Wrist stability but not protecting the hands.
Significant difference.
And definitely less tape than the totality of the Gracie kimono, lol.
Remember that Ken was discussing the rules meeting and not necessarily every detail of what was enforced in – as he called it – the wild west.
There have been some inconsistencies in Ken’s accounts over the years.
But Ken also isn’t David Robinson.
I have a lot of “inconsistent” memories and grey areas over the years.
And while I definitely partied hard back in the day – from what I’ve read I can’t say it was on Ken’s level.
IIRC the UFC made a rule that you could wear shoes but if you did you could not kick.
Not sure if that was UFC 1 or one of the first few…been a while lol.
Credit to Ken saying that the details of what you could or couldn’t wear might have made things more interesting, but he stopped short of saying it would have changed the outcomes.
I think it’s fair to say that based on the the prevailing knowledge (or lack thereof) at the time – Royce Gracie wearing a full gi, was the most significant accessory of that event.
And Ken did wear shoes in the second fight, with a much different outcome.
The no kicking with shoes rule seemed to get enforced selectively. The rule would change from one event to the next. First it was explicitly illegal, then Pete Williams was throwing kicks with abandon with shoes against Coleman and it ended with Coleman KO’d via shoed foot to face. At a later event, Lions Den fighter Alex Andrade got DQ’d for throwing low kicks with shoes. Then at a UFC in Japan, a Pancrase fighter won by cut that was caused by kicking a guy with shoes. There seemed to be no consistency at all until the unified rules just banned shoes outright.
Events used to be held in different cities, and as such, different rules for different locations. Iowa was a no- shoes state, that’s where Galindo got disqualified against bitteti for kicking
By the way a while back (more than a year) I saw the Sifu walking down the street in a very small town wearing a Bruce shirt. Looked like he was heading towards a restaurant.
In the Andrade fight they said it was against the rules in Iowa to kick with shoes. At one point in UFC they could only kick with a specific kind of shoe.
Mike have you guys thought about doing Bohlander? I only bring him up because he’s the only pro fighter that I text with, we got linked in a few years back with his police career and my military service so a mutual friend introduced us. I’d be interested to hear his story on the podcast.