The first Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the USA was the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The second was Jeff Osborne’s HOOKnSHOOT.
Osborne started out in pro wrestling, but when he was told that it would take another 80 pounds to land a lucrative contract, he rejected steroids and embraced MMA. The name HOOKnSHOOT is itself drawn from the pro wrestling tradition. A ‘Hook’ is a legitimate submission, and a ‘Shoot’ is a real match, as opposed to a worked match.
The first event was held behind closed doors, in a gym.
While the venue was modest, the talent included future pros Bret Al-azzawi, Geza Kalman Jr., Phil Stroffolino, John Renken, and Dave Menne, who would go on to become the first ever UFC Middleweight Champion.
Osborne’s talent for finding and showcasing top talent became a hallmark of the organization. Osborne held over 70 events, primarily out of Evansville, Indiana. The list of 500 fighters who competed for HnS includes Aaron Riley, Alex Stiebling, Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira, Anthony Hamlett, Antonio Rogerio “Little Nog” Nogueira, Brad Kohler, Carlos Barreto, Chris Lytle, Dave Menne, Debi Purcell, Dennis Hallman, Frank Mir, “JZ” Cavalcante, Ian Freeman, Ivan Salaverry, Jason Miller, Jeff “Big Frog” Curran, Jennifer Howe, Jens Pulver, Jeremy Horn, Jorge Masvidal, Julie Kedzie, Jutaro Nakao, Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio, Marcus “Conan” Silveira, Matt Hume, Megumi Fujii, Miesha Tate, Tara LaRosa, Travis Lutter, Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro, and Yves Edwards, among others.
If you wonder how a show in Evansville, Indiana could afford to fly in world-class talent from across the planet, the simple answer is that often they couldn’t. Jeff is not like other promoters. Jeff does not promote to make money. He makes money to promote.
The attitude may never make him rich, but it make him forever respected, even beloved, by the first generation of the sport’s fans.
As extraordinary as his male fights were, his focus on Women’s MMA made him a pillar of the Women’s MMA movement. Some even call him the father of WMMA.
Jeff held his first women’s fight, Judy Neff vs. Jessica Ross in March of 2001. Just a year later he took an unprecedented step, promoting the first all-women’s show in the USA, the aptly named HOOKnSHOOT: Revolution.
WMMA promotion was not a financial windfall for Osborne, who lost several tens of thousands of dollars on the effort while helping keep WMMA alive during it’s formative years. But the world has too many people who are full of money and contribute nothing. Jeff Osborne made an enormous difference in MMA, leaving it far larger, more diverse, better, and richer than he found it. That is the test of a man’s worth, and Jeff Osborne is priceless.
Bobby Shipman of the hometown Evansville Courier recently recognized Osborne’s efforts in an appropriately laudatory piece.
They graduated from their small gym on Covert Avenue to host a show at the Salvation Army on Fulton Avenue, which proved successful.
A couple years after the organization’s start, they moved on to do shows at the Evansville Coliseum, with about 400 to 500 in attendance. From 2003 to 2008, Osborne said attendance skyrocketed into the 2,000s.
Making history not money
In April 2002, HOOKnSHOOT hosted its first women’s MMA show.
It was a monstrous success around the world. Horrible financially, but it was worth it, said Osborne. That was all the women in North America fighting. They were all in Evansville.
Before the event, Osborne said women were exploited by sleazy promoters as sideshows, but Osborne wanted to feature them.
Osborne said he paid to get the best women fighters to Evansville. The show spawned about four times the amount of women fighters once it went public, he said.
The women fight to fight. The men sometimes will fight not to lose, he said. The women will take on a much greater risk than the men would and put on a much greater show.
About 13 years later, the UFC purchased Osborne’s entire show library archives.
Looking back, I’m so glad I chose to make history versus make money, he said. For the first time I felt validated that they wanted not only the men’s stuff, but I think they primarily wanted the women’s fights, which were historic. They all happened in Evansville.
Osborne has done every job in the MMA except be a ring girl.
He was a broadcast analyst for UFC, negotiated contracts with fighters and for fighters, trained, fought and managed fighters although he said he’s never taken a penny from them and never will.
I’ve lived a great life of being able to do the things I’ve loved to do — travel the world and do it for free because of MMA, he said.
