A Brief History of Mixed Martial Arts (part 5)

The Ultimate Fighting Championship had introduced a form of fighting which it dubbed “no-holds-barred,” or NHB fighting. The first six Ultimate Fighting Championships had very few rules. In fact, there were no weight classes, no time limits or rounds, and no mandatory safety equipment. The only rules were that fighters could not eye gouge, bite, or fish hook, and fights could only end with a referee’s stoppage, knock out, or submission, which could be signified verbally, or by a “tap out,” where the fighter must tap the mat, or his opponent three times with his hand or foot to signify that he submits. The event took place in an octagonal cage, dubbed “The Octagon.”

The format of the event was that of a one night tournament, where competitors would fight several bouts in one night, in a single elimination style tournament until a champion was named. The lack of weight classes became an obvious problem from the outset, when 415 pound Hawaiian sumo wrestler was allowed to fight 216 pound Dutch kick boxer Gerard Gordeau. This scene was later repeated in the third UFC event, when 6-foot-8inch tall, 600 pound sumo wrestler from New Jersey, Emmanuel Yarborough, was allowed to fight 5-foot-11-inch tall, 200 pound karate fighter from Illinois, Keith Hackney.

Another problem that quickly became obvious was the lack of time limits, and judges. By UFC IV, most of the competitors had caught on to Royce Gracie’s success, and had begun to learn grappling techniques. As a result, the fights became longer and longer. It reached a point where the fights were running over the allotted pay-per-view time slot, and the UFC was losing fans, as they viewed the long periods of ground fighting as boring. SEG realized that it had to do something, so in 1995, at UFC V in Charlotte, North Carolina, the UFC instituted a 30 minute time limit, but did not have judges. Thus, when the much anticipated Royce Gracie-Ken Shamrock rematch ran over the 30 minute time limit, it was ruled a draw. The fans were outraged. This resulted in the use of judges beginning with UFC VI to decide the outcome of fights that outlasted the time limit.

Source: Donald F. Walter, Jr.