UFC 9
By the time UFC 9 came along in May of 1996, the promotion had come firmly into the crosshairs of politicians, and Senator John McCain in particular, who saw the sport as barbaric and was leading the campaign to have it banned.
As such, the ufc had to battle in court right up until the day of the event in order to ensure it would still go ahead.
This came at a cost however, as the event could only proceed with modified rules, which included no closed fist strikes to the head.
Needless to say this led to a somewhat bizarre spectacle, especially in the main event superfight between Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, which proved to be one of the worst in UFC history as the two opted to circle each other without doing anything for the majority of the 30 minute encounter.
To make matters worse, the legal battle also resulted in several cable providers not airing the PPV broadcast, which hurt the overall buy-rate for the show.
