Can't seem to find many of these events online from the mid to late 90s. Anyone familar with the organisation and can tell me something about it?
Worth taking the time and effort to track some of the events down?
Barnetto’s camp is uswf affiliated.Â
I just remember they were run by Steve Nelson who fought Ralph Gracie a couple of times. Based in Amarillo and they were drawing bigger crowds than the UFC was at the time. They went with Pancrase slap fighting rules. Lots of good guys started there such as Evan Tanner, Paul Buentello, Heath Herring, and Leonard Garcia. I think even Don Frye and Dan Severn made appearances. No idea why it went under. It seemed successful. Last I heard, Nelson was running a restaurant. As for where you can see these events, I really don't know. I've just seen poor quality videos of matches on YouTube.Â
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Pretty much this, yah.
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I went to and worked some security for a lot of them and yeah they’re worth tracking down. Â
The Severn and Frye matches were pretty fun can crushers.  You can watch Evan Tanner work over Heath Herring and then get choked by him the next month. Ralph Gracie got wrecked by Steve in their fight and somehow managed the W. I can’t remember the dude who ate it but Paul Buentello caught some dude shooting in with the first face crushing knee I ever saw. It was fucking wild.Â
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I left the area when they were still going strong so idk why they folded. Maybe everyone got plague because they held the events in the fairground’s dirt floor arena that had held animal shos the reat of the year lol
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG_Lpsszefg
From Mbetz rarest taped events thread.
https://www.mixedmartialarts.com/forums/UnderGround/Rarest-taped-eventMMA-Holy-Grail:319315-42
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Mbetz posted a bunch of these in that thread. Not great quality footage but really interesting to see those fights from the past. So many great names passed through the USWF ring.Â
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I have probably 10 of these events on VHS, probably not much better quality than that vid though.
I’ve got some USWF on VHS packed away in a box.
jhedges - Evan Tanner purchased the organization from Steve Nelson in mid-late 2000 and ran a couple events after the Texas Commission officially started sanctioning the sport. Dick Cole himself came up for the first event. I think it was one of the first sanctioned events in the state. I remember all the fighters at the weigh-in being pissed that the commission was collecting all these new fees that they never had to pay before. It was a pretty damn good card for the time. Evan fought Travis Fulton, I believe. Leonard Garcia v Brent Medley, plus a few of the bigger names that were making the regional rounds at that time. After those couple of events, Evan decided to move to Portland and join Team Quest to focus 100% on his UFC career and the USWF was no more. I don't remember if he sold it back to Steve or what ended up happening with it. I still have a huge pile of tapes and photos somewhere in my storage. I attended probably 5 or 6 of the events back then.Golden Boy probably has way more information on the subject. He helped out Evan and a lot of the other guys in Amarillo quite a bit.
Phenom post!
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If I remember correctly, Texas did not sanction MMA, so USWF was licensed and run as a pro-wrestling organization. That is why the rules followed pro-wrestling rules.
I went with JeremyC19 to cover/shoot the last USWF that ever ran, ages ago. Golden Boy gave us the hookup.
Shout out to my fellow TX scene brethren Golden Boy and jhedges.
In later days they didn’t follow pro wrestling rules, but the Texas department of licensing and regulation would not sanction or regulate MMA as we know it. They would only allow pancration style striking aka palm strikes.
Among other stupid things. But the USWF ran at the limit of what the rules allowed in those days, And there were still some great fights.
Even after I hand delivered official copies of the New Jersey and Nevada rule sets (aka the new “unified” rules) to the head of TDLR’s Combative Sports division in spring 2001, and they began working on new rules with those as a template, it still took Texas over 3 years to get a version of what I gave them passed. The odd thing is that they simply refused to institute anything common to other states, Dickie Cole even told me to my face “I don’t give a god damn what Larry Hazzard is doing at the NJSACB or what they’re doing in Nevada.”
If I recall, Steve Nelson had a solid working relationship with Dick Cole and did the best he could.
Texas’ road to modern MMA has been a long one. But USWF was big in getting the idea rolling in the state.
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Ryann Von Doom -Barnetto’s camp is uswf affiliated.Â
I think you meant uwf.Â
Steve sold it to Evan when the TSAC decided to step in. They kept the rules Steve had in place which were very similar to Pancrase. Evan got behind on his payments and Steve took the company back then sold it to Lisa Hunt who was also a fighter.
Lisa hired me as a matchmaker and I worked closely with the TSAC. Greg Alvarez was taking over for Dickey Cole and he brought in a close friend named Rick Blaylock to help him since he was primarily a boxing guy.
Our first event they came in with new rules that included a standing 8 count. That night at the hotel I had a few beers with Rick and listened to his stories of his martial arts history. It didn’t take long to figure out he was full of shit. When he told me he was in the original Kumate I knew we were fucked.
In the main event Paul Buentello had knocked his opponent down and went in for the kill. Rick was screaming at the ref to stop the fight and give the guy a standing 8. So shortly after the fight was restarted Paul then had him in the corner and was working him over. The ref finally stepped in and stopped the match. Rick jumps in the ring and starts yelling at my ref causing a cluster fuck of a scene.
We ran one more show and decided to call it quits. Lisa told me she’d give me the company as payment so technically I own the USWF. A few years later I was hired as a matchmaker for the guy Paul beat the shit out of that night and took my crew to New Mexico.
I've posted these elsewhere, but since everyone is here.... I have several more than just these, but it might be a min before I convert everything and get it up.
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Another note about the USWF was Steve’s dad was Gordon Nelson. He wrestled as Mr Wrestling and helped break in Hulk Hogan. Amarillo was a hot bed for pro wrestling back in the day. Steve ran an legit show but also knew how to promote due to growing up in the business.
Also, there is a book being written on Evan Tanner. It will have stories from just about everyone that new him. What’s special about this book is that the author has every journal Evan wrote dating back to his days in Jr High School. For the people who debate on his death being a suicide this book will answer that question.
Golden Boy, any update on the book about Evan?
Yeah, I remember it. The Unified Shoot-Wrestling Federation. I think it was started by Steve Nelson, who had done worked shoot pro wrestling in Japan in UWFi, but I am pretty sure USWF was a 100% shoot, as in no worked matches. Evan Tanner and Heath Herring got their starts there. Don Frye had his last fight after his victory at Ultimate Ultimate Fighting Championship 1996, before he went to New Japan Pro Wrestling.