- Title: World Vale Tudo Championships (WVC) 1 - "Brazil v The World"
- Date: August 4, 1996
- Length: 3 hours
- Overall Rating: 3 Stars
- Total number of fights: 13
As a result, these days, everyone has crossed trained in several arts. The real consumer reports aspect of NBH fights has for the most part disappeared. In WVC 1 the fighters are for the most part one dimensional, with limited NHB experience, thus allowing for the comparison of styles.
Right off the bat, none of the fighters that got mounted had any clue how to escape Ahhh, I long for the good old days where all you had to do was get the mount and pound away. Moreover, few of the fighters had a glimmer of a clue how to use the guard or how to pass the guard.
To top things off, I have to hand out first annual "I am as dumb as a brick" award (DAAB). This goes to the fighter who fails to learn even the most rudimentary lessons from his NHB experiences. This year’s selection committee had a tough time making a selection and decided to give out two awards this year. The envelope please . . . the winners of this years DAAB award goes to Steve Jennum annnnnd Harold Howard. Please, Steve say a few words. "I’d like to thank the marital arts academy, my family, the few undamaged brain cells that I have left, the severe and repeated pummelings that I have graciously received that made my brain cells small unabsorbent hardened lumps, again thank you, I am honored, would you like fries with that, please drive through."
Our DAAB award winners both have fights on this tape. Jennum fights Marco Ruas and Howard fights Hugo Duarte. Both Jennum and Howard essentially wet themselves in front of the camera. If either of these guy learned anything from their previous NHB experience it failed to show through. You would think they would have paid attention to other NHB fights and learned that being mounted and getting pummeled is bad. No, really it is. You would also think that they would have had the smarts to go out and learn a few escapes from the mount. I can recommend a few tape sets just in case anyone out there is planning on having a career in NHB fighting. I know you won’t believe me, but people will mount you and start punching. It’s the craziest thing, who would have thought? Maybe its, just a fluke and this sort of thing won’t ever happen again. Ahh, forget I mentioned it, it’s probably not important.
Also on this tape is a fight between Oleg Taktarov v Joe "The Ghetto Man" Charles. First off, Joe, get a new nickname. In this fight Joe "The Slim Fast Poster Boy" Charles ended up on his back. Oleg rushes in with his face forward and tries to get a leg lock and then backs off once this fails. I was having serious flashbacks to the Oleg v Renzo fight. The Renzo fight actually took place much later. Oleg did the exact same thing to Renzo and paid the price with a foot to the face. Joe "The one-eyed trouser snake" Charles never even made an attempt to kick Oleg in the face from his back.
The main announcer on this tape, as with WVC 4, is the worst. In the Pedro Otavio v Manabu Ohara fight, the announcer declared the fight a draw. Moments later the judges decision was declared and a winner was picked. A guy off the street probably knew more about what was going on in the auditorium that night than this guy. After each fight he would say something like, "Now lets go to so and so for an interview with one of the fighters." The problem is either they edited out all of these interviews or they never occurred. This announcer was an oxygen thief. His feebleness was summed up by his statement that, "Harold Howard put up a good fight, but it lasted 30 seconds." I am sure Hiroshima put up a good fight, until it was vaporized a billionth of a second later. Yea, sure, whatever you say.
One of the more interesting segments on this tape is where the camera follows Manabu Ohara into the locker room after his fight with Pedro Otavio. Ohara took a pretty good beating in a fight that went 30 minutes. You always wonder what happens after the fight. Essentially the guy lays down on the floor in the locker room and they ice his head to reduce the impending massive headache. Later the camera returns to the locker room and they interview a man who looked like he was dressed for a bit part in Big Trouble in Little China. He must have been either Ohara’s trainer or manager. Camo uniform, black vest, and a mustache that made him look like a Japanese Leroy Neumann. The interview was totally in Japanese and went on and on. I can only guess as to what was said. I think he was telling us that they had studied the 5 Rocky films and devised their strategy for the fight. This involved allowing Pedro Otavio to beat Ohara at will until he (Pedro) got tired and then launching a counter attack. I think the manager went on to say that this strategy turned out to be a less than perfect plan, he was mystified as to why the strategy failed, where it had worked so well for Rocky, especially against Mr. T. It also worked so well for Oleg. I think he closed the interview by saying that he will study Chris Farley’s moves in Hollywood Ninja and return to fight another day.
This tape has a lot of well know names in NHB. This event is probably worth viewing just so you can say you saw the Ruas v Jennum, Harold Howard v Hugo Duarte, or Eugenio "Ralph is afraid of me" Tadeu in action. None of the fights lives-up to expectations. If nothing else come and watch Jennum and Howard bleed as they get a harsh spanking. Opps, I mean watch as the their respective martial styles vie for supremacy and prove once and for all which art is the best.