How would you tell the UFC's story in just 10 events? What about Pride?

I posted this over on SD and it's not getting much play so I thought I'd see what you guys think.

So here's the challenge. . .

Someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, I've heard there's this thing called the UFC (or Pride or both) and it's been around for a while. What 10 events should I watch to fully understand what happened here?"

What 10 events would you choose to illustrate the history and narrative arc of the UFC/Pride/both from its beginning to the present day, so that a total neophyte could understand what the organization is, where it came from, where it is now, who its major stars have been, etc.

So name the event and then give a reason for choosing that particular event.

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Originally Posted by SPX

I posted this over on SD and it's not getting much play so I thought I'd see what you guys think.

So here's the challenge. . .

Someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, I've heard there's this thing called the UFC (or Pride or both) and it's been around for a while. What 10 events should I watch to fully understand what happened here?"

What 10 events would you choose to illustrate the history and narrative arc of the UFC/Pride/both from its beginning to the present day, so that a total neophyte could understand what the organization is, where it came from, where it is now, who its major stars have been, etc.

So name the event and then give a reason for choosing that particular event.

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UFC 1: This is where it all began. Obviously you have to include this to have any kind of context for the rest of the sport as it is today. You could go back further to old Vale Tudo videos from Brazil, but this is the event that opened the most eyes. It also proves once and for all that size isn't everything.

UFC 10: Ground and pound is born. The first real look into the strength of wrestling and how it can be applied in mma.

UFC 30: The Zuffa Era has begun. The first card under Zuffa featured one of the new "faces" of the company, Tito Ortiz, defending the light heavyweight title. Two of the best lightweight fighters(or Bantamweights as they were called at the time) in the world(probably 1 and 3 in the world) Jens Pulver and Caol Uno fought for the belt. You also had one of those "stacked from top to bottom" cards everyone remembers so fondly from this time in mma.

UFC 34: Possibly the most exciting UFC card of all time. The sheer amount of talent is staggering, and only one fight on the entire card went to a decision. Future stars like Randy Couture, Pedro Rizzo, Matt Hughes, Carlos Newton, Ricco Rodriguez, BJ Penn, Josh Barnett, Evan Tanner, Phil Baroni, and Frank Mir all fought on this card.

Ultimate Fighter 1 finale: Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar remains the fight that put the UFC on the map on cable TV.

UFC 75: For the first time... Ever, really, the UFC has the best light heavyweight in the world. The PRIDE and UFC belts are unified when Hendo fights Rampage. Also, the fight between Bisping and Hammill really helps to point out just how flawed the judges can be from time to time in one of the worst robbery decisions of all time.

UFC 79: We finally get Wanderlei vs Chuck, the GSP era begins when he armbars Hughes, and Machida starts opening more and more fans' eyes.

UFC 100: Because UFC 100.

UFC 144: MMA goes back to Japan. Where to even start with this one? We have Pettis returning to his explosive ways when he decapitates Lauzon in the opening fight of the main card. Tim Boetsch has a fantastic come-from-behind knockout win over Okami, K-1 Shields 2.0 outstrikes the hell out of Akiyama(and gets thrown around like a hot potato for his troubles), Mark Hunt gonna Mark Hunt, Rampage makes his not so triumphant return, but gets one last slam in Japan, and Benson Henderson wins the lighteight title from Frankie Edgar in a great back and forth fight.

That's all I have for right now. I'm probably forgetting a few major cards. This would be a bit easier if it were by fight, rather than the card as a whole.

UFC 1 for sure - For me, when that karate guy dropped the fat sumo guy, I was hooked.

Ultimate Fighter season 1 - That Bonner/Griffen fight was awesome

UFC 40 - Tito vs Shamrock. The buildup to that fight was awesome.

Ultimate Fighter season 10 - Kimbo Slice being on there was intriguing. Even though we all knew he was get his ass kicked by a "real" MMA fighter, it was still exciting to see it.

UFC 100 - That card was so stacked, and the Lesnar angle brought in a lot of new eyeballs to the event.

UFC 190 - Watching Rousey one punch KO Corriera was amazing. I never saw a woman with that ability.


I dont have 10 events (I know Im missing some) but I would tell someone to watch Pride and the UFC along the same timeline so they can fully understand how big the merger between the two companies was. I dont think you can appreciate Nog, Cro Cop, etc if you only saw them in the UFC.

Thanks for the responses. I may go back and watch some of these events myself. From around UFC 5 to about UFC 70 my knowledge is a little spotty because I really wasn't following the sport. Anything I know from that time period is just stuff I've learned or seen after the fact.

Ludo, I see that you're not really giving any attention to the women in your list. It seems like you at least have to have one Rousey event if someone is going to truly understand where the sport is today.

My knowledge about Pride is truly shoddy indeed because Pride was just wrapping up about the time that I started watching MMA again.

I think it might be helpful to identify certain eras where the UFC slowly developed, so that we can make sure each era can be properly represented.

Off the top of my head, I can think of:

1. The Beginning - where MMA was in its infancy and almost no one was cross-training

2. The Wrestler Era - self-explanatory

3. The Rise of the Cross Trainers - I think this might overlap with the wrestler era, but I'm thinking of when guys like Guy Mezger and Frank Shamrock were really hitting the scene and we were starting to see truly well-rounded guys for the first time

4. The Beginning of the Modern Era - This is when Tito, Chuck and Bas broke out

5. The Rise of the Lighter-weight Guys - This is when BJ, Pulver and the WWs like Hughes and Newton got introduced

6. The Modern Era/The Post-TUF Era - Those few years immediately after TUF got started up to about 2010. Also about the time that GSP became champ and had his early reign

7. The UFC of Today - Everything since the merger of the WEC with the UFC and the introduction of WMMA

Now that I think about it, in addition to 10 events total, if we can agree on an "era" system then I would be interested in expanding this exercise to include, say, three events in each era.

I think Ludo's list hits a lot of good points. I find that I have a hard time answering this question because my "MMA memory" is centered around fights rather than entire events (after they stopped doing tournaments, anyway). I tend to forget which fights were on the same card.

As far as UFC "eras" go, I've seen something like the following system referred to several times:

1) The Pre-Zuffa Era (Self explanatory)
2) The Dark Ages (Pre TUF)
3) The Golden Era (Liddel, Ortiz, Couture, Hughes)
4) The Modern Era (Less certain about where to draw the line here. Post-WEC merger?)

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Originally Posted by Svino

As far as UFC "eras" go, I've seen something like the following system referred to several times:

1) The Pre-Zuffa Era (Self explanatory)
2) The Dark Ages (Pre TUF)
3) The Golden Era (Liddel, Ortiz, Couture, Hughes)
4) The Modern Era (Less certain about where to draw the line here. Post-WEC merger?)

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I don't think that list is fine enough. For instance, Zuffa didn't purchase the UFC until 2001, with UFC 30 being their first event. The sport changed during those 7 years before the purchase. I really don't think you can call that a single era.

UFC 1 and UFC 60

UFC 1 made me aware of MMA, UFC 60 got me hooked on it . I didn't watch the MMA before ufc 60