Wigan Warriors - wiganrugbyfans.com • Eddie Hearn
Pieman wrote:
still think the UFC was better when the gracies ran it
I still enjoy the old UFC's when Rorion Gracie and Art Davies was in charge, they were good days to discover and then get into this new sport but tbh after a few events the Country and some people in power really turned against it and it was never going to be considered a 'sport' until it had proper sanctioned rules, that didn't involve, headbutting, groin strikes, gouging and weight classes etc - it made it look to the average guy like a cockfight. Rorion and Art only had the company till about UFC 5 where they sold it to SEG.
I remember at the time of UFC 1/2 I was teaching kickboxing and one of my students lent me the videos, I thought it was the craziest thing I'd ever seem (who can forget Keith Hackney literally pummelling some dude in the nuts one fight, the most painful thing I've seen, tbh couldn't have happened to a nicer dude in Joe Son, now doing time for some awful crimes. A Boxer competing with one glove on, high-level karate guys getting demolished by this skinny Brazillian, even a Sumo wrestler turned up. in those days as much fun it was to watch it was definitely a bit of a joke. Saying that it what was the thing that eventually made me seek out BJJ classes, as hard it was to find a place in the mid-'90s. Interestingly although Royce won those early events, he was considered the weakest of all the brothers and their father wanted Rickson to compete.
Yeah, those old days were fun and new but they'd become a bit boring and tbf it wasn't until when the Fertitas bought it and especially Lorenzo Fertitta, because he'd been a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and knew his way around that side of the game, it what that which really made the sport legit in the US and the thing it is now, whether you like it or preferred it when it was more underground, It's crazy though that even with the success that New York until recent wouldn't even sanction MMA events till 2016.
Statistics: Posted by Shifty Cat — Sat Dec 15, 2018 8:58 pm — Replies 30 — Views 2730