 What can the reader infer about the early UFC practices based on the fact that "only biting and eye-gouging were forbidden"?
Promoters built an octagonal chain-link cage, invited eight top martial artists, and set them loose in no-holds-barred, bare-knuckles fights. UFC allowed, even promoted, all notions of bad sportsmanship: kicking a man when he's down, hitting him in the groin, choking. My passion for ultimate fighting (which is also called "extreme" or "no-holds-barred" fighting) began when I saw the finals of UFC IV. Nursed on boxing and Hollywood, Americans imagine fights as choreography, a dance of elegant combinations, roundhouse kicks, clean knockouts. The outcry against "human cockfighting" became a crusade, and like many crusades, it was founded on misunderstanding.
 The early UFC was promoted as an exhilarating experience of watching the closest thing to a real-world fight.
 There are no rules arbitrating fair practice in the UFC.  The UFC openly allowed and even encouraged participants to fight each other to the death.  The early UFC was promoted as an exhilarating experience of watching the closest thing to a real-world fight.  Bad sportsmanship was encouraged in the early UFC because participants were attempting to recreate scenes in Fight Club.