Filed under: Bellator , Featured , News (This story originally appeared in today’s edition of USA TODAY .) If you want to know how much has changed in the sport of MMA since the last time Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock fought each other, you might as well start with the terminology. Back in 1993, when Gracie (14-2-3) earned a submission victory over Shamrock (28-16-2) at the very first UFC event, the sport didn’t even have a name. In fact, it was hardly a sport at all. Promoters billed it as a no-holds-barred battle for martial arts supremacy. There were no rounds, no weight classes, in most cases no gloves, and very few rules. It was, in other words, the primordial ooze from which the modern sport of MMA would eventually crawl.
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A trilogy for the aged: Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock tonight at Bellator 149 – MMA Junkie