The UFC began as the biggest Gracie Challenge ever
A videotape, a magazine article and a marketing decision that was stated openly. And the reason why it was Royce and not Rickson who fought in Denver in 1993.
BJJ Square · Updated on 08/11/2026
The Gracie Challenge was a permanent open challenge: anyone practising another style could turn up. The format was almost always the same — a smaller Gracie against a bigger opponent — and the rules rewarded only submission or KO, while throws and pins counted for nothing.
That last detail is not accidental: it was a rulebook built to neutralise judo, which lives on throws and pins.
Vale tudo existed before
Style-against-style challenges are not a family invention: in Brazil they come from the circus attractions of the early twentieth century. In 1909 the capoeirista Francisco da Silva Ciríaco beats the Japanese Sada Miyako — and there is no Gracie in sight. In 1942 Euclydes Hatem, the founder of luta livre, beats George Gracie.
What the family did was not to invent the format: it was to turn it into a permanent institution and a promotional instrument, for sixty years.
The chain that leads to Denver
- Rorion Gracie collects the footage of the challenges and produces the videotape “Gracies in Action”.
- An article in Playboy in 1989 tells the family's story to an enormous American audience.
- Art Davie reads the article, gets in touch with Rorion, and together they set up an events company.
- The tape ends up in the offices of a television production company, where Campbell McLaren picks it up and takes on the project.
- 12 November 1993, Denver: UFC 1 takes place. Royce Gracie submits three opponents in a row.
Why Royce and not Rickson
The family champion was Rickson. The one who goes to Denver is Royce, twenty-six years old and ordinary build, and the reason is stated openly: what was needed was to show that small men too can be dangerous if they know jiu-jitsu.
It was not the choice of the strongest: it was the choice of the most demonstrative. And it is documented, not insinuated — the family has always said so openly. Royce has explained that his father's generation was trying to find out which style was best through fights with no rules; the UFC was that question, taken onto television.
Note Put another way: the biggest martial arts event in the world starts life as a school's promotional material. That is not a revisionist thesis, it is the standard account, confirmed by the people involved.
What we do not know
- How many challenges really took place. No source has a register. Those that can be checked with date, place and result are a few dozen; the account implies many more.
- What happened in the challenges behind closed doors. With no footage, no neutral referee and no report, the only source is whoever tells the story — that is, whoever won. It is an asymmetry to keep in mind at all times.
- The exact order of the Playboy-Davie-production chain. The sources diverge on what the trigger was.
What is left
That the project was promotional does not make it any less true. In Denver the demonstration really did work: a man of eighty kilos submitted three bigger opponents, in front of a crowd with no idea what it was watching. The marketing chose the shop window; what was inside held up.
That is why thirty years later there are two thousand gyms in the world, and this page.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Gracie Challenge?
- A permanent open challenge issued by the Gracie family to practitioners of other styles, started by Carlos Gracie in the Twenties. It often took place behind closed doors in the gym, with variable rules and victory only by submission or KO.
- How was the UFC born?
- Out of Rorion Gracie's videotape “Gracies in Action”, by way of a Playboy article in 1989 and the meeting with Art Davie and a television production company. UFC 1 was held in Denver on 12 November 1993.
- Why did Royce fight and not Rickson Gracie?
- It was a marketing decision, stated openly: Royce had an ordinary build and served to show that jiu-jitsu works even for someone who is not the strongest. Rickson was the family champion.
- Is vale tudo a Gracie invention?
- No. Style-against-style challenges in Brazil go back to the circus attractions of the early twentieth century: a documented match in 1909 has a capoeirista beating a Japanese jiu-jitsuka.
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