25 years ago, UFC, the adrenaline pumping, blood spurting mixed martial arts event saw its first fight hosted at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado.
The first ever bout to grace the holy arena of UFC fighting was between Gerard Gordeau and Teila Tuli. The match which lasted only 26 seconds, saw Teila Tuli knocked out with a head kick, which also made him lose a tooth.
While Gordeau advanced to the finals, he was ‘submitted’ into defeat by Royce Gracie in less than two minutes.
Gordeau is a mixed martial artist from the Netherlands who held the Dutch Champion Kyokushin Karate title for 8 years. He has had a bad reputation in the MMA for using illegal tactics in the ring.
Tuli, from Hawaii, too remained undefeated in his first 14 official bouts as a Sumo wrestler.
Despite heavily outweighing his opponent, his undefeated streak came to a halt in his first bout with Gordeau.
This was Tuli’s only MMA fight.
This historic match, which aired on pay-per-view 25 years back has been described as one of the top five David and Goliath match-ups in MMA history.
The 26 seconds of pure adrenaline pumping glory was something spectacular, which gave UFC its first KO.
This fight marked the beginning of the numerous fights that would later grace fans of the sport across the world.