I agree, "looking back," they're pretty incredible. It's amazing what they were doing at the time. But people who are claiming that the fights themselves were better than what we get at UFC PPV level now are just viewing the past through rose-colored glasses.
I'd say if there's anything that was more interesting then, was that the sport had not evolved as much into its own discipline then. When it was mostly a test of one martial discipline against another, sumo vs. karate, ninjitsu vs. kung fu, boxing vs. pencak silat, and the Gracies were able run roughshod over everyone because BJJ was unknown.
Now that there are more rigorous rules, like strikes against the crown or back of head or spine, no slamming an opponent on his head (Sorry, Cote!), and everyone is operating with -some- level of understanding of stand-up, ground, and submission games, there's not as much chance of seeing a boxer -desperately- trying to avoid going to ground. Anymore, it seems like the new trend is the dominance of the amateur wrestler's ground game, even as their strength rarely seems to prove out in submission wins.
