When the Ultimate Fighting Championship debuted on pay-per-view on Nov. 12, 1993, the few insiders that there were figured this crapshoot of a fighting tournament was likely coming down to two men.
In those days of style vs. style, the stand-up fighters for the most part had no experience at all on the ground. So unless they could get a quick knockout, the feeling was the fight would go to the ground, and it would end via submission. But of the eight fighters in the first tournament, only two had any real submission training.
Royce Gracie from the famed Gracie family in Brazil had the heritage, as his father and uncle, Helio and Carlson Gracie, were the top fighters in Brazil in the 1930s and 1950s, respectively.