You’re a dick and probably never fought
Whatever you say. I dont care if you have a problem with it, I still think all styles should be allowed in the ufc.
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I think they said had Karelin accepted to fight in ufc 1, Rorion would have sent Rickson in there instead of Royce.
Can u imagine a Rickson/Karelin matchup in the finals of ufc 1?! Holy smokes .. I honestly struggle picking a winner here - Karelin never fought anyone like Rickson yet Rickson sure never dealt with anyone like Karelin.
Karelin beats Hickson
I doubt he was invited
It’s easy to say he was
Is there any proof, has Karelin ever talked about it?
Hulk Hogan was 
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.
****From an interview with Art Davie on sherdog
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I doubt any of those guys would have fought at the first UFC if they were asked. Most of them were either in their prime or close to it. Baumgartner had won his second Olympic gold medal the year before and was a world champion in 1995 and finished with an Olympic bronze in 96. Coleman and Henderson had been on the 92 Olympic team, and Kerr was top 3 at that weight, Couture was still on the verge of breaking through to the top.
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Should have offered 100K to win
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“Where’s Don the Dragonfly Wilson? Probably filming a Godzilla voiceover that’ll be seen at 3 in the morning.”
- Tank Abbott
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K1 was giving out 30000 for second place. No one that was earning money for fighting like that was going to enter tournament with no salary for fighting
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Karelin was a monster but Rickson was much better prepared for a mma fight ..
No, I forgot to take a picture of the invitation that was made in 1992..
No way those kickboxers would enter a tournament where they could very likely get strangled unconscious in the first round. It’s not a manner of money but one of pride/ego..
In that bout and at that time, I’d have definitely bet on Karelin. He could have been submitted, but I believe that for the majority of that fight, Rickson would have been getting rag-dolled like Hulk pummeled Loki.
Well. I think we all assumed the death touch was outlawed as a gentlemen’s agreement before the fights. It’s not like you can defend an energy ball, unless you move your tongue to one side of your mouth.
Yeah I get that viewpoint but It’s a definite that the first 5 minutes will be difficult for Rickson - so much depends on what Karelin tries to do - does he just hold and punch or go for headlocks/chokes? He’s just so not used to that style of combat - he may be a bit lost like Severn was in his first bout with Royce …
LOLWUT?
Coleman, Henderson and Couture were 1992 Olympians. Kerr trialled for the 1996 Olympics.Why would they jeopardise their active careers for a human cockffighting event?
Dan Severn competed in the Worlds and was an Olympic trialist, but the Gracies didn’t have a problem with him being in UFC 5.
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Gerard Gordeau is who I was thinking of. He was a mean bastard cheater. He fought in the UFC and gouged on Royce and also in Rickson’s Choke Japan Vale Tudo thing and blinded Nakai. Early MMA was brutal. I think the match ups were fine for what they could put together.
George Dillman.
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Who was the other commentator in the early UFC who had actually trained with the Gracie’s and had a clue about what was going on? I can’t remember his name. He came off as kind of a know it all. I think Jim Brown yelled at him once.
Ben Perry, starting at UFC 2
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