It's certainly easier -- and much more fun -- to assume the worst when you don't have all the information.
Many...scratch that...MOST of the early UFC competitors were guys waiting in line for a chance at the Gracie Challenge...a challange match, NHB, with one of the Gracie's in their studio in Torrance. Or, if one could not make the trip to Torrance, a more local place to the challanger.
DeLucia got in because he wanted a second try. Did a challange match in Torrance with Royce, and popped him in the eye pretty good (gave Royce what I believe was his first shiner in then-recent history). The guy was slippery, and kept sliding out from Royces superior positions like a greased pig. Eventually, Royce caught him in a mounted triangle and punched him till he tapped. DeLucia returned to Boston to contemplate his match with Royce, and train for some different anti-Gracie strategies, including some grappling (prior to that, was mostly just an in-dynamite-shape kung-fu dude). By the time he was ready to come give his new tricks a try, the UFC was already in swing.
Under contract with Davies, folks in line for a challenge match, if they wanted a piece of a Gracie, had to do it in the Octagon with Royce.
Sambo? Judo? Wrestling? Watch GJJ In Action 2: big Russki shows for a challenge match with Rickson, and taps in 32 seconds. What they cut out of the tape was that the guy cried. Had been a bouncer since mid-teens, boxed, Sambo, Judo, even wrestled, never lost. Was positive he would wealk away richer and with bragging rights.
Pre-UFC, Royce goes to Philly and wrestles a pair of Giant Twins, each NCAA frestyle wrasslers (one guy in the late 300's, and the other guy weigng in at 405). Too big to get his arm around their necks, he taps them in some interesting ways. Injures one in the back, pissing off the bigger brother who tries to get revenge...before being hurt himself.
Also pre-UFC, one of the GJJ Torrance Academy students has a cousin who is a Pan-Am champ, freestyle wrestling. Takes a challenge match with Royce, convinced (as most on this board) that it's all fluff and mirrors. 3 outta 3, Royces favor, to submission. Guy had about 50 pounds on Royce (not hard at the time...his 176 weigh-in at UFC I was after a body-building and strength training regimen that brought the perpetual ectomorph up from about 160).
My buddy and I worked at a bar in Huntington Beach, CA, with a Hawaiian bruiser, convinced he could out-brawl any skinny Brazilian. By the time Eric/Mick (the same guy who weight-trained Royce for the 1st UFC and also threw his bachelor party) cajoled Kimo into taking the Gracie challenge, the whole davies contract thing kicked in, so we saw him in a UFC, instead of in an "In-Action 3" tape. Kimo, incidently, subsequently immdeiately took up the study of...wrestling? Nope. Sambo? Nope. BJJ under Moriera. Go figger.
2 things get easily forgotten in these postings:
1. The Gracies never claimed to be bullet-proof, and even Rorian foretold of the day when the large Americanswill have spent enough time training in the BJJ tricks of the trade, that they would eventually "catch" a Gracie or BJJ rep. And yes, waaaay before the UFC's, the "buzz" in the very-small (then) BJJ world was that the Russians and Shoot-fighters both had some wicked ankle and knee locks. The wiser BJJ-ists picked them up from Sambo and Shoot guys in friendly workouts, while the other guys picked up "mount-fighting" & guard tactics from the BJJ-ers in return. Syncretics are inevitable in the fighting arts, particularly when the "other guy" has something incredible that you do not. Learn it and evolve, or die, no?
2. The guys in the 1st UFC's were not the 1st or only of their kind to face the Gracies. Yes, some were selected for "star" or "draw" power, over records...Davies, after all, wanted to make money. Some, however, were just next in line for the Challenge. If you think the Gracies shied away from grapplers, get off your butt, and go to the Gracie academy in Torrance. Rorion video-taped challenge matches, so guys couldn't come back later and say they won, when in fact they did not. An academy rep could simply plug in the video and ask, "where?". In the hundreds (yes, as in many hundreds, not just one or two) of video-taped challenge matches, there are some notables that show up to fight, train, explore. All meet the same fate, sooner or later, in one way or another. Some guys more famous than Jennum took challenge matches, and have since signed up for lessons, including Norris and Seagal (not that Seagal counts, but for the record...many idjits in the US consider him a bada$$ since he's so well vested in his own confidence)
As I mentioned, syncretics are inevitable. Memory weakens with time (and boxing), but (I believe) slightly before the UFC's were in season, Judo Gene LaBelle had a grappling party every Saturday at his house in Frazier Park, CA. Each session had guys from his stable, along with one or more of the Machado brothers and thier protoge's, as well as guys from Shoot and Sambo. Do you suppose it's possible they were exchanging notes, training each others' material?
Just some grist for the mill.
Dr. Dave
