Video: Campbell McLaren discusses early UFC days, Gracie family

Campbell McLaren, one of the founding fathers of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, doesn’t want to take too much credit. But he knows the impact he helped make on what the UFC is today.

McLaren, though, gives credit for what UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and President Dana White have done with the company since taking over. And he knew early on that when White was interested in purchasing the UFC, he was on to something.

“There was an old TV commercial, I think, for Remington shavers, and the guy who did the commercial said, ‘I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company,’” McLaren recalled to MMAjunkie. “I always think about Dana like that. Dana watched the first UFC. He looked at it and knew it was great.”

Part of what McLaren brought to the table in the early days of the UFC still lives on today with announce teams and matchmaking. Even the octagon was part of McLaren’s influence. He said returning to UFC events for him now is “like a high school reunion.”

But the credit now, he said, goes to White and Fertitta.

“What Dana and Lorenzo did is, they saw something that was maybe a little too focused on the spectacle, the wildness, the circus atmosphere, and said, ‘These could be great live events. This could be a world-class sport,’” he said. “What I did helped shape it and give it its basic DNA, and what they did is take it to a world-class level.”

McLaren still is active in the sport, now as CEO of the new “Combate Americas” Hispanic MMA reality show.

In the video above, hear what McLaren had to say about the early days of the UFC, as well as what the Gracie family influence meant.