What if Chuck Norris fought in UFC 1 back in 1993?

Q&A with the coach. Got questions for the next episode? Leave your questions in the comments below!

What if Chuck Norris fought in UFC 1 back in 1993 instead of Royce Gracie?

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Ramsey Dewey is an MMA coach and fight commentator, and occasional musician based in Shanghai, China.

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[Wulf-sqzw]

Royce would get Chuck in a submission hold. And in less than a second Royce would have tapped out.

[carlosheras]

My favorite is, "Chuck Norris doesn't read, he stares the book down and gets the information he wants".

[alejandrogarcia]

Chuck Norris is proof that you're never too old to learn new things as a martial artist.

[josewmeldondo]

"Chuck Norris doesn't wear a watch, he determines what time it is."

[MrTheWaterbear]

Coach Dewey: Serious martial arts coach and analyst
Also Coach Dewey: Favourite Chuck Norris joke is a ninja turtle poop joke
Truly, an inspiration for us all

[Dale_The_Space_Wizard]

Imagine a parallel UFC event that was only open to 80's action movie stars.

[fmills]

I'll start; Chuck Norris was such a bad ass he could slam a revolving door.

[trilobite]

I think the fact that a 53 year old Chuck Norris would have a shot at winning UFC 1 is an amazing statement to how good a martial artist is, I love how he was willing to train in BJJ, and widen his skillset way before it was cool to train in more than one thing.

[josewmeldondo]

"Death had a near Chuck Norris experience."

[jeffertonalive]

He would've turned UFC 1
into UFC 1 and Done

[HarryToeface]

Chuck winning UFC 1 would have made UFC instantly popular instead of gradually popular as it became.

[josewmeldondo]

"Chuck Norris doesn't win, he just allows you to lose."

[Taekwon-Brando]

I would have loved the influx of Chuck Norris jokes after this alternate UFC 1

[GuitarsRockForever]

I think Chuck would do reasonable well in UFC 1, fully agree his age would be his biggest issue.

[stephanwatson]

Gene Labell said that Chuck and Lee were both good grapplers. Not to mention Bruce trained most of the Styles we see in MMA today and some of the best MMA fighters use Bruce Lee's techniques and concepts, like Anderson Silva, Conor McGregor, Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones

[expo]

If only 80-90s action stars fighting in MMA style match... Chuck Norris would easily be top tier.. :D

[thomasotto]

When Chuck Norris does shadow boxing the air just runs away...-LOL!!! :-)

[tommcguire]

I saw Good Guys Wear Black in theatre when I was 8. Chuck is the GOAT.

[jc-kjyc]

You're spot on, his age would have been a problem. Tbf UFC 1 didn't have the youngest roster. Some of the guys looked like they might have been in their late 30s and maybe even early 40s. But another issue might have been Chuck being well rounded. For example he might have been content getting into a kickboxing match with Gerard Gordeau or Art Jimmerson, who both could have messed him up pretty severely. Curiously the only fight he probably would have won, even being over 50 is Royce, because Chuck's grappling was good enough to defend and keep it on the feet. Putting Chuck Norris in there would probably have ended with Ken Shamrock or Gerard Gordeau winning UFC 1.

[Malt]

The early UFCs really just showed how much trouble most single-discipline fighters had with people outside of their styles - once Royce Gracie could get them off of their feet, the difference in grappling skill was usually decisive, but even Gracie had obvious problems with the "no weight classes" aspect of the event.