In the UFC’s infancy, incidents between fighters outside of the cage were far more common than they are now and there is one incident that took place in 2002 that still gets talked about to this day.
In July 2002, the UFC landed in London for the first time ever when just over 3000 people were in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall to see Matt Hughes take on Carlos Newton.
However, the event is now remembered for the wrong reasons after a huge street fight broke out outside of a nightclub between several UFC legends.
Lee Murray and Tito Ortiz clash outside London nightclub in notorious street fight
Although he may not be a widely recognized name by current UFC fans, Lee Murray was once considered an almost guaranteed future UFC champion, despite having only made one appearance under the UFC banner.
Following the promotion’s inaugural event in the UK capital, there was a huge after-party at a local nightclub, which was attended by several fighters who went on to become legends of the sport.
One of which was Tito Ortiz, who ended up on the receiving end of a ‘Lightning’ Lee Murray combo, which many who were involved say put Ortiz to sleep.
The brawl was ignited after one of Ortiz’s friends jumped on the back of Pat Militech and began rear-naked choking him playfully. Not knowing that it was playful, Murray and a group of his friends began brawling with people, trying to defend Militech.
After Ortiz’s friend got knocked out into the middle of the road, Murray turned to Tito and goaded him about his friend being knocked out.
Recalling the brawl in the documentary, ‘Catching Lightning’, Militech said: “Instantly, it was like a stick of dynamite blew up, the whole alley ignites into scraps around me. I’ve been in a lot of fights but I’ve never seen an alley blow up like that with that many skilled fighters just suddenly kick off.”
Fighting on the side of ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was Chuck Liddell, who claims he knocked out around five people in the brawl.
Liddell wasn’t able to save Ortiz though who was hit with a five-punch combo from Murray with the spectators claiming he was out after the first punch. Murray didn’t stop there, though, as Militech claimed he then began to punt Ortiz’s head with steel-toe cap boots on.
Fortunately for everyone involved, Murray and his team fled the scene after police came to break up the brawl.
- NEW FOOTAGE: Fans lose their minds at new Khamzat Chimaev training footage with ‘Borz’ looking faster than ever ahead of UFC 308
Tito Ortiz denies he was knocked out by Lee Murray
Several years after the incident, Ortiz was asked to describe the notorious brawl and was asked if he was knocked out by the Brit, Murray.
Denying the claims, Ortiz stated that he believes the stories were fabricated by everyone involved to make Murray a feared fighter.
“Not true, at all. One of my buddies got beat up and was getting stomped on the concrete outside and I came to his rescue. Me, Chuck Liddell, and Damien started to fight and one of the guys sucker punched my friend, Damien, my friend Bo dropped him on the floor and the cab ran over his arm and Lee Murray was in there.
“Lee Murray took a swing at me, missed, I took a swing at him, clinched him, kneed him, he broke away, he started running away, I started chasing him and he turned around and planted his feet, I go to stop and slide right into him, he clips me and I drop and I popped right back up and the cops came broke everybody apart,” Ortiz claimed.
Murray’s story took an unfortunate and dark turn when he was arrested in 2006 for his involvement in the biggest cash heist in British history.
- RETIREMENT REFUSAL: ‘I’m too old to retire’… Tony Ferguson refuses to retire despite record-tying losing streak as he highlights what he needs to change