1996 was the year Sen. John McCain infamously called mixed martial arts “human cockfighting” when he sought to have the sport banned in all 50 states before it could really take off in the U.S.
UFC 1 had taken place just three years prior on Nov. 12, 1993, marking the birth of MMA, and from the start there was curiosity as to what this “ultimate fighting” was. There were no weight classes, no gloves or uniforms, and essentially no rules. It wasn’t sanctioned in every state. It wasn’t even called mixed martial arts yet.
Meanwhile, also in 1996, “Friends” wrapped up a successful second season on NBC just before the summer. The show – starring Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer – already was a smash hit as the third-most watched prime time television series (at a time when a lot of people watched regular TV) behind only No. 1 “ER” and No. 2 “Seinfeld.”
Certainly being featured on a show like “Friends” would be massive exposure for the sport and more specifically the UFC. But why would that have happened back then? What did a sitcom about six young adults living in New York City have in common with brutal fights taking place inside of the octagon?
Not a thing.
And yet, the creative team behind “Friends” drummed up an idea for an episode in which Monica (played by Cox) has a boyfriend named Pete (Jon Favreau), who dreams of becoming an ultimate fighter. They even leaned right into the UFC storyline by titling the penultimate Season 3 episode “The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion,” which premiered 25 years ago this month on May 8, 1997.
Considering McCain’s crusade against MMA and his “human cockfighting” remark just a year earlier, John McCarthy couldn’t believe the opportunity for a “Friends”-UFC crossover somehow, some way presented itself when he was approached to be featured on the show.
“Honestly, I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,'” McCarthy recently told MMA Junkie. “‘They want to put us on ‘Friends’?”
In addition to McCarthy, famed announcer Bruce Buffer, former fighter Tank Abbott, and eventual UFC champion and Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz made appearances as themselves.
The episode begins with Monica meeting all the friends at Central Perk cafe to share the disappointment that Pete didn’t ask her to marry him like she’d hoped. Instead, what happened?
“He wanted to tell me he’s going to compete in some ultimate fighting competition thingy,” Monica says. The guys can’t believe it. The girls have never heard of it, so they ask Monica, who describes MMA as “sort of like wrestling but without the costumes.” She obviously meant pro wrestling.
Joey (LeBlanc) chimes in that “it’s not fake” and “totally brutal.” Chandler (Perry) lays out that ultimate fighting is “two guys in the ring, and the rules are … [pauses for dramatic effect] … there are no rules.” Ross (Schwimmer) adds that “anything goes except eye gouging and fish-hooking.” Hearing all of that worries Monica, so she visits Pete in training to express her concern, but Pete assures her he’ll be careful in his upcoming fight.
Monica and Ross attend Pete’s fight against Abbott, with Buffer announcing their intros and “Big” John serving as referee. When Pete and Abbott meet in the center, Abbott picks up Pete and runs him across the cage and slams him into the fence. That’s all of the fight scene. Afterward, Pete lets Monica know that, despite getting his ass kicked, he’s not done trying to become the ultimate fighting champion. And so she breaks up with him.
The fight scene lasted all of 2 minutes, but filming took two days to complete. McCarthy and Buffer recalled a fun process filming.
“They were trying to come up with different ideas of how they were going to make Jon Favreau look viable in it,” McCarthy said. “They wanted Tank to do certain things, and Tank is like, ‘I’ll pick him up and run him across the damn cage. I’ll slam him into the wall.’ Right? Jon Favreau’s going, ‘I’m 200-and-something (pounds). I don’t think you can just pick me up.’ Tank picks him up, carries him around – so it was kind of funny the whole time. We had a good time.”
Added Buffer: “It was just really cool, and all of us were just tickled pink and felt very honored to be on the show.”
Read on to hear more from Buffer and McCarthy on other aspects of filming “Friends,” what it meant for them and what it meant for the UFC.
