Arthur Jimmerson, a legend in UFC history, recently passed away but left his everlasting mark in the industry. He was notable for being in the very first UFC numbered event in 1993 and helped establish the UFC and MMA industry from its infancy. The UFC world was taken aback by his demise with CEO Dana White and several others sharing his condolences through social media. Along with that, Michael Bisping and others shared their condolences too. 

Meanwhile, ‘Big’ John McCarthy and Josh “The Punk” Thomson also paid their respects to Jimmerson and spoke about his first step in starting the unique one-glove fight.

Arthur Jimmerson: Pioneer of starting something new

Art Jimmerson was the first milestone for the UFC and since he was the starting point of new things, he had to face a lot of criticism as well. Jimmerson was a legend who competed in the middleweight, lightweight, and cruiserweight divisions in boxing. He even won the 1983 National Golden Gloves Middleweight championship. McCarthy explained how Jimmerson was ridiculed for his legendary one-glove fight and that he had gone through “hard times” because of that.

He declared the icon’s contribution to the MMA and boxing sports and said, “Where would we be if Art Jimmerson was not one of those people that basically… I told this to Art long after, you know UFC 1 and everything and at a time when he knew I got to see him multiple times throughout you know, my time moving around and refereeing and stuff and uh, he was going through a hard time with what the internet and people said about him.”

McCarthy had spoken to Jimmerson when he was feeling down due to the criticism and he encouraged the fighter. He explained how he told Jimmerson that he was the starting point of this sport and that people like Jon Jones and others would not have had this sport otherwise. McCarthy gave the example of Chuck Yeager who was criticized by physicists because he wanted to fly faster than the speed of sound and yet he succeeded.

Jimmerson not only competed in the first-ever UFC bout but became a sensation for his special trait. He was known as ‘One Glove’ and earned this nickname by fighting Royce Gracie in Colorado while wearing just one boxing glove in one hand. This allowed him to take jabs at the opponents and use bare-knuckle for KOs. He combined knuckle and boxing and brought a unique technique to the table. Jimmerson contributed a lot to the sport and the UFC world was shocked at his demise.

Art Jimmerson’s demise makes the UFC world mourn

He competed in 3 divisions as a pro boxer and competed in his first UFC fight in 1993. The legendary boxer decided to use one glove on his left hand and this left a huge impression on the fans of combat sports who were just getting familiarised with MMA and UFC. Even though he could not win that day he started many new trends and became the first man to tap out in UFC and use one glove. This man set many rules of UFC in place that are still used to this day like the tap-out for submissions. 

UFC released an official statement regarding his passing and stated, “The UFC family sends its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Art Jimmerson at this difficult time.” Dana White wrote on social media through Instagram and wrote, “RIP”.  The cause of death is still not known however his passing has left the UFC world in sorrow.

He was not only a pioneer of the sport but an ambassador for boxing and a coach at UFC Gym in California. Even Josh Thomson mourned his demise and spoke about Jimmerson in the ‘Weighing In’ podcast. He said, “I’ve got stories with Art. He was a super, super nice man. One of the nicest you’ll ever meet. He actually, you know, after a while, took the name of ‘one glove’, based upon wearing one glove into the Octagon when he faced off Royce. That didn’t go well. I didn’t help that fight at all.” 

Michael Bisping, too, shared a picture on Instagram wearing a red boxing glove on his left and holding the ESPN mic on the other. He wrote in the caption, “RIP one glove Art Jimmerson. #pioneer”.  Jimmerson bravely faced all obstacles and criticisms for bringing in new perspectives to UFC, and his name will live on and fans will always remember him for his contributions.