The door to the octagon was left open, you could legally headbutt, knee to the groin and pull peoples hair and you could put a lightweight in the same ring as a heavyweight and watch them fight it out. Man the ufc back then was insane

10 secs into the fight "this is the longest we've seen Gracie standing up" Lmfao

This is so intriguing! The crucifix intro, the hair grab, the free roamers outside the cage, the cage gate swinging open, fighting without a mouth guard, the weight difference.

This is when the ufc was magical - you truly had fighters from many different styles. It was like Street Fighter but in a cage. Royce and his family were and are legends and I remember the mystique they had back then

Deyontay Wider after losing: "It was the weight of my costume after walking to the ring" Kimo Leopoldo: "Hold my 10 foot cross"

"There's the headbutt... There's the knee to the groin!" Ah the golden years

I think kimo's entrance drained half his stamina meter.

I watched this live.... and for those who don't know the full story, Gracie got Kimo to submit, but that submission came at a price, with exhaustion and dehydration forcing Gracie to withdraw from the field just moments ahead of a semifinal bout with Harold Howard. When the announcement came that Gracie couldn't continue, Kimo ran to the octagon and celebrated as if he hadn't just surrendered his match minutes beforehand. It was a wild night.

I remember when Jesus said, "and tattoo your stomach with my name, get ripped, and beat people up in the name of all that is holy. "

All these kids talking shit about Royce and the Gracie family are hilarious... back in the day Royce had to fight 3 or 4 guys in one single night to be the champion, no holds barred, no weight division... show some respect, ffs. Yes, the game evolved and Royce would get his ass kicked today but he planted the seed for all that shit you see now.

I loved ufc back then. Barely any rules, seems like mortal kombat characters

It's always inspired me when i see Royce Gracie fight on the octagon. Very talented, skill full, and his fighting spirit, no one can do the same.

Commentator: "One of the best fights in UFC History" Event: UFC 3 LOL!!

Royce Gracie: -Tournament seller UFC 1,2 and 4 - First member of the Hall of Fame -Together with his family he helped spread MMA around the world Legend!!!

Still the greatest fight after all these years. Royce gets in a cage with a dude 70lbs heavier than him in a fight with hardly any rules. What a set of balls

Love how you can watch UFC events from the early 90's and still see Big John McCarthy reffing the fights

This art, expressed so capably by Royce, is the product of three generations of improvement. The Brazilian Jujitsu families forced every other martial art to up their games, and also advance. What a great gift to the martial world!

Kemo is constantly whispering to royce "jesus loves you"

If not Royce but a pro wrestling muscular dude won the tournament don’t think UFC existed till today. Royce showed how skill can overcome physical strength and how martial arts is indeed a true art.

Royce was always so good at avoiding getting hit with hard, clean punches! Even his clinch had incredible timing.

"He's grabbing his hair", that's perfectly legal".

5% bodyfat cracked me up 😂😂

How to lose a match: Waste 80% of your energy via carrying a big damn cross to the ring, where you'll have to fight.

Saw this live for free on illegal cable when I was 11, ah the good 'ol dayz

I had the honor of attending a seminar taught by Gracie, he is incredible, the session was 2 hours long and he broke the techniques down step by step, then put it all together, he is actually tall, 6'2.

the man days of ufc the clock counts up and no weight classes.royce fought 3 fights that night.legendary

Kimo-therapy LOOOOOOL what a legendary pun.

Love watching these older fights. Truly the ultimate fighter.

No rules and multiple fights in one night, no time limits, wearing a Gi This was incredible at the time. MMA has developed incredibly since then, but Gracie was the guy who opened everyone’s eyes and made it happen

He beats a 80 pounds heavier guy through submission. I guess this is why basically every MMA fighter today knows at least some BJJ for "ground game".

Lol people complaining about that hair grab... how about that 100 pounds weight difference...

Royce was so revolutionary. He just showed that taking a fight to the floor is the most effective way of winning it. And that's how MMA has been ever since 👍 The first few UFCs were funny because you'd have guys trying to have stand up fights, and having no idea how to handle Royce constantly trying to take them down to the mat!

What a great time for MMA fans. I was 18 and i had to drive to my cable company and rent a cable box for 1 day so i could order this ppv. I had a room full of people watching this event everyone was on the edge of their seat.

I love that john mccarthy's been there since the start

Rewatching all these years later never realized kemo takes Royce back, Locks Hooks in, escapes mount, I’d say he had some Jiu jitsu

Imagine in today’s ufc hearing “He’s holding onto the hair, that’s perfectly legal”.

"If one wishes not to be handled, one should not grow a handle" - some words from my old instructor that apply well here.

Everybody has a plan until they get their hair pulled.

"Hes grabbing the hair thats perfectly legal" lol i almost freaking died

Kimo: I don’t believe in ground and pound. Royce: Thanks for not punching me in the fight.

5 percent bodyfat maybe 17 is generous

Meu irmão tem algum brasileiro assistindo essa luta em 2020 ? Se tem deixa o 👍

Roids, hair pulling, doors opening, Gi's- raunchy as hell!

I remember seeing this live. My life was never the same.

Kimo lost because he wasted too much energy on carrying that CROSS to the Ring lol

Early ufc was full medieval

Back when they allowed head butts, pulling hair, groin shots, and from the looks of Kimo, PEDs. On top of that, no gloves. This looks much more like a street fight than anything I've ever seen. Great fight. Thanks for posting.

Kimo held his own against inevitable defeat, he deserves our respect

I remember that fight, Royce had a low blood sugar problem and hadn't eaten in awhile which is bad news for that condition, could cause death. At the least just saps all your energy. It was also found afterwards that Kimo greased himself up for the fight. No one checked the fighters then and they didn't have any rule against it anyway, so little was made of it, but that was the reason Royce had such a hard time getting him down and holding on to him. Thats why he used the hair which he later said it wasn't much easier that way cause his hair was full of the same greasy substance. Oh the old days. The talent of the guys today are light years better than that time, but nothing will ever compare to the newness and complete rawness of the begining. Today you pretty much know what you're getting. An extremely high level of athletic ability and martial art talent. Fights now are usually long because of how highly and equally talented the top fighters are. And mostly its anyones fight. And if you're a fan, you're pretty familiar with all the ways the fight could be won. The only unknown is who will win and which of those ways will they use. Back then, the whole damn thing was an unknown. That will never happen again. Literal style against style. Real blatant differences. Hell most of the fighters had never even tested what they knew like this. I love MMA now, but if you missed out on those days, you missed the most unique time in martial arts history and sports history in general. And nothing now can compare to what those guys then risked for little to no money at all and little status. Even any status gain was limited, short lived and easily turned into negative status. Back then they truely did it simply because they wanted to. And mostly the only reward was knowing you did it. These days it misses the rawness, the purity of how humans will go to extreme lengths to achieve something that promises not a monetary reward, but something else. Something that's the same as everyone else, but also distinctly different to each individual making possible only to be them to fully understand the why. Yea, that's pure, that's raw and its rare and it was present for a short time ine the very early days. Oh well, it was cool while it lasted. Hey, there's always Curling. I mean no one could possibly be doing that for financial gain, or status. Well then Curling it is! See ya'll on the ice. Olympics, here I come!!!

9:00 Cutest tap in mma history.

"Kimo-therapy" lol this joke would not fly today

This has a pro wrestling intro to it... the walk in... so great.

“He’s allowed to do groin kicks” “He’s grabbing his hair, that’s perfectly legal” Lmaooo

I miss Royce Gracie and his very controlled style. you feel he is always in control, badass right there!

There is literally no way he is 5% bodyfat. 15% would be a stretch.

Parabéns para o brasileiro o Royce Gracie ums de os melhores lutadores em o UFC em sua tempo🇺🇲🇧🇷🇧🇷

Royce years later said kimo "had a pharmacy inside him", the pimples in the back don't lie.

Seriously, you didn't have the door to the octagon securely closed?!?!?!?!?!?!

This fight was Kemo’s to lose. Had Gracie’s back TWICE and didn’t know what to do and even rolled over for him! I love Brazilian Jiujitsu but I think Kemo’s lack of fighting knowledge defeated him as much as the submission did. If Kemo came down with elbows when he had Royce’s back, it could’ve been a much different bout. Thank you Gracie’s for all you’ve done for martial arts. One of the only martial arts where a smaller guy can really stand a chance against a Roid Monster.

Royce Gracie 🥋 The Greatest of All Time. 🐐

5% bodyfat? That's what professional body builders have when they step on stage! This guy has at least 18%.

7:36 " ... he is grabbing the hair, that is perfectly legal" lolol

good to see medium john mccarthy

Big John yelling at the guys on the fence: "get off there! Get OFF there!!!" hahaha

No weight classes and hardly any rules. This seems a lot more entertaining than now

That ref has his shit together and has total control of the situation great work

I still remember back in 1997 renting all the octagon fights on VHS tapes. There were about 3 rules and no time limits.

Incrível a oportunidade de admirar atletas de estilos diferentes, lutando sem categorias de peso, sem luvas, em uma luta real. Adoraria ter a chance de algum dia lutar nessas condições. A adrenalina deve ser incrível. Bons tempos.

Kimo went to my church at this time (24/7 in Huntington Beach) I remember we all watched the PPV cheering him on... dude was huge in person!

He's now driving a Holls Hoyce

God bless you, brother Kimo. Royce was such a legend, mad props on him.

UN SER HUMANO DIGNO DE ADMIRAR ROYCE FUE UNICO EN LAS MMA ENFRENTARCE A LUCHADORES MUCHO MAS PESADO QUE EL Y VENCERLOS ESO YA NO SE VE CON TIEMPOS SEGUIDOS Y SIN DESCANSOS FELICIDADES AL REY DEL LAS ARTES MARCIALES MIXTAS

This fight also shows how amazing a referee John McCarthy is.

Kimo grabbing the clothes, Gracie grabbing the hair. Fair enough.

I miss the old UFC

One of the best UFC fights ever.

I like how he says "There´s the headbutt" "There´s the knee to the groin" like he had studied him and knew that he was gonna do that lool

that 5% body fat thing the narrator said killed me LMFAO

The strength of chemo is incredible. Royce pushes him into fence with ease.

this is the embodiment of ultimate fighting, in that by the end of it, only a few minutes later you can see the exhaustion on both fighters. Amazing

This was no doubt the best era of UFC. I only have access to this via vhs tapes. Good old times

5% with no visible abs

Young Referee John McCarthy has different energy. This was the first ever UFC match I watched as a kid. Someone handed me a DVD of this match and I was so inspired by it. A fan of this sport ever since.

God the rules back then were absolutely insane!!

John Mcarthy looks like his police shift ended a half hour prior to the fight.

Smart hairstyle for a no-rule fight...

5% body fat? LOL!!! More like 20%

Legend has it that Leopoldo went straight to the barber shop immediately after this fight and got a haircut.

Kimo went on to be a drug addict and Joe Son went to prison for rape. Classy dudes representing Jesus.

I remember a conversation with a work mate who asked me who I thought the best UFC fighter was. I told him Royce Gracie. My pal was shocked even a little disgusted and asked WHY? Simple I said because they had to change the rules to stop him winning. Those 30 minute fights with only one rule (no eye gouging) were the closest thing to mortal combat a true test of what would happen in a fight for your life. It would be really interesting to see which of today's top fighter would win in a no rules no time limit fight. Would BJJ still be a fight winner. Guess we will never know now that UFC comes with all the hype and BS of Pro wrestling. Dana White may have built a successful business model but he killed the purest form of fighting sports.

This was a legit street fight between a roid head and a jiu jitsu expert lol

This fight was referenced in Baki.

When UFC was underground...david and goliath matches were the best. All you young guys don't know! No rules, just ass whoopins. And no Freakin gloves.

4:25 my favorite punch of all times

kimo hitting them half reps on bench deserves to lose just for that

It's crazy to see the humble beginning of the UFC . Noone knew anything about BJJ and couldn't believe the way little Royce Gracie was able to tap this big dudes.

4:23 - He had been waiting for months, to throw the ugliest punch ever seen.

They are like characters from 80's movies with VanDamme

Royce had 3 fights that day. Crazy.

INCREDIBLE FIGHT WOW! GRACIE IS UNBELIEVABLE!