If early UFC events had more diverse competition, mma would look very different.

A high level wrestler with some sub knowledge could beat a Gracie. Somebody from the Vipers Den.

Not some fucking karate, boxing, Kong fu or judo dude.

Royce wasn't even the best Gracie.

A high level judoka could obviously defeat Royce as some judokas are very good at submissions.
 
Royce wouldn't have competed. Rickson would have, and not a lot of people could have stopped him back then. However, that would have defeated the purpose of the first UFC. Appearance wise, Royce didn't look like he would be able to beat half the people in the audience that night. Rickson, on the other hand, looked like an absolute savage back in the day.

rickson.jpg
 
I think floyd mayweather murks any version or royce that ever existed. Of course top boxers didnt compete in some freakshow event for little to no money so there was no worry of that.

Are you that ignorant of MMA?
 
Are you that ignorant of MMA?
I said in another post that I suppose Royce could have crawled around on his back the entire match like he used much of his match vs. sakuraba. Thats his only way to win.
 
Royce wouldn't have competed. Rickson would have, and not a lot of people could have stopped him back then. However, that would have defeated the purpose of the first UFC. Appearance wise, Royce didn't look like he would be able to beat half the people in the audience that night. Rickson, on the other hand, looked like an absolute savage back in the day.

rickson.jpg
Good thing USADA wasnt around. Royce got busted anyway. Kinda goes against the whole message they tried to get across.
 
I said in another post that I suppose Royce could have crawled around on his back the entire match like he used much of his match vs. sakuraba. Thats his only way to win.

You've got to be trolling. Sakuraba was a wrestler and submission grappler.
 
You've got to be trolling. Sakuraba was a wrestler and submission grappler.
Right. Proves my point even more. If he felt the need to crawl around on his back vs a wrestler you think he is gonna stand in front of Floyd Mayweather and try some takedown. Get out of here. He gets his head knocked off if he tries that.
 
Right. Proves my point even more. If he felt the need to crawl around on his back vs a wrestler you think he is gonna stand in front of Floyd Mayweather and try some takedown. Get out of here. He gets his head knocked off if he tries that.

What a brilliant point. I didn't think of that. He would never try to takedown a boxer, because his head would fly off. You're right, he would just lay on his back the whole fight.
 
What a brilliant point. I didn't think of that. He would never try to takedown a boxer, because his head would fly off. You're right, he would just lay on his back the whole fight.
If he is smart thats what he would do. Just like he did vs. a far inferior striker. He knows he would get his head knocked off.
 
Jui jitsu is just a small piece of an overall pie. Say your about to get jumped by a few people would you rather have lightning fast hands and head movement or try to take one guy down and grapple while getting soccer kicked?
 
UFC 1 was just a commercial for Gracie jiu jitsu, it was never meant to be competitive. I don't know why people still take it seriously. They basically handpicked the opponents they knew would go to the ground easily and get submitted.

There were people who could beat the Gracies as the time, all it took was a wrestler that trained some serious boxing (or vice versa) who Royce wouldn't be able to take down.
 
Right. Proves my point even more. If he felt the need to crawl around on his back vs a wrestler you think he is gonna stand in front of Floyd Mayweather and try some takedown. Get out of here. He gets his head knocked off if he tries that.

You don't have a clue what your talking about, Royce would have more than enough wrestling to get someone like Floyd who has zero background in it down, there would be a small chance Floyd lands an early KO but that would be it.
 
Good thing USADA wasnt around. Royce got busted anyway. Kinda goes against the whole message they tried to get across.
oh wow, he used PEDs. it surely threw away everything he had done
 
oh wow, he used PEDs. it surely threw away everything he had done
No but it makes him a liar a fraud and a cheat. They wanted to world to see what a little small man could do without size and strength advantage. Preached how jiu jitsu skill trumped those attributes then their poster boy gets poped for roids after lying about it.
 
You don't have a clue what your talking about, Royce would have more than enough wrestling to get someone like Floyd who has zero background in it down, there would be a small chance Floyd lands an early KO but that would be it.
Maybe he could but only way I see it happening is he he crawls on his back and trips him up. I just dont see him getting close enough to grab floyd standing. Floyd has a level of footwork and use of his range that is beyond anybody Royce has ever faced. Like I said he didnt want to stand with Sakuraba i doubt he would stand in front of floyd and try to get a takedown. He would lay on his back and crawl. I could be wrong.
 
The Gracies didn't want alot of fight weary Judo guys in there for sure. Anything else they were willing to take on. Rickson wouldve crushed any guy from any background.
 
They'd put Rickson in there to even it out, or stick with Royce. Either way, since those other practitioners didn't have a clue (even Ken Shamrock, a shootfighter) and said "they were caught by surprise", you'd think GJJ would have a big edge going in. But the likelihood of better strikers landing something before that would've been higher.
 
That would have been better indeed. We would have never heard of this Royce Gracie or this Gracie BJJ nonsense. American wrestling would have been the way to go had we had monsters like Kerr or Coleman.
 
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