Blast from the past: without the movie Lethal Weapon, the UFC is never invented

The following is from a post I made several years ago. Thought it was relevant coming up on the UFC's 20th on Saturday (technically this past Tuesday).





In Brazil in the 20th Century the Gracie Family, led by Helio and his brother Carlos, had an open challenge to all fighters who wanted to test themselves against their brand of Jiu-Jitsu. Competitors from around the world came to Brazil to fight the Gracies, usually losing, which built up their reputation and made them legends in South America. In the 80's famed American kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez got involved in the Gracie Challenge and eventually had a friendly sparring match with Helio's son Rorion. Later on that decade a Brazilian documentary filmmaker attempted to reunite Gracie and Urquidez for a real match but that fell through.

However, word of mouth spread about the family. Popular American film director Richard Donner, currently working on Lethal Weapon, contacted Rorion and brought him to set in 1986. One of the key aspects of the film, in Donner's estimation, was the enigmatic character played by Mel Gibson, Martin Riggs. Riggs is an LAPD Detective and former special operative and Donner wanted him to have a unique and deadly fighting style. Three technical advisors were hired to develop Riggs' skills--Cedric Adams, an expert in Capoeira, a spinning and jumping Brazilian fighting style disguised as dance; Dennis Newsome, an expert in Jailhouse Rock, a vicious hand-to-hand combat style developed by American inmates; and Rorion Gracie, master of mysterious Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In the climactic action sequence at the end of the film, shot over four days, Gibson uses several techniques shown to him by those three advisors. At one point he pulls guard and applies an armbar to a hapless foe. This may be the first taste of BJJ for the American audience.

His involvement in Lethal Weapon and a subsequent Playboy magazine article that labeled Rorion as "the toughest man in the United States" caught the attention of American entrepreneur Art Davie. Davie worked with Gracie to produce a series of instructional videos called Gracies in Action. Their success with the mail-order tapes convinced them to put on a Gracie Challenge in the United States. The Gracie Challenge would eventually transform into the monumental 1993 pay-per-view known as the Ultimate Fighting Challenge, renamed at the last minute to be called the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Without Lethal Weapon there never would've been a UFC.

 

A few more tid-bits:

Spoiler if you haven't seen Lethal Weapon but in the climactic final fight between Gibson and Gary Busey, Gibson finishes the fight with a triangle choke. With or without the gurgling sound effect the choice to use a triangle to end the fight is a bold one. We're used to seeing it and we understand it these days but back then most audiences would have no idea what the hell Gibson was doing or why it was working.

The "Gracies in Action" tapes were seen by many aspiring fighters. Former UFC champion Evan Tanner supposedly taught himself BJJ by watching them intently and physically memorizing the techniques. Tanner combined those lessons with his wrestling background and became the most successful small-circuit MMA fighter of the 90s (20W 2L).

Early concepts for the Octagon were very theatrical and included electrified fences, razor wire, and a moat filled with alligators. Rorion Gracie insisted that there be no rules (as if it were a literal street fight) but they eventually settled on no eye gouging and no biting. Gerard Gordeau bit Royce Gracie's ear in the final fight of UFC 1 inspiring Gracie to continue choking Gordeau after the fight was called. Gordeau solidified his reputation as a dirty fighter by gouging Yuki Nakai's eyes in his next fight, contributing to Nakai's right eye permanently going blind.