and the perception of them now.
I'm not talking about watching them years after to play catch up, but what it felt like watching them at the time and how watching the fights when they happened captures a feeling that cannot be reproduced upon watching them years later with the demystification of TMAs.
I mean, many of us at the time had loved the martial arts, knew nothing of BJJ or even what it was, and grew up on films like Blood Sport and this was kind of like a real life Blood Sport!
I remember thinking how bad ass it was that all these martial artists were fighting in a cage and thought that there was a serious chance that some lethal martial artist would kill another in the Octagon! Imagine seeing a guy like Royce at first? Totally unassuming and then does these things that you've never really seen before to guys and just taps them out before we even really knew what a tap out was.
If you never got a chance to watch the first UFCs the first time around, I suggest doing it with a different perspective for fun, and just imagine how it was perceived by most people at the time!
I mean, comparitively, this feeling and atmosphere of lethality might be reproduced even with rules if they had matches like:
Brock Lesnar Vs. Anderson Silva
Lyoto Machida Vs. Frankie Edgar
GSP Vs. Cain Velasquez
Fedor Emelianenko Vs. BJ Penn
Seriously would take some kind of free for all open weight tournament to recapture that crazy mystique of UFC/MMA that was had for a brief moment in time. I wish UFC would do one more tournament.
Agreed. I remember getting all excited everytime another UFC was released on VHS. I rented and re-rented those fuckers religiously. I was in middleschool and two grownassed men fighting with very few rules was the most awesome thing I ever saw. I've rewatched a few of the early UFC's here recently and they're almost too brutal for me now. I guess I'm turning into more of a pussy with each passing year.
sebastard - I remember watching the first UFC's on VHS as a young teen in my home village in Holland, and fast forwarding through the grappling bits because I was like 'wtf is this hugging bullshit', and feeling moderately underwhelmed.
16 years later I spend a fair amount of my free time training that 'hugging bullshit'.
Go figure.
Please tell me you wore wooden shoes.
sebastard - I remember watching the first UFC's on VHS as a young teen in my home village in Holland, and fast forwarding through the grappling bits because I was like 'wtf is this hugging bullshit', and feeling moderately underwhelmed.
16 years later I spend a fair amount of my free time training that 'hugging bullshit'.
Go figure.
Hahahah. That's hilarious. Have you ever been watching MMA recently and a uneducated casual viewer was like "WTF is this hugging BS, get up off the ground!"
I think it's even worse when you're at a live UFC and some moron is yelling KNEES, KNEES! Even though the guy defending the takedown would get taken down with ease if he threw one.
I saw UFC 3 live when I was 9 (after not hearing about such an event before) and can remember just having such a feeling of unpredictability/excitement from watching something like that, it felt like a real life version of blood sport(which I had watched over and over). This was right around when I started to watch less wrestling after realizing it was fake(yes make fun of me for not knowing by then lol) and UFC filled in the gap for an impressionable youth that wanted to watch violence.
it certainly demystified arts like kung fu and the sort of karate fights u see in tv and film
sebastard -KickassMcrad -sebastard - I remember watching the first UFC's on VHS as a young teen in my home village in Holland, and fast forwarding through the grappling bits because I was like 'wtf is this hugging bullshit', and feeling moderately underwhelmed.
16 years later I spend a fair amount of my free time training that 'hugging bullshit'.
Go figure.
Please tell me you wore wooden shoes.
I have! They were still common as workwear in my old neck of the woods :)
Hearing that just made my day. I have a pair my Great Uncle Shipped to me from Belgium when he lived over there back in the 80's(he got them on a trip to Holland, but I think they were pretty common in Belgium too). Wooden shoes FTW!!!! I wish some Dutch fighters would manup and sport some of them badboys during their ring entrances. And while I'm thinking about them, I'm gonna have to order a pair that will fit me now.
Obligatory "Cool Story Bro".
CLINTK9 -ranier wolfcastle - it certainly demystified arts like kung fu and the sort of karate fights u see in tv and film
Yes, and kinda made Martial Arts movies suck for me after seeing UFC!
For todays movies, I thought IP Man was pretty great.