As Rorian Gracie has said, as the sport has moved away from what it was in its first iteration, it has "become not about who is the best fighter is, it is about who is better within the rules." That is of course just one man's opinion, but I think there is merit to it. As you add tactics to the banned list, insert a time limit, insert rounds, grandfather in boxing judges with idiosyncratic tendencies deciding the outcome of the fights, you get away from letting two guys get in there and decide it for themselves. Obviously, the changes made to the sport by the early 2000's have made for a much more entertaining and marketable sport than the early days of 30+ consecutive minute technical grappling matches, but still, Rorian has a point.
So the sport changed from its original form as "real fighting" into what it is now, and fighters and coaches have adapted to it adapted. You can look at the differences Pride's rules and judging criteria had on how guys fought and who was successful. I picked Rampage to beat Rashad based on
his win over Randleman, but going back and watching that fight after Rampage lost to Rashad, I saw how much the yellow card influenced that fight. Pride encouraged more aggressive fighting, but punished wrestlers and slower working grapplers.
The unified rules too changed what fighting is as well, as fighters and coaches have learned how to be the most successful under those rules. As I said in an earlier post, the Chuck vs. Jardine fight was the fight that really let me know how much things were changing in the sport, and is why I wasn't surprised that Forrest was awarded the decision over Rampage in the title fight. Greg Jackson's influence was huge in that shift, and you started seeing
stuff that you didn't see before as fighters were adjusting (I think of Chuck taking Wand down in the third round to earn points to make sure he won the decision after losing to the Jackson trained Jardine).
So anyway, I took a long time to say that what we are seeing now is elite athletes competing in a sport that has become less and less about how things would look if two guys were locking themselves in a cage and settling it for themselves. Now the incentives are different than in the early days, now it is about money, sponsorships, and preserving one's ability to earn money as a fighter, and fighters and coaches are thinking and behaving more like businessmen than the fighters of 10 years ago. On the one hand, I am glad that guys are making good money now, but on the other hand, I miss the culture of the past when fighters were more than just athletes, they had a bravery and warrior spirit that not a lot of guys possess anymore.
