''UFC 26: Ultimate Field of Dreams'' was a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.
In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
event held by the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...
on June 9, 2000, in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...
.
History
The main card featured
Welterweight Champion Pat Miletich
Patrick Jay Miletich (; born March 9, 1968) is a retired Americans, American mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and former sports commentator. He is known for his fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he became the first UFC W ...
defending his title against
John Alessio
John Paul Alessio (born July 5, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional mixed martial artist. A former competitor in Bellator's Lightweight division. A professional competitor since 1998, Alessio has also formerly competed for the UFC where h ...
, and
Heavyweight Champion
At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...
Kevin Randleman
Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, amateur and professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he ...
defending his title against
Pedro Rizzo
Pedro Augusto Rizzo (; born 3 May 1974) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed for the UFC, PRIDE, M-1 Global, and Affliction. Although he never captured the UFC Heavyweight Championship, Rizzo competed for ...
. The Heavyweight Championship bout was first scheduled to take place at
UFC 24, but was rescheduled due to a backstage accident involving Kevin Randleman, who slipped and fell on the concrete floor, sustaining a concussion.
A
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class ...
division was added at UFC 26 for fighters under 155 pounds;
Jens Pulver
Jens Johnnie Pulver (born December 6, 1974) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist and undefeated boxer and kickboxer. In 2023, Pulver was inducted into the UFC hall of fame. Pulver was the inaugural UFC Lightweight Champion in ...
defeated
Joao Roque in the first ever UFC
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class ...
bout.
Lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing.
Boxing Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...
was now 155-169.9 pounds,
Middleweight
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to .
Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...
170-199.9 pounds, and
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...
200+ pounds. This was the fourth event to feature now-regular referee,
Mario Yamasaki
Mario Yamasaki (born April 22, 1964) is a Brazilian mixed martial arts referee licensed in many states, most recognizable from his duties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as well as founder and chief instructor of the International ...
in addition to
"Big" John McCarthy.
UFC 26 featured the second appearance of
Matt Hughes in the UFC, who would go on to dominate the
welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
division. The event also marked the second UFC appearance of British fighter
Ian Freeman
Ian William Freeman (born 11 October 1966) is a retired English mixed martial artist who was the Cage Rage World Heavyweight Champion and the final Cage Rage British Light Heavyweight Champion. He was the first British person to fight in ...
, whose preliminary bout was shown on the live pay per view broadcast.
UFC 26 was the fourth straight UFC event to have never received a
home video
Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...
or
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
release in the United States, as the UFC's parent company SEG was incurring financial difficulties, and would eventually sell the company to
Zuffa
TKO Operating Company, LLC (TKO OpCo), doing business as Zuffa (), is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta I ...
just six months later. Zuffa eventually released UFC 26 on DVD as part of an anthology collection of UFC 21-30.
Results
Encyclopedia awards
Pat Miletich was honored in the October 2011 book titled ''
UFC Encyclopedia''.
*Submission of the Night: Pat Miletich
See also
*
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...
*
List of UFC champions
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC Championship#Title match system, championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, ...
*
List of UFC events
List of UFC events is a list of events held and scheduled by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. UFC's first event, UFC 1, took place on November 12, 1993. Each UFC event contains ...
*
2000 in UFC
References
External links
UFC 26 fights reviewsOfficial UFC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufc 026
Ultimate Fighting Championship flagship events
2000 in mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts in Iowa
Sports in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2000 in sports in Iowa