MMA History

[m9]

I've had a plan of going back through old cards for a long time and watching at least the relevant fights, so I think in 2021 I'm actually going to start.

Not sure where I'll get to with this, but the plan is to go through UFC/Pride/WEC/Strikeforce/Bellator from the beginning and consume as much as possible. Hoping to hammer through a couple of cards a week and maybe on some cards will just pick & choose the fights that ended up being important over time.

If anyone else has done this recently at all, but if so would really like to discuss some of the old fights/cards with people. If this ends up me talking to myself for 200 posts (which is likely) then that's fine too.

Click to read more...

 

[m9]

I started watching a few over the weekend, so will just do some brief thoughts on the first 5 cards.

UFC 1 - This card was important as it's obviously the first one, but looking back at it now there really isn't much to takeaway. You really have Royce Gracie choking out a bunch of guys who don't know what they're doing. I'm sure at the time it was crazy to see a smaller guy beat these bigger guys, but it's kind of a tough watch when you see how bad they are. My main takeaway was that I thought about the discussion that came out of Max/Kattar and how for UFC the ref (Big John) was actively reminding the corners to have their towels ready to throw in if needed. And for these first few cards, you would see the towel get thrown in all the time. The money was so relatively small at the time (50k to win 3 fights, I think) that maybe it wasn't worth having your face based in for such a small price. But in the end, not much thought other than Gracie was out there embarrassing guys.

UFC 2 - They went to a 16man tournament for the only time here. There's really not much of note here other than Royce Gracie ripping through the tournament again. Patrick Smith - who lost in the final to Gracie - was the only other name in this tournament that really looked like a fighter.

UFC 3 - This is the first card that I actually enjoyed watching, purely for the chaos. Gracie took 5 minutes to beat Kimo and then bowed out of the tournament due to fatigue. You had Shamrock winning 2 fights but then pulling out of the final due to injury. You had a sumo wrestler get beat up by Keith Hackney. Finally, you had a replacement fighter in Steve Jennum (who for whatever reason didn't need to fight in any alternate fights) win the tournament by putting in 87 seconds of work. Fun stuff.

UFC 4 - This one is another Gracie win, but not before Dan Severn made his arrival known only to lose in the final. Card is also known for Hackney punching Joe Son in the balls repeatedly. Fun card.

UFC 5 - I know there's some bad ones to come, but the "superfight" between Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie is one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch on TV. If you want to watch 36 minutes of Ken Shamrock lying in Royce Gracie's guard, this is the fight for you. Other than that, Dan Severn rolled through the tournament and looked awesome doing it. It's nice to see fighters make noticeable improvements over time and it was obvious Dan Severn had really worked on his submissions between UFC 4 & 5.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I went back on Fight Pass and tried to watch some of these and I remember when they 1st aired. They were really strange to go back and watch. You had the one guy fighting with one glove and most of the guys barehanded. No rounds IRC.

It was really a showcase for Gracie and their Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I believe they helped finance the events and promoted them. I remember being really bored with Gracie because nobody really understood that style, most tuned in to see savage striking but then you have this tiny guy winning. I love Big John, I wish the UFC could get him back at some point as he's a decent commentator that is not prone to getting over-excited.

 

[m9]

I went back on Fight Pass and tried to watch some of these and I remember when they 1st aired. They were really strange to go back and watch. You had the one guy fighting with one glove and most of the guys barehanded. No rounds IRC.

It was really a showcase for Gracie and their Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I believe they helped finance the events and promoted them. I remember being really bored with Gracie because nobody really understood that style, most tuned in to see savage striking but then you have this tiny guy winning. I love Big John, I wish the UFC could get him back at some point as he's a decent commentator that is not prone to getting over-excited.

Yeah, so far it's really hit or mess. The lack of skill really leads to some exciting fights, but when you get two guys that have specific skills you can really run into some awful stalemates.

 

[CDJ]

Ah yes Joe Son getting his balls mashed to bits, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy

 

[m9]

UFC 6 - We had Shamrock beating Severn very quickly in a Superfight and Oleg Taktarov winning the tournament.. but this will be the Tank Abbott card for me. His 20 second KO of John Matua is as violent as anything you'll see.

UFC 7 - One of the guys Tank beat on UFC 6 was Paul Varelans, simply a huge guy who made it to the finals this time. He lost to Marco Ruas, and Ruas was one of the first guys we've seen who looked like he could compete on both the ground and standing. Very impressive night from him. What wasn't impressive? The awful superfight draw between Shamrock & Taktarov. 33 minutes and it was really bad.

 

[pistolpete11]

I've had a plan of going back through old cards for a long time and watching at least the relevant fights, so I think in 2021 I'm actually going to start.

Not sure where I'll get to with this, but the plan is to go through UFC/Pride/WEC/Strikeforce/Bellator from the beginning and consume as much as possible. Hoping to hammer through a couple of cards a week and maybe on some cards will just pick & choose the fights that ended up being important over time.

If anyone else has done this recently at all, but if so would really like to discuss some of the old fights/cards with people. If this ends up me talking to myself for 200 posts (which is likely) then that's fine too.

If you come across something that applies to any of our discussions, feel free to @ me, but it sounds tedious to me To each their own, obviously.

Luke Thomas always makes this point, it's not an original thought nor do I think it only applies to MMA, but best practices have come so far, even an average prelim fight nowadays is so far and away a better fighter than most, if not all, of those guys. There are exciting moments, but the skill level has to be so bad. I've watched UFC 1 before, so I know it is

 

[m9]

If you come across something that applies to any of our discussions, feel free to @ me, but it sounds tedious to me To each their own, obviously.

Luke Thomas always makes this point, it's not an original thought nor do I think it only applies to MMA, but best practices have come so far, even an average prelim fight nowadays is so far and away a better fighter than most, if not all, of those guys. There are exciting moments, but the skill level has to be so bad. I've watched UFC 1 before, so I know it is

Yeah, I thought the throwing in the towel thing early on was kind of funny since we had recently discussed it.

It's true though, the quality is awful and the first 50 cards will be especially rough.

 

[CDJ]

I remember somebody trying to tell me that the sport hasn’t grown by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years and I had to ask them if they were talking about MMA or if the discussion shifted to something else

because my god Joaquin Buckley would be a two division champ in 2001

 

[chicagoskycam]

It really felt like some underground production at the time, like you were watching something out of the social norms. I think Rogan once said the videos were often in tucked away in a video store, next to Faces of Death if you remember what that was. lol. They really had to put a ton of work in to get the sport recognized and sanctioned.

I remember my friend paid for it and we watched Gracie hold some dude in his guard for like 20 minutes straight. We didn't get it.

 

[m9]

It really felt like some underground production at the time, like you were watching something out of the social norms. I think Rogan once said the videos were often in tucked away in a video store, next to Faces of Death if you remember what that was. lol. They really had to put a ton of work in to get the sport recognized and sanctioned.

I remember my friend paid for it and we watched Gracie hold some dude in his guard for like 20 minutes straight. We didn't get it.

Must have been UFC 5, I commented on this one above. Just an awful, awful fight.

 

[m9]

UFC 7.5 - Not much notable here, aside from the fact that the overall skill level was a fair bit better for this card. Severn beat Taktarov in the final, but the last 3 fights all went the distance (66 minutes total for 3 fights) which shows how competitive they were.

UFC 8 - This card features an absolute must-watch KO with Gary Goodridge elbowing Paul Herrera to death. Just a ridiculous knockout and kind of hard to watch.. but you have to see it. Don Frye wins this tournament and he looks great doing it. Another guy who you can tell knows what he's doing on each level, he was really fun to watch in this tournament. I have a feeling if I was watching in 1996, I would be a big Don Frye fan.

UFC 9 - Notable in that it was the first UFC to not feature a tournament. I've come out a bit anti-tournament on this board before, but I have to say.. I really missed the tournament here. Just didn't have the same feel to it. If you want to watch one of the worst beatings in the sport, watch Don Frye vs Amaury Bitetti here. If you were scared for Calvin Kattar's life last weekend.. this will be a tough watch. Also featured the much-discussed Shamrock/Severn "non striking" fight which is just awful. You can watch the Frye fight and then turn off the card.. you won't miss a thing.

UFC 10 - First card Bruce Buffer is involved with here, but more importantly is that it's the debut of Mark Coleman who streamrolls his way to the tournament win with his wrestling.

UFC 11 - Definitely one of the weirder MMA cards I've watched. Mark Coleman wins the tournament becuase no other fighters are able to compete, even though he only won 2 fights. He walks down to the cage for what looks to be the finals appearance, but instead just has a really long interview. Okay then. Tank Abbott also employed the strategy of holding both hands through the cage while standing so he could pin his opponent there for what was probably 10+ minutes.. and of course it's totally legal. Tough watch. Have to assume this card was the start of changing the rule about grabbing the fence.

 

[m9]

UFC 11.5 - Fix alert! This was the first obvious fix we've seen here as Don Frye beat a guy who shared the same manager with an ankle lock in 20 seconds on his way to winning the tournament. Final card for Shamrock before he left for WWF. Tank Abbott with a ridiculous KO of Steve Nelmark as well - w0rth looking up. Don Frye's last UFC card I think, as well as the first card with no fence grabs. Should also add by this point you are not really seeing guys throw in the towel anymore.

UFC 12 - Things start feeling different with this card, including Joe Rogan handling some interviews. Feels a bit more like a regular UFC. First card to feature weight classes. LW tournament fights were under 200lb, HW was over 200. More than anything, you have the arrival of Vitor Belfort who crushes two fights to win the HW tournament. This card really felt like a passing of the torch with Vitor winning and also Mark Coleman crushing Dan Severn in a superfight.

 

[I am not exposed]

I'm really enjoying this thread m9!

 

[chicagoskycam]

Shit you're about to make me go watch some of this again. lol. I think I cancelled Fight Pass

 

[m9]

UFC 13 - They don't fight each other and only one guy ends up winning his 2-fight tournament, but we've got the debut of both Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz fighting as amateurs here. Couture shows off his great wrestling skill on the way to winning, while a super-young Tito shows some promise as well. Vitor Belfort continues his amazing run with a KO win over Tank Abbott as well.

UFC 14 - This is the first card with padded gloves being mandatory. Mark Kerr arrives on scene and looks great, but nothing else of interest in the tournaments. Maurice Smith finally ends the Mark Coleman run with a KO win, but really it was just a matter of Smith having enough energy to survive while Coleman's gas tank was completely dead. One of the weaker cards, overall.

UFC 15 - We've got "Just Bleed" guy making an appearance and Mark Kerr continues his dominance. The tournament is kind of secondary here as two superfights take place. Maurice Smith again wins by basically having more cardio than the other guy, this time kicking Tank Abbott until the fight is called. In the other superfight, you've got Randy Couture vs Vitor Belfort. Couture ends up using his wrestling to win of course, but really cool to see these two guys who would be major parts of the sport for the next couple of decades in such a huge fight at the beginning of their careers. This is the kind of card that skipping ahead is built for as you can watch Mark Kerr finish two guys in around a minute, Belfort/Couture.. and probably skip the rest.

 

[m9]

Shit you're about to make me go watch some of this again. lol. I think I cancelled Fight Pass

Honestly I only signed back up for Fight Pass because for whatever reason they weren't showing the early prelims on TSN here in Canada last week. But I figure I might as well make use of it since I paid the 10 bucks. Some fights/cards definitely drag more than others and I'll skip more fights as I move along as I really just want to get a feel for how things change and then mostly follow the guys who became relevant over time. I didn't really realize how quickly the Couture/Ortiz/Belfort era came and it's really great. The Gracie/Severn/Shamrock era had it's moments but the quality is just so poor at that time.

 

[chicagoskycam]

Honestly I only signed back up for Fight Pass because for whatever reason they weren't showing the early prelims on TSN here in Canada last week. But I figure I might as well make use of it since I paid the 10 bucks. Some fights/cards definitely drag more than others and I'll skip more fights as I move along as I really just want to get a feel for how things change and then mostly follow the guys who became relevant over time. I didn't really realize how quickly the Couture/Ortiz/Belfort era came and it's really great. The Gracie/Severn/Shamrock era had it's moments but the quality is just so poor at that time.

Fight Pass is great in terms of content, there is so much on there but the UI sucks!!

 

[m9]

Fight Pass is great in terms of content, there is so much on there but the UI sucks!!

Yeah, it's awful. Both the Xbox & Android apps are just so frustrating at times.

 

[pistolpete11]

@m9 you're really plowing through them 15 events in 2 days.

I'm really enjoying this thread m9!

I think I enjoy reading it more than I would watching it

 

[I am not exposed]

@m9 you're really plowing through them 15 events in 2 days.


I think I enjoy reading it more than I would watching it

Lol. I watched some brief highlights after m9's reviews. He should get some kind of service award for watching them all for us and posting the reviews haha

 

[m9]

@m9 you're really plowing through them 15 events in 2 days.


I think I enjoy reading it more than I would watching it

I had a bit of a backlog from a week or so ago when I signed up. I decided to wait until I got through a few to see if I actually wanted to keep going before I posted anything.

But also, it's nice having cards with like 8 fights and you can get through them in an hour or two. Much different than a live 6-hour UFC card.

 

[pistolpete11]

I had a bit of a backlog from a week or so ago when I signed up. I decided to wait until I got through a few to see if I actually wanted to keep going before I posted anything.

But also, it's nice having cards with like 8 fights and you can get through them in an hour or two. Much different than a live 6-hour UFC card.

Yeah, I was going to ask what you were going to do once you got to whenever they started doing 30 Fight Nights a year. 15 events is through the first like 4 years of the UFC. 15 events now gets your through the first quarter of the year

 

[Perennial]

Paul Varelans passed away last week...

 

[m9]

Paul Varelans passed away last week...

Didn't see that until now, too bad. He was a massive guy in there. His loss to Ruas at UFC7 was one of the first times we've seen leg kicks used to effectively win a fight.