That shows just how far the sport has evolved, because when the UFC first burst onto the scene, it was birthed under different pretenses with no care of becoming a legitimized sport. When I first watched the UFC, I watched because it was large, surly looking men beating on each other with limited rules, no gloves, and, to be frank, you could almost boil it down to the fact that you knew one guy could, if he really wanted to, punch the other guy in the balls.

Comparing the UFC of today to its ‟No Holds Barred‟ carnival freakshow beginnings, is like comparing a Charlie Rose interview with a foreign head of state to Jerry Springer interviewing a goitered, half-ton hillbilly in love with his baby momma's cross-dressing grandfather. Admittedly, both have their appeal, depending on your particular state of mind.

UFC 5 took place on April 7, 1995 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The announcing team was made up of Bruce Beck, Olympic Greco-roman Wrestling gold medalist Jeff Blatnick, and Dirty Dozen grenade throwing sprinter Jim Brown. The format was typical of the first UFC's, an eight man tournament; however this show would feature a new edition of a non-tourney ‟Superfight‟, this time between UFC 1,2, and 4 winner Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.

Andy Anderson Vs. Jon Hess: In what may be the greatest fighter introduction ever, with not an ounce of comedy implied, Andy Anderson's multiple rankings in different martial are listed, then that he is donating some of his winnings to a charity for the blind, and, finally, that he owns a chain of nightclubs called The Totally Nude Steakhouse.

John Hess is described as a 4th degree master of his own fighting art called SAFTA (Scientific Aggressive Fighting Technology of America), which begs the question: if you developed the entire system, why are you not a full, 5th degree master of it?

This fight typifies what occurred in a good 70% of UFC fights within its first year, year and a half. Despite the proclaimed fighting backgrounds, you don't see much martial arts come into play. Its just two big dudes wailing on each other, clubbing, and swinging wild. Graceless, but still oddly compelling, like watching a drunk hippo stumble around a chandelier store. It actually proves a good point too, that despite the hundreds, thousands of years of supposed refining of martial arts, despite their training, belts, years of study, if you pit two guys in a real fight and they will just wail and technique goes out the window.

Todd Medina Vs. Larry Cureton: Medina's claim is to be the UFC's first fighter who is a master of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kun Do. Cureton marks Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, and primarily Kickboxing on his resume. Medina gets a takedown, planting Cureton on his back, tries some punches- including nutshots- and then some nasty headbutts. Extra Note: I'm no master of Jeet Kun Do, but from what I've researched about it, there is barely, if any, ground fighting whatsoever, so again, Medina's spouted technique kinda' goes out the window.

Oleg Taktarov Vs. Ernie Verdeca: ‟The Russian Bear‟ Taktarov has a solid background in submission grappling, primarily the art of Sambo. Verdica, like many early UFC contestants, has a total cop look but is actually a paramedic with some Kempo Karate. Again. Where is the Kempo? Verdeca takes Taktarov down and tries to strike and headbutt, Taktarov patiently waits and once he rolls Verdeca over it takes about a millisecond for Taktarov to choke the paramedic.

Dan Severn Vs. Joe Charles: Joe Charles walks out dressed like Aladdin. He needed the aide of a genie to fight wrestler (not wrassler') Dan Severn, who had made a big splash at the previous UFC. Severn scores a textbook takedown, throws some knees and pitty pat punches, and when Charles manages to scramble back to his feet, Severn shows he's developed some submissions after getting choked out by Royce Gracie.

Dave Beneteau Vs. Medina: The pattern continues in this semi-final match. An alternate taking the place of John Hess, who bruised his hand whooping on the Topless Steakhouse owner, wrestler Beneteau takes Medina down, a couple of little punches, slows down, crowd boos, Beneteau gets the mount and punches away, forcing the ref to step in.

Severn Vs. Taktarov: When John McCain and the rest of the political prudes game down on UFC as ‟human cockfighting‟ and managed to get it banned for a time from cable pay per view, this was one of the fights used to highlight the UFC's brutality. Severn takes the Sambo specialist down and uses his 55 pound advantage to pin Taktarov on his back. Taktarov tries to lock hold of a submission, tie up and arm, throw his legs up for a choke, but Severn's brutal knees to Taktarov's head render the Russians noggin' a crimson mess. Of course its just blood, but since it was knees that caused the cut, viewers, due to unfamiliarity to seeing such a thing, thought it was far worse than a gloved fist in boxing causing the same damage.

Ken Shamrock Vs. Royce Gracie: Ahhh, the first ‟Superfight‟, a rematch between UFC's first legend Gracie Ju Jitsu practitioner and three-time UFC tourney champ Gracie and Pancrase fighter Shamrock. The Gracie myth had been cemented, at the time, no matter the opponent size or skill, Gracie would manage to work off his back, tie them up, and eventually submit them. To survive the match without being submitted could be considered an accomplishment, which is just what Shamrock, boringly, aimed for. Gracie's ‟special rules‟ were that the match would have no winner and be declared a draw if it went the 35 minute distance. Basically, Shamrock takes Gracie down (Why take down the ju jitsu fighter who is crap on his feet striking, I cannot explain.) And avoids the subs, and a few- very few- punches and headbutts make a bloody mouse under Gracie's eye. This yawner goes the full thirty-five minutes, but Shamrock appears to be the winner despite the Gracie implemented distance=draw rule.

UFC 5 Tournament Finals Severn Vs. Beneteau: Severn, this time versus a fighter nearly his mirror with a similar wrestling background, though Severn has the edge in experience putting his wrestling movies into a fight context.

The DVD: Lions Gate

Picture: Full-screen, Standard. The production quality of the early UFC's wasn't all that great. Based on the editing (which is thankful because the pay per views had terrible time-fill gaps), it looks like they have taken the masters for the vhs releases and put them on DVD. The first couple of volumes looked pretty poor, but the clarity has steadily stepped up a notch or two with every new release.

Sound: 2.0 Stereo. Again, simple basic, tv stuff. Nothing to gripe at, nothing to be ecstatic over.

Extras: A prime extra opportunity was lost by not including the two, unseen ‟Alternate matches‟ Dave Beneteau-Asbel Cancio and Guy Mezger-John Dowdy. You see a replay bit of Beneteau's match during the broadcast because he filled a spot, so we know cameras were rolling. Mezger went on to a solid mma career, so it's a shame they skimped on giving the fans a look at this fight.

So, the only extras is a retrospective, ‟Unleash the Beast‟ which lasts just a bit over ten minutes. Dan Severn and Oleg Taktarov are interviewed and recall the event, their training, thoughts on their matches, and MMA journalist Josh Gross dishes some comments on how the event holds up in UFC history.

Conclusion: You can break UFC fans, more or less, into three categories: those who were with it from the beginning and stuck with it as it underwent a considerable amount of growth and change, those who were early fans but slowly lost interest or quit watching altogether, and those who recently discovered it (many thanks to the Spike TV reality show and fight broadcasts) and because of its only recent exposure on dvd have no clue about its brawling circus-like beginnings.

UFC 5 was a decent event with some okay matches and really only the "Superfight" is a sore spot. Recent converts will be flabbergasted by the, shall we say, rough quality of the fights and the production, so they may want to test the waters with a rental. Old school fans will want to pick up the DVD's and reminisce about its ‟bloodsport‟ days and the rawness of it all. Those going in completely green should be aware of the difference between what it is now and what it was.