Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 It's funny - I was a big martial arts movie fan, loved Bruce, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and all those, but the main reason why I didn't follow UFC is because, like so many real-life competitive martial arts, it's much messier and nowhere near as fluid or stylised. I tended to prefer the movie aesthetic, because it seemed so much more appealing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 I must be one of the old dudes on here, as I remember hunting down VHS tapes of the very first UFC and watching that at a friends house after hearing about it from a relative in the US. I think I've pretty much seen them all, and found myself going from a 15 year old "just bleed" kid watching Gerard Gordeau kick Teila Tuli's teeth out of his mouth and thinking that was "hardcore" to becoming more a fan of the technical aspects of the sport. yeh you didnt follow it from 1 onwards though did you? i rented UFC 1 & 2 back when they first got released on VHS over here around 94 (i think), watched them was kinda disappointed that real fights didnt look like movie fights then forgot about MMA until around UFC 40. I always knew what it was of course but it was my love of pro wrestling and me constantly looking online at wrestling stuff that dragged me back in. Â I also bought a VHS of WVC 3 somewhere in amongst and remember watching it with fthe volume turned down because it really looked like some nasty, illegal shit. Â I wonder how things might have gone if i hadnt been a wrestling fan, id have no doubt found MMA at some point because ive always liked boxing, it might have taken me longer to catch on though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted February 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 The wrestling tape traders were importing the early UFC shows: the likes of Radford and Butcher had them a couple of weeks after the show, long before they were in shops over here and they were talked about in fanzines. They were still a big deal on the trading scene until about 97, then the interest died away until the build-up to the London show in 2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 yeh you didnt follow it from 1 onwards though did you? As much as was possible at the time I did, yeah. The tapes weren't all that easy to come by, so they took some tracking down, but I don't think I missed an event in those early years. When we saw the transfer from SEG to Zuffa it grew more difficult to get hold of events, so I'm sure I missed a few from that period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 26, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 Does anyone else remember back when Richard & Judy had their 5 o'clock show on Channel 4 (2002ish I think) and they had some Cage Rage people on? It was right around the time of the first UK UFC show and they went on trying to help MMA's image over here. Â First of all, Dave O'Donnell was one of the guests. Not the best representative. And they had two UK fighters, I want to say Jeremy Bailey and Rosi Sexton but I'm not 100%. Â Anyway, as you'd expect, Richard Madely was a cunt about it. Sneering and sniggering throughout, asking questions with a sarcastic tone. At one point, one of the fighters was explaining the concept of tapping out and Madely was taking the piss as if they're pussies or something. Â Seriously, I fucking hate Richard Madely. I hope he treads on a plug, barefoot. Did anyone else see this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 UFC 157 estimates are in:  A strong media push into UFC 157 helped make Ronda Rousey's UFC debut an unqualified success, as Dave Meltzer reports in a new edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that early numbers for Saturday's event blew away the UFC's expectations. "[uFC 157 drew] over 400,000....they're absolutely thrilled," Meltzer said of the UFC 157 event (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com). "The show, it was...they had predicted 250K. Budgeted 250K, I shouldn't say predicted. But I mean, the predictions internally were 250-300K. So they blew away their predictions, big time."  Additionally, Meltzer says a high replay number is expected for the event which could bump things up even further.  "They're expecting big replay buys," he said. "Big replay buys means 25,000-30,000 more than they have right now. It could do mid fours, maybe more, but that's a nice number to say. Put it that way."  400,000 to 450,000 buys would put the event in the middle of the pack of UFC events since 2006, but much higher than any previous events topped by a fight in the 145 lb. division or below.  Credit: mmatorn.com  Well deserved for the promotion of Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche and how the fight turned out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted February 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 this'll go down as one the great moments of the year, i done near shit my pants... Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bono Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 this'll go down as one the great moments of the year, i done near shit my pants...  Agreed, you could see the pain on rouseys face as she twisted I thought she had her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
METAL ON METAL Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Liz's arm after that sub attempt: Â Â Must've put Liz off a little while trying to keep the choke on, obviously not intentional from Rousey though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarloKid Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 For me personally, that 2005 "boom" period was actually the time I wasn't watching. My first event was Ortiz vs Shamrock in 2002. I asked my uncle to tape Survivor Series for me, and he said he couldn't because he was watching UFC instead. I remembered Shamrock from the WWF, so I grabbed the tape from him. After that, neither my mum or my uncle could afford pay TV, so I didn't watch MMA until Lesnar debuted and I had a good enough Internet connection to watch his fights that way. From there I was hooked. That Ortiz/Shamrock fight (UFC 40) was a monumental step for UFC's success, it was their biggest event since they got booted from TV and had to clean up the sport. I think that got a lot of people's attention. yeh, UFC 40 kickstarted it for me, its the first build up i ever followed and although i knew the result before i saw the fight i had to see it...i fringe followed it then till UFC 45, then it all kicked off. I find a lot of people around my age had some sort of interest at that time, it just fell off again a couple of years later. Its just most people still refeference that time when talking about MMA.   Yup UFC 40 was about the same time i got into MMA and the UFC and was my first taste of the sport, was it shown on Bravo ? i have the DVD just can't remember if i watched it on Bravo or dvd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 I must be one of the old dudes on here, as I remember hunting down VHS tapes of the very first UFC and watching that at a friends house after hearing about it from a relative in the US. I think I've pretty much seen them all, and found myself going from a 15 year old "just bleed" kid watching Gerard Gordeau kick Teila Tuli's teeth out of his mouth and thinking that was "hardcore" to becoming more a fan of the technical aspects of the sport. Yeah I'm an old dude and did the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted February 26, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 37 was on Sky Sports. 40 through 44 I have from traders so I don't think was on TV. 45 I have from Setanta. Â I've not checked the source after that, though I'm missing 50 which I assume means it wasn't on TV. That may have been a gap when they switched to Bravo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted February 26, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted February 26, 2013 That sounds right. I'm pretty sure UFC 51 was the start of the Bravo 'era'. This was the timeframe when the first TUF was on as well and Bravo got the rights to that also. I definitely watched UFC 52 on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted February 27, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted February 27, 2013 Yep. UFC 51 was definitely on Bravo. Am I right in thinking it was shown on 24 hour delay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Most UFC events have turned up in different stores around my area in DVD box sets. I bought UFC 1- 10 the other month but have only watched the first 2 so far. I also have the 38-42 set, the 93-97 set, and most events from 100 onwards. Still missing that mid-2000s period. Â Makes sense really, as 2005-2008 was definitely the height of my wrestling fandom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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