UFC Unleashed yesterday - Royce Gracie (Gracie vs Hughes coming soon)

[Dallara]

A couple comments:
- UFC 1 had ten minute rounds. I think the Rozier/Frasier fight might have lasted until round 2. None of the others did.
- Royce was probably the second best brother at the time of UFC 1. Rickson was clearly the best. Rorian and Relson were a little too old. Royler was probably better pound for pound than Royce, but much smaller so not as good to fight an open weight tourney. Rolker was, frankly, not that good. I think they planned to keep Rickson in the background in case someone beat Royce. Then they could have Rickson come in and beat that guy. As it turned out, no one beat Royce until Sakaraba ran through Royler, Renzo and Royce years later. By that time Rickson had pretty much retired from fighting.
- Regarding the Gracies picking fighters for the early UFCs, I think the Gracies really thought they could beat anyone and would have fought anybody. They were smart enough to know who would be tough fights (big wrestlers or big judo guys), but it wasn't until modern cross-trained fighters got skilled that there was really anyone who could beat them. A well rounded fighter like Fedor or Sakaraba or Vanderlai Silva just didn't exist until after the first couple UFCs (because nobody besides the Gracies were training that way).

Edited to add - as much as I like Royce, I don't think his chances are great against Hughes. Although Hughes has shown a weakness against good submission guys (Charuto almost subbed him, Hallman tapped him twice, Newton did sub him but lost), I think he'll be more careful against Royce and Royce's subs aren't as slick as those other guys.