters and you had a rooting interest.”
The 2016 UFC Hall of Fame will air on Fight Pass Sunday, July 10 as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
The ceremony begins at noon PT from the main stage theater of the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Four different categories are used in honoring those who have excelled in MMA, as there are the Pioneer Era, Modern Era, Contributors Wing and Fight Wing.
Athletes who have been enshrined in the hall of fame include Forrest Griffin, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.
The newest inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.
A complete list can be found below of previous honorees:
Modern Era
Forrest Griffin (inducted 2013)
Pioneers
Royce Gracie (inducted 2003)
Ken Shamrock (inducted 2003)
Dan Severn (inducted 2005)
Randy Couture (inducted 2006)
Mark Coleman (inducted 2008)
Chuck Liddell (inducted 2009)
Matt Hughes (inducted 2010)
Tito Ortiz (inducted 2012)
Pat Miletich (inducted 2014)
Fights
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar I, April 2005 (inducted 2014)
Contributors
Charles “Mask” Lewis (inducted 2009)
The 2016 UFC Hall of Fame will air on Fight Pass Sunday, July 10 as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
The ceremony begins at noon PT from the main stage theater of the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Four different categories are used in honoring those who have excelled in MMA, as there are the Pioneer Era, Modern Era, Contributors Wing and Fight Wing.
Athletes who have been enshrined in the hall of fame include Forrest Griffin, Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.
The newest inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.
A complete list can be found below of previous honorees:
Modern Era
Forrest Griffin (inducted 2013)
Pioneers
Royce Gracie (inducted 2003)
Ken Shamrock (inducted 2003)
Dan Severn (inducted 2005)
Randy Couture (inducted 2006)
Mark Coleman (inducted 2008)
Chuck Liddell (inducted 2009)
Matt Hughes (inducted 2010)
Tito Ortiz (inducted 2012)
Pat Miletich (inducted 2014)
Fights
Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar I, April 2005 (inducted 2014)
Contributors
Charles “Mask” Lewis (inducted 2009)
(Photo via Getty)
Earlier today, MMA Junkie unearthed a rumor about Pat Miletich being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Their theory? Miletich is one the schedule for the UFC’s fan expo next week in Las Vegas. Do you know what else is also on the schedule? Pat Miletich’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So I guess we shouldn’t call it a rumor so much as it’s either fact or one of the UFC’s web design interns made a huge mistake.
(Photo via Getty)
Earlier today, MMA Junkie unearthed a rumor about Pat Miletich being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Their theory? Miletich is one the schedule for the UFC’s fan expo next week in Las Vegas. Do you know what else is also on the schedule? Pat Miletich’s UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony. So I guess we shouldn’t call it a rumor so much as it’s either fact or one of the UFC’s web design interns made a huge mistake.
If true, this would be a tremendous boon for the UFC’s Hall of Fame–which is currently little more than Dana White‘s equivalent of a Myspace Top 8 (yes, a Myspace reference). Inducting Miletich–the first-ever UFC welterweight champ and one of the most notable coaches of his day with Miletich Fighting Systems–into the UFC Hall of Fame would bestow some much-needed legitimacy on the institution after White promised to induct the likes of Bobby Southworth and Jason Thacker earlier this month.
And by the way, is it a coincidence that the day CagePotato publishes the 95 Theses of MMA (one of which decries leaving legitimate legends out of the UFC) is the same day we find out about the UFC’s conciliatory nature towards Miletich? We don’t think so…
If/when Miletich is inducted, we’ll be sure to brief you with the details.
(And just like that, a robot-voiced MMA fighter from the future star was born.)
Without coming off too anti-UFC (LOL!), I think we can all agree that the promotion’s Hall of Fame is about as meaningless as their rankings system, right? Aside from picking and choosing its inductees based around whoever Dana White isn’t fueding with at the moment, it’s page on UFC.com hasn’t been updated in years, so much so that recent additions Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Forrest Griffin are not even featured on it. Although to be fair, Ortiz probably never will.
Regardless, Dana White has been teasing his media cronies that the UFC Fan Expo at this year’s Fourth of July International Fight Week — you know, the one featuring musical guests Papa Roach, POD, and Lit (double LOL!) — will serve as the induction ceremony for the UFC Hall of Fame’s next member, as it has in years past. The big difference being that this year could serve as the induction for not just one man, but the entire cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 1 (via Fox Sports):
I think that’s a must. I think that entire season should be inducted. Without a doubt that group of people are all game changers. I’ve thought about the whole cast should be (in the hall of fame). Even the Canadian Jason Thacker — without the group of people that we had and the way the synergy worked and the way things went down, that season really launched everything.
Man, Frank Shamrock must have snapped an entire box of pencils in half when he heard this news.
(And just like that, a robot-voiced MMA fighter from the future star was born.)
Without coming off too anti-UFC (LOL!), I think we can all agree that the promotion’s Hall of Fame is about as meaningless as their rankings system, right? Aside from picking and choosing its inductees based around whoever Dana White isn’t fueding with at the moment, it’s page on UFC.com hasn’t been updated in years, so much so that recent additions Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Forrest Griffin are not even featured on it. Although to be fair, Ortiz probably never will.
Regardless, Dana White has been teasing his media cronies that the UFC Fan Expo at this year’s Fourth of July International Fight Week — you know, the one featuring musical guests Papa Roach, POD, and Lit (double LOL!) — will serve as the induction ceremony for the UFC Hall of Fame’s next member, as it has in years past. The big difference being that this year could serve as the induction for not just one man, but the entire cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 1 (via Fox Sports):
I think that’s a must. I think that entire season should be inducted. Without a doubt that group of people are all game changers. I’ve thought about the whole cast should be (in the hall of fame). Even the Canadian Jason Thacker — without the group of people that we had and the way the synergy worked and the way things went down, that season really launched everything.
Man, Frank Shamrock must have snapped an entire box of pencils in half when he heard this news.
Honestly, it’s hard to form much of an opinion either way on this statement given the aforementioned lack of legitimacy the UFC Hall of Fame has in the broad scope of things. Do I think that the likes of Lodune Sincaid, Josh Rafferty, and Sam Hoger deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame over the likes of Shamrock or Bas Rutten? Helllllllll no. But am I going to get up in arms over a sports entertainment company excluding some perhaps more deserved fighters from its make believe awards ceremony? Please, I’ve got Fight Pass cards to shit on.
But there you have it: It’s 2014, Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano are still making headlines, and Jason Thacker is about to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Holy shit.
–J. Jones
