Royce gi as a marketing tool is relevant to ufc 1 because the event was a marketing tool for gracie JJ put forth by rorion gracie. that's a fact. u mentioned him changing thoughts in the akebono fight which 11 years after, and by that time gracie jj was already world wide. tadeu was already familiar with bjj at the time by knowing what it was, I made no mention of his guard. are you saying that was tadeu's first fight ever against a bjj opponent? or a clothed opponent in a street fight? no one in ufc 1 knew what bjj was nor how to deal with it. Royce had to win ufc 1 in order for gracie jiu jitsu to be marketable. he did, and it was. rorion specifically picked Royce to represent the family in ufc 1 because he was a skinny, unassuming guy that could show the world how Gracie Jiu Jitsu could be used to defeat bigger, stronger opponents. and it worked. if they had chosen no gi, muscular build Rickson, the martial arts world and general public would not have cared as much.
yeah, this is all Horion´s propaganda you´re repeatin´,Im afraid...
1/ Horion didnt choose Hoyce coz he was a "skinny, unassuming guy", like ya said, or coz he was the "smallest" Gracie like others keep sayin´ around here.
That´s a myth.
Over Hoyler?: perhaps more technical than Hoyce, but he realistically would have been over-powered by HWs
Over Henzo?: better striking than Hoyce, less agile in the scrambles on the ground, Hoyce with the better chin..
imo both Henzo & Hoyler are more textbook BJJ when it comes to transitionning to MMA...
Now: WW Hoyce (178 lbs) was much bigger than FW/LW Hoyler, and WW Hoyce was also taller than WW Henzo.
Now, consider that Hickson began his Vale Tudo career against Rei Zulu, as a WW (aprox. 175 lbs).
Then he slowly bulked up and began a MW in Japan:
Hoyce was taller than Hickson, but Hickson had a bigger frame, right.
Hence, the weight difference was around 9 lbs.
Now, if ya consider the size difference @ UFC 1:
It is pretty obvious that Hoyce or Hickson as a 'marketing tool' for GJJ would have made no difference, for the very simple reason
that they would have both been dwarfed by most of the competitors (see their height/weight).
Hence, ask yourself: why did Horion choose Hoyce and not Hickson?
>
Coz he couldnt control Hickson, Hoyce was a complete rookie.
He had never even participated in BJJ tournaments b4, as Helson later explained.
It was
a matter of influence inside the family.
2/ When Hickson went to Vale Tudo Japan, he didnt use the Gi, and GJJ was not that dominant in Japan.
When George Gracie was fightin´in North or South Brazil, in the 1930s-40s-50s... he never used the Gi.
Pitanguy used it coz he was a rookie,
Hoyce kept usin´it coz it was part of his grapplin´, till he understood that it became a 2-edged sword.
3/ I repeat: Tadeu was supposed, jus´like
ALL the Luta Livre fighters @ the 1st BJJ vs Luta Livre Challenge, to be literally
slaughtered.
The
size difference between Tadeu and Pitanguy is similar to the one between Ken and Hoyce. Heck, I would even say that Ken had a bigger size advantage, and his strength was even more enhanced coz of the
juice (see Oleg´s statement about his fight vs Ken: Ken was too strong to roll with, because of the juice).
Tadeu was supposed to have his guard passed left & right, jus´like the other Luta Livre dudes.
Important: Tadeu didnt win the Pitanguy fight in the guard. He dictated where the fight took place and mauled him on the feet.
Ken could/should have dictated where the fight was takin´place, but he chose to operate within a Pancrase-like Fight Configuration, which was an anomaly in a full NHB Fight Configuration.