Fighters who lost in the first round of UFC 1 went home with a very light paycheck, according to UFC co-founder Art Davie.
UFC 1: The Beginning took place way back in November 1993 in Denver, Colorado. It was the first event of its kind, pitting fighters from different martial arts disciplines up against each other in an eight-man tournament.
Davie and fellow UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie were the masterminds behind UFC 1, which aimed to find out which martial art was the most effective. Fighters weren’t separated by weight class and there were minimal rules, with the most notable being a ban on eye-gouging and biting.
The eight-man UFC 1 tournament consisted of three rounds—a quarter final, semifinal and final—and featured fighters from a range of martial arts, including sumo wrestling, kickboxing, taekwondo and many more. The event was hugely successful, generating over 86,000 pay-per-view buys.
PHOTO: UFC
Fighting three times in one night, Royce Gracie became the first UFC champion by defeating Gerard Gordeau in the UFC 1 final. Gracie has of course since gone down as a UFC legend and was likely handsomely renumerated for his feat—at least compared to those who lost in the quarter finals.
In an interview with The Hannibal TV, Davie was asked how much those fighters who lost in the first round actually took home, and the answer may surprise you.
“A thousand dollars,” said Davie.
Following UFC 1, Davie went on to stage four more UFC events over the next two years with Rorion Gracie, before the duo sold their stake in the promotion to Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG). After failing to secure wide-spread sanctioning for UFC fights, SEG sold the promotion to its current owner Zuffa in 2001.
So the UFC has been paying fighters like shit since day one? You don’t say?
Did they even pay for flight and hotel? If you brought cornermen and stayed awhile to adjust to Denver you’d lose money.
That’s about $2k in 2022. Not that far off what some were paid yesterday: UFC Fight Night 215 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: Lowest payout in program history
Zane Frazier and Teila Tuli earned that $1k the hard way that night.
haha and Rosier! fack me
In UFC 2, I was paid $1k for one fight. They paid airfare and hotel for one corner and myself, plus $50 per diem.
lOOking Back at the Memory , Probably still worth it
Yes. Im not complaining. I knew what the pay was and agreed going in. I was treated well by everyone except Johnny Rhodes. For some reason he thought he should kick my ass.
Fred, you’re a beast with huge balls. Good for you. You have my respect for what it’s worth
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I would feel worse for Robert Lucarelli or Scott Morris who got the same pay but were in danger of being seriously hurt.
It was a tough night at the office for several of us. Orlando Weit being caught under Remco Pardo getting elbows to the head with his head flat on the mat was not good for Orlando, although when I saw him the next day and asked him how he was, he said “I am PERFECT” with a big smile. He was one of many really good people I was fortunate to meet.
That was brutal to watch. Worse than Paul Herrera.
Why would you go out there and get soccer kicked by Gerard Gordeau when you can make so much more producing content for pornhub and onlyfans?