Jens Pulver will be part of the UFC’s Hall of Fame class this year.
Lil’ Evil was announced as an entrant into the Pioneer Wing of the Hall of Fame during the UFC 284 broadcast on Saturday night.
Pulver, 48, began his career in 1999 and made his UFC debut that same year at UFC 22 where he fought Alfonso Alcarez to a draw.
Pulver became the first UFC lightweight champion at UFC 30 in February 2001 when he defeated Caol Uno by unanimous decision and defended the belt against Dennis Hallman and BJ Penn over the following year.
Pulver left the UFC while still holding the title due to a pay dispute with the promotion and wouldn’t fight for the UFC for another four years.
In 2004, he fought for Pride for the first time when he was knocked out by Takanori Gomi on New Year’s Eve and would fight at the Pride Bushido events in 2005.
After the popularity surge of the UFC, Pulver returned at UFC 63 in September 2006 and was knocked out by Joe Lauzon.
Pulver was named a coach on the fifth season of the Ultimate Fighter with BJ Penn and set up a rematch between the two in 2007 when Penn was the consensus top lightweight in the world and would avenge his 2002 loss to Pulver by submitting the former champion.
After the Penn fight, Pulver was moved to the Zuffa-owned WEC where he beat Cub Swanson to earn a featherweight title fight against Urijah Faber in June 2008, which was a huge fight for WEC and helping to grow Faber as a star and beating Pulver by decision.
After two more losses in the WEC, Pulver was done with the promotion and took fights over the next several years with mixed success.
He fought for ONE Championship three times and had his last fight in November 2013 on a card in Sweden.
