UFC Hall of Fame

The UFC Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors mixed martial artists and MMA personalities, established and maintained by the U.S.-based mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In addition to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC Hall of Fame recognizes accomplishments from Pride Fighting Championships, World Extreme Cagefighting and Strikeforce; all of which are former mixed martial arts promotions that have been bought-out by the UFC and its parent corporations.

UFC Hall of FameEstablishedNovember 21, 2003FounderUltimate Fighting ChampionshipInductees18 pioneers
10 modern-era
7 contributors
7 Fights
3 Community Awards
(48 total inductees)
(3 double inductees)WebsiteUFC Hall of Fame

History

It was officially established on November 21, 2003 at UFC 45 with its home being Las Vegas, and the first inductees being inaugural UFC competitors Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.^[1]

In 2015, the UFC announced a significant reboot of its Hall of Fame. The Hall was split into four categories, or wings, and a new class of legends would henceforth be inducted every July at a gala event during the UFC's annual International Fight Week in Las Vegas.^[2]

The wings are:^[3]

• Modern Wing – celebrating champions who made their pro-debuts in the age of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which went into effect at UFC 28, November 28, 2000.
• Pioneers Wing – commemorating the original innovators of MMA, who turned professional before the advent of the Unified Rules.
• Fight Wing – recognizing the greatest, most memorable, and historically important bouts.
• Contributors Wing – recognizing outstanding contributions outside of active competition.
• Forrest Griffin Community Award – recognizing a UFC athlete for their volunteer and charity work and the impact their efforts have on the community.

The new Hall of Fame was a passion project of former UFC executive Anthony Evans, who pitched UFC President Dana White on the four-wing structure several times before finally getting White's permission in 2015.^[4]

The UFC Hall of Fame is located in the UFC Performance Institute on the walls of the first and second floor staircase.^[5]

Inductees

Pioneers wing

Image	ISO	Name	Date of Induction	Ref.	Event of Induction	UFC recognized accolades
		Royce Gracie	November 21, 2003	^[6]	UFC 45	UFC 1 Tournament Winner UFC 2 Tournament Winner UFC 4 Tournament Winner.
		Ken Shamrock	November 21, 2003	^[7]	UFC 45	One-time UFC Superfight Champion with 2 defenses UFC 3 Tournament Finalist One-time Pancrase Openweight Champion with 1 defense King of Pancrase Tournament Winner.
		Dan Severn	April 16, 2005	^[8]	UFC 52	One-time UFC Superfight Champion UFC 5 Tournament Winner Ultimate Ultimate 1995 Tournament Winner.
		Randy Couture	June 24, 2006	^[9]	The Ultimate Fighter: Team Ortiz vs. Team Shamrock Finale	Three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion with 3 defenses Two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion One-time Interim UFC Light Heavyweight champion UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament Champion First fighter to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions.
		Mark Coleman	March 1, 2008	^[10]	UFC 82	Inagural and one-time UFC Heavyweight Champion UFC 10 Tournament Champion UFC 11 Tournament Champion Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals Tournament Champion.
		Chuck Liddell	July 11, 2009	^[11]	UFC 100	One-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with 4 defenses.
		Matt Hughes	May 29, 2010	^[12]	UFC 114	Two-time UFC Welterweight Champion with 7 defenses.
		Tito Ortiz	July 7, 2012	^[13]	UFC 148	One-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with 5 defenses.
		Pat Miletich	July 5, 2014	^[14]	UFC 175	Inagural and one-time UFC Welterweight Champion with 4 defenses UFC 16 Welterweight Tournament Winner Later opened Miletich Fighting Systems and became a successful trainer.
		Bas Rutten	July 11, 2015	^[15]	UFC 189	One-time UFC Heavyweight Champion One-time Pancrase Openweight Champion with 2 defenses.
		Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	July 10, 2016	^[16]	UFC Fan Expo	One-time Pride Heavyweight Champion One-time Interim Pride Heavyweight Champion One-time Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion.
		Don Frye	July 10, 2016	^[17]	UFC Fan Expo	UFC 8 Tournament Winner UFC 10 Tournament Finalist UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 Tournament Winner.
		Maurice Smith	July 6, 2017	^[18]	UFC Fan Expo	One-time UFC Heavyweight Champion with 1 defense One-time Extreme Fighting Heavyweight Championship with 1 defense.
		Kazushi Sakuraba	July 6, 2017	^[19]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2017	UFC Japan Heavyweight Tournament Winner Most submission wins in Pride FC history Competed in longest fight in Pride FC history First fighter to defeat Royce Gracie.
		Matt Serra	July 5, 2018	^[20]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2018	One-time UFC Welterweight Champion The Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament Winner First fighter to win both a The Ultimate Fighter Tournament and UFC Championship
		Rich Franklin	July 5, 2019	^[21]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2019	One-time UFC Middleweight Champion with 2 defenses.
		Kevin Randleman	September 23, 2021	^[22]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2020	One-time UFC Heavyweight Champion with 1 defense.
		Jens Pulver	July 2023	^[23]	TBA	Inaugural and one-time UFC Lightweight Champion with 2 defenses.

Modern wing

Image	ISO	Name	Date of Induction	Ref.	Event of Induction	UFC recognized accolades
		Forrest Griffin	July 6, 2013	^[24]	UFC 162	One-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Fighter 1: Light Heavyweight Tournament Winner.
		B.J. Penn	July 11, 2015	^[25]	UFC 189	One-time UFC Welterweight Champion One-time UFC Lightweight Champion with 3 defenses UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament Co-Champion.
		Urijah Faber	July 6, 2017	^[26]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2017	One-time WEC Featherweight Champion with 5 defenses First bantamweight inductee.
		Ronda Rousey	July 5, 2018	^[27]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2018	Inaugural and one-time UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion with 6 defenses First Women's UFC Champion First female inductee.
		Michael Bisping	July 5, 2019	^[28]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2019	One-time UFC Middleweight Champion with 1 defense The Ultimate Fighter 3 Light Heavyweight winner First inductee from England.
		Rashad Evans	July 5, 2019	^[29]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2019	One-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Fighter 2 Heavyweight Winner.
		Georges St-Pierre	September 23, 2021	^[22]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2020	Three-time UFC Welterweight Champion with 9 defenses One-time UFC Middleweight Champion First inductee from Canada.
		Khabib Nurmagomedov	June 30, 2022	^[30]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2022	One-time UFC Lightweight Champion with 3 defenses Headlined the highest-selling UFC pay-per-view event at UFC 229 with 2.4 million PPV buys.^[31] Retired undefeated with a 29–0 record First inductee from Russia.
		Daniel Cormier	June 30, 2022	^[32]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2022	One-time UFC Heavyweight Champion with 1 defense One-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with 3 defenses Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion.
		José Aldo	July 2023	^[33]	TBA	Inaugural and two-time UFC Featherweight Champion with 7 defenses One-time WEC Featherweight Champion with 2 defenses.

Contributors wing

Image	ISO	Name	Date of Induction	Ref.	Event of Induction	Contributions
		Charles Lewis Jr. (Mask)	July 11, 2009	^[11]	UFC 100	Founded the first major mixed martial arts clothing line Tapout.
		Jeff Blatnick	July 11, 2015	^[34]	UFC 189	Commentator, UFC commissioner and was instrumental in helping the UFC get regulated by athletic commissions.
		Bob Meyrowitz	July 10, 2016	^[35]	UFC Fan Expo	UFC co-creator and owner from UFC 6 until it was sold to Zuffa in January 2001.
		Joe Silva	July 6, 2017	^[36]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2017	UFC matchmaker from 1997 to 2016.
		Bruce Connal	July 5, 2018	^[37]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2018	UFC television producer from 1997-2018.
		Art Davie	July 5, 2018	^[38]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2018	UFC co-creator, co-owner from UFC 1 to UFC 5 and first UFC matchmaker.
		Marc Ratner	September 23, 2021	^[22]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2020	Former Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, current Vice President of Regulatory Affairs of UFC and credited to legalized MMA in all 50 states and abroad.

Fight wing

Fight	Date of Induction	Ref.	Event of Induction	Notes
Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar I	July 6, 2013	^[24]	UFC 162	Regarded as one of the greatest fights in UFC history. Marked a turning point for the UFC in terms of its journey to mainstream acceptance of MMA as a popular, legitimate sport. Forrest Griffin def. Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale.
Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II	July 11, 2015	^[34]	UFC 189	For the UFC Welterweight Championship. Matt Hughes def. Frank Trigg by submission in Round 1 at UFC 52.
Mark Coleman vs. Pete Williams	July 10, 2016	^[39]	UFC Fan Expo	Pete Williams def. Mark Coleman by head-kick KO, the second head-kick KO in UFC history after Gordeau vs Tuli (UFC 1) at UFC 17. One of the biggest upsets in early UFC history.
Maurício Rua vs. Dan Henderson	July 5, 2018	^[40]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2018	Dan Henderson def. Maurício Rua by unanimous decision in a back-and-forth fight at UFC 139. Second five-round non-title fight in UFC history and first to go the distance.
Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida	July 5, 2019	^[41]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2019	Diego Sanchez def. Clay Guida by split decision in a three round, back-and-forth fight in the lightweight division at The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom Finale.
Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson I	September 23, 2021	^[42]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2020	Jon Jones def. Alexander Gustafsson by unanimous decision in closely fought five-round fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 165. Fight of the Night.
Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi	June 30, 2022	^[43]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2022	Cub Swanson def. Dooho Choi by unanimous decision in a three round, back-and-forth fight in the featherweight division at UFC 206. Fight of the Night. Fight of the Year (2016)

Forrest Griffin Community Award

Image	ISO	Name	Date of Induction	Ref.	Event of Induction	Community contributions
		Dustin Poirier	September 23, 2021	^[22]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2020	Founded The Good Fight Foundation and supported other charity work in his hometown of Lafayette.
		Max Holloway	June 30, 2022	^[44]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2022	Supported his local community in Hawaii and raised money for charity work.
		Giga Chikadze	June 30, 2022	^[44]	UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony, 2022	Founded The Knockout Cancer Foundation and raised funds for families who needed financial support.

References

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External links

• Hall of Fame FAQs
• UFC Hall of Fame