On Independence Day, Individuals sometimes set off sufficient flags, fireworks, and sufficient grilled meat to make a heart specialist stare into the center distance. However in preventing video games, some photographs are extra holiday-appropriate than others. Don Frye, strolling in entrance as if for the nationwide anthem, grew a mustache and determined to throw up his palms. Frye’s place in MMA historical past is safe. That is as a result of he got here to the UFC in 1996, received UFC 8, then got here again and received Final Final 96, successful two match titles in the identical yr and immediately incomes himself a spot as one of many early names within the sport.
Don Frye – The Final American
That alone will get him a seat on the desk. However Frye did extra than simply gather trophies. Based on the UFC, he was the primary fighter within the promotion’s historical past to complete off three opponents in underneath a minute whereas working, the primary fighter to obtain each a knockout and submission in underneath a minute, and the primary fighter to defeat an opponent by knockout 5 occasions in a row.
What made Frye completely different was the way in which he seemed and felt on the time. In its early days, MMA nonetheless had one foot within the style-versus-style mess, however Frye got here throughout as a machine shop-hardened man who understood learn how to wrestle, field, and clinch, and knew learn how to make each interplay ugly for his opponent. The UFC described him as “the UFC’s first true combined martial artist,” a label that matches as he was one of many clearest indicators that the game was transferring towards fighters who may perform a little little bit of every little thing and do it whereas sporting a horseshoe mustache and a glare.
If this sounds very American, it is as a result of Fry leans into it unashamedly and unrefined. The UFC referred to as him a “quintessential American” and cited certainly one of his most memorable entrances, strolling to the ring with an American flag at PRIDE 16. That second nonetheless lives on as a result of it hit the precise candy spot the fly at all times had. He is a patriot, he is an outlaw, he is a man who can repair a truck and knock out a giant man earlier than dinner.
What’s fascinating is that Frye did not want many packages. He already seemed just like the casting director’s first draft of “a former Marine who now runs a roadside steakhouse and resolves conflicts by staring.” After that, he additionally labored within the fields {of professional} wrestling and performing, however his attraction remained the identical in each area. The Nationwide Wrestling Corridor of Fame notes that he laid his basis in faculty wrestling at Arizona State College and Oklahoma State College earlier than transferring on to combined martial arts after which skilled wrestling, a path that has made him one of many uncommon figures who can really feel at house in all types of fight leisure with out trying pretend.
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And sure, there is a motive followers nonetheless move round Don Frye clips like they’re treasured household possessions. The look on his face, the way in which he walks, the punches, the stares, the flags, it appears like he is been dropped into trendy MMA from an period when males routinely burst by doorways in motion motion pictures. Some fighters turn out to be champions. Some turn out to be memes. Flying has turn out to be folklore, however it’s harder and often way more enjoyable.
So for those who needed the “final American” in martial arts on Independence Day, Don Frye could be a straightforward alternative. He received massive within the UFC, bounced across the worlds of PRIDE {and professional} wrestling, was inducted into the Corridor of Fame, and left a picture that also appears unattainable to enhance upon. He is a fighter with a flag in a single hand, violence within the different, and little interest in subtlety of both.
