Inside story of UFC 1: The reason no wrestlers were invited.

[MattM]

The UFC is celebrating its 20th year as a promotion.  This was taken from a Sherdog.com article on the development of UFC 1.

 

The Gracie family discussing with promoters who to invite to the first UFC tournament.

 

 

There was, however, one clandestine Gracie edict, according to Davie.

 

“No wrestlers; the Gracies didn't want anything to do with wrestlers,” he said. “That limited us a little more. We were trying to sell a bunch of guys on something they never heard of, with the exception of the Gracie name. I brought in guys from Japan that were considered to be national idols, but it was the wrestlers that freaked out Rorion a little. The Gracies knew they could beat anyone associated with mixed martial arts.”

 

They were not so sure about wrestlers, which is why two-time Olympic gold medalist Bruce Baumgartner, Olympians Mark Coleman and Dan Henderson and of pair of collegiate All-Americans, Mark Kerr and Randy Couture, were never asked to compete.

 

“Pro karate shaped the way I fought. I won several big tournaments; think about it,” Frazier said. “We were going to compete in Colorado, right near the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and there were no wrestlers involved? I remember at the fighter meeting before the event, Rorion told me all the wrestlers declined to fight.

 

“My reality at that moment: wrestling was a key thing to learning, because no one had an answer in martial arts for a double-[leg] takedown,” he added. “It's why I believe the Gracies didn't ask any wrestlers to compete. You had some of the top wrestlers in the world right there in the backyard of where this thing was taking place. The Gracies wanted no part of them, not one bit. At the time, I believe it was a disservice to MMA.”

 

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/2/Let-There-Be-Fight-59271

 

At least they knew back then where to set their fighting limits to ensure the Gracie style of BJJ would reign supreme that night.

[MCKAJC]

This doesn't surprise me at all... early UFC was like a collection of bar room brawlers. All rigged for the Gracies

[Loki27]

I remember watching Dan Severn beat the pulp out of Royce Gracie in ufc 3 or 4 before being submitted after like 16 minutes. So, it doesn't surprise me they didn't want the toughest athletes in sport messing up there promotion for BJJ.

[MattM]

I remember watching Dan Severn beat the pulp out of Royce Gracie in ufc 3 or 4 before being submitted after like 16 minutes. So, it doesn't surprise me they didn't want the toughest athletes in sport messing up there promotion for BJJ.

 

UFC 4 finals.  Severn looked so lost on how to fight MMA style so with almost exclusively wrestling and open hand strikes he pummeled all three of his opponents up until Gracie finally found a choke hold.  It took a few fights for Severn, and most wrestlers in MMA to move past almost pure wrestling and get the hang of the fighting game. 

[pippengerj]

I remember watching Dan Severn beat the pulp out of Royce Gracie in ufc 3 or 4 before being submitted after like 16 minutes. So, it doesn't surprise me they didn't want the toughest athletes in sport messing up there promotion for BJJ.

As a wrestling guy myself, I will agree with everyone that when entering MMA as it is today, wrestling is the best base.  However, I have trained with the Gracies on many occasions.  What many people don't know, is that Rorion Gracie (eldest son of Helio) developed the original UFC and yes-it was a way to showcase Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  However, Helio's sons decided to choose Royce, the smallest of the boys, to represent the family and show how even a smaller, less powerful jiu-jitsu practicioner could defeat a larger, stronger opponent.  If the Gracies wanted to truely stack the deck against the field they would have chosen Rickson to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in the UFC tournaments.  Just some food for thought.

 

[MattM]

As a wrestling guy myself, I will agree with everyone that when entering MMA as it is today, wrestling is the best base.  However, I have trained with the Gracies on many occasions.  What many people don't know, is that Rorion Gracie (eldest son of Helio) developed the original UFC and yes-it was a way to showcase Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  However, Helio's sons decided to choose Royce, the smallest of the boys, to represent the family and show how even a smaller, less powerful jiu-jitsu practicioner could defeat a larger, stronger opponent.  If the Gracies wanted to truely stack the deck against the field they would have chosen Rickson to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in the UFC tournaments.  Just some food for thought.

 

Yes, part of the story is that Royce represented a more "average" looking guy and would help show that you didn't need to be a stud athlete to win.  However, several UFC behind the scenes stories and books point out other issue also came into play that caused Royce to be choosen as the Gracie representative.  At the time Rorion, one of the main visionary behind the event, was at odds with Rickson, the families top competition fighter at the time.  Apparently, Rickson had been going off on his own to start his own gym and Rorion was upset that Rickson was purposely trying to attract Rorion's top students to join him.  As well as, Rickson choosing to teach some techniques in his camps and gyms that Rorion didn't approve of as part of the Gracie's BBJ style.  This caused a big enough rift between the two, and Rorion was not interested in helping Rickson getting too much attention for his gyms through putting him in the first UFC.  On the other hand he saw Royce as a way to continue ensuring the Gracie gyms were growing correctly "his way" in the US.  Another aspect was the fact that Rorion also could better monitor and control Royce throughout the process and ensure the right things were being done and said outside the cage for the press.  Where as, Rorian believed Rickson would not have submitted as easily to that type of oversight and had been talking up payment and other aspects of the event that the older Gracies were turned off by.  They actually talk about how Royce didn't seem as interested about the development of the event as the other Gracie guys who were in negotiations with Art Davies, and may times he was even run off and do something else instead.  But, Rickson's pushiness in how things were suppose to go helped Rorion convince Helio, the family leader, that it would be in the best interest of the family name and business to go with Royce.  When Helio gave his approval of Royce, their wasn't much Rickson could then do to change the course of events.  Even after a few UFC events Davies said Royce seemed somewhat disinterested in the business side of things and even fighting in future events, but by then he was already the face of things for the Gracies. Yes originally everything seemed to point to Rickson being the pick for this event, but as things came together their was less of an upside in having him and Royce became the somewhat surprising pick.  Rickson would go on to make his own name for himself in other international events.  It was pointed out later that you can see in the next few UFC event that much less of the core Gracie family was in Royces corner because this rift was still occurring between members of the family over how the original event came together.