In 1995, Don Frye helped train his old friend Dan Severn for the "Ultimate Ultimate 1995", accompanying Severn's entourage to Denver. He soon made the jump to the burgeoning sport of mixed martial arts himself and joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship the following year. Debuting at "UFC 8" in Bayamón, Puerto Rico on February 16, 1996, Frye was among the eight competitors in the openweight tournament that night and ran through the field with ease to announce himself as one of just two fighters of the era skilled in both stand-up and ground fighting, the other being Marco Ruas. In the quarter-finals, he set the record (since broken by Duane Ludwig and Jorge Masvidal ) for fastest knockout in UFC history when he felled 410-lb Thomas Ramirez in just eight seconds via punches. After a quick technical knockout of Sam Adkins in the semis, taking him down and landing hammerfists to the face for the TKO, he met with Gary Goodridge in the final, and forced the Trinidadian brawler to submit simply by gaining dominant position at the 2:14 mark, though not without landing multiple uppercuts standing and punches on the ground. This would be the first in a trilogy of fights between the pair. Due to the controversy surrounding MMA at the time, Frye was barred from both firefighting, his previous occupation in his hometown of Sierra Vista, Arizona, and from training in the Buena High School gym he had used since his ASU days following the event.