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In the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the fledgling sport of MMA gained its share of powerful enemies. Influential politicians like John McCain called for a ban on the sport, decrying the perceived barbarism of UFC events. UFC struggled to combat this backlash, and it lost its share of battles before turning the tide for good in recent years.
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During this early period, one of the UFC's most prominent advocates both publicly and behind the scenes was Jeff Blatnick, a highly respected figure in the world of wrestling. Blatnick was a high school state champion, Division II collegiate national champion and Division I collegiate All-American.
Blatnick's stature was further enhanced when in 1982 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Blatnick went through radiation therapy, had his spleen removed, and returned to training just six months later. Blatnick then went on to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 1984 Olympic Games.
This background gave Blatnick the credibility to argue that MMA was not in fact a sleazy, savage spectacle. But first, he had to develop a taste for the sport. In December of 1994, UFC asked Blatnick to serve as a commentator for UFC events. At the time, he knew little about the sport except that fellow wrestler Dan Severn would be competing.
"I was standing there wondering what was going on," Blatnick recalls. "Once I saw that first fight with [Royce] Gracie and the skills he brought into the fight it was very impressive. It sparked a keen interest in me and I've loved it ever since."
When Gracie submitted Severn via triangle choke in one of the defining early fights of the UFC, it further altered Blatnick's outlook.
"To see someone of that physical stature make Dan Severn tap was very impressive," Blatnick says. "When it was happening I didn't quite know that Dan was in trouble until you could see Dan trying to wiggle back out and that he couldn't breathe. Then I realized it. I hadn't really seen jiu jitsu. That's when I started trying to study it."
To learn about the sport, Blatnick began rolling with submission wrestlers and jiu jitsu practitioners. It allowed him to begin to understand the ins and outs of the game.
"As an athlete I made a living off feeling pressure and figuring how to get out of it," Blatnick notes. "As a wrestler you'd think I'm dominating you if I've got you on your back. But it doesn't work that way. That's your best defensive position and you can launch offense and catch people in submission locks. I had to get out there and feel what it was like."
With Blatnick firmly entrenched in MMA culture, he became a part of the movement to develop MMA as a sport. A key moment came prior to UFC 12 in 1997. UFC 12 was originally scheduled to take place in New York, but the state elected to ban MMA and the event was moved to Alabama. The New York ban still exists, and UFC is heavily lobbying the state to legalize MMA so the promotion can run a card at Madison Square Garden. The New York ban served as an impetus for the adoption of a UFC rule book.
"The whole idea behind it was to show our policies and procedures so if someone from the state commission came in they would be able to pick up our manual and follow step by step everything a fighter would go through from medical testing right through the bout conduct rules," Blatnick says.
While many news outlets have perpetuated the false notion that current UFC owners Zuffa brought in a whole set of rules for the sport, the truth is that MMA rules evolved over a period of time. At UFC 1, there were only the most basic of rules prohibiting biting and eye gouging. Later bans on fish hooking and low blows were added.
As there became a need for additional rules, new rules were put into place.
