MJW says Rickson was hand picking early UFC competition

seandamon211 said:
I mean Ken shamrock and Dan Severn were mma legends even after to losing to Royce. Many of the guys outweighed Royce by a lot. Where were the guys who were not picked? Did they ever compete in mma?
Click to expand...
Neither Ken nor Severn had any idea what BJJ was or how to prepare against it, though. Ken was able to completely neutralize Royce a year or two later and Dan was a completely different fighter 4 months later when he fought Oleg Taktarov. If he'd used all the knees, elbows, headbutts, etc. on Royce that he used on Oleg (and knew how to defend against triangles & other submissions which he learned right after the Royce fight), it would've been totally different.
 
Rickson never faced a legit challenge in NHB/MMA. The only guy he fought with any skills was Funaki, who was physically shot by then. Funaki was actually doing well until his knee completely blew out.

The only other guy he fought with any discernible skills was Nakai, who was literally blinded by Gordeau in his prior fight.

There were TONS of guys Rickson could've fought by the late 90s who would've tested him. Marco Ruas (who wanted to fight him), Sakuraba, Bas Rutten, Ken or Frank Shamrock, Igor V., Mark Kerr, Don Frye, Mark Coleman, etc. He chose the easy route and fought guys like Dave Levicki (who lost in the UFC to a 40-year old TKD guy) and Japanese pro wrestlers who had no actual skills.
 
Last edited:
Yeah the Gracies weren't above hand kicking fights, rigging the rules, and padding records

Any time a family or person has outsized success, it's a good bet that some fuckery was involved.

Ken Shamrock wasn't allowed to wear his wrestling shoes in the earliest UFC events, but Royce Gracie could wear a gun and even used it to choke out an opponent.

There were also accusations of stacking tougher fights for fighters who might pose a problem for Royce

That said, he went out there and beat everyone in front of him and brought us the sport we love today.

The Gracies aren't angels, but their contribution to Jiujitsu and MMA is undeniable.

I doubt that most people would even know what Jiujitsu is today were it not for the Gracies.

These days there are gyms teaching it in every significantly sized city
 
Last edited:
MJW is a a smarter more legit version of Steven Seagal

What fucking fights did he ever have? He did point karate when he was super young… cool

He’s such dedicated martial artist, but he never learned BJJ or grappling because guys like him always have to be the grandmaster teaching people, he would never be able to handle being a white belt and getting tapped out

He’s never even gone to a legit striking gym and sparred legit guys his size

He’s a massive, athletic, roided up dude who has incredible kicking ability and probably took that type of karate to a high level which is awesome, but he talks like he sonned Jon Jones and shit lmao… he’s a delusional weirdo
 
Not a secret or even worth discussing. Chris Dolman also challenged them a bunch of times while he was already like 50 years old, but they ignored him apparently.
 
He talks so much shit

But if he wasn’t legit, someone who he’s trained with would’ve stood up and called him out

And he’s trained with everyone.

The fact that nobody ever comes from him says he’s way better and more qualified to speak than most people think.
 
We should all be happy that the Gracie’s set themselves up in a way that made them and their style seem unbeatable.

Because it changed the entire direction of martial arts as a whole.

Which matters more than whether they were truly unbeatable or fought the best guys or not.

we wouldn’t be are where we are without them
 
BodybagJohnny** said:
Yeah the Gracies weren't above band kicking fights, rigging the rules, and padding records

Any time a family or person has outsized success, it's a good bet that some fuckery was involved.

Ken Shamrock wasn't allowed to wear his wrestling shoes in the earliest UFC events, but Royce Gracie could wear a gun and even used it to choke out an opponent.

There were also accusations of stacking tougher fights for fighters who might pose a problem for Royce

That said, he went out there and beat everyone in front of him and brought us the sport we love today.

The Gracies aren't angels, but their contribution to Jiujitsu and MMA is undeniable.

I doubt that most people would even know what Jiujitsu is today were it not for the Gracies.

These days there are gyms teaching it in every significantly sized city
Click to expand...
One of the worst examples was that bizarre tournament that Renzo and Eric Paulsen fought in. Paulsen had to fight a much larger kickboxer in what was essentially a kickboxing match with no submissions. Renzo was able to grapple in every match and submitted the same kickboxer.
 
AstralPanda said:
We should all be happy that the Gracie’s set themselves up in a way that made them and their style seem unbeatable.

Because it changed the entire direction of martial arts as a whole.

Which matters more than whether they were truly unbeatable or fought the best guys or not.

we wouldn’t be are where we are without them
Click to expand...
Nah, it would've evolved either way. If the Gracies invited guys like Ruas to UFC 1 and Royce didn't win, there would still be some grappling and submissions. but maybe GJJ (later just BJJ) wouldn't have been the primary style for submission grappling and the Gracie name would be less known.
 
pv3Hpv3p said:
I thought it was well known that the UFC was started as a marketing tool for Gracie BJJ?
Click to expand...
This is a pretty good video on that. The guy narrating it doesn't believe all the rigging theories but says some are definitely true. If anything, I think he undersells the rigging aspect. Also, if the Gracies really thought their style was unbeatable, why did Royce leave after he had a draw with Ken along with several tougher fights (Severn, Kimo)? Why didn't they send in Rickson to clean house since he was supposedly much better? If that happened, he'd be facing the next wave of fighters (Ruas, Frye, Frank Shamrock, etc.) who were more well rounded.

 
mkt said:
Nah, it would've evolved either way. If the Gracies invited guys like Ruas to UFC 1 and Royce didn't win, there would still be some grappling and submissions. but maybe GJJ (later just BJJ) wouldn't have been the primary style for submission grappling and the Gracie name would be less known.
Click to expand...
Jiu-Jitsu wouldn’t have taken off like it did though.

It hit different because Royce was a little guy and beating guys twice his size with jiu jitsu, which really pushed the core of what jiu jitsu represented, technique overcoming strength, the smaller man overcoming the bigger man.

I’m sure it would’ve evolved eventually, but the way it happened was paradigm shifting and cracked open the gates of how people viewed martial arts as a society for generations.
 
I think he means Royce. The story is true both Marco Ruas and Oleg Taktarov were turned down for ufc 1 as they would have likely beaten Royce. Art Davie confirmed Rorion Gracie didn't want either in the first Ufc.
 
Mohawk Banditó said:
I mean true, but Bas was nowhere near established at the time. Urquidez was 41 and the his career basically winded down nearly 10 years prior, he just returned for a one off fight around the same time as UFC 1
Click to expand...
They ducked his old ass too. Thats what i read back in the day anyway.
 
Escabar said:
I think he means Royce. The story is true both Marco Ruas and Oleg Taktarov were turned down for ufc 1 as they would have likely beaten Royce. Art Davie confirmed Rorion Gracie didn't want either in the first Ufc.
Click to expand...
Id imagine taktarov winning easily by ankle lock at the time.
 
tasticles said:
Id imagine taktarov winning easily by ankle lock at the time.
Click to expand...
He just beats up Royce until he's unconscious, Oleg was bigger, faster, stronger, more skilled, and had more real fights.

Oleg's pre White Dragon fights were more real than any of the gracie bullshit
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,268,873
Messages
57,563,828
Members
175,753
Latest member
TYR-I

Share this page

Back
Top