UFC 1-4 allowed all strikes & pressure points

[Lucas]

how many sambo fighters were there in the first handful of ufc?

[lkfmdc]

how many sambo fighters were there in the first handful of ufc?

They could have had him in the first three, all of them, for FREE

[Lucas]

i personally think that if the right competition had been present, gracie might not have come away looking so...glorified.

sambo had been around since what the early 1900...surely there were some experienced fighters that were around at that time...

honestly, especially talking back then, sambo was waaayyy better suited for mma than gjj....a solid sambo fighter i think would have had a good chance of knocking out gracie after stuffing gjj take down attempts.

[Scott R. Brown]

They were selective in how picked fighters, there is no question

The WHY is subjective? to get a good diversity? original UFC was supposed to be style vs style and to prove that tma striking wasnt' so dangerous

For entertainment? Big sumos, guys carrying crosses to the cage, "ninjas" did add to the entertainment value

To protect the Gracie family and insure they win? Maybe but not so clear... well, Benny the Jet was invited but wanted too much money, but he was a striker and the Gracies were pretty sure they could beat any striker

Oleg Taktarov was in the Gracie school and would have fought for FREE but they kept him out until Rocye was no longer in the tournament

What I read from this, and the impression of my friend, is that they were protecting the Gracie's from actually getting hurt.