Recently, I purchased UFC 6 on eBay (brand new) for a whopping $4.00 (shipping included), which was easily the best $4.00 that I had spent all year.
In light of recent pay-per-view let downs, I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the good old days when the UFC was still about pitting all shapes, sizes and unique fighting styles against each other in an all or nothing tournament style of fighting. There were no rounds (20-minute time limits) and despite no biting or eye gouging, the UFC was proud to declare that they had “no rules”.
Yes it WAS the equivalent of “human cock-fighting” and I for one loved it!
Now it just seems that the UFC is nothing more than a contest to see “who is the best fighter who fights the same as everyone else?”
It was exciting to see if the karate guy could beat the judo guy. Or if the wrestler could beat the boxer. For me, that’s where the real excitement was.
MMA has now become its’ own form of “hybrid” martial arts, combining karate, shootfighting, sambo, Greco-roman wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, muay thai, and dozens of other disciplines. Why as there is no arguing that a combined form of MMA is the absolute best fighting style, the UFC competition is obviously not the same today as it was 14 years ago.
I would agree that MMA is the ultimate martial art. It has evolved out of a need to legitimize the sport, but also because let’s face it; a well rounded MMA fighter should have the capacity to make easy work of any opponent with a more one-dimensional fighting style.
With that being said however, I do certainly miss the early years of UFC when it was designed to answer 2 very distinctly different questions:
Who was the toughest man to ever enter into the Octagon?
Which was the best style to beat all other styles in brutal hand-to-hand combat (which I think we could all eventually agree was determined to be Gracie Jiu-jitsu)?
Here are some things that caught my eye during UFC 6 that may help to bring back fond memories for those of you who are fortunate enough to remember the self-described “only real martial arts competition in the world”:
David “Tank” Abbott made his rookie debut and was better than I remembered. A very tough man indeed with incredibly powerful punches (and the intelligence to actually wear protective gloves to keep his hands from breaking). He took down the 400-lb. Hawaiian bone-breaker John Matua in 18 seconds of fury in the first round. I couldn’t help but to be impressed that he beat a man who outweighed him by 120-lbs. Today, the constant debate continues over a 5-lb difference between fighters. In the early years, the smaller fighters were totally fearless and could care less about such differences.
In the second round, Tank held onto the lower part of the fence while driving his knee straight into the neck of Paul “The Polar Bear” Varelans (who himself delivered one of the nastiest elbows to the back of Cal Worsham’s head knocking him flat in the first round). The Polar Bear was furious that the fight against Tank Abbott was eventually stopped, but wow, could that guy take a beating. A very tough man to keep down.
In the third round (the Finals), Tank attempted a “fish hook” on Oleg “The Russian Bear” Taktarov (my personal favourite fighter of all time), but was unsuccessful in ripping the man’s face to shreds. He was also unsuccessful in demonstrating any cardiovascular ability past the first minute of the fight. The Tank simply laid on the Russian until eventually…..well….I don’t want to ruin the surprise if you haven’t seen it – you’ll just have to watch it for yourself.
Ken “Not yet known as the World’s Most Dangerous Man” Shamrock (wasn’t that name given to him in the WWE??) competed against Dan “The Beast” Severn in the second ever “Superfight” contest (which would now be the equivalent of the World Heavyweight Championships). The fight reminded me of two things: First, Ken Shamrock used to be an amazing fighter and really was fun to watch. Second, wrestlers couldn’t punch worth a crap.
Oleg Taktarov managed to guillotine choke his way into the Finals. It was at UFC 6 that I absolutely fell in love with the guillotine and would constantly study its execution. If you ask some of my “former” friends, they will tell you that I was a very good student. Sorry guys.
In conclusion, buy this video the next time you find yourself wondering why the UFC of today is so disappointing. It’s just not the same sport.
Very well done! Thanks, James.
Hey, I think we're on the same wavelength here. My favorite sporting event of all time was UFC 1. Okay, granted, the ref SUCKED ASS. And the commentators were utterly clueless. Hell, so were most of the fighters involved.
But what UFC 1 really was: The dawn of at long last proving which martial arts worked and which ones didn't work in a real fight. The best part was that nobody had any clue how useless pure striking martial arts would be, nor how devastatingly effective pure grappling arts would be.
It would be nice to have those days of discovery over again, but you can only sneak up on the entire planet once.
I don't think you have to have one or the other – title fights or tournaments.
Tournaments can be a great way to determine #1 contenders while the champion can still defend their belt.
When the LW belt was relinquished by Jens Pulver, the UFC went to a tournament to determine a new champ… it ended in a draw and ruined their plans, but still, the intention was there.
Hypothetically speaking, you could have GSP set to defend against Fitch and have the next four in line in a tourney to decide who gets the winner. Start the tourney two months before the title fight, eight months later (fight, four months off, round two, time off, winner vs. winner) you have another WW title fight.
Not ideal, but there are ways to integrate the two…
1257078519 1543800 LunaticFridge
I love the idea of “tournaments” in the UFC, but only if they're spaced out for real fights. Like Quarterfinals in March, Semis in June/July, Finals in Oct/Nov. The problem with the one nighters is that you will never, ever have a great final. If by some chance you actually get the 2 best guys in the cage (which is very unlikely due to injuries and whatnot). They're each on their 3rd or 4th fight of the night.
Sorry, but i want to see the best fighters in the best shape go at it. And tournaments don't allow that.
DREAM uses tournaments all the time… and no one has said it has to be a one night, three fight tournament like the old days, Stoker.
Yes, there is danger in tournament style fights that the winner may get hurt and be unable to compete, as we've seen on numerous occasions. But done correctly and with a bit of luck, things can turn out like they did for Bellator this year, where all the winners emerges unscathed and fought in the next round…
Additionally, all the guys they thought / hoped would win did, so they really lucked out..
Tournament fighting is still a huge part of the Japanese MMA market but it provides far too many problems because for one, the “Best” fighter isn't usually the one who wins the tournament when the smoke clears, the winner of the tournament is usually the one who draws an easier opponent and enters the finals a lot more fresh.
Also theres the injury aspect of Tournament fighting, take Sengoku 9 for instance, in the Semi-Finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix Hatsu Hioki defeated Masanori Kanehara however due to a concussion sustained in the fight Hioki was unable to advance to the finals and Keanehara ended up winning the Tournament despite being defeated earlier in the night.