MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[Egg Shen]

that punch ended John Lewis' career.

[JNLister]

Put together a YouTube playlist with 6 of the 7 unbroadcast first round matches from UFC 2:

 

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B4DD671166DE8A5F

[wandshogun09]

Man,great find there.I haven't seen any of them.I'll give them a watch in a bit.Cheers.

[wandshogun09]

Been watching UFC 34 tonight.Another really strong show from the early Zuffa era.

 

A weird thing I noticed about this one was that some of the pre-fight video packages feature some old WWF theme songs like Hardcore Holly's and the Hardy's themes.That was odd.

 

Josh Barnett vs Bobby Hoffman

This was decent enough.Hoffman starts off well taking Barnett down and doing an OK job from the top position.He tires pretty quick though and by round 2 Barnett's the fresher man and takes him down and is all over him with ground and pound until the ref stops it.

 

BJ Penn vs Caol Uno

 

I'm sure everyone's familiar with this one

 

 

That's pretty much the entire fight.All that's missing from that gif is Uno's Tekken style flying kick attempt just before he got bulldozed.

 

(UFC Welterweight Title)

Carlos Newton vs Matt Hughes

This was their first fight.Kind of a revenge fight for the Miletich camp after Newton made Pat Miletich tap to a headlock a few months earlier.Good grappling in this one.Apart from a nice sweep to mount from Newton Hughes pretty much dominates this with some hard slams and throws.

 

Another memorable ending here.Round 2 saw Newton lock up a triangle choke,so Hughes walks over and leans him on the fence.Then he drops Newton with a big powerbomb knocking him out cold.Hughes wins the title.

 

Bit of controversy after with Newton claiming he'd choked Hughes out with the traingle and they were both out.Guess that's why the rematch was made in the Royal Albert Hall show where Hughes completely schooled him.

 

Ricco Rodriguez vs Pete Williams

Ricco was really dominating on the ground here.He ended round 1 with a nasty kneebar attempt,I thought Williams was gonna tap but he survived then got German suplexed for his trouble.Round 2 Ricco takes control again.He gets backmount and batters him with punches for the TKO,finished the same way Hughes beat Royce.

 

Ricco looked great here.One of his better performances.

 

(UFC Heavyweight Title)

Randy Couture vs Pedro Rizzo

This was the rematch of the 5 round war they had at UFC 31.The decision was controversial so they did it again here.I was a tad surprised to see Randy say before the fight that he thought Pedro didn't deserve a rematch.Seemed a bit out of character.

 

This fight was OK but not a patch on their 25 minute classic first fight.Randy absolutely dominates this fight.Rizzo,for some reason,completely abandons his leg kicks which was puzzling because he had so much success with them the first time.This fight wasn't even competitive.Classic Randy Couture, totally relentless with the greco clinch,dirty boxing,push against fence,takedowns and ground and pound until Pedro was bloody and didn't want to carry on.3rd round TKO for Randy.

 

Matt Lindland vs Phil Baroni

This was from the prelims but they stuck it on the end after the main event.This was a great fight,this and their rematch at UFC 41 are forgotten gems IMO.

 

This was a crazy fight,back and forth.Baroni had a guillotine at the start then Lindland was all over him with takedowns and then a series of nasty knees from a front facelock.Then out of nowhere Baroni drops him with a punch at the end of the round.

 

Lindland took the second round fairly comfortably.The 3rd saw Lindland get his back,mount,some good G&P.Baroni winds up on top but Lindland pulls off an awesome headlock sweep and gets top position again,never saw that one before.Then Lindland lands an illegal knee to Baroni's head on the ground (it had been made illegal not long before this I think).Baroni lands a late flurry and has Lindland rocked.

 

Lindland took the decision.He was more dominant but Baroni's moments stick out more.I kinda felt bad for Baroni cause he really fought his ass off.I actually thought this should've been a draw,I felt Baroni edged the first and Lindland won the 2nd.The 3rd I had 9-9 with a point taken for the knee on the ground.Still not a robbery by any means.Great dramatic fight worth tracking down.

 

I'm gonna watch UFC 41 tomorrow with the Penn/Uno and Lindland/Baroni rematches so I'll check in with my thoughts on them when I get chance.

Edited September 6, 2010 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

ahhh ive never seen the first Baroni/Lindland fight, is it on the actual DVD of the show? or did you have a PPV rip?

 

when i first really got into MMA and started buying all the DVD's, Lindland/Baroni 2 hadn't long happened and i used to re-watch that fight over and over, crazy stuff and like you said a forgotten gem.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Baroni-Lindland is on the official DVD of UFC 34.Comes with UFC 33 but that was a stinker of a card.Even Liddell-Bustamante and Pulver-Hallman were pretty cack.A Tito-Matyushenko snoozefest tops that show.

 

I think with the shows from that period they just put what aired on PPV on the DVD's,so if a fight didn't make the live broadcast it's not included.Good job there were a few quick fights or Baroni-Lindland wouldn't have made it either.

 

Great fight though,just as good as the rematch IMO.

[Egg Shen]

watched a few things last night from my career packs...

 

Robbie Lawler vs Aaron Riley - UFC 37: finally saw it! often regared as one of the best forgotten figths in the UFC. Great little scrap, this was both men's debut in the promotion. Lawler is a little beast, back at this time he wasn't so good at pacing himself, he'd throw everything into it, rest then do the same again. Aaron Riley proved if anything that he's a tough muthafucker, he got cracked loads of times but didn't stop coming forward. I scored it 29-28 Lawler giving him rounds 1+3, some great exchanges...try tracking it down.

 

Robbie Lawler vs Pete Spratt - UFC 42: or should i say the humbling of Robbie Lawler. By this point he was 3-0 in the UFC and was coming off 2 KO's, Lawler thought he was the man but Pete Spratt put an end to that. Lawler started as he usually does but you can just see that once Spratt started hitting him he didn't like it...Rogan summed it up when he said that it was what happens when a brawler fights a technical striker. It's an interesting fight, and in hindsight was probably the best thing to happen to Lawler, he realised he couldn't just smash everyone out of there.

 

Always been a Pete Spratt fan too, he never really evolved and still can't fight off the ground, but i don't think ive ever seen anyone get the better of Spratt standing up, has anyone?

 

Saw some old Dan Hardy fights too, only thing i can say from them is that the blueprint by which GSP beat Hardy was in place in the old days, great striker, poor takedown defence.

[wandshogun09]

I've finally got Lawler-Riley on my hard drive.I'll have to give that a watch soon.

 

Lawler-Spratt was fun from what I recall of it.Wasn't that the one where he just blasted the shit out of Lawler with leg kicks.Deffo an eye opener for Lawler.I quite like Spratt too,I'd like to see him fight Paul Daley that would be a fun stand up war.

[Egg Shen]

it wasn't that much of a fight really, but you could see that as soon as Spratt landed a low kick, Lawler's attitude changed completely, he didn't seem comfortable in there.

 

The ending is anti-climatic, Lawler just waves the fight off claiming a hip inury (similar to Dan Evensen quitting against Pat Barry). I'm still unsure whether it was legit, seemed to me like the going got tough and he quit...but who knows?

 

It's worth watching for Baroni on commentary too, he's a friend of Lawler's and actually admits that Lawler probably dind't take training seriously and that it looked like he'd started to believe his own hype. Lawler of course has had a very succesful career, his UFC career was up and down after this but there's no denying that this fight taught him a harsh lesson.

 

I'd love to see Spratt/Daley too, both guys are on Shark Fights tomorrow, maybe we'll get to see it. Shark Fights seem to have their shit together match-making wise and this one would make sense.

[Egg Shen]

Pete Spratt Highlight

 

Spratt is a dangerous man.

[TildeGuy~!]

Spratt's dangerous what's his record?

[Magnum Milano]

Finished watching UFC 29 'Defense of the Belts' last night. This was actually the fouorth show that they did in Japan, which was a bit of a surprise to me, as I only thought they ran three shows over there.

 

Jeff Monson vs Chuck Liddell

Dana White is in Chuck's corner whilst Monson is fighting out of Team Quest, and I have personally always found Monson a terrible fighter to watch as he is just one dimensional and bland. The Japanese crowd is quiet, and that never helps with the atmosphere. First round saw Monson get a couple of takedowns, but he was never able to keep Chuck down. After that he stuffed all other takedown attempts, whilst landing some strikes standing. Round Two saw Chuck block every takedown attempt, and in between threw numerous right kicks to Monson's left thigh. With 30 seconds to go, Monson pulled Chuck into his guard, but the Iceman ended up just getting back to his feet. Round Three went the same as Two, with Chuck badly discolouring Monson's left thigh, whilst continuing to avoid being taken down. Easy unanimous decision for Chuck.

 

Matt Hughes vs Dennis Hallman

Prior to this they show their previous fight from Extreme Challenge, where Hallman subbed him with a guillotine after just 17 seconds. This one goes longer, but not by much (I timed is at 18 seconds, official time was 20). Hughes ducks a Hallman overhand right and gets a big slam on him, but Hallman immediately goes for a triangle submission. Hughes slams him again, Hallman transitions to the armbar and Hughes taps.

 

Evan Tanner vs Lance Gibson Sr

Another good showing from Tanner who just outclassed Gibson from the off. He tripped him whilst they were in a clinch and patiently bided his time until passing the guard. He busted Gibson's nose after some nasty elbows to the face, and mixed those up with elbows to the body. He eventually got full mount, and just teed off on Gibson until Mario Yamasaki halted it.

 

Fabiano Iha vs Daiju Takase

Great shoot and single leg takedown from Iha, and he then drags Takase halfway across the Octagon so he is up against the fence in his corner. Iha ends up standing whilst still being in Takase's full guard, and lands some hard shots to the face. Takase turns away and Iha hits him some more until it is stopped. The so called 'Best in the Business' is a tad slow in stopping this, as it should have been halted as soon as Takase turned away.

 

Yoji Anjoh vs Matt Lindland

This was Lindland's UFC debut and was coming off the back of an Olympic Silver medal in Greco Roman Wrestling. Great debut performance and it was all Lindland from the moment Anjoh failed on a takedown attempt. He controlled things with a front headlock and then with some knees to the head. Anjoh tried to push him against the cage, but Lindland just walked back up it to maintain position. He ended up on top and that was the beginning of the end. Some elbow strikes, some punches, and Big John had seen enough.

 

Pat Miletich vs Keneichi Yamamoto

Yamamoto is dropping from Middleweight (where he had previously won a tournament on one of the other UFC Japan shows) to Lightweight in order to get a shot at the champion. I don't know what happened to Miletich, but he is a really enjoyable fighter to watch at this stage of his career, after a lackluster start to life in the UFC. A real good performance by Miletich who completely dominates his opponent. Miletich tried to keep as much of this fight standing as possible. Every takedown attempt that Yamamoto tried, would see Miletich wind up on top, where he would contorl things for a bit, before returning to his feet. In the Second, he drops Yamamoto with a left hoook before applying a guillotine choke for the submission victory. Pat appeared to damage his left ankle at some point, as he is limping fairly heavily post fight.

 

Chris Lytle vs Ben Earwood

This match is actually a prelim contest from UFC 28. As UFC 29 was taking place in Japan, it was airing on tape delay in the US. Due to a number of short fights, there was uncertainty surrounding how they would fill a three hour PPV broadcast, and I am assuming this is the reason this is shown. If that is the case, then this is either a must see classic, or it is going 15 minutes. Not quite, as I forgot that the prelims in those days were fought over two rounds and not three. Poor fight. This is Lytle's UFC debut and is sporting a full crop of hair, Earwood is a Miletich fighter. Not a lot to say about this, but it was very similar to the Mark Hughes vs Alex Steibling fight, where the Miletich fighter just controlled everything with their wrestling. Nothing more to add.

 

Tito Ortiz vs Yuki Kondo

Ortiz is cornered by Tiki and Razor Rob, and has both Chuck and Dana in his corner. Kondo opens with a flying knee that drops Tito, but that was the only offense he got in the entire fight. Tito was straight back to his feet, and pushed Kondo back up to the cage, and then drags him down to the floor. He then unloads with dozens of punches and elbows that just overwhelm Kondo, then gets the tap via half nelson submission in quick time. Ortiz looked a beast and pretty darn incredible in this fight, and Kondo's loss concluded a poor night for the Japanese fighters. In his post fight interview, Ortiz called out Renzo Gracie.

 

Easily the best of the shows that took place in Japan, and the worst fight on the disc is the prelims contest from UFC 28. Tanner, Lindland, Miletich and Oritz all looked great, and seeing Matt Hughes get tapped in 20 seconds is well worth seeing again and again.

[wandshogun09]

Speaking of Evan Tanner,I can't believe it's been pretty much exactly 2 years since he died

 

Only things I've seen of UFC 29 are the Ortiz-Kondo and Liddell-Monson fights.That flying knee from Kondo shocked me,I knew the result already but that still made me think he could win this.Great start to the fight,shame he got battered shortly after.

 

Haven't seen either of the Hughes-Hallman fights.I'll have to check them out when I've got a spare 40 seconds

Edited September 9, 2010 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

i don't think people realise how long Chris Lytle's been in the UFC, i say chuck the fucker in the hall of fame...pound for pound i dont think anyone's had as many good fights as Lytle.

[Egg Shen]

Spratt's dangerous what's his record?

 

21-17, 14 of his defeats are bu submission...no doubt as to what Spratt's weakness is. Gotta love the fact that despite having 38 pro bouts, only 3 have ever gone the distance.