July 20, 2016
By Ryan Porzl
On July 10, 2016, MMA Legend and Pioneer Don "The Predator" Frye was rightfully inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame. The induction could be considered long overdue and occurred on the twentieth anniversary he began his career. During his on and off fifteen year career, Frye had a legendary run that featured one of the greatest rookie years in the sports history to fun fights to tournament victories to beating good fighters for the time. Then, beginning in 1997, Frye's career began a period that would plague him for the remaining 14 years that involved sabbaticals, injuries, not taking time off at certain periods, addiction, and lack of motivation. While Frye would have many great fights, scored some very good wins, and lost to mostly good fighters, he never achieved the same potential that he showed in 1996. This article will showcase some of Frye's best moments but also bring up the stuff that preventing him from doing even greater things as we take a look at his career from start to finish. Bear in mind that I'm a huge Don Frye fan and he was one of the first fighters I followed when I first got into MMA so this isn't meant to be insulting him or questioning his legacy.
We begin at the beginning, before his MMA career. Don Frye was born on November 23, 1965 in Sierra Vista, Arizona. In 1984, Frye would begin his path to MMA and gain the tools he needed without knowing it as he entered Arizona State University where he competed in amateur wrestling and was even trained by another future MMA legend in Dan "The Beast" Severn. In 1987, Frye achieved perhaps the biggest achievements of his amateur career when he won both the freestyle and Greco-Roman events at an Olympic qualifier and a year later, transferred to the Oklahoma State University where he encountered another MMA legend in Randy "The Natural" Couture who was a teammate of his. Along with these achievements, Frye won a silver medal in the 220 pound class in the Concord International Greco-Roman Tournament, was a member of three PAC-10 wrestling teams, the 1988 ASU NCAA Championship Team, a member of the 1989 Big 8 Championship Team, and the 1989 OSU NCAA Championship Team. By 1989, Frye finished college and began training for boxing, eventually turning pro where he won his fight against Luis Mora by first round knockout on June 28, 1989. While Frye's website claims he boxed between 1990-1992, this is the only fight on record. Following his boxing career, began working as a firefighter and EMT for the next few years while also learning how to shoe horses and eventually started a shoeing business where he shod horses. According to Frye's website, he continued shoeing horses during his MMA career as exercise for his legs. In the meantime, Frye also began training in judo where he eventually earned a second dan black belt. Unbeknownst to him, this skills would result in him making history in a sport that would just be starting.
Frye would eventually begin his involvement in MMA at UFC 5 on April 1995 when he watched Severn win the UFC 5 Tournament and was interested in getting involved. A few months later, Frye got his foot in the door when Severn recruited Frye to help train him for the Ultimate Ultimate 1995 event on December 16, 1995 and also seconded him. In the end, Severn would emerge victorious and win his second tournament. Through that, Severn eventually helped get Frye into the UFC and seconded him as well when Frye made his MMA debut. On February 16, 1996, Frye would enter the sport of MMA and made an immediate impact. Entering the events eight man tournament, Frye blitzed through the competition en route to winning the UFC 8 Tournament where he notably defeated future legendary gatekeeper Gary Goodridge in the finals. Along with winning the tournament, Frye also earned two UFC records along the way. His debut fight in the first round against the 410 pound Thomas Ramirez only lasted eight seconds which earned Frye the record for fastest knockout. Frye would ultimately hold on the record for the next thirteen years until Todd Duffee scored a seven second knockout at UFC 102 against Tim Hague. Another record was one most fans don't know which was he scored the fastest time needed to win an eight to sixteen men tournament as Frye clocked in only three minutes and ten seconds combine in his three fights (Steve Jennum at UFC 3 and Mark Coleman at UFC 11 won tournaments in faster time but Jennum was an alternate who only fought in the finals while Coleman fought twice and didn't have to fight in the finals as he won on a forfeit).
Frye continued to impress when he returned at UFC 9. Originally set to face UFC 7 Tournament Winner Marcos Ruas, Frye instead fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Amaury Bitetti. The fight now only saw Frye dominate but allowed Frye to showcase his skills as he was able to use his wrestling to prevent takedowns and then used his striking to beatdown on the Brazilian. Having showed his wrestling and boxing skills, Frye would then attempt a judo ude-gurami (an armlock) on a BJJ champion which was considered unheard of at the time. Frye would continue his winning ways and scored a TKO win. This fight along with his UFC 8 performances were huge at the time. In the early years of Mixed Martial Arts, fighters were one dimensional and only knew one style as did their opponents. Frye was a trailblazer as he along with Marco Ruas have since been considered the first true Mixed Martial Artists as they were the first fighters who knew multiple martial arts with Frye having wrestling, boxing, and judo skills thus they were the first to have both striking and grappling skills. Frye then made his way to UFC 10 on July 12, 1996 and entered the event's tournament hoping to go two in the row. At first, Frye appeared to be on his way to victory as he TKOed Mark Hall in the first round and submitted fellow future New Japan wrestler Brian Johnston in the semifinals. However, his attempts at a second tournament were dashed, for now, when he fell to newcomer Mark Coleman by TKO after having no answer to Coleman's more decorated wrestling. Frye would immediately bounce back by facing Mark Hall a second time at U-Japan on November 17th and scored the win by submission via forearm choke. Back to his winning ways, Frye returned to the UFC three weeks later by participating at UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 on December 7, 1996. Frye would go on to win his second UFC tournament with a second win over Gary Goodridge in the quarterfinals, a third over Mark Hall (a replacement for a fatigued Kimo Leopoldo and who has claimed to have taken a fall for the fight which Frye has denied), and then UFC 6 Tournament Runner Up Tank Abbott in the finals. By winning the tournament, Frye not only captured his second UFC Tournament Victory but it was then announced that by winning the tournament, Frye earned the right to fight mentor and then UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn at UFC 12 on February 7, 1997 with the winner becoming the first UFC Heavyweight Champion.
So all in all, Frye left 1996 and was set to enter 1997 on top of the world. He won two UFC Tournaments, scored wins over fighters Gary Goodridge and Tank Abbott (who was relevant at the time), scored two records at UFC 8, and went 10-1. It can be argued that Frye had one of the best rookie years in the history of the sport and was now heading into 1997 where it appeared it would only get bigger as he was going to have the opportunity to become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion. Unfortunately, this is where the "what ifs" begin. First off, Frye suffered a broken hand during his fight with Tank Abbott and was forced to pull out of the fight where he had a golden opportunity to make history. As a result, Frye would instead spend his time at UFC 12 as a spectator as replacement Mark Coleman would perhaps take Frye place in the history books by defeating Severn to become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion. Second of all, despite Frye's position in the UFC and the company hinting he could face the winner, he would never fight for the company again as he disappeared from the UFC and MMA in the summer of 1997 following a win over Eric Valdez at United Shoot Wrestling Federation 5 on June 20, 1997. Sadly for fighters like Frye, 1997 would begin a dark period for American Mixed Martial Arts when United States Senator John McCain and Athletic Commissions got the sport banned in 36 states. McCain had been on a crusade to end the "bloodsport" of MMA for a year after seeing it and believed it to be "Human Cockfighting". Even worse is that along with the 36 state bans, many cable companies refused to carry UFC events which severely cut into their source of income. With the UFC now barely hanging on, many fighters began to leave it because there was no money to be made in it. Some went to fight internationally in either Brazil, Japan, or Europe while others left the sport with some going to pro wrestling with Frye doing the latter.
Frye would eventually begin his involvement in MMA at UFC 5 on April 1995 when he watched Severn win the UFC 5 Tournament and was interested in getting involved. A few months later, Frye got his foot in the door when Severn recruited Frye to help train him for the Ultimate Ultimate 1995 event on December 16, 1995 and also seconded him. In the end, Severn would emerge victorious and win his second tournament. Through that, Severn eventually helped get Frye into the UFC and seconded him as well when Frye made his MMA debut. On February 16, 1996, Frye would enter the sport of MMA and made an immediate impact. Entering the events eight man tournament, Frye blitzed through the competition en route to winning the UFC 8 Tournament where he notably defeated future legendary gatekeeper Gary Goodridge in the finals. Along with winning the tournament, Frye also earned two UFC records along the way. His debut fight in the first round against the 410 pound Thomas Ramirez only lasted eight seconds which earned Frye the record for fastest knockout. Frye would ultimately hold on the record for the next thirteen years until Todd Duffee scored a seven second knockout at UFC 102 against Tim Hague. Another record was one most fans don't know which was he scored the fastest time needed to win an eight to sixteen men tournament as Frye clocked in only three minutes and ten seconds combine in his three fights (Steve Jennum at UFC 3 and Mark Coleman at UFC 11 won tournaments in faster time but Jennum was an alternate who only fought in the finals while Coleman fought twice and didn't have to fight in the finals as he won on a forfeit).
Frye continued to impress when he returned at UFC 9. Originally set to face UFC 7 Tournament Winner Marcos Ruas, Frye instead fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Amaury Bitetti. The fight now only saw Frye dominate but allowed Frye to showcase his skills as he was able to use his wrestling to prevent takedowns and then used his striking to beatdown on the Brazilian. Having showed his wrestling and boxing skills, Frye would then attempt a judo ude-gurami (an armlock) on a BJJ champion which was considered unheard of at the time. Frye would continue his winning ways and scored a TKO win. This fight along with his UFC 8 performances were huge at the time. In the early years of Mixed Martial Arts, fighters were one dimensional and only knew one style as did their opponents. Frye was a trailblazer as he along with Marco Ruas have since been considered the first true Mixed Martial Artists as they were the first fighters who knew multiple martial arts with Frye having wrestling, boxing, and judo skills thus they were the first to have both striking and grappling skills. Frye then made his way to UFC 10 on July 12, 1996 and entered the event's tournament hoping to go two in the row. At first, Frye appeared to be on his way to victory as he TKOed Mark Hall in the first round and submitted fellow future New Japan wrestler Brian Johnston in the semifinals. However, his attempts at a second tournament were dashed, for now, when he fell to newcomer Mark Coleman by TKO after having no answer to Coleman's more decorated wrestling. Frye would immediately bounce back by facing Mark Hall a second time at U-Japan on November 17th and scored the win by submission via forearm choke. Back to his winning ways, Frye returned to the UFC three weeks later by participating at UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 on December 7, 1996. Frye would go on to win his second UFC tournament with a second win over Gary Goodridge in the quarterfinals, a third over Mark Hall (a replacement for a fatigued Kimo Leopoldo and who has claimed to have taken a fall for the fight which Frye has denied), and then UFC 6 Tournament Runner Up Tank Abbott in the finals. By winning the tournament, Frye not only captured his second UFC Tournament Victory but it was then announced that by winning the tournament, Frye earned the right to fight mentor and then UFC Superfight Champion Dan Severn at UFC 12 on February 7, 1997 with the winner becoming the first UFC Heavyweight Champion.
So all in all, Frye left 1996 and was set to enter 1997 on top of the world. He won two UFC Tournaments, scored wins over fighters Gary Goodridge and Tank Abbott (who was relevant at the time), scored two records at UFC 8, and went 10-1. It can be argued that Frye had one of the best rookie years in the history of the sport and was now heading into 1997 where it appeared it would only get bigger as he was going to have the opportunity to become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion. Unfortunately, this is where the "what ifs" begin. First off, Frye suffered a broken hand during his fight with Tank Abbott and was forced to pull out of the fight where he had a golden opportunity to make history. As a result, Frye would instead spend his time at UFC 12 as a spectator as replacement Mark Coleman would perhaps take Frye place in the history books by defeating Severn to become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion. Second of all, despite Frye's position in the UFC and the company hinting he could face the winner, he would never fight for the company again as he disappeared from the UFC and MMA in the summer of 1997 following a win over Eric Valdez at United Shoot Wrestling Federation 5 on June 20, 1997. Sadly for fighters like Frye, 1997 would begin a dark period for American Mixed Martial Arts when United States Senator John McCain and Athletic Commissions got the sport banned in 36 states. McCain had been on a crusade to end the "bloodsport" of MMA for a year after seeing it and believed it to be "Human Cockfighting". Even worse is that along with the 36 state bans, many cable companies refused to carry UFC events which severely cut into their source of income. With the UFC now barely hanging on, many fighters began to leave it because there was no money to be made in it. Some went to fight internationally in either Brazil, Japan, or Europe while others left the sport with some going to pro wrestling with Frye doing the latter.
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| Frye vs. Antonio Inoki |
By the summer of 1997, Frye entered the world of professional wrestling by signing a contract with top Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling where he competed as one of the companies top gaijins (foreigners/outsiders) for the next four years. While Frye enjoyed a lot of success by winning two tournaments, faced top stars, made multiple challenges for the IWGP (International Wrestling Grand Prix) Heavyweight Championship, and main evented Tokyo Dome more than once with one against New Japan founder Antonio Inoki in his retirement match in front of 70,000 fans, it had two big negatives that would greatly impact his MMA future. Despite it being scripted, it doesn't change the fact that wrestling is punishing to the body. Frye had wrestled for four years and in that time, he suffered a neck injury which required three of his vertabrae fused and he also tore his quad. Also by competing in wrestling for four years, he lost four years of his MMA career which can be a lifetime to any athlete. You have to wonder what if? What if Frye stayed in the UFC? Would he have won the UFC Heavyweight Championship? Would he have been the first champion if he didn't get hurt? What kind of dream fights could he have had? What if he went to Pancrase? Would he have become the King of Pancrase? What about PRIDE? Could he have won the 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix? So many questions, four years worth. Even worse is that by the time Frye returned to fighting, it was 2001, four years had past, and in those four years Frye took many bruises and bumps in wrestling. He was also four and half years older then when he had his last UFC fight. When he first entered the UFC on February 16, 1996, Frye turned 30 years old two months earlier but when he first went to PRIDE FC on September 24, 2001, he was two months away from turning 36. What if he didn't wrestle all that time? How much healthier could he have been when he came out of retirement? How much could he have accomplished while in his athletic prime during his early 30s?
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| Frye staring down Yoshihiro Takayama |
On September 24, 2001, Frye returned to fighting when he joined PRIDE Fighting Championships, the top MMA promotion in the world. In his first fight back, he took on former RINGS Openweight Champion and World Vale Tudo Championship Champion Gilbert Yvel at PRIDE 16: Beast From The Easts. Frye would show he still had a lot to offer as he scored the win though not the way he wanted as he won by disqualification as Yvel, long accused for being a dirty fighter, gouged the eyes and repeatedly grabbed the ring ropes to prevent takedowns. Frye continued his winning way at Inoki-Bom-Ba-Ye 2001 when he defeated 2000 and 2003 K-1 World Grand Prix third place fighter Cyril Abidi and submitted him with a rear naked choke. Frye's next fight would lead to the biggest win of his career but potentially the end of his prime when he faced MMA Legend Ken Shamrock. The fight was the feature fight at PRIDE 19: Bad Blood on February 19, 2002 and turned out to be a classic fight with the two legends going to war and gave everything they had in a fight many would consider one of the greatest in MMA history. In the end, Frye did enough to earn a split decision win but it wasn't easy and it turned out to be both the best of times and the worst. While Frye got the win, it came at the expense of his health as the two not only exchanged punches but towards the end of the fight, Shamrock would lock Frye in an ankle lock but Frye, who talked a lot of trash leading up to the fight, believed he couldn't quit after the trash talking and refused to quit. Instead, he put his own ankle lock on while remaining in Shamrock's for a good full minute. In the end, the ankle locks from Shamrock heavily damaged Frye's ankles which prove to be another severe injury that he didn't need. The injury also led to yet another problem that hampered his career as he developed a painkiller addiction. Another problem also came as Frye also took no time off and continued to fight. On June 23, 2002, Frye took on future wrestling legend Yoshihiro Takayama at PRIDE 21: Demolition (appropriate nickname given what Frye did to Takayama's face) and the fight would go down as one of the most exciting fights in MMA history with the two engaging in one slugfest after another with both fighters winging at the other. In the end, Frye would go on to score a TKO victory which made him 4-0 since his September 2001 return. The fight would be praised and go on to win the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's 2002 Fight of the Year award, it was another notch on Frye's belt, and Takayama saw his wrestling career explode because of it as he went from a midcard tag team wrestler to main event superstar everywhere he went.
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| Frye vs. Jerome Le Banner |
Despite hinting at retirement, Frye kept going and made another huge mistake when he returned to fighting only two months later as the PRIDE/K-1 co-promoted Dynamite! Biggest Mixed Martial Arts Cup - Summer Night Fever in the National Stadium (a.k.a. Shockwave 2002 in America) with a reported 91,107 fans which would be the biggest crowd Frye ever performed in front of. As if this isn't bad enough, Frye wouldn't even compete in a MMA fight but a kickboxing fight which is a sport Frye never competed in before and has admitted that he's only thrown a few knees while never have thrown a kick in his life. Even worse is that Frye's opponent was none other than Jerome "Geronimo" Le Banner who was not only one of the greatest kickboxers of all time but was the 1995 K-1 World Grand Prix Runner Up, would later become the 2002 K-1 World Grand Prix Runner Up, and has often been considered the greatest K-1 fighter never to have won the yearly World Grand Prix Championship. Sure enough, Frye was overwhelmed and knocked out in 90 seconds by The Hyper Battle Cyborg which marked the first time Frye was knocked out. Three months later on November 23, 2002, Frye fought again when he took on 1992 Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida in Yoshida's MMA debut at PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos II. In the end, Frye celebrated his 37th birthday by suffering his first MMA loss since Mark Coleman six years earlier after he got caught in an armbar and the referee stopped the fight since Frye refused to quit which resulted in a dislocated elbow. Finally taking time off, Frye spent seven months off and wouldn't compete again until the second half of 2003 but his career continued to spiral. On June 8, 2003 at PRIDE 26: Reborn/Bad To The Bone, he rematched Coleman in an attempt to avenge his UFC 10 loss but it wasn't to be as Frye suffered another defeat at the hands of The Hammer but got a small moral victory as he lost on a decision this time around. Things continued to get worse as Frye met Gary Goodridge at PRIDE Shockwave 2003 on December 31, 2003. Unfortunately, third time would prove to be the charm for Big Daddy as it only took him 39 seconds to land a picture perfect head kick that knocked Frye out.
Following this, Frye left PRIDE for the next three and a half years and joined K-1 but his luck didn't get any better as he had two fights with Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao with the first fight at K-1 MMA - Romanex on May 22, 2004 going to a no contest due to an accidental headbutt while Frye would lose the rematch by unanimous decision at K-1 Premium 2004 Dynamite!! Following this, Frye would finally take time off as he wouldn't fight again for sixteen months until signing with K-1 HERO'S and took on former sumo yokozuna and professional wrestler Akebono.at HERO'S 5 on May 3, 2006. Despite giving up 200 pounds, Frye would score his first win in four years by submitting the former Yokozuna with a guillotine choke. Not sitting around, Frye would immediately fight ten days later against journeyman tomato can Ruban Villareal at King of the Cage - Predator on May 13, 2006 with the fight going to a draw. Frye then returned to K-1 HERO'S where he racked up two more wins by defeating former PRIDE tomato can Yoshihisa Yamamoto by rear naked choke at HERO'S 6 on August 5, 2006 and then KOed future Brock Lesnar victim Min Soo Kim at HERO'S 7 on October 9, 2006. On April 8, 2007, Frye was invited back to PRIDE at their final show PRIDE 34: Kamikaze where he took on James Thompson. Despite rocking Thompson immediately into the fight, Thompson came back and Frye got rocked before getting teed off while being held up in the corner until the referee stopped the fight by TKO. Frye would later claim he was unprepared physically and mentally due to the death of a friend and a family illness but took the fight out of loyalty to PRIDE. Frye bounced back at NLF - Heavy Hands on January 26, 2008 by knocking out former WEC Light Heavyweight Title challenger Bryan Pardoe. He next fought Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa at DEEP - Gladiator on August 16, 2008 but fell to a kneebar. It was during this fight that another problem would seemingly affect Frye which was a lack of motivation. Since the fight, Frye has hinted he didn't train hard for the fight by claiming that he thought he could charm his way through the fight but Minowa didn't find him charming. It was if as he was implying that he could rely on Minowa being in awe of his legendary status and didn't have to train hard. Frye would then bat .500 in 2009 with his two fights taking place at Shark Fights as he submitted Rich Moss with a rear naked choke at Shark Fights 4 on May 2nd but then lost to future UFC fighter Dave Herman by TKO at September 12th at Shark Fights 6. Following the loss to Herman, Frye appeared to retire and battled more injuries which lead to multiple back surgeries. 27 months later, a then recently turned 46 year old Frye took on Villareal in rematch at Gladiator Challenge - Megafights on December 11, 2011 for the GC Light Heavyweight Championship. The fight would see an out of shape Frye put on a poor performance before getting knocked out by Villareal in what has likely become his retirement fight. It was a sad way for a legendary career to end as Frye didn't retire under the bright lights of the UFC like a Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, or Matt Hughes did all the while fighting a great opponent. Instead, he retired after getting knocked out by tomato can in some indy show in the middle of nowhere while coming in out of shape and unmotivated. Speaking of unmotivated, Frye would later admit that he didn't train at all for the fight and as a result, he believed he didn't show respect for the sport, for Villareal, and deserved to get the shit stomped out of him.
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| Frye inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame |
On July 10, 2016, ten years after making his MMA debut, Don Frye was inducted into The UFC Hall of Fame officially sending his career full circle. As Frye entered the Hall of Fame, it's easy to look back at the great moments of his career as he's had many. However, as I look back at Frye's legendary career, I also wonder how much farther he could've gone without the injuries, addiction, lack of motivation, and missing years of his prime. Think of the potential title wins and tournament wins. Think of the dream fights he could've participated in. Think of the more exciting fights he could've had. Again, I want to say I'm a huge Don Frye fan so this isn't meant to be disrespectful and in the end, Don Frye has plenty to be proud of but you and even he has to wonder "what if and what could've been?".
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