Donald Frye (born November 23, 1965) is an American former mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and actor. In MMA, he was one of the sport's earliest well-rounded fighters and won the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments and finished as runner-up UFC 10 in his first year of competition. He retired from MMA in 1997 to pursue a career in professional wrestling with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and quickly became one of the company's leading heels. After spending four years as one of Japan's top gaijin wrestlers, he returned to MMA with the Pride Fighting Championships in September 2001, much more muscular and sporting an American patriot persona in response to the September 11 attacks. He fought bouts with Ken Shamrock and Yoshihiro Takayama during his two years in Pride. He departed the promotion to compete in K-1 and Hero's in 2004 but returned for the final Pride event in 2007. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2016. Early life Born of Irish and Scottish descent, Don Frye began wrestling at Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona then in college for Arizona State University in 1984, where he was trained by fellow future Ultimate Fighting Championship compositor, then assistant wrestling coach, Dan Severn. In 1987, he won the freestyle and Greco-Roman events during an Olympic qualifier. A year later, he transferred to Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, where his teammates included future colleague Randy Couture. After college, Frye trained in boxing for a year and a half and made his professional debut on August 28, 1989 in Phoenix, Arizona, scoring a first-round knockout over Luis Mora. After eight bouts over the next fourteen months he retired and became an emergency medical technician and a firefighter in Bisbee, Arizona. He boxed under the name J.R. Frye in several matches after being forced to change his name due to a contractual dispute. In his final boxing match, Frye lost via technical knockout to David Kilgour of Somis, California at the Reseda Country Club in Reseda, Los Angeles on December 11, 1990, bringing his professional record to two wins, five losses and one draw. Frye also worked in a psychiatric ward but left that position after breaking a patient's arm while restraining him. During this time, he also took up judo and earned the rank of second dan black belt. Mixed martial arts career Ultimate Fighting Championship (1996) In