UFC 28 marked the first UFC event to be sanctioned by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB). The NJSACB had begun to allow Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promoters to conduct events in the state upon review of the promoter's rules and regulations in September 2000.[1] The NJSACB's observation of these first few sanctioned events led to the establishment of their own official set of rules and regulations, the "Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts", in April 2001.[1] The NJSACB's unified rules would become the de facto set of rules for professional MMA in North America as more and more U.S. states used them to sanction the sport.[1]
As the event was held in New Jersey, it was the first UFC event to be held in a northern state since UFC 7. Under the sanctioned rules, this was the first event requiring competitors to wear trunks, gloves (and no other attire).[2] The sanctioned rules also introduced new strict weight classes, resulting in the first and only UFCSuper Heavyweight bout ever, between Josh Barnett and Gan McGee.[3] The first UFCBantamweight bout took place at UFC 26 in June 2000.
While there were 5,000 tickets sold -- a sellout -- the event had a small pay-per-view reach.[2] UFC 28 was the sixth straight UFC event to never see home video or DVD release, as their parent company SEG was nearing bankruptcy. UFC 28 was the last UFC event held by SEG in the US, and following UFC 29 in Japan, SEG sold the UFC to Zuffa LLC.
