#ThrowbackThursday: 25 Rare and Classic UFC Photos From the ’90s


(Marco Ruas and Paul Varelans: When men were men, knuckles were bare, and wearing a singlet was totally acceptable.)

As thrilling as the UFC can be in the 21st century — with its well-rounded, well-conditioned fighters and deep talent pools — there’s something special about the Wild West days of the 1990s. Back then, the UFC featured a motley crew of martial artists of varying skill levels, some of whom didn’t really look like professional athletes. This was the era of single-night tournaments, non-existent weight classes, and burping into microphones. It’s hard not to miss those days.

Today we pay tribute to the old-school with some of our favorite rare and classic UFC photos from the ’90s. Check ’em out in the gallery after the jump, and if we’ve left out any of your favorites, let us know in the comments section or on twitter.

As thrilling as the UFC can be in the 21st century — with its well-rounded, well-conditioned fighters and deep talent pools — there’s something special about the Wild West days of the 1990s. Back then, the UFC featured a motley crew of martial artists of varying skill levels, some of whom didn’t really look like professional athletes. This was the era of single-night tournaments, non-existent weight classes, and burping into microphones. It’s hard not to miss those days.

Today we pay tribute to the old-school with some of our favorite rare and classic UFC photos from the ’90s. Check ‘em out in the gallery above, and if we’ve left out any of your favorites, let us know in the comments section or on twitter.

The 27 Most Persistent Myths in MMA


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.


(“I’m telling you people, this is the most stacked UFC card OF ALL TIME!” / Photo via Getty)

Like price sticker residue on a prized picture frame, these myths refused to be scrubbed away. You’ll encounter them on forums, barroom discussions, and even from the mouths of so-called experts. What myths are these? We’re glad you asked…

By CagePotato.com Staff 

1. MMA wouldn’t exist without Dana White. Wrong. See here.

2. Royce Gracie was a humble, respectful warrior. [Ed’s note: Hopefully there’s been enough recent evidence to put this falsehood to bed until the end of time.]

3. Chuck Liddell in his prime would have destroyed ________.

4. MMA has nothing in common with professional wrestling.

5. [Celebrity with zero combat sports experience] would make a great MMA fighter!

6. Motivated BJ Penn could/still can beat anybody.

7. Healthy Shogun could/still can beat anybody.

8. Brock Lesnar could’ve held the belt forever and a day had it not been for diverticulitis.

9. The UFC is not a sports entertainment company.

10. MMA wouldn’t exist without Bruce Lee.

11. Tito Ortiz held the most UFC light heavyweight wins of all time (too soon?).

12. _____, _____, and _____ will be the toughest test of [insert headliner of next PPV]‘s career so far.

13. Xyience is a thing people use outside of UFC press conferences, where cans of it are used as paper weights.

14. Michael Bisping won the Matt Hamill fight.

15. Rampage Jackson is funny.

16. Forrest Griffin is funny.

17. The low salaries Zuffa pays the fighters are okay because they all get rich off locker room bonuses.

18. The media isn’t on the take.

19. “I used supplements that must have been tainted.”

20. “I was hacked.”

21. “My phone was stolen.”

22. “My PR firm went rogue.”

23. Brazilian events bring out only respectful, educated fans.

24. Women’s fights are always exciting (and no, we don’t hate WMMA. You can criticize something and still like it. Imagine that…)

25. Dana White isn’t an asshole (this behavior is indefensible, no matter how much snow you have imported into your driveway).

26. Boxing is dead. Did you see how many MMA sites covered Mayweather-Maidana?

27. “Fastest growing sport in the world.”

Eddie Bravo vs. the Gracies: Is MMA’s First Family Harming Its Reputation?

Royce Gracie’s place in MMA history is assured. Without his efforts at UFC 1, the current combat sports landscape would likely be almost unrecognizable. It’s unfortunate, then, that his recent behaviour has further tarnished a once-spotless…

Royce Gracie’s place in MMA history is assured. Without his efforts at UFC 1, the current combat sports landscape would likely be almost unrecognizable. It’s unfortunate, then, that his recent behaviour has further tarnished a once-spotless reputation.

For those who have been living under a rock, Royce confronted Eddie Bravo backstage at the recent Metamoris 3 event, after the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu founder had dominated his brother Royler in the long-awaited rematch of their 2003 ADCC contest.

Confirming the altercation, Royce made the following remarks to MMA Fighting:

I met him after the fight and he was there, throwing up. Royler dominated him so much, he did so much strength, that he threw up after the fight. I told him that I liked what he said after the fight, but didn’t like the fact that he always talked trash about Royler and my family. He stood up and started yelling, so I also raised the tone of my voice and told him I didn’t like it. I’m a vale-tudo fighter. I’m not a fighter to score points of fight with time limit. Let’s (fight) with no time limit and with punches allowed. I’m a vale-tudo fighter, I don’t compete in (grappling) tournaments.

Making this all the more bizarre is the fact that Bravo has repeatedly gone out of his way to praise the Gracie family, both in interviews and in print. Indeed, Bravo’s first book, Jiu Jitsu Unleashed, contains a lengthy tribute to various members of the Gracie family, including Royce.

That being said, the most surprising aspect of Royce’s most recent transgression is that people actually found it surprising.

I can still remember the first time I became conscious of Royce Gracie. It was 1998 and the then-WWF’s promotion of Ken Shamrock had brainwashed me into thinking “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” was precisely that.

Imagine my surprise when a friend filled me in on a few details about UFC 1, informing me that Shamrock had been tapped out in under a minute by some skinny bloke in a pair of pyjamas.

My curiosity had been piqued.

I bought the first few UFCs on VHS and took a crash course in Gracie jiu-jitsu. I recall thinking that there was something elegant about Royce and how he handled his business.

He was winning fights against men who had no right to exist outside of a comic book, and doing so without ever having to hurt them. Royce was class personified, as far as I was concerned.

However, his words and deeds in the ensuing years have eroded any affection I once had for the man. From protesting losses to testing positive for steroids to giving free reign to his king-sized ego, Royce has done little to endear himself to MMA fans since the turn of the century. Confronting and threatening Bravo is just the tip of the iceberg.

It would be unfair to single him out in this instance, though. In fact, collective delusion and denial has apparently taken hold of several members of the Gracie family since Metamoris 3.

For example, take a look at the bizarrely misleading action shots of the contest from Gracie Mag and this mind-boggling description of the match.

One can ordinarily rely on the breakdowns from Rener and Ryron Gracie to provide an objective account of what took place in a fight. Instead, the pair talked at length about Bravo’s tactics not going through the “Helio Gracie filter” and being unsuitable for a street fight, as though these objections were somehow relevant to the match with Royler.

It’s as though the family has been engaged in full-on damage control since the moment the match ended. What purpose does it serve, though? Short of mass amnesia breaking out among those who witnessed the contest, history will reflect the fact that Royler was outclassed by Bravo.

It’s difficult to know what to make of the Gracies’ need to control public perception, given that their legacy is already assured. No one can take away what the family has given to combat sports.

Their contribution provided us with the opportunity to separate fantasy from reality in the martial arts. Without them, we may still be wondering whether it’s a good idea to block a baseball bat with one’s forearm or whether the flying kick is an effective technique.

If the intention is to protect their family’s reputation, the Gracies are going about it the wrong way.

James MacDonald is a freelance writer and featured columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow James on Twitter.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Eddie Bravo vs. Royler Gracie Rematch at Metamoris 3 — Full Video and Helpful Commentary

(Props: OI RANGA)

Eleven years after Eddie Bravo put his name on the map by submitting Royler Gracie at the 2003 ADCC tournament, the two grapplers met in a rematch on Saturday, at Metamoris 3 in Los Angeles. Officially, they fought to a draw — because Metamoris doesn’t use a point system, and every match that doesn’t end in a submission is counted as a draw. But it was a moral victory for Bravo, who controlled most of the action and put Royler in a number of uncomfortable positions.

Unless you’ve studied jiu-jitsu yourself, you might look at sequences like this and be totally baffled. So, a helpful Redditor named MisaCampo recorded a play-by-play commentary video for the entire Bravo vs. Gracie 2 match that explains what’s happening without getting too technical. If you’re a grappling noob who wants to know a little more about the intricacies of human-chess, this is a must-watch.

By the way, Royce Gracie reportedly threatened Bravo after the event as Eddie was throwing up, because that’s just the kind of guy Royce is.


(Props: OI RANGA)

Eleven years after Eddie Bravo put his name on the map by submitting Royler Gracie at the 2003 ADCC tournament, the two grapplers met in a rematch on Saturday, at Metamoris 3 in Los Angeles. Officially, they fought to a draw — because Metamoris doesn’t use a point system, and every match that doesn’t end in a submission is counted as a draw. But it was a moral victory for Bravo, who controlled most of the action and put Royler in a number of uncomfortable positions.

Unless you’ve studied jiu-jitsu yourself, you might look at sequences like this and be totally baffled. So, a helpful Redditor named MisaCampo recorded a play-by-play commentary video for the entire Bravo vs. Gracie 2 match that explains what’s happening without getting too technical. If you’re a grappling noob who wants to know a little more about the intricacies of human-chess, this is a must-watch.

By the way, Royce Gracie reportedly threatened Bravo after the event as Eddie was throwing up, because that’s just the kind of guy Royce is.

On This Day in MMA History: The UFC Holds Its First (and Last) Ever 16-Man Tournament at UFC 2: No Way Out

On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous moments from MMA’s past. Twenty years ago today (!), on March 11th, 1994, the UFC held the only 16-man, one-night tournament in promotional history at UFC 2. It was…epic to say the least. 

No weight classes, no time limits, no judges, and up to four fights in one night. Yes, the early nineties truly were a time when men were men. That was at least according to the rules of UFC 2: No Way Out, which somehow managed to up the ante from the promotion’s first event the previous November.

Taking place on the evening of March 11th, 1994, UFC 2 pitted previous tournament contestants Patrick Smith, Jason Delucia, and UFC 1 winner Royce Gracie against a gaggle of unknowns in what would become the promotion’s first and last ever sixteen-man, one-night tournament.

As expected, the tournament served as little more than an informercial for the superiority of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu once again. In just over 9 minutes of total fight time, Gracie dominated Minoki Ichihara, Delucia, Remco Pardoel, and Morris to claim his second straight tournament victory. Being that the UFC has long since abandoned the one-night tournament format due to safety concerns, Royce’s four victories at UFC 2 stands as a record that will likely never be broken in the UFC.

But aside from providing us with the biggest tournament in promotional history, we also have UFC 2 to thank for:

On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous moments from MMA’s past. Twenty years ago today (!), on March 11th, 1994, the UFC held the only 16-man, one-night tournament in promotional history at UFC 2. It was…epic to say the least. 

No weight classes, no time limits, no judges, and up to four fights in one night. Yes, the early nineties truly were a time when men were men. That was at least according to the rules of UFC 2: No Way Out, which somehow managed to up the ante from the promotion’s first event the previous November.

Taking place on the evening of March 11th, 1994, UFC 2 pitted previous tournament contestants Patrick Smith, Jason Delucia, and UFC 1 winner Royce Gracie against a gaggle of unknowns in what would become the promotion’s first and last ever sixteen-man, one-night tournament.

As expected, the tournament served as little more than an informercial for the superiority of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu once again. In just over 9 minutes of total fight time, Gracie dominated Minoki Ichihara, Delucia, Remco Pardoel, and Morris to claim his second straight tournament victory. Being that the UFC has long since abandoned the one-night tournament format due to safety concerns, Royce’s four victories at UFC 2 stands as a record that will likely never be broken in the UFC.

But aside from providing us with the biggest tournament in promotional history, we also have UFC 2 to thank for:

-Two of the most one-sided beatdowns to ever occur in the octagon: Patrick Smith vs. Scott Morris (see above) and the near homicide that was Fred Ettish vs. Johnny Rhodes

-The debut of legendary referee Big John McCarthy, who got off to a rough start in his officiating of such fights as Pat Smith vs. Scott Morris (again, see above)

-The first lapel choke in UFC history (actually, the first two)

-*Nine* finishes that came in under three minutes (for more information on this, see your mother)

Perhaps it’s appropriate that, some twenty years after UFC 2, Kenny Monday’s Battlegrounds promotion is attempting to kickstart the one-night tournament format once again. Because while today’s classy, wine-sipping, FOX-endorsed MMA landscape may have evolved out of a brutal, barbaric form of human cockfighting (as some called it), there were still some good ideas to be found in the early UFC events, and the one-night tournament remains the most captivating, dramatic format for a sport as inherently dramatic as MMA to this day.

J. Jones

Friday Link Dump: Titan FC Signs Deal With CBS Sports, UFC Fight Pass vs. WWE Network, Legendary Album Covers + More

(Here’s Brittney Palmer staring at things in slo-mo as part of her new web series, “Slow & Hot.” Creative genius at its finest, folks.)

Evaluating WWE Network vs. UFC Fight Pass (MMAFighting)

Top 5 MMA Gyms of 2013 (BleacherReport)

Titan FC signs with CBS Sports Network (MMAPayout)

Royce Gracie Named to Sports Illustrated List of ’50 Greatest Athletes of All Time’ (MMAMania)

Fact Check: The Kickboxing Credentials of Tyrone Spong (BloodyElbow)

UFC Champ Demetrious Johnson: PPV Points Not All They’re Cracked Up to Be (MMAJunkie)

Molly Schuyler Eats Meat Like a Champ (EveryJoe)

Ranking The Many Eras Of Matthew McConaughey, From Worst To Best (UPROXX)

FIRM GRIP: THE 15 COOLEST BEER KOOZIES (HiConsumption)

15 Artists To Watch Out For In 2014 (Complex)

How Google Glass Will Revolutionize Fitness (Break)

Five Workouts to Lose Weight Without Cardio (MensFitness)

8 Album Covers Considered To Be Quite Legendary (The Escapist)

The Ultimate Winter Fails Compilation (WorldWideInterweb)


(Here’s Brittney Palmer staring at things in slo-mo as part of her new web series, “Slow & Hot.” Creative genius at its finest, folks.)

Evaluating WWE Network vs. UFC Fight Pass (MMAFighting)

Top 5 MMA Gyms of 2013 (BleacherReport)

Titan FC signs with CBS Sports Network (MMAPayout)

Royce Gracie Named to Sports Illustrated List of ’50 Greatest Athletes of All Time’ (MMAMania)

Fact Check: The Kickboxing Credentials of Tyrone Spong (BloodyElbow)

UFC Champ Demetrious Johnson: PPV Points Not All They’re Cracked Up to Be (MMAJunkie)

Molly Schuyler Eats Meat Like a Champ (EveryJoe)

Ranking The Many Eras Of Matthew McConaughey, From Worst To Best (UPROXX)

FIRM GRIP: THE 15 COOLEST BEER KOOZIES (HiConsumption)

15 Artists To Watch Out For In 2014 (Complex)

How Google Glass Will Revolutionize Fitness (Break)

Five Workouts to Lose Weight Without Cardio (MensFitness)

8 Album Covers Considered To Be Quite Legendary (The Escapist)

The Ultimate Winter Fails Compilation (WorldWideInterweb)