MMA: Past Fight Discussion

[darepool]

I don't know if Kimo/Severn is the worst match ever.

This beauty

 

Mr Takada vs Bernardo is one of the bloodiest fights in the HISTORY of mma. Non stop action, reverals and most of all trying to finish the fight

[The Cum Doctor]

I have just watched what I think might be my favourite finish ever. Yves Edwards with the head kick to Josh Thomson in UFC 49.

 

Absolutely incredible. I've been watching it over and over and over.

[wandshogun09]

Oh yeah that was one of the best KO's I've ever seen

 

 

Ouch!

 

UFC 49 was a fine card.Chuck Liddell vs Vernon White was a very enjoyable beatdown and the grappling masterclass put on by Nick Diaz and Karo Parisyan in their fight was a blast to watch.Great fight.

 

The only fight that I thought was a bit flat was Randy-Vitor 3.Randy absolutely dominated Belfort pretty much into submission.Not a terribly exciting fight but we've all seen far worse for sure.

 

At least it wasn't as big a letdown as Randy-Vitor 2 with the eyepoke finish less than a minute into the fight.That's gotta be the biggest anti climax to a UFC main event/title fight in history.In Pride it would have to be Fedor-Nog 2 with the head clash/cut stoppage which was a disaster for the 2004 GP Final.

[jimufctna24]

Oh yeah that was one of the best KO's I've ever seen

 

 

Ouch!

 

UFC 49 was a fine card.Chuck Liddell vs Vernon White was a very enjoyable beatdown and the grappling masterclass put on by Nick Diaz and Karo Parisyan in their fight was a blast to watch.Great fight.

 

The only fight that I thought was a bit flat was Randy-Vitor 3.Randy absolutely dominated Belfort pretty much into submission.Not a terribly exciting fight but we've all seen far worse for sure.

 

At least it wasn't as big a letdown as Randy-Vitor 2 with the eyepoke finish less than a minute into the fight.That's gotta be the biggest anti climax to a UFC main event/title fight in history.In Pride it would have to be Fedor-Nog 2 with the head clash/cut stoppage which was a disaster for the 2004 GP Final.

Along with UFC 52 and Pride Open Weight GP Final 2006 my favorite MMA card ever

 

Chuck vs Veron is till one of my favorite fights ever, loads of knock outs and that grappling masterclass was a nice change of pace, only thing I didnt enjoy was the fact I watched it a year after it happned after getting into MMA at ufc 51, so when Wandy and Couture were grandstanding at the end I knew it was just that so I didnt get excited about a Champ vs Champ showdown like im sure others did at the time

[wandshogun09]

Oh yeah I forgot all about the Couture-Wanderlei face off at the end.Shame it never happened back then when both guys were at their peak.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that fight still happens before one of them retires.Obviously it wouldn't be as big as it would have been in 2004 but a nice legends fight.

[lightningxlock]

Has anybody ever seen any of the early WEC events? Im kind've contemplating getting a bunch of the older ones. Any to recommend?

[Magnum Milano]

Has anybody ever seen any of the early WEC events? Im kind've contemplating getting a bunch of the older ones. Any to recommend?

How far are you looking at going back? I have everything WEC wise that is available, but not got round to watching all the shows yet.

 

WEC 6 is decent enough and features Frank Shamrock's sole venture into WEC, and also Nick Diaz. Best fights are Jack Cardenas vs Chris Sanford and Jeremy Jackson vs Shonie Carter, there is also a nasty shoulder dislocation, a great KO in the opener, a dominant performance from UFC vet Gil Castillo and early Mike Swick and Gilbert Melendez.

 

Highlight of WEC 7 is Olaf Alfonso vs Randy Spence. In fact, Alfonso is an unheralded star of the pre-Zuffa WEC days as the guy has a unique look, bags of charisma and can always be relied upon to bring it and provide great fights.

 

WEC 8 features the worst officiating I have ever seen in a fight, and involves renowned atrocious judge Cecil Peoples in the A.J.Weiner vs Poppies Martinez. Best match is Chris Leben vs Brian Sleeman, there are some more nice KOs, more Olaf and several short fights that go under a minute.

 

WEC 9 is definately one to pick up. Features probably my all time favourite MMA fight in John Polakowski vs Olaf Alfonso. This was Polakowski's MMA debut and he took the fight on less than 24 hours notice, just incredible stuff. Alex Steibling vs Joe Riggs is a great dramatic fight, Doug Marshall (who looks unrecognisable in comparison to his later fights) has a good slugfest with Lavar Johnson at heavyweight. There are good performances from Anthony Gonzales and Yves Edwards, and the card is main evented by Chris Leben vs Mike Swick, which resulted in some of the tension at the first Ultimate Fighter.

 

WEC 10 features another dramatic performance from Alex Steibling this time against Tim McKenzie, Olaf vs Gilbert Melendez, several more short sub 60 second fights, and the fight of the night is Bret Bergmark vs Daisuke Ishii.

 

I've not seen WEC 11 yet, though WEC 12 features an enjoyable heavyweight battle between TUF 2 runner up Brad Imes vs Jeremy Freitag, and more goodness from Olaf. At one point the announcers think that he is feigning being put to sleep by a rear naked choke, until it transpires that he is out good and proper. Not much to say about WEC 13, bar that it features Brandon Vera, and I have not watched WEC 14 and 15 yet.

 

WEC 16 is a tale of two halves as the first disc is not much kop at all and a bit of a struggle to get through, until things really pick up with the second disc. Alex Serdykov vs Victor Parfenov is a short all action fight, and Casey Olson looks really good aswell. WEC 17 features Shane Carwin's MMA debut, aswell as a beautiful flying triangle submission in the Cole Escovedo vs Joseph Martin fight.

 

WEC 18 features a hell of a good main event between Scott Smith and the late Justin Levens. This one goes less than two minutes and features a brutal KO. Ricahrd Crunkilton also puts in a stellar performance on the undercard.

 

Thats enough for the time being, I will do some more later at some point.

[wandshogun09]

I'd definitley recommend WEC 9 just for the tremendous Polakowski-Alonso fight Magnum was pimping.An absolute classic.

[lightningxlock]

Thanks guys, thats totally what im looking for. Milano - thanks for those write-ups, I dont think I need to see EVERY WEC event so i'll be able to cherry pick some good ones. Feel free to tell me of any other crackers

[Magnum Milano]

I'll continue what I started regarding the WEC shows.

 

WEC 19 features Urijah Faber's first fight in the WEC against Cole Escovedo. There is an absolutely brutal KO in the Rob McCullough vs Olaf Alfonso fight that sees someone end up with a broken jaw and leaves the ring on a stretcher. The colonic loving Gabe Ruediger gets completely outclassed in under a minute against Hermes Franca, you see someone dislocate their shoulder and then see the shoulder pop back in, and karma caught up with Doug Marshall in his fight against Tim McKenzie.

 

I have not watched WEC 20, 21 and 22. Only seen the first few fights from WEC 23, and have nothing to say about WEC 24 except that it features Sokoudjou's third professional fight.

 

WEC 25 - 27 are not in circulation as individual events, and the fights aired on the first Season of WrekCage (subsequent seasons of the show consist of the untelevised prelims from the later shows). Stand out stuff from the first season include Jason Miller vs Hiromitsu Miura (WEC 27), Tiki vs Dave Terrell (WEC 26), a nice KO in the Doug Marshall vs Justin McElfresh fight (WEC 27), a beautiful D'Arce submission in the Richard Crunkilton vs Mike Joy fight (WEC 25), Manny Tapia handing Brandon Foxworth a one sided beating (WEC 27) and Eddie Wineland experiencing a James Thompsonesque exploding ear in his fight with Chase Beebe (WEC 26).

 

WEC 28 was the first event that aired live on Versus. A night of short fights as only the Alex Karalexis (from TUF 1) vs Josh Smith fights goes out the first round. Brock Larson looks a beast, and the stars of the show are Faber and Brian Stann (who gets pushed heavily due to his military background).

 

Not a lot to say about WEC 29, bar Jamie Varner almost hits a Death Valley Driver on Sherron Leggett.

 

WEC 30 is where things really pick up for the WEC and they go on to have a lengthy string of really good, unmissable shows. This card has something for everyone; Miguel Torres makes his WEC debut, a great ground fight between Chase Beebe and Rani Yahya (the latter looks incredible for the first round before gassing badly - which is saying something considering I have seen him go 55 minutes in the finals of the ADCC), a short standing brawl between Rob McCullough and Richard Crunkilton, a sub 30 second Joe Benoit vs Blas Avena fight, and more Brian Stann.

 

WEC 31 features a controversial Chael Sonnen vs Paulo Filho fight, Jens Pulver's WEC debut (and solitary victory in the promotion), an excellent finish to the Charlie Valencia vs Ian McCall fight, a short Doug Marshall opener and the main event is Urijah Faber vs Jeff Curran.

 

WEC 32 is an excellent card from the company. Antonio Banuelos and Manny Tapia have a great fight in the opener, Miguel Torres puts on a clinic against Chase Beebe and looks like a star in the making, whilst the finishing sequence to the fight was awesome. Rob McCullough and Jamie Varner have an all stand up battle, Carlos Condit mains against Carlo Prater, and the other fight to air is Leonard Garcia's WEC debut.

 

WEC 33 is another excellent card, and the fight of the night here is Richard Crunkilton vs Sergio Gomez. Doug Marshall and Brian Stann engage in a short slugfest in the main event, and Chael Sonnen puts in a dominant (although if at times dull, the second round especially) performance over Bryan Baker.

 

WEC 34 is an absolute corker of a show that features two fights of the year for 2008 back to back. Miguel Torres vs Yoshihiro Maeda is an absolute war for three rounds until the doctor has to step in to stop the fight, whilst Urijah Faber vs Jens Pulver is just non-stop all action stuff for 25 minutes. I personally prefered Torres/Maeda (and round two of this fight is one of the best you will see), but it is doubtful that there have ever been two better fights back to back on a card. Elsewhere, Rob McCullough and Kenneth Alexander have a dull opener, former Oklahoma State and former NCAA wrestling standout Mark Munoz makes his debut, and Donald Cerrone turns up to a fight 'clean'.

 

More later.

[lightningxlock]

Man im loving these write ups - thankyou! Makes it so much easier to know what to go for, especially when some MMA cards look awesome on paper and then turn out to be dull as dishwater sometimes. Seems WEC 30 onwards is the way to go..

[Egg Shen]

nice little write up's on the WEC shows ive only seen bits and pieces of them shows, i do plan on getting a hold of em all.

 

Agreed with what you say about Doug Marshall, it's hard to believe the guy in the early shows is the guy that fights now, he looked 15 years older than he does now in 2002. It's a shame none of the big promotions have picked up Marshall, always good for a slugfest.

 

also Olaf/Polakowski...i remember the internet buzzing about them battles back in the day. Strange how they've kind have been forgotten about, i wish Olaf had come around a little bit later, he'd surely have been on TUF or in the UFC at some point. And i still have no idea why Polakowski fights so sporadically.

[Magnum Milano]

nice little write up's on the WEC shows ive only seen bits and pieces of them shows, i do plan on getting a hold of em all.

 

also Olaf/Polakowski...i remember the internet buzzing about them battles back in the day. Strange how they've kind have been forgotten about, i wish Olaf had come around a little bit later, he'd surely have been on TUF or in the UFC at some point. And i still have no idea why Polakowski fights so sporadically.

Polakowski is a strange one, and it is definately though his heart isn't really into it. Prior to TUF 8 he had only had three professional fights, all against Olaf, and has not fought since the Finale. I have already heavily praised the first fight of theirs, the second (which took place at WEC 14) I have seen on a Best of Olaf TV special, and was really good for the round it lasted. It appears Olaf popped his hip towards the end of the round, was struggling to walk, and the doctor refused to let him come out for the second. He wanted to continue, although not surprising as he dominated the first round. I have not seen the third in the trilogy that took place at WEC 24. Part of me thinks that Polakowski only took part in TUF 8 to appease Chuck, or the Iceman pulled some strings for him.

 

Olaf would have been a shoe in for TUF, a sort of Diego Sanchez meets Luke Cummo from the early days. With his unique look (long scraggly hair and goatee, and badly broken nose), he would have gained a cult following, and would have been the kind of guy that Dana loves, as he always brings it and leaves everything in the cage.

 

Hopefully I will do some more of the WEC write ups tomorrow, just got to copy info over from my match listings and flesh it out a bit.

[Magnum Milano]

The highlight of WEC 35 is the Carlos Condit vs Hiromitsu Miura main event, which is another in the list of Match of the Year caliber fights that WEC were showcasing in 2008. Brock Larson shows once again that he can dominate anyone who isn't named Carlos Condit in the WEC Welterweight division. Marcus Hicks shows that he has a hell of a chin against Jamie Varner, Brian Bowles undefeated streak marches on, and Steve Cantwell hands Brian Stann his first defeat in the WEC in what is the second of their three fights.

 

The opener between Nissen Osterneck and Jake Rosholt is the fight of the night at WEC 36 (and probably top 6 or 7 for WEC for the year). Jens Pulver's slide continues against Leonard Garcia, Mike Brown shocks the MMA world by TKO'ing Urijah Faber, former NCAA champion Aaron Simpson debuts and looks a threat with solid heavy hands to back up his top level wrestling, and then there was Chael Sonnen vs Paulo Filho II. Filho fails to make weight and then does almost nothing offensive for three rounds, as Sonnen wins the Catchweight bout. Filho appeared completely spaced, and as if his mind wasn't on the fight. Whats worse is that because Sonnen couldn't finish him off, we ended up missing the Rob McCullough vs Donald Cerrone war that took place on the undercard, and was eventually shown on the 'Best of 2008' TV special. This show was also the final card to feature the WEC Middleweight division, as it was merged with the UFC one, and anyone with potential or talent was moved over.

 

Miguel Torres put in another excellent performance against Manny Tapia in the main event of WEC 37 in what was an all stand up affair. Urijah Faber's training partner Joseph Benavidez makes his debut against Danny Martinez in another all stand up battle and looked good in the process, whilst Wagnney Fabiano and Akitoshi Tamura engaged in a very technical ground battle.

 

WEC is Jamie Varner vs Donald Cerrone, and these two were having a very good fight but with a lackluster finish. Cerrone accidentally knees Varner in the head whilst he is on the floor in the fifth round, and as it is deemed accidental the fight goes to the judges scorecard. Faber vs Pulver II is not a patch on their first fight, as this one doesn't go out the first round (a stat that continues for Jens for the rest of his stint in the WEC), Jose Aldo makes his televised debut against Rolando Perez and looks good in the process, whilst Danillo Villefort and Mike Campbell have a good little fight on the undercard.

 

Mike Brown showed he is for real against Leonard Garcia in the headline fight of WEC 39. At the time I thought Garcia would be too much for Brown, but was completely wrong as Brown looked superb in this fight. Jose Aldo puts on another impressive showing, this time against Chris Mickle, one of my favourites from the IFL, Bartimus Palasziewski makes his TV debut, and shows that outside the IFL the guys who dominated there have initially tended to struggle. Damacio Page KO's Marcus Galvao in 18 secs, and just comes across as a violent man, whilst Rob McCullough and Marcus Hicks have a terrible opening fight. So little happens in the third round that the referee threatens to DQ them both and rule it a no contest. This event also sees the end of the Welterweight division in the WEC, as it is merged in with the UFC's one.

 

WEC 40 featured my third favourite MMA fight of 2009 (and it ranked number two in my WEC listings) as Miguel Torres tackled Takeya Mizugaki. The pair of them had an absolute five round classic, that left people clamouring for a rematch, and probably should have made Mizugaki a star in one night. Sadly no rematch, although he does have Urijah Faber in his way at the next WEC show. Not much else to say, but worth picking up for this fight alone. Elsewhere, Ben Henderson surprises Shane Roller and Anthony Njokuani makes his televised debut against Bart Palasziewski, plus Joseph Benavidez takes on Jeff Curran.

 

My WEC fight of 2009 takes place at WEC 41 as Mike Brown takes on Urijah Faber in their rematch. That on its own should be enough to make you want to pick this one up but it gets better. Scott Jorgensen and Antonio Banuelos have a fight on the undercard that would have taken Fight of the Night honours on any normal card, although I did disagree with the scoring on this one, and I had the person who lost winning 29-28 on my unofficial scorecard. Jens Pulver's first round losing streak continues to Josh Grispi, and he then cuts a real good post fight interview. He really should have called it a day after this fight, but proceeds to have one more in the WEC, and by all accounts is lined up to fight on some indy somewhere in the not too distant future. Mike Campbell and Anthony Pettis have a good sub two minute fight, Seth Dukin vs Rolando Pewrez features a flying triangle that leads to the tap, and Jose Aldo makes everyone take notice of him, as one flying knee later and after only 8 seconds it is night night Cub Swanson. All this, and you get some Cowboy Cerrone aswell. One of the best cards you are likely to see.

 

Will probably finish the rest of the WEC stuff off tomorrow.

[wandshogun09]

How did I forget Condit vs Miura from WEC 35? That was a great fucking fight that one.That was the first time I'd seen Condit fight and I made sure to keep an eye on him after.

 

And I'd like to add my love for WEC 41.It was the best MMA show of 2009 IMO (well from the ones I'd seen anyway).Not a bad fight to be found and the Brown-Faber 2 and Banuelos-Jorgensen fights are proper classics.The rest of the card is filled with quick fights and cool finishes.Jose Aldo's performance especially was breath taking.