Ultimate Fighting Championship (1996) In 1995, Don Frye helped train
Dan Severn for the
Ultimate Ultimate 1995, accompanying Severn's entourage to Denver. He soon made the jump to the burgeoning sport of
mixed martial arts himself and joined the
Ultimate Fighting Championship the following year. Debuting at
UFC 8 in
Bayamón, Puerto Rico on February 16, 1996, Frye was among the eight competitors in the
openweight tournament that night and was one of two fighters of the era skilled in both
stand-up and
ground fighting, the other being
Marco Ruas. In the quarter-finals, he set the record (since broken by
Duane Ludwig and
Jorge Masvidal) for fastest
knockout in UFC history when his punches knocked down 410-lb Thomas Ramirez in just eight seconds. After a quick
technical knockout of
Sam Adkins in the semis, taking him down and landing hammerfists to the face for the TKO, he met with
Gary Goodridge in the final, and forced the Trinidadian to
submit simply by gaining dominant position at the 2:14 mark, though not without landing multiple uppercuts standing and punches on the ground. This would be the first in a trilogy of fights between the pair. Due to the controversy surrounding MMA at the time, Frye was barred from both
firefighting, his previous occupation in his hometown of
Sierra Vista, Arizona, and from training in the
Buena High School gym he had used since his ASU days following the event. Frye returned at
UFC 9 in Detroit, Michigan on May 19, 1996, for a match with fellow tournament winner Marco Ruas, but Ruas was injured and replaced by
Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist
Amaury Bitetti. Frye stopped his opponent's takedowns and land punches, knees and elbows, and used a judo
ude-garami on the jiu-jitsu champion, something that was unusual at the time. At the end, after an especially hard series of strikes to the spine and head of the Brazilian, the match was stopped and Frye was declared winner. At
UFC 10 in
Birmingham, Alabama, on July 12, 1996, Frye returned to tournament format. He defeated
Mark Hall by stoppage, slamming the Moo Yea Do specialist and working his side with body punches until the stoppage, and then defeated
Brian Johnston, again leading the action to the mat and landing elbows to the head. However, at the finals of the event, Frye faced
Mark Coleman, who was considered the "godfather" of the
ground and pound strategy Frye often followed. Coleman, a more decorated wrestling champion than Frye himself, kept the top position through the match and landed multiple strikes to the face. Frye capitalized on a failed
neck crank attempt to get standing and try to outmatch Coleman there, but he was taken down again, and a late takedown attempt of his own also failed, with Coleman reversing and threatening with an overhead throw before returning to his routine. At the end, after Coleman secured side mount and dropped punches and headbutts onto Frye's face, the referee stopped the action, handing Frye his first loss in seven fights. Frye won at the
U-Japan event in November 1996, taking a submission victory by forearm choke over
Mark Hall in a rematch. Just one month later, Frye entered the UFC's
Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournament, held to find the best of the best from past tournament winners and runners up. He firstly went for the second time against Gary Goodridge, who brawled on the clinch before taking Frye down and landing headbutts, but the result was the same, as Goodridge tapped out as soon as Frye got dominant position. Frye then faced
Mark Hall for the third time in his career, but this fight was even shorter, with Frye getting a takedown and an
Achilles lock for the give up in 20 seconds. In the finals, Frye faced striker
Tank Abbott, who landed early shots, opening a cut on Frye's face and causing swelling. However, Abbott lost his balance and fell, allowing Frye to secure a
rear naked choke, to take the title of
Ultimate Ultimate 96 Champion, his second UFC Tournament Championship. Hall would later claim that Don Frye and manager Robert DePersia convinced him to
throw the two fighters' semi-final match. Hall says that since Tank Abbott had already advanced to the final after two relatively easy wins, Frye – who'd logged eleven minutes of cage time already that night – wanted to save his energy for the championship match. Because he'd already suffered two defeats to Frye earlier in his career (and therefore probably wasn't going to win anyway) and DePersia implied that saying no would have a disastrous impact on his future, Hall says he reluctantly agreed to go along with the plot. Referee
John McCarthy later wrote in his autobiography ''Let's Get It On!'': Despite his success in MMA, Frye retired from the sport after winning the ''Ultimate Ultimate '96'' tournament.
Pride Fighting Championships (2001–2003) A successful celebrity in Japan due to his pro wrestling career, Don Frye made his comeback to mixed martial arts when he signed a multi-fight contract with the
Pride Fighting Championships in 2001. Appearing in an MMA bout for the first time in five years at
Pride 16 in
Osaka, Japan on September 24, 2001, two weeks after the
September 11 attacks, Frye entered the ring waving an
American flag and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "terrorists suck". He was also noticeably more muscular and seemingly stronger than his UFC days, having gained in weight since his last MMA outing. However, his fight with
Gilbert Yvel that night was controversial and resulted in Frye winning by disqualification in the first round, as Yvel repeatedly
gouged his eyes and was eventually disqualified for continuously holding the ropes to stop himself being
taken down. Three months later, at a joint New Year's Eve show
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001: K-1 vs. Inoki, Frye defeated
Cyril Abidi with relative ease, taking the French kickboxer to the mat and controlling him throughout round one before finishing him with a rear naked choke in two. Frye returned to Pride in February 2002, facing long-time rival
Ken Shamrock at
Pride 19 in a fight he had been trying to
trash-talk himself into ever since Shamrock had defeated Dan Severn at
UFC 6. Frye got the edge on a series of clinch battles, while Shamrock dropped down for an ankle lock and transitioned into both a
kneebar and a
toehold, wrenching Frye's leg badly; however, despite the damage, Frye refused to tap out and managed to knock Shamrock down in a subsequent punching exchange. The bout moved to the mat, where Shamrock attempted another ankle lock, only for Frye to try to counter with one of his own and finally refusing to tap out until time ran out. After an exciting and hard fought battle, Frye pulled out a
split decision victory in which many people including the commentators
Bass Rutten and
Stephen Quadros said Ken Shamrock won the fight. Even though Shamrock had injured Frye's ankles, later leading to Frye's dependency on painkillers for several years, the two hugged after the fight ended, putting an end to their rivalry. Many MMA fans agree that both fighters were never the same again, as both their careers began a steady downturn after the fight. Four months after defeating Ken Shamrock, Frye returned to MMA to face Japanese professional wrestler
Yoshihiro Takayama at
Pride 21 on June 23, 2002. In a fight described as the single-greatest brawl in MMA history, Frye and Takayama clinched in a
hockey fight pose, each holding the head and hitting, with Takayama finally going to the body after more than a full minute of unrelenting, undefended shots. This would happen three times in the fight, until the referee stopped the bout after Frye mounted Takayama, who was visibly much worse for the wear. On August 28, 2002, he took on
Jérôme Le Banner in a
kickboxing match at the K-1/Pride co-promoted event
Pride Shockwave, fighting in front of 91,107 people. Frye had mentioned in an interview prior to the fight that (besides knee strikes) he had never thrown a kick in his life and his disadvantage was obvious as he couldn't use his wrestling skills and was repeatedly
thrown when he tried to tie up with Le Banner. After being given a
standing eight count early on, he was forced into a corner and knocked unconscious with a right
hook at the 1:30 mark of the first round. Riding a new wave of popularity, Frye's next outing was a return to MMA at
Pride 23 on November 24, 2002, to face Olympic gold medalist judoka
Hidehiko Yoshida. Taking his first loss since fighting Mark Coleman in 1996, Frye was submitted by Yoshida via
armbar in the first round. While Frye did not tap out, the referee stopped the bout in fear of serious injury. Frye took seven months off following the losses to Le Banner and Yoshida, and next fought at
Pride 26 on June 28, 2003, to try to avenge his loss to Mark Coleman. In a rather long battle, Frye lost a
unanimous decision to Coleman after three rounds. Another rematch was on tap for
Pride Shockwave 2003 on New Year's Eve, 2003 when Frye faced Gary Goodridge for the third time. The fight lasted only 39 seconds; Goodridge scored a vicious high kick to the head, knocking Frye out completely.
K-1 and Hero's (2004–2006) Don Frye departed Pride on the back of four consecutive losses and next appeared fighting under MMA rules in K-1. His first fight, with
Yoshihiro Nakao at
K-1 MMA ROMANEX on May 22, 2004, ended in a
no contest when Frye could not continue due to a cut sustained from an accidental
headbutt early in round one. Don Frye and Yoshihiro Nakao rematched at
K-1 Premium 2004 Dynamite on December 31, 2004, with Nakao coming out on top and winning a unanimous decision, resigning the American to his sixth unsuccessful fight. After another brief retirement, he returned in K-1's
Hero's branch in May 2006 to fight
Akebono at ''Hero's 5''. Akebono spent much of the fight clinching with the much smaller Frye and pushing him into the ropes, but Frye was able to knock the former sumo wrestler down and secure a
guillotine choke submission in the second round. Just ten days later, in his first appearance in the United States since 1996, Don Frye took on Ruben Villarreal in
King of the Cage: Predator in
Globe, Arizona. After three rounds of what many considered to be a lackluster fight, the bout was ruled a
draw. In his sophomore Hero's fight, he defeated
Yoshihisa Yamamoto at ''Hero's 6
on August 5, 2006, using the rear naked choke towards the end of the first round. In his last appearance in the promotion, Frye faced Kim Min-Soo at Hero's 7'' on October 9, 2006, and knocked him out with a right hook in the second round.
Later career and sporadic comebacks (2007present) Don Frye made his Pride return after an almost four-year hiatus, taking on
James Thompson at the last promotion's last ever event,
Pride 34 on April 8, 2007. After an aggressive start, Thompson landed two
soccer kicks that dazed Frye. Thompson landed several more blows on a defenseless Frye before the referee called the fight at 6:25 in the first round. That year, he also assembled and coached the
Arizona-based
Tucson Scorpions in the
International Fight League, but on November 9, 2007, announced on TAGG radio that he and the IFL had parted ways. They were one of four new teams established at the beginning of the 2007 season. He also wrote a humorous weekly column called "Dear Don: Advice from The Predator" in which he gives fans advice on love, life, friendship, and more. Following a forty-seven second knockout of Bryan Pardoe at
NLF: Heavy Hands in
Dallas, Texas, in January 2008, Don Frye announced on February 8, 2008, on TAGG Radio that he would be fighting
Oleg Taktarov on the debut card for
YAMMA Pit Fighting on April 11 in the
Trump Taj Mahal in
Atlantic City, New Jersey. The fight was to be the first fight in YAMMA's Masters Division, a division for fighters over the age of 39. However, he had to withdraw due to an injury and was replaced by UFC 1 entree
Patrick Smith. Following his tenure with the IFL and a one-off fight with Texas-based promotion
NoLimit Fighting, Don Frye competed in his inaugural fight with the
DEEP organization, fighting Japanese fan favorite
Ikuhisa Minowa. Minowa won via
kneebar at the 3:56 mark of round one, dropping Frye's record in Japan to 8-6. From there, he signed with
Shark Fights stateside the following year. His submitted Ritch Moss at
Shark Fights 4 in May 2009 but suffered a quick TKO loss at the hands of
Dave Herman at
Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes four months later. After a two-year absence and at forty-six years of age, Frye was scheduled to face Mike Gonzalez for the Gladiator Challenge Light Heavyweight title. However, Gonzalez was injured, so Frye instead faced Ruben Villareal in a rematch at Heavyweight. Frye lost via knock-out. ==Professional wrestling career==