I would certainly hope so. But seeing you post stuff like this
makes me believe that you're not aware of the actual situation back then. I understand where you're coming from, you have no active experience with combat sports, do not personally associate with anyone who does, or hang out with people who train etc. Most certainly not with people from the era in question. So, being interested in the historical aspects of the sport, you got your Vale Tudo knowledge from the following sources:
- Wikipedia.
- BJJHeroes.
-Old UG forum posts.
- You watched the 9 part interview with Pereira that's on youtube.
- Other Youtube interviews with oldschool dudes.
All of this is fine; you have to, however, exercise critical thinking in the evaluation of what is presented to you; instead you are falling for their romanticized fables hook line and sinker.
300+ fight records with 296 wins, 1 loss and 3 draws are fake.
2-4h+ Vale Tudo fights that were called a draw because the sun set are fake.
Just look at the old legends: In their 70s and 80s, they show no signs of CTE. No scars, no cut eyebrows. Hell, some of them look like they never as much as broke their nose.
Remember that this whole discussion sprung from your contention that
They can be verified just fine, as I have been doing in this thread. The point is that they are verifiably fake to an overwhelming degree.
Nobody forced them to do anything. Like combat sports athletes all over the world in the beginning of the 20th century, they realized that fake fights with scripted endings were more profitable and significantly more condusive to a long and healthy career than beating the shit out of each other for real and being payed peanuts.
This is a typical fight card from the supposed "golden age" of Brazilian "Vale Tudo":
the main event is Pro Wrestler Ivan Gomes fighting against the Dutch Pro Wrestling veteran Willem Ruska (more than 150 pro wrestling "fights"). On the undercard we have Pro Wrestler Antonio Inoki, owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling, vs a Pro Wrestler from New Zealand, Abe Jacobs. Ricky Hunter is a Pro Wrestler that actually performed in the famous American WWF. Etc.etc...
This is what "vale tudo" cards were like in the "vale tudo mecca" Maracanazinho.
The "vale tudo" TV show "Herois do Ringue" was a pro wrestling show. You know what happened when a performer accidentally got his arm legitimately broken by an armbar? The show got pulled off the network for being too violent...
All these guys were primarily pro wrestlers, some of whom occasionally fought for real. A lot of them had legitimate, high level skills (Ruska for example was a 2 time Olympic gold medalist in Judo before he started his fake fighting career) and went on to become excellent trainers for the next generation of fighters. No less, no more.
Like I said, I think it's cool that the younger generation is interested in the history of our sport. But your "knowledge" relies exclusively on the second and third hand sources I listed above, as well as on biased accounts of people with an agenda. I know it's tempting to believe that dudes back then were Herculean monsters that fought under full vale tudo rules fights, sometimes lasting for hours, several times per month, over a span of several decades, and are now physically and mentally perfectly intact senior citizens. But the human body doesnt work like that, and this uncritical and undue adulation is actually indirectly disrespectful towards the actual pioneers and legends of our sport.
P.S.: Just as a final comment on our bizarre side conversation about Zulu's fighting prowess, and whether or not being "out of prime" allows for an accurate evaluation;
I have to reiterate that being out of your prime doesnt make you forget how to fight. This is what fighters outside of their prime look like:
You get slower, weaker, gas faster, injuries last longer. You are not magically unable to access technical skills you learned when younger. If you suck on a technical level when you're old, it's because you sucked when you were young. Zulu cant punch, grapple or shoot a takedown at a high level now because he never could.
He was a pro wrestler with very rudimentary grappling training playing the role of Evil Black Dude. That's it.
