A collection of stories that go beyond the cage and highlight the bizarre world of cage-fighting from the 1990s and early 2000s.

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Even today, MMA is weird. But it’s nothing compared to the 90s and early 2000s. That’s when the sport struggled to survive before marching towards what would be its zenith.

This story stream includes some unusual stories from the dark ages of UFC and the early/middle reign of the Fertitta Brothers, who took the helm of the UFC in 2001. The 2000s were when they and Dana White took a bizarre concept and, after some trials and tribulations, molded it into a sport/product that would eventually fetch a $4billion price tag.

Nowadays the UFC does its best to appear like a regular stick-and-ball sport, but no matter how shiny the uniforms are or how sharp the graphic packages become, the promotion will always have its past. And that past was bloody, scruffy, and at times, really really weird.

So if you have an unyielding desire to face the pain or watch other people just bleed, you might enjoy the stories below.