UFC - honest thoughts

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 31 May 2007, 06:31

Thai boxing can be great to watch. some of the dutch guys are absolute murderers that i've caught now & again on eursport. of course thai boxing is important to mma, what with leg kicks etc

WildWaylon · Post by **WildWaylon** » 02 Jun 2007, 07:55

UFC has its place and I have seen a few bouts but like kick boxing it will never be in the same league as boxing - Rather like football and rugby, you could never expect to see rugby taking over - All sports have their place which is good because we get variety - However there was a time when cricket was the national game and now its football so things can change.

lowersmiths · Post by **lowersmiths** » 03 Jun 2007, 08:30

i used to laugh at it but watched a few shows and really enjoyed it.

i enjoy the stand up fighting a lot more than the 'ground game' which can be very boring to watch, even if it is technically skilled.

when i was a teenager everyone was into jean claude van damme in bloodsport etc, which were basically MMA contests. the market has always been there it is just they have finally promoted it in the right way.

maybe it will go the same was as kung fu, which everyone seemed to be doing when bruce lee was at his peak. maybe it will last, who knows. i just enjoy watching fights.

Axe · Post by **Axe** » 03 Jun 2007, 13:46

Autobarn wrote:
Tony Lumb wrote:
Autobarn wrote:Is it the purest form, though? Or is it just a cocktail / lottery of styles.

Re UFC's heritage / tradition: it's not one to be proud of. The Gracies kicked things off in America by having one of their finest BJJ practitioners Royce, take on men not versed in such nuanced/practical combat. So he took on raw wrestler types (Kimo, Shamrock), the odd heavy/street fighter, mediocre cruiserweight boxers...to prove Gracie BJJ was superior, they matched Royce against compromised opposition from rival disciplines and then got rich teaching in Los Angeles, from what I heard.

Of course UFC would develop, with strikers learning grappling and grapplers learning standup...so something productive did come of it.

Oh, btw, the best don't always fight the best. How come the great Marco Ruas-Rickson Gracie debate never got settled?
You're right about the first UFC, it was a Gracie promotional vehicle. Of course that was under different ownership.

Why didn't Ruas fight Rickson? Plenty of reasons, first of all this was before the sport of MMA, as both guys are in their late forties now, so it would have been an unsanctioned fight, so it's not a UFC issue. Secondly, Rickson Gracie is a polarising figure. He's the Jack Johnson of MMA in some ways. Some say he's he greatest ever, others say he was a man of his time at best. Plus he only has a handful of confirmed fights, against generallyless than stellar opposition in Vale Tudo fights and never risked his reputation despite being called out numerous times in the last 15 years. In fact, the Gracie clan, which numbers well into double figures, were often criticised for hand picking opponents to promote their schools with a few exceptions, most notable Renzo, and Royce too, who was legitimately good but also tried to get rules and opponents which benefitted his style.

It is the purest form in the sense that all the top guys, whatever their background, are cross trained and train in standup, grappling and ground training. And i said FIGHTING was the purest sport, i didn't specify boxing or MMA, both of which are purer sports than most.
one thing about MMA. If you didn't fight in UFC, it's like you have no record. you can have had 100s of fights, but fighter records are like 10-7 or whatever. i always thought that they could at least acknowledge records outside of the UFC.

Youre probably thinking back to guys like Rutten and Shamrock, who fought each other in Pancreas, etc. The rules used in those fights (no closed fists, etc) were different from modern MMA rules (which, btw, aren't unified) so they weren't added to the fighter's MMA records.

Scooby Doo · Post by **Scooby Doo** » 03 Jun 2007, 13:52

My thoughts on UFC.

Clearly fantastic advertising and the money has really been ploughed into making it a viable rival to boxing.

Initially I was worried but the more I watch UFC the more I get bored. All of this grappling on the floor trying to gain a submission is almost as exciting as watching paint dry.

SinistaPlot · Post by **SinistaPlot** » 03 Jun 2007, 22:13

It's cool. Most of the time, it's sorta boring.