If you're not aware that the human elbow is one of the most effective weapons at your disposal, you haven't been paying attention to Ultimate Fighting, a sport in which men meet in an octagonal ring and wrestle, punch, and frequently elbow each other into submission. This highlight tape, comprising footage during Ultimate Fighting tournament events held in various locations in the mid-1990s, might look very strange indeed for those who are new to the sport. A typical match involves two men who begin punching with bare knuckles, but as soon as one of them stumbles, his opponent kicks him in the face, knocking out a tooth and drawing blood. In fact, a lot of the matches on this tape wind up as bloodbaths, and unlike in professional wrestling shows, the cut foreheads, broken noses, and split lips are all real. Some matches are surprisingly brief, such as one where a contestant pins his opponent, who counters by delivering a speedy series of elbow jabs to the other man's head, immediately knocking him unconscious. Assembled as a program of "best matches," this production could perhaps benefit from a structure that explains the origin of Ultimate Fighting and its rules. But the announcers, who include NFL legend Jim Brown, do a credible job of calling the action as it happens, and fans of this novel sport will no doubt be delighted with the relentless mayhem. --Robert J. McNamara
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Where Mastery meets History Comment: This disc rocks. In reading the reviews here, I knew it would be good, probably more for its historical value than for its unfiltered excitement. I was only half right. It nails it on both. This disc is a Who's Who of UFC, introducing one great fighter after another. What's outstanding about this perspective is that alot of the clips are complete fights and not just the knockouts or subs. They show fights lasting just a few seconds to the Gracie/Kimo 5 minute battle to the best rounds of marathon fights. I can't say enough good things about this. There's no time for a bathroom break in this barrage. You will see early no-weight-class Davey/Goliath fights with Tank A. in 1000-seat arenas with a broken Octogon door to modern Vegas matches including IceMan, Ortiz and Randy C. Every vicious step down memory lane is worth watching in this hour and a half. Phenomenal on many levels. Customer Rating: Summary: BRUTAL hits Comment: If you are a fan of the knockouts in UFC, than this is a must see. It is really fun for me to watch since I just picked up on MMA about 5 or 6 years ago. These are all from early UFC's and man is it fun to watch. It starts it off with a 400 pound guy going up against a 200 pound guy and 400 gets kicked in the face and his tooth goes flying a good 20 feet. It is a great opening to the rest of the fights since more than half of them end with a guy getting knocked unconcious or having blood streaming down his face. A few of the matches they don't show the whole fight and just show the action but most are so quick there is no need to shorten them.
This is a must buy for any fan who doen't want to buy all of the old UFC DVD's and just wants to see great knockout fights like Don Frye vs. Tank Abbot, Royce Gracie vs. Kimo, Dan Severn's first match in the UFC, Mark Colemen vs. Maurice Smith, Keith Hackney vs. 600 pound guy, Keith Hackney showing us how to punch a guy in the balls as hard as he can... Customer Rating: Summary: Baddest Nights, Greatest Fights Comment: This edition of UFC Hits takes us from UFC 1 all the way through to UFC 16, selecting choice fights from these events.
Royce Gracie is dominant in the earliest events, employing tactics that people simply weren't prepared to defend against. Gracie then slowly gives way to new talent as it emerges. There are quite a few Tank Abbott fights included, also. We get to see some of his most memorable fights and knockouts - but we then get to see the "end" of the Tank Abbott era when he meets young Vitor Belfort. Belfort thrashes Abbott very easily, utilizing his amazing hand speed and power. With Belfort came a new, higher level of talent into the UFC.
The Belfort/Couture fight is one of the best fights on the DVD (if not the very best). You will appreciate the fight regardless, but even moreso if you've seen their two more recent fights. These are two truly amazing mixed martial artists early in their UFC careers.
We then see Frank Shamrock emerge toward the end of this DVD edition, at about the same time Tito Ortiz makes his debut (still a college student at the time). There is a bonus interview conducted inside the octagon with Shamrock and Ortiz, as they were soon to face-off. This fight is included on UFC Hits 2.
This is a great collection of fights - there are about 40 fights totaling 2 hours of action. Classic knockouts, submissions and all-out battles... Highly recommended! Customer Rating: Summary: OLD SCHOOL! Comment: Simply put, you must own this if you are an MMA fan. Buy it... NOW! Customer Rating: Summary: The Gracie days Comment: Back to the real old days, we see Royce Gracie against Kimo. That was a classic. We see the early days of Tank Abbott bashing people. We see Keith Hackney punch out a sumo wrestler. I used to watch every pay per view event back then. In what I consider the second generation of MMA stars, we see Don Frye belt some people out. He was really very good. Later on in the film we see some of the more modern stars.
This film reminds me of the days when MMA stars weren't well rounded. The sport began as a showcase to determine which was the best martial art. The BJJ guys cleaned up. They cleaned up to such an extent that nowadays everyone knows BJJ, and there is no such thing as a one-dimensional fighter anymore.
One fight I'm surprised is NOT on this collection is the most important MMA fight of the early days - when Royce Gracie triangle choked Dan Severn despite being about 100 pounds lighter.
To this day, I love the Gracies. I even took classes with a black belt who received his belt from the Gracies, and I attended a tournament run by Renzo Gracie. Modern fans of MMA should realize that the point isn't that this or that star can defeat a Gracie in the ring. The point is that MMA "IS" the Gracies. No Gracies, no MMA. It was the brain child of the Gracies, and they wrote the book on it. So what if others took their teachings and can now beat them at their own game. How can one family be expected to produce the very toughest men in the world generation after generation? It's unreasonable to expect that.
It is unfortunate that Rickson Gracie never fought in the UFC. My teacher told me that Rickson used to line up half a dozen Gracie relatives and beat them all easily, one after the other, like a chess master walking from table to table defeating a collection of players simultaneously.
To get films of Rickson, the greatest of the Gracies, you need to check out the Pride tournaments. My guess is that Rickson in his prime would do very well against today's crop. I'd love to see him against Andrei Arlovski, Randy Couture, or Chuck Liddell. I wouldn't bet against Rickson. I'd make him the favorite to be the greatest martial artist of our time.
