1996 in sports
Date Event Alternate Name/s Location Attendance PPV Buyrate Notes
February 16 UFC 8 : David vs. Goliath N/A Bayamón , Puerto Rico 13,000 160,000 UFC rule change , timed rounds were changed to two 10-minute rounds for first two rounds of the tournament and a single 15-minute round in the tournament final and superfights . Introduction of judges . First MMA event to draw criticism from politicians
May 17 UFC 9 : Motor City Madness N/A Detroit , Michigan , US 10,000 N/A First UFC event not to feature a tournament , however it was not the last . Closed fisted strikes to the head were banned for this event only , however this was not enforced . Following this event the UFC was removed from airing events on numerous cable systems , including TCI cable
July 12 UFC 10 : The Tournament N/A Birmingham , Alabama , US 4,300 N/A This event was originally going to be held at the Providence Civic Center in Providence , Rhode Island
September 20 UFC 11 : The Proving Ground N/A Augusta , Georgia , US 4,500 N/A N/A
December 7 The Ultimate Ultimate 2 Ultimate Ultimate 1996 UFC 11.5 Birmingham , Alabama , US 6,000 N/A UFC rule change , introduction of no grabbing of the fence rule . In promotion for this event , Ken Shamrock appeared as a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien . Following this event Ken Shamrock would leave the UFC until 2002 . And marked the last UFC fight of Don Frye
Mixed martial arts
Before 1997 , the Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC ) was considered the only major MMA organization in the world and featured much fewer rules then are used in modern MMA .
1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.