In 1993, a new combat sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship – UFC.
It pitted all forms of mixed martial arts against each other with little to no rules and all contained in an octagon-shaped cage.
The first contest between a Samoan sumo wrestler and a Dutch kickboxer resulted in several teeth flying through the air.
It didn’t take long for the sensation to attract some big critics including the late US senator John McCain. He wanted it banned and labelled it a "human cockfight".
One of the men responsible for cooking up this new concept was TV producer Campbell McLaren.
He tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty how he used controversy to market the violent spectacle.
This programme contains descriptions of violence.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
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(Photo: Campbell McLaren. Credit: Getty Images)