Earlier this month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, more commonly known as UFC, celebrated its 30th anniversary. The company’s explosive growth is unprecedented in the history of sports, recently earning a $12 billion valuation.

But the UFC didn't just create a new kind of sports entertainment. It brought a relatively unknown fighting style out of the underground and into the mainstream, upending our understanding of human combat.

So today, Ryan Hockensmith tells the tale of the first-ever UFC event, through the eyes of one fighter who had no idea what he was getting into.

Back in 2017, our friends at 30 for 30 Podcasts went even deeper on the origins of UFC. Check out their episode No Rules: The Birth of UFC.

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