One book I have says Don priced himself out of the UFC saying he would fight for a million.
A few weeks ago a guy came into my place of work claiming to be a BJJ black belt. I didn’t believe him, he was really drunk and something was off. Well, a couple of days ago he came back so I asked him again about his black belt. He claimed to train under Frank Dux. Said he only trained BJJ bc Frank wouldn’t give him a black belt in ninjitsu until he got a black belt in another art form.
This dude went on the game show that Wayne Brady hosts with his gi on.
I recorded our conversation about Frank dux.
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They wanted no part of him
yeah dude. the world wasn’t ready to see a man die.
Style vs style to prove the best singular style aka BJJ/GJJ.
The style vs style promotion was just a marketing gimmick. They could sell it as a real-life version of Bloodsport movie, but do t kid yourself. One style was set-up to win it all.
There’s a reason why Rorian Gracie was instrumental in the creation of the UFC to begin with.
But you’re right. Royce still had to go out there and win the fights.
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Except Hosoi never showed up and the rest is history!!!
Wasn’t he LAPD at the time and had some training with the Gracies at the Torrance academy?!?!
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That was Rorion’s goal for sure. But back then that was the appeal of the UFC. No one had any idea what style was superior because no cross style fights were taking place. And most people had never heard of BJJ or even juijitsu for that matter. Most people thought JJ was what Steven Segall was doing in the movies.
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The idea of the UFC stacking it to highlight Royce always seemed a bit flimsy.
He had to beat some legitimate tough guys.
Of course they wanted to highlight their art, but he had to fight through the tournament just like everybody else.
They would have rather had Royce fight Don Wilson any day of the week over someone like Ken Shamrock, who they knew fought for a legitimate fighting organization.
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True. Ken was trained in submissions and wrestllng, a good striker (for the time), and jacked on steroids. Not exactly an ideal match for a skinny BJJ guy.
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Agree. No doubt they wanted to promote BJJ but it wasn’t as liaised as some on here portray. Royce still had to beat some very tough fighters from
Various disciplines .. and like I said, they did invite world champions from
Many disciplines but they didn’t accept the offer
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Yeah. I don’t know why he thought he would be allowed to compete in the same tournament as Royce.
If you’re stacking a bracket to protect your fighter, you probably shouldn’t have guys like this in there. Even if you win, he will likely take one of your eyes.
i believe they saw this footage of ken and decided royces grappling was far more advanced
ken has admitted it was
he’s a nasty dutchman
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IIRC he tried to bite Royce’s ear off when in the clinch
weird how different pancrase grappling was. the whole thing where you can strike on the ground but it’s rude is so japanese.
Pancrase always looked weird to me. Like it didn’t look like a real fight, but a really really stiff work.
It’s as if the athletes were taught and trained to fight that way and not doing so could get you banished from the organization.
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There’s video of him during the LA riots…he probably was still LAPD in 93
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I don’t think Don Wilson had any intention of fighting in the UFC.
He is basically the poster child of a delusional traditional martial artist.
Devising schemes in his head of how he would have beat this person or that person that never work in real life.
He was asked to be an announcer at the first two or three UFC’s and turned them down.
Then, when he finally decided to announce, he became the worst play by play person they ever had.
Even Jim Brown knew what was going on better than Don the Dragon.
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