UFC 4

UFC 4 saw the return of the enigmatic ROYCE GRACIE. After a vicious match in UFC 3 with KIMO, Gracie was forced to throw in the towel before the match started. And now he returns to the Octagon for some new challengers and some new fighters.

Gracie was awesome in this one as usual. He walked over RON "THE BLACK DRAGON" VAN CLEEF in about 2 minutes. Van Cleef is also the oldest fighter to fight in the Octagon at 52 (at the time). Gracie had some trouble against The Giant Killer KEITH HACKNEY, who defeated 600+ lbs of Sumo wrestler EMMANUEL YARBROUGH in UFC 3. But to get to Gracie, Hackney had his hands full with Judo wrestler JOE SON.

In my opinion, this was one of my favorite matches of this particular UFC. Trust me, Hackney gets Son to tap in a "Different way". It's very brutal. Hackney also did what very few fighters have done against Gracie and that's stay on your feet.

And who could forget the debut of DAN "THE BEAST" SEVERN. Severn was awesome in this one and he had 2 very quick and very brutal matches against ANTHONY MACIAS, Thai Kickboxing and MARCUS BOSSETT, Karate.

The biggest disappointment of this one is that reigning UFC 3 Champ STEVE JENNUM diesn't even get to defend his title. He fights one fight and gets hurt. A bit on the weak side and from there, I'm with the critics as well (Jennum should not have won UFC 3). Plus his opponent MELVIN BOWEN made boxers around the world look bad. Anyway check out this one for Gracie, Hackney and Severn. Those 3 make this one worth it.

One of the better ufc's

For the first time, Royce Gracie has some good fights. The first one is kind of a joke as he goes up agaisnt a prestigous, but over the hill master. His next fight however is classic, agaisnt kenpo master Kieth Hackney (whom destroyed a 620 pound sumo wrestler in the previous ufc). Hackney was the first fighter gracie went up against that knew how to defend agaisnt his attacks and kept the first half of the fight on his feet. The only part of the fight that went to the ground was with gracie on his back. It was an exciting bout, but the real action comes with the exhibition bout b/w the now prestigous Guy Mezger, a submission/kickboxing expert, and Jason Fairn, a canadian jiu jitsu master.

This ufc also introduces a new combatant, dan severn, whom in my mind ranks among the greatest greco roman wrestlers that have ever walked this earth (which is saying a lot since the art is a couple of thousand years old). His first fight was just plain brutal and his second fight was quick, but action packed. Then along came gracie, master grappler against master wrestler. Both, masters of ground fighting. Both, masters of takedown. Both, master technicions. Both, masters of ground defense. Not exactly action packed but you spend the entire fight wondering who's gonna take it all? It looks like it's gonna be severn all the way, but only a fool would count gracie out of a fight no matter what the situation is, especially when he's in his trusted guard. The entire fight is spent on the ground, but what can you expect from two of the best ground fighters that have ever walked into the tournament? You might be a bit surprised by the ending. Many say it was a fluke, but I strongly disagree. With technicions like them, anything can happen.

The basic message I'm delivering here is, if you're a fan of bare knuckle no holds barred fighting, you want this video.

Worth it.

This took place during a good period during the UFC...Gracie was at the top of his game and Severn was in his early UFC years. Obviously they are the highlights of this tape, as Severn debuts here and just destroys everything in his path (the Severn vs. Macias fight includes one of the most memorable moments in UFC history...you'll know it when you see it). Gracie does well, although he has a B.S. first match which basically made it so he only had to fight two real fights to get into the finals. The Severn vs. Gracie final is a little long but very entertaining. Severn had Gracie's number here but Gracie wins on what many people consider a fluke (which may be true, since Gracie never had a rematch with him after this fight). Well worth your money.