NHB Was More Exciting Than MMA

[Blackjack]

Having been a fan of NHB (no holds barred) fighting since I bought UFC 2 way back in 1994, I have to say The UFC PPVs were more exciting when they were still NHB. I liked almost everything about it better: The tournament format, the danger and excitement of fights in which the only techniques not allowed were biting, eye gouging, and fish hooking, the format of no rounds and no time limit - simply a fight to the finish. and the absence of weight divisions which meant the winner of the tournament wasn't just "the best for his size." The winner was the best for any size. he was simply the best. Period.

 

[Irishwhiskey119]

Now it's popular and the concussion scare generation are castrating the greatest sport in the world. WME is going to turn the best company into a circus. Fighters are gonna break away and spread throughout multiple orgs in the future and it'll be broken and fucked like boxing.

I love watching Conor fight but he opened up a whole ton of bullshit. I wish a real MMA mind would have purchased the company instead of some greasy hollywood agent who caters to fake elite pieces of shit.

Mario Fucking Lopez..

 

[[insert_name_here]]

Sherdog still just as exciting as it ever was, right?

Conor, Ronda, BJ, yeah!

 

[Kim Jong Un]

Well ya. Its not like anyone is going to argue they like the more restricted kid friendly version.

 

[blah_blah619]

i beg the differ. I like skill and strategy. Don't miss guys hitting hit in the groin and dumb shit like that. It was more exciting in the, "omg this is so taboo" way but as far as a sports excitement, it wasn't doing it for me. I prefer the rules and regs of today. Though, I would admit I'd love to see a modern day tournament.

 

[Alphaboy]

You guys watch too much Bloodsport.

Listen, I admit, that crap was exciting, but as time goes on we realize what things were ridiculous in hindsight.

A few decades ago, kids could ride in the back of a station wagon and you could smoke damn-near anywhere.

Times have changed, we are much more health conscious.

 

[ReturnoftheKing]

Having been a fan of NHB (no holds barred) fighting since I bought UFC 2 way back in 1994, I have to say The UFC PPVs were more exciting when they were still NHB. I liked almost everything about it better: The tournament format, the danger and excitement of fights in which the only techniques not allowed were biting, eye gouging, and fish hooking, the format of no rounds and no time limit - simply a fight to the finish. and the absence of weight divisions which meant the winner of the tournament wasn't just "the best for his size." The winner was the best for any size. he was simply the best. Period.

Fish hook is a hold, and it was barred.

It would never work today, because the biggest star cries like a baby when his opponent has a slight size advantage.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

NHB was MMA in its purest form. I think MMA has been overly sterilized for mainstream appeal. But a middle ground like pride rules would be the best of both worlds.

 

[MCS]

Same VHS event for me. It was very exciting because it was new. Now that we've seen well-rounded fighters in back and forth classics going back to NHB from back then would look like F-level MMA. Only works since it was new.

 

[Lenny4Guvnor]

For reference, this is apparently the NHB fight that ended NHB in the US and almost killed MMA in its infancy:



To this day, I still hold the ill-fated Ultimate Combat Championship as one of my favourite old school NHB tournaments. It was so cheesy in its production and presentation, yet had some great match-ups and some truly brutal fights.

 

[essie]

You're a TUF noob, look at that join date.

 

[TCE]

Having been a fan of NHB (no holds barred) fighting since I bought UFC 2 way back in 1994, I have to say The UFC PPVs were more exciting when they were still NHB. I liked almost everything about it better: The tournament format, the danger and excitement of fights in which the only techniques not allowed were biting, eye gouging, and fish hooking, the format of no rounds and no time limit - simply a fight to the finish. and the absence of weight divisions which meant the winner of the tournament wasn't just "the best for his size." The winner was the best for any size. he was simply the best. Period.

I guess you've never heard of Rizin, eh? Minus the no rounds/time limits.

They make open weight freak show fights, hold one night tournaments and allow soccer kicks, knees to the head, and stomps. That's as NHB you're going to get in this day and age.

 

[DoopidyDawesome]

My biggest problem with the rules now are the absence of knees and kicks to the heads of "downed" opponents. That's when you started seeing a huge increase in the lay and pray bullshit that still permeates MMA to this day.

 

[The bad boy]

i beg the differ. I like skill and strategy. Don't miss guys hitting hit in the groin and dumb shit like that. It was more exciting in the, "omg this is so taboo" way but as far as a sports excitement, it wasn't doing it for me. I prefer the rules and regs of today. Though, I would admit I'd love to see a modern day tournament.

You can say you like skill and strategy, but if that were so, youd appreciate the martial arts in their purest form. You enjoy cagefighting for the brutality of it.

 

[Blackjack]

Fish hook is a hold, and it was barred.

It would never work today, because the biggest star cries like a baby when his opponent has a slight size advantage.

Yes, fish hooking is a dirty fighting technique in which one sticks a couple fingers into each side of his opponent's mouth and then pulls his hands away from each other, stretching the opponent's mouth wider and wider, causing excruciating pain and potentially a very badly torn open mouth.

Its something that would "gross out" the vast majority of even the most hardcore of audiences and could leave the victim seriously disfigured so banning it was just common decency.

You're probably right that NHB wouldn't work today because fighters have been conditioned to expect plenty of weight divisions just a few pounds apart from each other so that they're protected from fighting even slightly larger opponents. The results of UFC and other promotions having had all the extra rules for nearly 20 years now has not only conditioned fighters to do as you said if their opponents have a bit of a size advantage, but the big money that is paid to the MMA stars of today has attracted a type of athlete to The UFC and MMA in general that has a very different mentality from the fighters of the NHB days. The fighters of the NHB were truly cut from a different cloth than these fighters of today.

 

[dontlaugh]

Then go watch NHB fights and stop watching MMA

 

[Blackjack]

For reference, this is apparently the NHB fight that ended NHB in the US and almost killed MMA in its infancy:



To this day, I still hold the ill-fated Ultimate Combat Championship as one of my favourite old school NHB tournaments. It was so cheesy in its production and presentation, yet had some great match-ups and some truly brutal fights.

Is that the promotion that had a fighters such as Marcus "Conan" Silviera, "The Zen Machine" (forgot his real name just remember his nickname), and Igor Zinoviev?

 

[The guest]

So why don't you make a lame thread 20 yrs later, crying about it.

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

Well ya. Its not like anyone is going to argue they like the more restricted kid friendly version.

they already have us hooked and dont give a fck what we want - the idea is to bring in others - we will complain but still watch, or at least thats what they assume - if they catered to hard core fans, things would obv be very diff

 

[kflo]

Having been a fan of NHB (no holds barred) fighting since I bought UFC 2 way back in 1994, I have to say The UFC PPVs were more exciting when they were still NHB. I liked almost everything about it better: The tournament format, the danger and excitement of fights in which the only techniques not allowed were biting, eye gouging, and fish hooking, the format of no rounds and no time limit - simply a fight to the finish. and the absence of weight divisions which meant the winner of the tournament wasn't just "the best for his size." The winner was the best for any size. he was simply the best. Period.

Simply the best of those crazy and desperate enough to be asked and willing to compete.