I'll preface this with some very old memories. About 15 or so years ago I was introduced to a Japanese 'sport' called Shootfighting (introduced as shoot wrestling) and was pretty impressed at what was understood at the time as 'not fake wrestling'.
A year or so later UFC 1 came out and I didn't watch it, but I did hear about it as being pretty amazing. I'm not sure what happened since, because I stopped caring, but had a silent want to view UFC fights. This finally happened recently (like very recently), but I had glimpsed some fights and some live shows from bars and the like.
So despite knowing about shootfighting and ufc since its inception I was not a 'fan' or a 'follower' like how I could say I was a fan and follower of WWF/E for 17+ years. Regardless, last night I managed to get a copy of UFC 1 : the beginning, and watched it, quickly realising a few things:
- 17 years ago nobody understood anything about mixed martial arts
- 17 years ago mixed martial arts was a literal spectacle where people from different concentrated styles fought each other
- 17 years ago people booed Ken Shamrock even when he won (lol)
- Despite having 'no rules' except eye gouging, groin shots, and nail scratching, I would've done things a lot differently like break joints when I was put in a hold or played dirty in general...people still fought with a sense of honor, which I found odd in the face of what was billed as 'no holds barred'.
Anyway, if you have seen the original 10 UFCs or even have an interest in this sort of thing, are there any insights you can share?