By Daniel Vreeland

While it might seem obvious to a fan that the creator of the UFC would be in the company’s Hall of Fame, it seemed for a while that Art Davie might forever be on the outside looking it. 

Even though the former car salesman turned martial arts promoter has always stayed level-headed about the prospect, every year a class was unveiled it had to sting a bit when his name wasn't included. 

Well, Davie has to wait no more. The 2018 induction class of the UFC Hall of Fame will include Mr. Davie on the Contributor’s Wing. He spoke with the Top Turtle MMA Podcast about the phone call and how it made him feel. 

“I get a call from my good buddy and partner in crime, Sean Wheelock, and I talk to Sean a couple of times a week,” Art says of the co-author of his book, Is This Legal? “He says, ‘Art, I have somebody on the phone who wants to talk to you.'”

Since Davie has been around the sport since its inception, there were thousands of people he thought it could be. 

“Now, I figured that it was maybe a fighter who [Wheelock] had run into maybe doing a Victory [FC] show or Invicta [FC],” Davie said. 

Although his love for his former clients and co-workers is strong, the call was coming from a much higher power. 

“He puts Ant Evans on the phone from the UFC,” Davie said, referring to the UFC's current head of content and business development. “Ant tells me, ‘Art, I have some very, very good news,’ and then he proceeds to tell me that I am being inducted on July 5 into the Contributor's Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.”

Even though most of us saw this as an inevitable future, Davie himself was blown away.  

“Well, you could’ve knocked me over with a feather because I wasn’t anticipating it, and I really didn’t expect it was going to be Ant Evans on the phone. So, I was stunned,” Davie said. “It took me a couple of minutes to recuperate and absorb it.”

Now with his own induction on the horizon, he turned his attention to what other contributor might be next to join him in his own wing. After giving his proper credit to the trio who lead Zuffa and the UFC to its most prosperous years, he had another underappreciated name on his lips.

“The other guy that I think is very deserving of being in the Hall of Fame, quite frankly, is Marc Ratner,” he said. “Marc Ratner was one of the most respected executives in the state sanctioning body universe in the United States. In 2006, Zuffa brought him on board as the Vice President of Government Relations.”

And even though all the Zuffa executives made an outstanding impact on what we see of the sport at the time, Davie argues that Ratner may have had one of the most significant impacts. 

“What a brilliant move that was and what a great contribution Ratner has made, because during that time the UFC finally sanctioned in states like California and New York," Davie said.