Customer Reviews

Ultimate Fighting Championship Classics, Vol. 2

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was very excited to see the original UFC's on DVD! I was disappointed with this one though, because the first round of fights are left off! The DVD starts off with the second round of fights. This is disappointing since this is the only UFC that had four rounds of fights!

UFC 2. An event like no other. The only 16-man tournament in the history of the event, and the most brutal, vicious sporting event I've seen in my life.

A hapless 18-year-old gets a harsh education on what "showing up" means. Robert Lucarelli takes a beatdown, doesn't tap out properly, and suffers a second beatdown. Minoki Ichihara sees his entire fighting style rendered useless by Royce Gracie. Then Patrick Smith gets a piece of Scott Morris, and it's not pretty. And of course, Remco Pardoel vs. Orlando "The Gladiator" Weit, which produced the first truly frightening moment of this young event.

Faces get smashed in, arms get wrenched, and blood flows freely. In the end, however, it comes down not to violence, but skill. That's the beauty of it.

Note: The DVD has three first round matches other than what was shown on the PPV, which had to be shortened due to time constraints.

I had these on video and the dvd's are the same quality with some interviews added. Just to clarify UFC classics 2 does contain the very last match of the first round. This is all that has ever been available as far as I know, including the video.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 2 once again takes place in Denver, Colorado, but at a different arena. This time there are 16 fighters, instead of 8, with the winner receiving $60,000. It is a tournament again with Style vs Style. And Royce Gracie is back, to defend his tournament win from UFC 1. Will he do it?

The DVD starts off with a recap of 7 of the preliminary bouts. The 3 announcers quickly go over the 14 fighters, their styles and who won. For me, this was the only real disappointing thing about the DVD. I don't see why they did not put all the fights on the DVD. I can see why during the PPV for time constraints, but this is a DVD, and there is room for it. Later, in the Special Features section of the DVD, they show 3 of the fights, but we still miss out on 4.

After the recap, they show the 8th bout of the tournament: Minoki Ichihara (Karate) vs Royce Grace (Jiu-Jitsu). Royce quickly takes Minoki down, and eventually submits him by armbar.

Next comes a recap of the differnt styles that will be on display in the Quarterfinals. They show a short segment on each of the 5 styles: Karate, Kickboxing, Kung Fu, Grapplers, and Exotics (ninja). This was informative for any new fans out there.

Now the Quarterfinal Matchups:
Scott Morris (ninja) vs Pat Smith (Kickboxing)
Johnny Rhodes (Karate) vs Fred Ettish (Karate)
Orlando Weit (Kickboxing) vs Remco Pardoel (grappler)
Jason DeLucia (Kung Fu) vs Royce Gracie (Jiu-Jitsu)

There were some great matchups in this UFC with some crazy knockouts and cool submissions. The ending to the Remco/Orlando fight is worth watching this DVD alone. The announcing team were a little better this UFC, but definitely not up to the fluidity that we currently see on Spike or the PPV's. This UFC also featured the debut of Big John McCarthy as the referee. I felt bad for the guy, because he refs every single bout.

For UFC 2, the disc still lacks alot of features. There are the fights, and then a Special Features section. The Special Features has an interview with Hall of Famer Royce Gracie,and then a Bonus Fights/Alternate Angles Part. But as I mentioned before, they only show 3 of the 7 preliminary bouts.

Overall, a great experience for the mixed martial arts fan of the "early days".

very good price and product look like new. I got it for my husband for xmas!thank you and happy holidays!

I love all the classic UFC's including this one. We Netflixed 1-11 but for whatever reason they don't have 2 so we bought it. Amazon always has great prices on used DVDs and this was no exception. We will be buying more of these.

Ultimate Fighting Championship II: No Way Out
March 11, 1994
Fillmore Auditorium,
Denver, Colorado, United States

The DVD: This is the entire ppv event played uncut with a brief Royce Gracie interview from 2006. Only 4 of the 8 preliminary fights were put on the DVD, and 3 of them can only be watched in the special features section, rather than integrated into the continuous broadcast. The missing fights are:
Johnny Rhodes def. David Levicki- Submission (Punches) rd1 12:13
Frank Hamaker def. Thaddeus Luster- TKO (Corner Stoppage) rd1 4:52
Remco Pardoel def. Alberta Cerra Leon- Submission (Armlock) rd1 9:51
Jason Delucia def. Scott Baker Submission- (Punches) rd1

The Event: The commentary and production quality are improved over UFC 1, but still pretty goofy to look at/listen to. This is the only ever 16 man, one night, single elimination tournament in UFC history. Ken Shamrock was scheduled to compete in the tournament, but was forced to back out due to injury. This is the very first appearance by Big John Macarthy as referee.

The Fights: This is a very unique event in UFC history, and arguably the single event that sparked the controversy that nearly shut the sport down in the years that followed. The rules of UFC 2 were that the only way a fight could be stopped, was by the corner, or by tapout. The referee had absolutely no power to stop the fight at any time unless the fighter tapped out, or the corner threw in the towel. This is the one and only time that this was ever a rule in the octagon and led to several of the most brutal Tko's in the entire history of MMA. As with UFC 1, there were no rules whatsoever, Anything was allowed including groin strikes, and hair pulling. No gloves, and no weight classes either.

The real highlight of this event is Royce Gracie running the table and using clean, Brazilian Ju Jitsu to win 4 fights in one single nignt. This is Royce's finest performance, defeating a Karate striker in the first round, then nearly breaking Jason Delucia's arm in the second. His epic topling of 260 lb Dutch grappler Remco Pardoel in the 3rd round, then uppsetting the brutal Pat Smith in the finals cemented him as one of the greatest martial artists of all time, and Brazilian Ju Jitsu and grappling as a whole as a premier Martial Art.

There is a wide variety in the size's, and martial art's backgrounds of the competitors in the event, with a cast of fighters remeniscent of the film "Bloodsport" and each fight presented as a "Style vs Style" confrontation. Pat Smith vs Scott Morris, and Remco Pardoel vs Orlando Weit are two of the most brutal knockouts in UFC history that occurred at this event. Due to the rules, Big John just stood there and watched the unconsious fighters take repeated blows until thier corner would finally throw in the towel. Due to the variety of fighters the rest of the sloppy fight card was fairly entertaining as well.

Even without the prelim round this is a classic tournament, both in its Violence, and its Ju Jitsu performance that changed martial arts forever. A great, real life heroic performance by Royce Gracie, and a wide variety of worldwide martial artists perticipating in the tourny make this a fun watch.

In this second UFC, there are still very clear indications that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was in its infancy. Weight and skill mismatches were ridiculous, and just like UFC 1, it appears that only Royce Gracie had any sort of clue about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Overall, the action was a mere fraction of today's fights, but the excitement of the unknown, and the hope for a MMA future, made this event jaw droppingly awesome.

Aside from Gracie's dominating performances where he proved that skill and knowledge trump strength and speed, here are my favorite fights:

Patrick Smith vs. Scott Morris is a brutal fight that shows some serious ignorance. Morris thought he would just rush Smith, and he paid for that mistake dearly. In no time there was a clinch, and it appeared that Morris pulled Smith on top of him. Smith proceeded to deliver 3 massive crosses, 7 sharp elbows, 8 lethal punches, 3 vicious elbows, and a partridge in a pear tree. One of the more uneven, ugly fights in UFC history...but not nearly as uneven as the next bout, Johnny Rhodes vs. Fred Ettish.

In the most hilarious fight in MMA history, Fred Ettish decided to test his VERY limited skills in the octagon. Oops! Johnny Rhodes, former kickboxing champion, faced off against Fred Ettish, a 5th degree black belt in Kenpo - which he clearly got in a Cracker Jack box - and it only took one hard shot to the chops before Ettish was in the fetal position with a glazed look in his eyes. From there the embarrassment continued, as Ettish lay on the ground and prepared for inevitable shot that would cave his head in - BAM! Right cross from Rhodes! - and the fight was virtually over. A pint of blood and a cubic ton of machismo poured out of Ettish, and then Rhodes mercifully ended it with an amateurish choke.

Another fight of note, and probably the biggest reason for weight classes in today's MMA world, is the Remco Pardoel vs Orlando Weit fight. Pardoel, a massive Dutch guy, against Weit, a ripped but small French guy, was just plain ugly. After a feeling out period, the two ended up on the ground, with Pardoel catching Weit in a crucifix position. The elbows that followed were vicious and I'm still surprised Weit made it through without brain damage.

UFC 2: No Way Out is important for MMA history for multiple reasons. Because of the Smith v. Morris fight's brutality, there are better safety measures. Gracie's BJJ has led to a MMA overhaul, where BJJ is mandatory for every fighter worth his salt. As mentioned, the Pardoel v. Weit mismatch probably was used as evidence for weight class advocates. This is a must have for hardcore MMA fanatics, and if not for missing fights, this would be a five-star addition.

UFC 2 features the return of UFC veterans Royce Gracie,Pat Smith,and Jason Delucia along with 13 newcomers in a 16 man single elimination tournament format.
Gracie and hometown fighter Smith are the top seeded fighters in the tournament with Ken Shamrock taking in the action at cageside with a broken hand eagerly waiting for his return to the octagon.Smith; who was one of the favorites to win UFC 1 has improved his grappling skills since the last event and has Redemption'94 written on his shorts.
The rules are still limited; with no rounds and no weight classes.The winner gets $60,000.00 dollars!

This would have gotten 5 stars from me if there would have been a bit more in the production value. Not much in the way of special features here, which is really sad when you stop and think about how rich this could have been with more interviews. Otherwise, this is a must own simply because it is something historic... a new sport was forged here.