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.
[2] 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.
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 was one of two fighters of the era skilled in both stand-up and ground fighting, the other being Marco Ruas.
[6] In the quarter-finals, he set the record (since broken by Duane Ludwig and Jorge Masvidal) for fastest knockout in UFC history when his punches knocked down 410-lb Thomas Ramirez in just eight seconds.
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.
Frye stopped his opponent's takedowns and land punches, knees and elbows, and used a judo ude-garami on the jiu-jitsu champion, something that was unusual at the time.
Frye won at the U-Japan event in November 1996, taking a submission victory by forearm choke over Mark Hall in a rematch.
Hall says that since Tank Abbott had already advanced to the final after two relatively easy wins, Frye – who'd logged eleven minutes of cage time already that night – wanted to save his energy for the championship match.
Because he'd already suffered two defeats to Frye earlier in his career (and therefore probably wasn't going to win anyway) and DePersia implied that saying no would have a disastrous impact on his future, Hall says he reluctantly agreed to go along with the plot.
A successful celebrity in Japan due to his pro wrestling career, Don Frye made his comeback to mixed martial arts when he signed a multi-fight contract with the Pride Fighting Championships in 2001.
The bout moved to the mat, where Shamrock attempted another ankle lock, only for Frye to try to counter with one of his own and finally refusing to tap out until time ran out.
After an exciting and hard fought battle, Frye pulled out a split decision victory in which many people including the commentators Bass Rutten and stephen quadros said Ken Shamrock won the fight.
Four months after defeating Ken Shamrock, Frye returned to MMA to face Japanese professional wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama at Pride 21 on June 23, 2002.
Riding a new wave of popularity, Frye's next outing was a return to MMA at Pride 23 on November 24, 2002, to face Olympic gold medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida.
His first fight, with Yoshihiro Nakao at K-1 MMA ROMANEX on May 22, 2004, ended in a no contest when Frye could not continue due to a cut sustained from an accidental headbutt early in round one.
Just ten days later, in his first appearance in the United States since 1996, Don Frye took on Ruben Villarreal in King of the Cage: Predator in Globe, Arizona.
[12] That year, he also assembled and coached the Arizona-based Tucson Scorpions in the International Fight League, but on November 9, 2007, announced on TAGG radio that he and the IFL had parted ways.
[14] After a two-year absence and at forty-six years of age, Frye was scheduled to face Mike Gonzalez for the Gladiator Challenge Light Heavyweight title.
After joining, Frye would spend most of 1999 and early 2000 feuding with Scott Norton over the unofficial title of Gaijin Ace, took part in the G1 Tag League in 1999 with Chono, and make two challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was unsuccessful in each attempt.
After being in Team 2000 for two years, Frye left the group and joined Keiji Mutoh's new stable, BATT, where he made a third attempt at the IWGP title in July 2001 but came up short again, falling to Kazayuki Fukita.
Stepping back into the pro wrestling arena, Frye would make a one-time appearance at NJPW's Fighting Spirit Memorial Day Tokyo Dome show on May 2, 2002, where he defeated Tadao Yasuda.
[18] From October to November 2004, Frye returned to NJPW for two appearances as a member of Masahiro Chono's Black New Japan stable, teaming with Chono in a tag match defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Yuji Nagata and then teaming with Scott Norton and Manabu Nakanishi in a winning effort against Shinsuke Nakamura, Yutaka Yoshie, and Blue Wolf.
He also appeared for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) on October 26, 2003, at their 31st anniversary, challenging Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort.
[19] During his brief MMA hiatus, Frye made a one-off appearance as a pro wrestler in Inoki Genome Federation, losing to Josh Barnett via keylock submission on September 8, 2007.
[20] Don Frye began acting in movies with Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), playing the role of Captain Douglas Gordon.
The latest one is a television ad for a yakisoba product named "UFO" produced by Nissin Foods (an executive officer was a fierce fan of Frye).
Frye appeared in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia entitled "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops", in which he played a professional wrestler that was getting pummeled by Roddy Piper's character, "Da' Maniac".
[23] Frye provided the voice for the main villain Matt Ninesister in the third installment of the Stick 10: Even More Swag animated specials, The United League of Stereotypes.