''UFC 28: High Stakes'' 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 November 17, 2000 at the

Trump Taj Mahal The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, formerly Trump Taj Mahal, is a casino and hotel on the Boardwalk, owned by Hard Rock International, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. The casino was inaugurated in 1990 by its owner, Do ...

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

History

UFC 28 marked the first

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

event to be sanctioned by the

New Jersey State Athletic Control Board The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (SACB) regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New Jersey, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, kickboxers, mixed martial arts fighters, secon ...

(NJSACB). The NJSACB had begun to allow Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promoters to conduct events in the state upon review of the promoter's rules and regulations in September 2000. The NJSACB's observation of these first few sanctioned events led to the establishment of their own official set of rules and regulations, the "

Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very dif ...

", in April 2001. The NJSACB's unified rules would become the de facto set of rules for professional MMA in North America as more and more U.S. states used them to sanction the sport. As the event was held in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, it was the first

event to be held in a northern state since

UFC 7 ''UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 8, 1995, at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and l ...

. Under the sanctioned rules, this was the first event requiring competitors to wear trunks, gloves (and no other attire). Langton, Jerry
''Fighter: The Unauthorized Biography of Georges St-Pierre, UFC Champion''
p. 19.

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

, 2011. . Accessed November 16, 2015. The sanctioned rules also introduced new strict weight classes, resulting in the first and only

Super Heavyweight Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and bodybuilding, competitive bodybuilding. Boxing In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Int ...

bout ever, between

Josh Barnett Joshua Lawrence Barnett (born November 10, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist, submission wrestler, professional wrestler, and color commentator. Barnett previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the y ...

and

Gan McGee Gan McGee (born November 20, 1976) is an American mixed martial artist who has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, WEC and the XFC. Background McGee was born in Bismarck, North Dakota to Marguerite McGee (nee Ohde) and Curtis Warren McGee. McGee do ...

. The first

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 took place at

UFC 26 ''UFC 26: Ultimate Field of Dreams'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 9, 2000, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. History The main card featured Welterweight Champion Pat Miletich defending his title against ...

in June 2000. The event was headlined by the return of former

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 ...

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American mixed martial arts commentator, actor, former United States Army sergeant, former professional mixed martial artist, and former Collegiate wrestling, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestlin ...

, who had relinquished his title in 1998 to return to competitive wrestling and because of contract disputes—and he regained his championship belt by defeating

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 ...

. UFC 28 also featured the first

appearances of

Andrei Arlovski Andrei Arlovski (, born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist and actor. A former UFC Heavyweight Champion, he competed in the heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and holds th ...

, Renato "Babalu" Sobral,

Chris Lytle Chris Scott Lytle (born August 18, 1974) is an American retired mixed martial artist and boxer. A professional from 1999 until 2011 and twenty-fight veteran of the UFC, Lytle also fought in Pancrase, Cage Rage, and the WEC. He held the inaugura ...

, and

, and the sole appearances of

Alex Stiebling Alex Stiebling (born December 26, 1976) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1999 until 2009, he competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, WEC, King of the Cage, BodogFIGHT, the World Fight ...

, Ben Earwood,

Aaron Brink Aaron Franklin Brink (November 12, 1974 – May 26, 2023), also known by his stage name Dick Delaware, was an American professional mixed martial artist and pornographic film actor who competed in the Light Heavyweight division. He competed for ...

, and Matt Hughes's twin brother,

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

. While there were 5,000 tickets sold -- a sellout -- the event had a small

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

reach. UFC 28 was the sixth straight

event to never see home video 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, as their parent company SEG was nearing bankruptcy. UFC 28 was the last

event held by SEG in the US, and following

UFC 29 ''UFC 29: Defense of the Belts'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 16, 2000 at Differ Ariake Arena in Koto, Tokyo, Kōtō ward, Tokyo, Japan. History The event was the last UFC to be held in Jap ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, SEG sold the

to Zuffa LLC.

Results

Encyclopedia awards

The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titled '' UFC Encyclopedia''. *Fight of the Night: Randy Couture vs. Kevin Randleman *Knockout of the Night: Jens Pulver *Submission of the Night: Andrei Arlovski

References

External links

Official UFC website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufc 028 Ultimate Fighting Championship flagship events 2000 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts events in Atlantic City, New Jersey 2000 in sports in New Jersey November 2000 sports events in the United States

History

Results

Encyclopedia awards

See also

References

External links