UFC 1 was co-created by Rorion Gracie and the Torrance-based UFC promoter Art Davie, who decided to take locally famous Gracie Garage Challenge fights versus California's martial artists to a new level, televised nationally, with the opponents picked internationally. They didn't come up with a 16-mantournament, as the big-name martial artists, mainly kickboxers, namely Dennis Alexio, Benny Urquidez, Stan Longinidis, Jean-Yves Thériault, Rick Roufus, Stan Longinidis, Maurice Smith, Bart Vale, Hee Il Cho, George Dillman, Gene LeBell, Rob Kaman, Peter Aerts, Ernesto Hoost, Masaaki Satake, were among the others "publicly invited" by Art Davie, but had shown no interest in participating. Davie placed ads in martial arts magazines to recruit fighters. He found less than a dozen who answered the call. The promoters came up with an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $50,000. They wanted it to look brutal on television, so John Milius, one of Rorion Gracie's students and a Hollywood veteran who had directed Conan the Barbarian, decided the fights should take place in an octagonal cage fenced with chain link. Campbell McLaren, a SEG executive, wanted people to consider the championship a live, televised version of Mortal Kombat, a popular video game, in which victorious fighters got to "finish" their opponents through moves such as ripping their spines out of their bodies. That one and the Davie's idea to top the cage with razor wire were rejected. General regulations agreed upon were:
Knockout, tapout, or corner stoppage are the only determination methods. Referee could only halt a match pending the corner decision.
McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, a place which elevation above sea level is one-mile high, has been chosen because Colorado had no athletic commission and thus no governing body from which they would need to get approval for bare-knuckle fighting. The arena hosted only two fight cards in its history, both of minor significance, occurring earlier in 1993. The major accomplishment though for the promoters was to gather a celebrity commentary team for the event. The commentary team for the pay-per-view was Bill Wallace, Jim Brown, and Kathy Long, with additional analysis from Rod Machado and post-fight interviews by Brian Kilmeade. The ring announcer was Rich Goins. Jason DeLucia was an alternate for the event, having defeated Trent Jenkins in the alternate bout. However, as no fighter pulled out during the tournament, he was not called upon.
The event and its outcome catapulted Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to new heights in the United States and worldwide. Its gate and PPV buys ensured that there would be more UFCs in the near future, which proved to be the case.
