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This was the only time Rorion handpicked an opponent for his brother. Beyond the first round, the matches would be determined by the brackets they were placed in. For the next shows, the UFC would write all of the fighters’ names on a board and assign each one a number. Then they’d pull numbered balls out of a bingo machine in front of all the fighters and assign the matchups in order.

There wasn’t a weigh-in at UFC 1, as there was no weight limit. There was also little paperwork to be submitted and no medical testing required beforehand to verify a fighter’s health other than a blood test and an on-site physical from a doctor who determined whether the fighter was fit enough to enter the cage.

In fact, Colorado had been selected as the site of the event because the state didn’t have a boxing commission at the time, so medical tests and paperwork wouldn’t be required. However, Art didn’t consider that the event was over a mile above sea level and a bitch for any athlete who didn’t have at least a couple weeks to acclimate. This would become an issue in some of the bouts at UFC 1.

At the press conference, there wasn’t much press to speak of at all. The whole event was seen as more of an oddity and was covered as such. Reporters asked the fighters what they expected, but nobody had a definitive answer. Art Davie spoke most of the time, boasting that the promotion had gathered eight of the deadliest martial artists in the world.

Afterward, the fighters gave a quick demonstration on a Thai mitt bag that had been tied to a pillar with a monitor hooked up to it. To prove who had the hardest strike, each fighter took a turn hitting it with his punches or kicks. Ken Shamrock got up there and hit it pretty hard. Another competitor, Gerard Gordeau, kicked it.

I can’t remember who had the highest score. I thought the whole thing was stupid.

Royce must have been thinking the same thing. “That doesn’t say whether you can fight or not,” he said coolly and walked right by it. The day before the show, the rules meeting was a bit intense and kind of funny because there weren’t many rules to speak of other than no biting, eye gouging, or groin strikes, all of which Rorion viewed as dirty tactics. Still, the fear of the unknown gave the fighters plenty to debate about.

The competitors and their entourages congregated in one of the hotel’s conference rooms and tried to hypothesize what would happen, though no one really knew.

Amongst all of the discussion, a real controversy exploded over hand wraps. Zane Frazier, the karate fighter Art and Rorion had scouted themselves, wanted to wrap his hands. Rorion said he could but with the stipulation that the tape had to be one inch from the knuckles. Rorion didn’t want the fighters to be able to construct a wrap that would give them extra padding to shield their hands and add to their power. Rorion was undoubtedly looking out for his little brother Royce.

But the strikers in the room wanted their wraps their way.

Frazier was particularly adamant. “Hey, my hands are how I make my living, and you want me to break them?” He even suggested that Rorion was changing the rules to benefit his brother and make the rest of them look like fools come fight night.

I think Rorion had prepared for this type of reasoning. “Are you telling me that before you get into a street fight, you’re going to go wrap your hands? In the fight I saw that got you here, your hands weren’t wrapped, were they?”

That answer seemed to shut down the argument.

The next commotion was over the forms WOW Promotions and Semaphore Entertainment Group had asked every fighter to sign releasing them of any responsibility if someone got injured or even died. Some of the guys said they wouldn’t sign it.

Teila Tuli, a 410-pound sumo wrestler who’d flown in from Hawaii, was the first one up at the table. The room fell silent for a moment as the Samoan turned to address them. “I’m tired of all this,” he said quite calmly. “If you want to fight, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then he dropped his signed form in front