Sierra Vista son Don Frye heading to UFC Hall of Fame

He hasn’t fought in active competition in almost five years following a 15-year MMA career in which he competed under the UFC, PRIDE and K-1 banners. So, yeah, as he sat around last month watching UFC 199 on TV at home like everyone else and saw the list of inductees that will be enshrined Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, hearing his own name among those honored at the sport’s highest level was not expected.

“Shocked the hell out of me. I was just tickled pink,” Frye recalled this past Thursday, speaking by phone from Vegas just a few days before the UFC’s Hall of Fame ceremony. “We were all just sitting around the house drinking a beer and smoking a cigar. We were watching all the names go by and they were featuring me a lot and I thought, holy moses, they’re talking about me. I thought that barn door was closed a long time ago.”

Try kicked wide open.

UFC officials announced that Frye (20-9-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) will be inducted into the UFC Hall as part of this summer’s International Fight Week festivities along with heavyweight legend Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and UFC co-founder Bob Meyrowitz.

Frye first appeared in the Octagon at UFC 8 in February 1996, and with three first-round victories in one night en route to winning the UFC 8 tournament, Frye became a superstar.

The man known as “The Predator” achieved true legendary status with his June 2002 fight at Japan’s Saitama Super Arena, when Frye squared off in a PRIDE match with Yoshihiro Takayama, a 6-foot-5, 275 pound Japanese pro wrestler. The two warriors traded blows for six straight relentless minutes and the battle became the standard by which MMA brawls would be judged.

“Don Frye is one of the baddest guys to ever step into the Octagon,” UFC President Dana White said on ufc.com. “He’s a real fighter. He’s a badass. He absolutely belongs in the UFC Hall of Fame.”

Ironically, there was a time when Frye had no idea what his post-wrestling career would be.

After winning an AIA state wrestling championship as a senior at Buena in 1984 (and a runner-up finish the year before), his wrestling career ascended to Arizona State University where he found more success under the tutelage of another future MMA legend in ASU two-time All-American (and fellow UFC Hall of Famer) Dan Severn and legendary head coach Bobby Douglas. Frye was part of three Pac-10 champion teams at ASU.

Beyond that, who knew?

“Once you did college wrestling you were done, unless you went to the Olympics or into coaching,” Frye recalled. “I was a fireman in Bisbee and a horseshoer on my days off.”

He wasn’t done, though.

Frye turned his attention from wrestling to pro boxing for a while, and then took up judo under Sensei Steve Owen in Tucson. Mixed martial arts, even in its infancy, was a natural evolution for Frye.

“I just combined the three aspects,” he said.

His journey truly started in wrestling, though, right at Buena.

“My old coaches Manny Martinez, Jerry Pickenpaugh,” he reminisced. “Coach Martinez taught me about values and integrity; lessons I carried throughout my lifetime.”

Frye has many fond memories of growing up in Sierra Vista, like even today when he’s referred to as “JR,” in reference to being Donald Jr., instead of “Don.” When he hears someone call him that, he knows he’s in Sierra Vista. He got emotional talking about his time serving in the Bisbee Fire Department, admitting years later that leaving the department “broke my heart” when he went from “firefighting to fighting.” He talked openly about how Jack Earnest, who this past October retired after 38 years with the department, including the last 25 as chief, “went to bat” for him as transitioned into a life of professional fighting.

“I miss that place,” Frye, in his gravelly voice, said of the Sierra Vista area. “The people sure are great.”

His long journey leads him Sunday to the UFC Hall of Fame.

“It means the world to me partner, it really does,” Frye said.

“It’s given me a chance to reflect back on it. I’ve had some really good opponents, I had a really good trainer in Steve Owen, my sparring partners. It’s not just me that did it. I just took the punches.”