What If The UFC Was Never Created?

The Actual History

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was conceived in 1993 as a tournament to determine which martial art was most effective in real combat situations. The idea originated with businessman Art Davie and Rorion Gracie, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master from the renowned Gracie family. Their vision was to create a minimal-rules competition that would pit practitioners of different fighting disciplines against each other. The first event, UFC 1, took place on November 12, 1993, at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado.

The early UFC was marketed with the tagline "There Are No Rules!" which, while not strictly accurate (biting and eye-gouging were prohibited), reflected the tournament's bare-knuckle, no-weight-class, no-time-limit approach. The format was revolutionary and shocking to American audiences accustomed to more regulated boxing or professional wrestling. UFC 1 was won by Royce Gracie, Rorion's younger brother, who defeated three opponents in one night despite being the smallest competitor. His victories dramatically showcased the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu against larger opponents using different fighting styles.

The early UFC events attracted attention for their brutality and lack of regulations. This notoriety led to significant political opposition. Senator John McCain famously campaigned against what he called "human cockfighting," pressuring cable companies to drop UFC pay-per-views and pushing for bans in various states. This political pressure, coupled with financial difficulties, pushed the organization to the brink of bankruptcy by the late 1990s.

In January 2001, the UFC underwent a transformative change when casino executives Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, along with their business partner Dana White, purchased the struggling promotion for $2 million through their company Zuffa LLC. Under Zuffa's leadership, the UFC embraced regulation, working with athletic commissions to develop a unified ruleset—including weight classes, time limits, and prohibited techniques—that would make the sport safer while preserving its competitive essence.

The UFC's mainstream breakthrough came with the reality television show "The Ultimate Fighter," which premiered in January 2005 on Spike TV. The show's finale featured a legendary battle between finalists Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, a fight so compelling it's credited with saving the UFC, which was still operating at a significant financial loss at the time.

From there, the UFC experienced meteoric growth. Key milestones included the rise of superstars like Chuck Liddell, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and later Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor; the absorption of rival promotions like PRIDE, WEC, and Strikeforce; expanding internationally with events across the globe; and the landmark $4.025 billion sale to WME-IMG (now Endeavor) in 2016—the largest transaction in sports history at that time.

By 2025, the UFC has established itself as a global sports powerhouse. It broadcasts events in over 170 countries, has a multi-billion dollar media rights deal with ESPN, and has transformed Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) from a controversial fringe activity into one of the world's fastest-growing sports. The technical evolution of fighters has been equally dramatic, with modern UFC athletes displaying high-level skills across all fighting disciplines—striking, wrestling, and submission grappling—a far cry from the specialized stylists of the early events.

The Point of Divergence

What if the UFC was never created? In this alternate timeline, we explore a scenario where the pivotal meeting between Art Davie and Rorion Gracie in 1989—when they conceived the concept of an octagonal cage where fighters of different disciplines would compete—never occurred, or where their subsequent business plan failed to find investors.

Several plausible divergences could have prevented the UFC's creation:

First, Rorion Gracie might have been less ambitious in promoting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the United States. The Gracie family had been challenging other martial artists for decades in Brazil, but Rorion was particularly entrepreneurial in bringing this tradition to America. If he had focused solely on his academy in Torrance, California, rather than seeking a larger platform for his family's fighting style, the concept might never have materialized.

Alternatively, Davie and Gracie might have failed to secure the initial investment needed to stage the first event. Their proposal for a no-holds-barred fighting tournament was radical for the time and encountered significant skepticism. Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG), the pay-per-view company that ultimately backed the first UFC, might have declined the risky venture. Without financial backing, the tournament would have remained just an intriguing concept.

A third possibility involves the regulatory climate of the early 1990s. If state athletic commissions had preemptively banned no-holds-barred competitions before the first UFC could even take place—perhaps due to pressure from traditional boxing or martial arts organizations concerned about this new competitive threat—the promotion might have been stillborn.

Finally, there's the possibility that the core creative vision could have been different. If Davie and Gracie had conceived a more conventionally structured competition with traditional rules and equipment (similar to existing kickboxing events), it might not have generated the controversial appeal that gave early UFC its cultural impact, leading to a forgettable venture that quickly folded.

In this alternate timeline, we assume that a combination of these factors—particularly Rorion Gracie focusing on his academy rather than mainstream promotion and potential investors balking at the financial risk—meant that the UFC never materialized. The first pay-per-view event scheduled for November 12, 1993, never happened, and the combat sports landscape evolved along a very different path.

Immediate Aftermath

Fragmented Combat Sports Landscape

Without the UFC's emergence as a unifying platform, the world of combat sports would have remained more segregated throughout the 1990s. Various martial arts disciplines would continue developing in parallel with minimal cross-pollination:

Kickboxing and Muay Thai would likely maintain their niche popularity in North America, with K-1 (founded in 1993 in Japan) remaining the premier kickboxing organization globally. Without MMA's rise drawing striking specialists, K-1 might have attracted more American talent.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) would still spread internationally, but at a significantly slower pace. The Gracie family would continue teaching at their academies, but without Royce Gracie's dramatic UFC victories demonstrating BJJ's effectiveness against other styles, the art would remain relatively obscure outside dedicated martial arts circles. Competitions would stay within the grappling format rather than evolving toward MMA.
Boxing would retain its position as the dominant combat sport in America without competition from MMA for audience share, pay-per-view dollars, or athletic talent. The late 1990s and early 2000s might have seen more promising athletes choose boxing careers rather than being drawn to MMA.

Absence of Political Controversy

Senator John McCain's campaign against "human cockfighting" would never occur, removing a significant political discussion about violence in sports entertainment from the public discourse:

State athletic commissions would focus their regulatory efforts on boxing and traditional martial arts competitions, without the pressure to develop frameworks for mixed-style combat.
The mainstream media moral panic about no-holds-barred fighting would be avoided, potentially leading to less scrutiny of violence in other entertainment forms that emerged in the late 1990s.

Entertainment Industry Effects

The absence of the UFC would create a vacuum in the combat sports entertainment space that other entities might attempt to fill:

Professional Wrestling might have experienced less pressure to evolve toward more extreme content. The WWE's "Attitude Era" (late 1990s), which featured more violent and adult-oriented storylines, was partly a response to competition for the same demographic that was watching early UFC. Without this competitive pressure, wrestling might have taken a different creative direction.
Japanese MMA Promotions like PRIDE Fighting Championships (founded in 1997) would still emerge, as Japan had its own tradition of mixed-style competitions predating the UFC. However, without the UFC establishing the commercial viability of the format in the West, PRIDE might have remained primarily an Asian phenomenon with limited global impact.

Business Impact on Key Figures

The absence of the UFC would dramatically alter the career trajectories of several key figures in sports business:

Dana White would likely have continued in boxing management or instruction, never becoming the influential and controversial figure he evolved into as UFC president. His business relationship with the Fertitta brothers might never have formed.
The Fertitta Brothers would have focused their entertainment investments elsewhere, potentially in traditional casino entertainment or possibly other sports properties, never experiencing the massive return on investment they received from their UFC purchase.
Early UFC Stars like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Don Frye would have continued in their respective disciplines without the platform that made them combat sports pioneers. Shamrock might have remained exclusively in professional wrestling, while Olympic wrestlers like Severn might never have transitioned to combat sports entertainment.

Limited Martial Arts Evolution

The absence of a high-profile platform demonstrating the effectiveness of different fighting techniques would significantly slow the evolutionary process that transformed martial arts training in the 1990s and early 2000s:

Cross-training would still occur among forward-thinking martial artists, but without the competitive necessity demonstrated by UFC losses, many traditional schools would maintain their stylistic isolation longer.
The "Wrestle-boxer" archetype that dominated early MMA might never emerge as a recognized effective fighting approach, with striking and grappling disciplines continuing to develop separately.
Reality-based self-defense systems would have less empirical evidence to draw from regarding what techniques work under pressure against resisting opponents, potentially allowing less effective traditional approaches to maintain their credibility longer.

Long-term Impact

Evolution of Combat Sports Business

Without the UFC serving as a catalyst for the MMA industry, the combat sports landscape would develop along dramatically different lines through the 2000s and beyond:

Fragmented MMA Development

Regional Promotions: Rather than one dominant global brand, MMA would likely develop as a patchwork of smaller regional promotions with inconsistent rules and varying production values. Organizations like King of the Cage, Cage Rage, and similar promotions would exist, but without the UFC's template to follow or central competitive hierarchy to aspire to.
International Divergence: Different countries would develop distinct approaches to mixed combat with limited cross-pollination. Japan's PRIDE might still emerge given the country's history with shoot wrestling and pancrase, but would remain primarily an Asian phenomenon. European promotions might take cues from established kickboxing circuits like K-1, while American variations might more closely resemble modified kickboxing events with limited ground fighting.
Delayed Monetization: Without the UFC's business model innovations—particularly its successful transition to pay-per-view—MMA would struggle longer to find sustainable revenue streams. The sport's professionalization would be delayed by at least a decade, with fighters earning substantially less and often needing to maintain other careers.

Boxing's Sustained Dominance

Talent Retention: Boxing would retain many athletes who, in our timeline, migrated to MMA. Fighters like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, or even Anderson Silva might have pursued boxing careers or remained in their original disciplines.
Structural Problems Persist: Without competitive pressure from MMA, boxing would face less urgency to address its fragmented championship structure and promotional disputes. The sport's decline in mainstream American culture might have continued unabated through the 2000s.
Financial Ecosystem: Boxing's pay structure, with enormous purses for top fighters and minimal compensation for undercard talents, would remain unchallenged by the UFC's alternative model. This might exacerbate the sport's struggle to develop new stars, as the development pipeline would remain under-resourced.

Martial Arts Technical Evolution

The absence of the UFC would significantly alter how martial arts techniques and training methodologies evolved:

Delayed Integration of Disciplines

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's Growth: BJJ would still spread internationally but at a fraction of the pace seen in our timeline. Without Royce Gracie's dramatic UFC victories demonstrating its effectiveness, BJJ might remain a specialist discipline with limited mainstream recognition until the 2010s or later.
Wrestling's Combat Application: Amateur wrestlers would have fewer opportunities to monetize their skills in combat sports. The wrestling-based control strategies that became fundamental to MMA would develop more slowly and in isolation.
Striking Evolution: The adaptation of traditional striking arts (boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai) for mixed combat scenarios would occur more gradually. The specialized MMA striking meta-game—featuring stance adjustments to defend takedowns, emphasis on distance management, and unique glove-specific techniques—might never fully develop.

Training Methodologies

Specialty Gyms vs. Complete Fighters: Without the UFC demonstrating the necessity of cross-training, martial arts would likely remain more siloed. The modern MMA gym model, where fighters train all disciplines under one roof with specialized coaches, would emerge more slowly if at all.
Fitness Industry Impact: The fitness industry boom related to MMA training—including the proliferation of classes like cardio kickboxing, MMA conditioning, and BJJ for fitness—would not occur at the same scale. Combat sports training would remain more niche in the general fitness landscape.

Media and Entertainment Effects

The absence of the UFC would create ripple effects throughout sports media and entertainment:

Television and Streaming Content

Sports Broadcasting: Without MMA's growth, sports networks like ESPN would fill their programming schedules differently. The hours dedicated to UFC content in our timeline would likely be distributed among traditional sports or perhaps alternative extreme sports properties.
Reality Television: "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, which helped bring MMA to mainstream audiences in 2005, would never exist. This would remove a key component in the development of sports reality programming.
Streaming Platforms: The UFC's early adoption of digital distribution models and eventually its partnership with ESPN+ helped accelerate sports content migration to streaming services. Without this push, sports streaming might have developed more slowly.

Broader Cultural Impact

Combat Sports in Popular Culture: MMA's influence on action movies, video games, and television would be absent. The realistic fighting styles that became more prevalent in Hollywood productions of the 2010s were heavily influenced by MMA's rise.
Celebrity Fighters: Cultural phenomena like Ronda Rousey or Conor McGregor would never emerge. These athletes transcended their sport to become mainstream celebrities, influencing everything from gender perceptions in combat sports to marketing and self-promotion in athletics.
Sports Fashion: The distinctive aesthetic of MMA apparel brands like Tapout, Affliction, and later Venum would never enter mainstream fashion, removing a significant urban fashion trend of the 2000s.

Economic and Business Landscapes

By 2025, the absence of the UFC would have created a substantially different sports business environment:

Corporate Structure of Combat Sports

Endeavor's Portfolio: Without the UFC acquisition (valued at $4.025 billion in 2016), Endeavor's business portfolio would look radically different. This might have affected their ability to go public or their overall strategic direction as an entertainment conglomerate.
International Market Development: The UFC's global expansion introduced regulated MMA to markets worldwide. Without this coordinated effort, combat sports would remain more regionally distinct, with less international standardization.
Sponsor Relationships: The brands that heavily invested in MMA marketing—Monster Energy, Modelo, Venum, etc.—would have directed those marketing dollars elsewhere, perhaps remaining more focused on extreme sports or traditional athletics.

Fighter Economics and Labor Relations

Fighter Compensation Models: Without the UFC establishing (sometimes controversial) compensation standards, combat sports athletes might have developed different expectations for pay structure, sponsorship rights, and career progression.
Collective Bargaining: The ongoing discussions around fighter unionization would have taken different forms or perhaps focused more exclusively on boxing. The specific economic critiques of the UFC model would not exist, potentially resulting in different labor dynamics.
Post-Career Opportunities: Many retired fighters in our timeline found careers as commentators, analysts, coaches, or gym owners specifically because of MMA's growth. These career paths would be more limited, potentially making combat sports careers even more financially precarious.

Alternative Combat Sports Evolution

By 2025, without the UFC as the dominant model, alternative combat sports might have gained more prominence:

Submission Grappling competitions like ADCC might have developed greater mainstream visibility, potentially evolving into the premier combat sport for ground fighting specialists.
Modified Kickboxing formats might have incorporated limited grappling elements, creating a hybrid that would differ significantly from MMA as we know it—perhaps maintaining a ring rather than a cage and emphasizing striking over ground fighting.
Team-based Combat Sports concepts might have filled the innovation void, perhaps developing formats where teams of fighters compete in relay-style events rather than the individual-focused model of current MMA.

Expert Opinions

Dr. Jonathan Richardson, Professor of Sports History at Columbia University, offers this perspective: "The UFC represented more than just a new sport—it was a paradigm shift in how we understand combat effectiveness and martial arts practice. Without its emergence in the early 1990s, we would likely have seen the continued siloing of martial disciplines, with each claiming superiority without the empirical testing ground that MMA provided. The traditional martial arts landscape would have maintained its mystique longer, but ultimately, some form of mixed combat would have eventually emerged—though likely in a more fragmented, less commercialized form. What the UFC truly accelerated was the demystification of combat arts through practical application."

Sophia Martinez, sports business analyst and former executive at ESPN, provides this analysis: "The absence of the UFC would have left a significant gap in the sports entertainment marketplace. By 2025, we might have seen boxing retain more of its cultural relevance in the United States, but I suspect another combat format would have eventually emerged to capture the demographic that MMA attracted. The biggest difference would be in media rights valuation—the UFC's ability to deliver the coveted 18-34 male demographic to advertisers helped redefine sports media contracts. Without that model, we might have seen sports broadcasting take a more traditional approach to content valuation through the digital transition, potentially slowing innovation in sports streaming services."

Mark Thompson, veteran combat sports coach and technical analyst, explains the training implications: "What many people don't realize is how fundamentally the UFC changed training methodologies across all combat sports. Before mixed competitions became mainstream, you had boxers who only boxed, wrestlers who only wrestled, and so on. The cross-pollination that happened once fighters started losing to techniques they weren't familiar with created an arms race of technical development. Without the UFC, we'd still see elite specialists in 2025, but we wouldn't have the same level of well-rounded fighters capable of seamlessly transitioning between striking and grappling phases. Traditional martial arts would have maintained their cultural silos much longer, likely continuing to emphasize form and tradition over practical application against resisting opponents."