Anybody who has the guts to get in the Octagon deserves some recognition.
But there are some legendary names that leave their mark on UFC history.
For those fighters we have the UFC Hall of Fame.
These are the mixed martial artists who changed the game forever but who were the first fighters
to make it?
We're going through the first five martial artists to achieve UFC Hall of Fame immortality.
This is Ultimate MMA!!
Royce Gracey came into the UFC at the very beginning and made everybody pay attention
to jiu-jitsu as a combat style.
In fact his style is taught all over the world as Gracie jiu-jitsu.
I'd like to thank my brother for creating the show.
If it wasn't for him, none of us would be here tonight.
Of course the fans for their support!
And, Dana White, to have the courage to continue my family trade back in Brazil.
My father, my family, thank you.
He won the very first UFC mixed martial arts event with his amazing grappling ability.
At the time there were no weight classes and fighters kept fighting until they either lost
or won it all.
This meant Gracie was taking down opponents much bigger than him one after another.
Gracie won UFC 1 through 4, and I mean every fight, by way of submission.
His undefeated reign as jujitsu King came to an end at UFC 5, in a draw against arch
rival Ken Shamrock.
These two had what was the first ever UFC rivalry, which fittingly leads us to our next
Hall of Famer
Shamrock.
Ken shamrock was a pioneer of mixed martial arts, bringing the hybrid fight style to the
mainstream at a time when UFC wasn't about MMA.
Between impressive strength, striking ability, and ground work, Shamrock was always there
to challenge Royce Gracie's title.
He also stuck around a lot longer than Gracie, going beyond UFC 5 and winning UFC 48 with
a solid knee knockout.
Throughout his entire career shamrock racked up 28 wins, 23 of which came via submission
and I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart, that I'm standing in this ring and
Royce Gracie standing in this ring and UFC is still here being able to put on shows is
because of your persistence the loyal fans in UFC, and I thank you very much from the
bottom of my heart, God bless and we'll see you back in the ring
Some people critique shamrock for competing way past is prime, but we're not going to
complain about having seen more fights from the hall-of-famer.
Shamrock and Gracie were the first fighters inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
As Dana White put it, we feel that no two individuals are more deserving than Royce
and Ken to be the charter members.
Their contributions to our sport both inside and outside the Octagon may never be equalled.
Not too far behind those trailblazers is Dan The Beast Severn.
When in addition of being a great wrestler also had an amazing mustache.
He was the first world-class wrestler to enter the UFC, and established wrestling as a serious
skill in the Octagon.
This paved the way for wrestlers in the UFC such as Don Frye and Mark Coleman.
His professional record has Severn competing in 127 matches and winning 101 of them.
One of those wins was at UFC 9 against Ken Shamrock.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005 at UFC 52, eight years before his retirement.
Joe it's just fantastic to see the support of the people being out here seeing the evolution
of the athletes themselves being so multi versatile it just it's an honor pleasure just
to be here and just to see how it has grown into what it is this day
In the early days the UFC was dominated by ground game.
Wrestlers and jiu-jitsu practitioners were racking up win after win, and greco roman
wrestler Randy Couture was no exception.
Couture made a name for himself at his debut at UFC 13.
He took on Tony Halme, a man 100 pounds heavier, and won in under a minute with a rear naked
choke.
In the finale Couture took down Stephen Graham with a TKO in the first round, and if that's
not enough to intimidate you, he was also a US Army sergeant from 1982 to 1988.
Couture's UFC career spanned from 1997 to 2007 bringing us great fights such as his
trilogy against Chuck Liddell.
Randy finally got inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2006 on the Ultimate Fighter 3
finale.
Mark The Hammer Coleman was another wrestling force you did not want to mess with.
Coleman became the first UFC heavyweight champion after beating Dan Severn with a neck crank
submission at UFC 12
During an interview with Joe Rogan, The Hammer stated about opponent Maurice Smith: going
to ground him and pound the god -REDACTED- out of him.
Thus starting the ever popular phrase "ground and pound."
Coleman and Couture had the first ever Hall of Famer vs. Hall of Famer bout in UFC history.
Coleman lost that fight and never returned to MMA, but will always remember how his wrestling
skills won him the title of UFC heavyweight champion
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next time this is Ultimate MMA!!