Renzo Gracie and Greg Kukuk have come out with a 4 tape series of Vale Tudo or no holds barred fights from Brazil. The 4 tapes have a total of about 43 fights on them. These tapes are non-instructional in nature. The tapes all begin with a short opening of a series of still shots depicting various warriors real and imagined in history. This is the same footage that was used in the WCC opening. The WCC has a voice-over that made the collection of pictures make some sense (i.e. the inclusion of Morihei Ueshiba’s picture, for example) Next time Kukuk ought to budget more money for opening graphics.
All but a couple of the fights are from 7 "FreeStyle" competitions. I haven’t a clue as to any details or background on this event. If anyone has any info let me know. The event appeared to have similar rules as UFC 1. There is very little interference from the referee. Most of the fights pit a BJJ guy against some other martial arts. It would have been nice if Kukuk had labeled who the fighters were and their respective styles. Like the Gracie In Action tapes, all the BJJ guys win. (Actually, since only two fighter are identified, I am guessing which fighters were the BJJ guys). Some of the BJJ guys take a terrible beating and then pull out the win. This at least creates the illusion of drama.
The skill of the various fighters ranges from non-existent (fight 1 tape 1) to some of the best (Renzo and Ralph). However, if you want to see Ralph and Renzo fight don’t bother buying these tapes. If you have the Renzo/Kukuk instructional tapes you have seen both of these fights.
The bottom line on this tape series is it delivered exactly what I expected, lots of fights, lots of blood, and the occasional broken arm tossed in for good measure. A couple of these fights are some of the bloodiest fights I have ever seen. What looks like a big sweat stain covering the floor of the ring is blood. Although I can’t be certain, it look like a couple arms got broken. Like you would expect some of the fights are very short and some of them are quite long. While these tapes are non-instructional, I did pick-up a few pointer here an there.
The tape set runs about $100. That comes out to about $2.30 a fight. That is about what you would pay for a typical UFC. You pretty much get what you pay for with this tape series. My only suggestions would be to introduce each tape with a description of what tournament is being shown and the rules. More importantly, captions of who the fighters are and their style of marital arts should be added.
As a side note, if I had to choose between this tape set and the Gracie in Action I and II tapes is I would choose the In Action tapes without a doubt. On the In Action tapes you get to see just about everyone you have heard about fight, like Rickson, Schultz, Royce, Rorion, Ruas, Delucia, Zulu, etc. Some of these fights have taken on legendary status. These tapes have Rorion’s voice-over and he tells you what style the opponent practices. The In Action tapes should be mandatory viewing. If you have not seen them, you won’t know what people on the Net are talking about half the time. Every time an new "unknown" BJJ fighter enters a UFC like event I find myself going back to the In Actions tapes to watch his earlier fights.