UFC Hall of Fame 2024: Seven of UFC's Greatest Athletes Honoured in Induction Ceremony

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Some of UFC's greatest athletes were recognized for their everlasting impact on MMA during UFC's 12th Annual International Fight Week at the UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was held on Thursday (June 27) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ahead of the weekend's event UFC 303: Pereira vs. Prochazka 2, which is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (June 29), seven of the greatest to have stepped in the octagon were honoured with Hall of Fame awards.

Wanderlei Silva, Frankie Edgar, Marucia Rua and Joanna Jedrzejczyk were inducted into individual categories in Pioneer and Modern wings, while Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen I was inducted into the fight wing, and Beneil Dariush won the Forrest Griffin Community Award. Here is a look at the category-wise UFC Hall of Fame 2024 inductions:

Wanderlei Silva (Pioneer Era)

A veteran of 51 fights during his 22-year professional MMA career, Wanderlei Silva registered a record of 35-14-1 Draw / 1 NC (27-11-1-1, - UFC / PRIDE), securing victories over UFC Hall of Famers Kazushi Sakuraba, Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson (Fight Wing).

Silva also claimed wins over UFC 13 lightweight tournament winner Guy Mezger; former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson; former Pancrase middleweight, light heavyweight, and open weight champion Yuki Kondo; former Strikeforce U.S. middleweight champion Eugene Jackson; and former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann.

Frankie Edgar (Modern Era)

A veteran of 35 fights during his 17-year professional MMA career, Frankie Edgar compiled a record of 23-11-1, securing victories over UFC Hall of Famers B.J. Penn, Urijah Faber, and Cub Swanson (Fight Wing).

Edgar also notched up wins against former WEC lightweight champion Hermes Franca, and former UFC lightweight champions Sean Sherk, Charles Oliveira, and Yair Rodriguez (interim).

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Modern Era)

A veteran of 21 fights during her 10-year professional MMA career, Joanna Jedrzejczyk compiled a record of 16-5 (10-5 UFC), securing victories over former UFC strawweight champions Carla Esparza and Jessica Andrade.

At UFC 248 in 2020, Joanna challenged UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest fights in UFC history.

She landed 186 significant strikes on Zhang, the third-most in UFC strawweight history. Joanna will enter the Hall of Fame as the second female inductee in UFC history and first from the strawweight division.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (Modern Era)

A veteran of 42 fights during his 21-year professional MMA career, Rua registered a record of 27-14-1 (23-13-1 - UFC / PRIDE), securing notable wins over UFC Hall of Famers Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Kevin Randleman, and Forrest Griffin.

Plue, Shohun also defeated the likes of former UFC light heavyweight champions Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Lyoto Machida, and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen I (Fight Wing)

Anderson Silva entered the Octagon as UFC middleweight champion with a 28-4 record (11-0 UFC) that included wins over future UFC Hall of Famers Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, and Dan Henderson (fight wing);

Silva also defeated former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton; former WEC middleweight champion Chris Leben; former WEC heavyweight champion James Irvin; former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nate Marquardt; and former Shooto welterweight champion Hayato Sakurai.

Chael Sonnen entered the match as the top-ranked middleweight contender with a 26-10-1 record (7-4 UFC / WEC) and previous wins over former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato Sobral, former WEC light heavyweight champion Jason Lambert, former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho, and former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nate Marquardt.

Sonnen's 320 strikes landed against Silva set a UFC record that ranks fourth today. Silva had only absorbed 166 total strikes in his previous 11 fights combined. Silva's win earned him his 12th consecutive UFC victory, breaking Royce Gracie's UFC record for longest winning streak.

Beneil Dariush (Forrest Giffin Community Award)

The Forrest Griffin Community Award was named in honor of UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin, and recognizes a UFC athlete for their exceptional volunteer and charity work and the meaningful impact their efforts have on the community.

As the 2024 recipient of the Forrest Griffin Community Award, Beneil Dariush will receive a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice. All donations are courtesy of the UFC Foundation.

In 2018, Beneil began partnering with the Shlama Foundation to raise funds and awareness while training for upcoming events. As a black belt in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai, he would conduct meet and greets and training sessions, with a portion of proceeds benefitting the organization.

After earning his first $50,000 performance bonus in 2019, Beneil used his winnings to fund two orphanages in Haiti in partnership with Promise Child Ministries. Entitled Cap-Haitian Children's Home, Beneil has two locations that each that each house more than 20 students and a full-time staff of teachers, administrative employees, and custodians.

UFC International Fight Week will conclude with UFC 303 featuring the return of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira running it back with former champion Jiří Prochazka.