Chapter 315 - 286 Classic Moments of UFC
January 27th, 8 PM, UFC 255 was held at the Arthur Stadium in New York.
Mikel sat in the back row seats with his son, watching the fights. The first seven matches were undercards and had started to bore him.
"Nowadays, UFC is just getting more and more boring."
He had been an old UFC fan. In 1996, his father had taken him to see a UFC event live. That was one of the earliest UFCs, the rules were quite different from today: apart from prohibiting eye gouging, groin attacks, and biting, there were no other restrictions.
Back then, UFC fights truly showcased blood and violence to the fullest, and Mikel, at 18 years old, had followed his father to a live match that left an impression on him that lasted to this day!
It was precisely because of this lasting impression from that time that Mikel continued to follow UFC. He witnessed UFC’s climb from oblivion to nearly being banned, and then to its later prosperity.
Although its influence grew and more people paid attention, Mikel felt UFC had lost the purity it had in the beginning.
It wasn’t that the matches were less bloody than before but that UFC had become too commercialized. In Mikel’s view, many of the big-name fighters were largely hyped up, their real abilities not matching their repute!
On this point, Mikel greatly appreciated the early UFC when the period could be described as a gathering of stars: Minotaurs, Judgment Chief, Bad Boy, Iceman, GPS... These giants were almost without exception legendary and substantial, with not a hint of fraudulence.
Mikel missed the championship battles of that time when every fight between two giants was a classic and each one got the blood pumping and left a lasting memory.
Back then, to see ’Bad Boy’ versus Iceman live, Mikel had spent three months’ salary to buy a ticket from a scalper. Afterwards, he didn’t regret it in the slightest; instead, he felt very fortunate.