Jump to content

Bushido UWFI - Sky etc


straightarmbar

Recommended Posts

Greetings all

 

Does anyone know what happened to this series ? Think I watched about twenty Bushido programmes on Sky and then several more on Bravo a few years later.

A friend of mine in Israel said there were many more shows broadcast over there - seems a shame that we didn't get all the fights here in Blighty.

 

Any pointers appreciated !

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 30
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Paid Members

Greetings all

 

Does anyone know what happened to this series ? Think I watched about twenty Bushido programmes on Sky and then several more on Bravo a few years later.

A friend of mine in Israel said there were many more shows broadcast over there - seems a shame that we didn't get all the fights here in Blighty.

 

Any pointers appreciated !

 

I remember watching a few on Eurosport. But Eurosport isn’t known for having a clear schedule. I’ve also thought they just seem to stick whatever on at whatever time, interspersed with Honda and watch adverts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

i remember it being advertised, they proper played up the 'this isn't fake, this is real' angle. I remember runing in and expected to see UFC levels of bruality but it never really panned out that way...am i right in thinking all the matches were worked?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

The vast majority were just normal pro wrestling matches. There was a match with Kiyoshi Tamura vs boxer Matthew Saad Muhammad that appears to have been a shoot, though possibly along the lines of Gracie-Jimmerson where the boxer was officially trying to win but knew to find a way out as soon as he was in trouble.

 

There was also Takada vs boxer Trevor Berbick, which was meant to be a worked bout (presumably with Takada winning) but Takada just started laying stiff kicks in and Berbick walked out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Bushido, Albright was a monster and everything looked like it ducking hurt. Am Ineight I'm saying that MMA sort of grew out of it, going partially legit and then fully legit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Matthew Saad Muhammed was a fuck of a boxer. Had the FOTY with Yaqui Lopez in 1980/81 or thereabouts (can't be arsed to check). He died very recently, couple of months ago or something.

 

Bushido popped up pretty much everywhere over the years didn't it. Eurosport, Bravo (I think), I'm sure it even got a brief late night run on Channel 5 at one point. Last time I saw it on telly it was on Nuts TV! Pretty much all I remember about it is like King Coconut said, Gary Albright smashing Japanese blokes and folding them up like deck chairs with German suplexes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

I loved Bushido, Albright was a monster and everything looked like it ducking hurt. Am Ineight I'm saying that MMA sort of grew out of it, going partially legit and then fully legit?

Kinda. UWFi was one of several groups that came out of the UWF, which did a similar style. Another, Pancrase, did pro wrestling as a shoot (but with no pins).

 

After UWF-i went over, Pride launched in 1997 doing full on MMA with punching allowed. It was considered part of the pro wrestling industry in Japan but the matches were fundamentally legit. Instead of it being "fake" you'd have fixed matches for promotional purposes, mainly in the early years when they tried to build up Takada. In time he was overpassed by people like Sakuraba and Wanderlei Silva who were able to win for real.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to everyone for the info.

 

Re: Boxing Gloves. I read somewhere that the UWFi deemed it fair for the wrestlers to wear leg pads and boxers in gloves to help make it fair, discipline vs discipline. Given how hard boxers punch it probably helped protect their hands too.

 

FWIW. I heard that Don King kept all of Berbick's $1Million purse after the Takada match due to some smallprint relating to him jumping out of the ring. Snake !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

$1 million, really?? fuck.

 

It's mad how many of these types of fights actually went on, everyone rips on the Art Jimmerson case (who despite being a laughing stock amongst MMA fans was a very good boxer).

 

Everyone knows about Inoki/Ali of course but there's several other cases of it happening, did the boxer ever come close winning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Matthew Saad Muhammed was a fuck of a boxer. Had the FOTY with Yaqui Lopez in 1980/81 or thereabouts (can't be arsed to check). He died very recently, couple of months ago or something.

 

Yes, he died in May, and it's a miserable fucking story — homeless in Philadelphia for a while, and while he seemed to be getting himself back together, died of Lou Gehrig's Disease. What a fighter he was, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved Bushido, Albright was a monster and everything looked like it ducking hurt. Am Ineight I'm saying that MMA sort of grew out of it, going partially legit and then fully legit?

UWFi was born out of the original UWF, which started around 1984. These were essentially worked shoot organizations. Sayama started Shooto & later Maeda would form the RINGS promotion. Along with Pancrase, they were the beginnings of MMA, followed by UFC & PRIDE. FMW is worthy of mention too, as that was pioneering in terms of the pro-wrestling / martial arts crossover/hybrid style, particularly the '89-'92 period. Digging back, there's quite a British connection too. Much of this has roots in England. Kazushi Sakuraba "The Gracie Hunter" was partly trained by Billy Robinson, whilst both Maeda & Sayama trained over here. Going further back, Karl Gotch spent 2 years learning the British style, before exporting it to the U.S & Japan and becoming a 'wrestling god'. When Gotch arrived in Britain, he already held various titles in Europe and seemed to be the complete wrestler...that was until he went to Billy Riley's Snakepit Gym, where he had his arse handed to him on multiple occasions. Various documentaries have acknowledged the British influence and Wigan particularly is held in the highest regard amongst those involved in the top-flight of fighting circles; guys like Dan Gable & Dan Severn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...