Was Chuck Norris invited to the first UFC?

Did you know that Rorion Gracie invited Chuck Norris to be a commentator at the first UFC? It’s true, as reported in IS THIS LEGAL?, Art Davie’s new book about the creation of the UFC in 1993. According to Art, he and Rorion went to Chuck Norris’ house to ask him to be a color commentator at UFC1. The way Art tells it, Rorion asked Art if he could go into Chuck’s house first to pitch him and if he ran into trouble, he would get Art, waiting in the car, to come inside and close Chuck on participating. Art had typed up a list of key points about the upcoming tournament and after every point Rorion made, reading from the index card, Chuck responded with, “is this legal?”

“I can understand his reluctance, given his A-list status as a martial artist and film star,” says Davie now. “He didn’t want to be cage side at an event where the cops might bust everybody. Years later, at Chuck Norris’ house, I was pitching him a TV pilot (Spear – about a busted rodeo cowboy who becomes a bounty hunter to avenge his brother’s death) and he made a point of saying in front of everybody in the room that he was wrong about the UFC when he was pitched back in`93. He showed he was a class guy. I respect him still,” says Davie. “But, given his refusal and what he said, I couldn’t resist using his words as the title of my book.”

Chuck Norris/UFC Story

The whole story of Chuck Norris and the first UFC is detailed in Chapter 9, Is this Legal? of the book IS THIS LEGAL?

Is This Legal? will be available in bookstores in July 2014. Available now for pre-order on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/This-Legal-Inside-Story-Created/dp/0991275640/ref=sr_

Or Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/is-this-legal-art-davie/1119450132?ean=9780