On This Day in MMA History

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 20th)

UFC 11: The Proving Ground (September 20th 1996)

The tournaments were still in full-effect, we’ve got an eight-man tournament that features returning UFC 10 tournament winner Mark Coleman, as well as the UFC’s bad boy Tank Abbott. Igor Vovchanchyn was invited to be part of this tournament, but visa issues and a low contract offer scuppered that idea. Can you imagine Coleman vs. Vovchanchyn in the UFC? For this show, Rich Goins makes a return as the ring announcer and he does that ridiculous deal of repeating a fighter’s surname when introducing them. It’s very annoying and serves zero purpose.

UFC 11 (The Tournament)

Mark Coleman (Freestyle Wrestling) vs. Julian Sanchez (Asax) ; Sanchez looks every part of the 300lbs weight he’s build as being and not in a good way. As to what Asax is, it appears to be one of the many fighting styles that UFC made up because they needed a discipline to label guys with. The fight lasts 44-seconds, with Coleman taking Sanchez down right away and then delivering a few punches before going for his trademark side-headlock choke for the submission. Sanchez looked like shit and fought like shit.

Reza Nasri (Greco-Roman Wrestling) vs. Brian Johnston (Kickboxing/Judo) ; there’s a lot of jostling and clinching against the fence before Johnson throws Nasri to the mat and then pounds him out for the stoppage. This was another very short fight, lasting only 30 seconds.

Tank Abbott (Streetfighting) vs. Sam Adkins (Boxers) ; sees Abbott quickly slam Adkins to the mat, with Abbott taking a top position on Adkins and grabbing hold of the fence, a legal tactic at this time, to keep Adkins grounded. Abbott methodically punches away at Adkins, who offers little resistance and can’t budge Abbott, before eventually pressing Adkins’ head against the cage at an angle and driving his forearm into the throat of Adkins to force a tap at 2:26.

Fabio Gurgel(Brazilian Jit-Jitsu) vs. Jerry Bohlander (Submission Fighting) ; this was an incredibly boring fight. After a few exchanges early on that resulted on a small cut on the forehead of Bohlander, Gurgel went for a takedown that saw Bohlander try to counter with a guillotine; it didn’t work and Gurgel ended up in the guard of Bohlander. Gurgel stayed like that for a minute or two, not doing much, before Bohlander reversed positions and Bohlander was now in the guard of Gurgel. And that’s how things stayed for virtually the entire fight, with Bohlander holding the cage to stay in the guard of Gurgel but doing almost nothing from his position other than the occasional punch to the ribs. It was so tedious to watch one guy doing almost nothing and other the guy happy to hold on and do even less. It went the distance, the fans booed, and Jerry Bohlander wins the unanimous decision. The actual result was a major upset, coming as it did at a time when BJJ was still considered the supreme fighting system.

Mark Coleman (Freestyle Wrestling) vs. Brian Johnston (Kickboxing/Judo) ;  they circled each other for about a minute, not doing much of anything and the fans booing. Coleman went in for a takedown, got it, and pushed Johnston back up against the fence. Nothing happened for a while before Coleman unloaded a few headbutts and then delivered some big punches, at which point Johnston curled into a ball and tapped out.

In between fights, we’re told that Jerry Bohlander is being checked up and may not come out for his fight with Tank Abbott, and that if he can’t fight, Scott Ferrozo will replace Bohlander. A few minutes later, they confirm that Ferrozo is replacing Bohlander and will take on Tank Abbott.

Tank Abbott (Streetfighting) vs. Scott Ferrozo (Pitfighting) ; this was a terrible fight, with most of it consisting of Abbott pressing Ferrozo against the fence and holding the fence to make sure he stayed there, as Ferrozo threw punches behind him. There were occasional flurries of punches, almost all of which came after a forced separation, but other than that, this was Abbott stalling out the clock for 15:00 of the most tedious minutes in UFC history. Ferrozo won by unanimous decision.

As they kill time in order to give Ferrozo a chance to recover, Bruce Beck interviews Don Frye, who was in Ferrozo’s corner. Frye says he’s not a leach trying to suck on a champion and take their credit, which is probably a reference to his former manager. They talk about Frye’s fight with Mark Coleman at UFC 10 and also about how Frye is in the same bracket as Coleman in the upcoming Ultimate Ultimate 1996 PPV. They interview Ken Shamrock about the night’s fights as well as his participation in the aforementioned Ultimate Ultimate. Shamrock also talks about his fight with Dan Severn at UFC IX and Shamrock openly admits the fight sucked and that he is entering the UU to atone for that fight.

They run a video promo for the Ultimate Ultimate 1996 PPV.

As the announcers talk about Ferozzo taking on Coleman the finals, they put up a graphic for the tournament and it lists Roberto Travern, one of the alternates, as facing Coleman, and it seems like the announcers are only now aware of this. They then show clips of Travern’s fight against Dave Berry, which lasted 1:23. We’re shown clips of Coleman’s earlier fights and Coleman himself backstage, waiting, as they keep stalling. We even get Bruce asking Jeff Blatnik and Don Wilson questions from the UFC’s Compuserve chat room; one asks Wilson if we’ll see him in the UFC, and Wilson claims he wants to fight in the UFC and that it’ll happen next year against whatever opponent the UFC wants him against that will draw the most money. Wilson never did fight in the UFC and I don’t believe he ever intended to. We get an interview with Tank Abbott, who blames his loss on training with smaller training partners. For a guy who is supposed to be a good talker, Abbott is tripping over his words left-and-right and loses his train of thought constantly.

Mark Coleman comes out and enters the octagon as they show a commercial for an upcoming Pancrase PPV, Tokyo Tough. We come back from the commercial and they announce that Coleman has won the tournament by forfeit, as Roberto Travern cannot fight due to a broken hand and there is nobody left for him to face. They interview Coleman about tonight and his participation in the Ultimate Ultimate and they again build up the fact that he’s in the same side of the bracketing as Don Frye, so Coleman vs. Frye II is clearly the fight the UFC are looking to build. Coleman is a terrible interview, just so, so bad. It’s like pulling teeth trying to get something out of him.

As there is a ton of PPV time left, they replay Tank Abbott vs. Scott Ferozzo. I guess they wanted to rub salt in the wounds of the PPV audience.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 4,500
PPV Buys: 92,000

UFC Fight Night 52: Hunt vs. Nelson (September 20th 2014)

This would be the UFC’s third event in Saitama, Japan, following UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson and UFC on Fuel TV 8: Silva vs. Stann. It would be headlined by two of the heaviest hitters in the sport, and not just in the heavyweight division they competed in, with one of the participants making a return to the country where he had previously been something of a star.

Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson (the build)

Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson had plenty of things in common; they were both heavy-handed, they both had chins that were considered to be among the hardest in the sport, and they were both initially unwanted by the UFC. In fact, when the UFC acquired Hunt’s contract through their purchase of PRIDE, they offered to buy Hunt of his contract so they wouldn’t have to use him. Despite the UFC’s reluctance to hire them, both Hunt and Nelson eventually found themselves part of the UFC and they both forged successful careers for themselves.

After dropping his first fight in the UFC, Hunt won four straight, with three of those victories coming by way of KO or TKO. Hunt suffered his most serious setback in the UFC in his next fight when, for the first time in the UFC he was knocked out by Junior Dos Santos in the third round of their fight, although the blow that knocked Hunt out was a spin kick that caught him in the forehead, thereby leaving his chin still, on a technicality uncracked in the UFC. Hunt came back from that loss with a fight against Antônio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in Australia, where Hunt, due to being from New Zealand, was the firm fan favourite.

It would go down as one of the best heavyweight fights in UFC history and in an almost appropriate ending for such a fight, there was no loser nor winner as the fight was ruled a majority draw, with the only judge to score the fight for one of the fighters scoring it for Hunt. Regardless, Hunt’s run was back on track and for his next fight he would be facing an opponent whose punching power and ability to take a punch was considered to be on par with his own.

Roy Nelson came into the UFC through TUF, with Nelson competing and winning the 10th season of the show, a season built around heavyweights, with Nelson knocking out Brendan Schaub in the finals. Nelson would go 2-3 in his next five fights before earning three consecutive first-round KO/TKO victories. But Nelson couldn’t keep that run going as he dropped back-to-back fights to Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier, both by unanimous decision. Nelson was back in the win column for his next fight, a first-round knocked out of former PRIDE Heavyweight and Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nelson was dangerous and had the ability to knock out anyone in front of him. Nelson also had the ability to take a punch as well, having never been knocked out in the UFC and with no one even coming close to doing so.

But Nelson would find his next opponent able to match him for punching power and chin durability, and for his status as a cult favourite, as Nelson would take on the ‘Super Samoan’ Mark Hunt, and to put Nelson firmly in the position of outsider, the fight would be taking place at the famed Saitama Super Arena, an arena where Hunt had fought eight times and where he would be the decided crowd favourite.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would see another former PRIDE standout in action, as Takanori Gomi, former PRIDE Lightweight Champion would take on 10-0 Myles Jury, who was fresh off of a unanimous decision win over Diego Sanchez. Gomi would be hoping to turn back the clock and put in a vintage performance in front of the Japanese faithful.

Also on the card, former Judoka Yoshihiro Akiyama was to fight Kyle Noke, whilst Miesha Tate would face Rin Nakai, with Nakai’s signing by the UFC something of a controversial move due to her somewhat salacious image. Kiichi Kunimoto would face Richard Walsh, and Kyoji Horiguchi was set to fight Chris Cariaso.

Card Changes

Chris Cariaso was pulled from his fight against Kyoji Horiguchi in order to challenge Demetrious Johnson for the UFC Flyweight Championship at UFC 178. Horiguchi instead faced Jon Delos Reyes. Kyle Noke was forced out of his fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama due to a knee injury, and replacing him would be Amir Sadollah. Tatsuya Kawajiri was initially set to face Darren Elkins but the fight was soon scrapped as Kawajiri was sidelined with a detached retina. Urijah Faber to face Masanori Kanehara but before the fight was officially announced Faber was removed due to injury and Kanehara faced Alex Caceres.

UFC Fight Night 52 (the preliminary fights)

Maximo Blanco beat Dan Hooker by unanimous decision in a pretty good if mostly one-sided fight. Blanco was using Hooker almost for target practice for the first two rounds, landing lots of punches and bloodying him up. Blanco tired by the third round, though, but Hooker was too beaten down to properly capitalize. By the time the fight was over, Blanco was completely gassed. Johnny Case choked out Kazuki Tokudome in the second round after being dominate for most of the fight; Case stunned Tokudome with a one-two combination and then choked him out with a guillotine. Kyung Ho Kang edged Michinori Tanaka in a great fight that was primarily a ground battle. Kang seemed to just about claw ahead of Tanaka as the fight went on, but the fight was close enough that it could have gone either way. This one is worth checking out. Hyun Gyu Lim knocked out Takenori Sato in short order, stuffing a takedown and then elbowing Sato into unconsciousness. Katsunori Kikuno submitted Sam Sicilia in the second round of a fight where Kikuno showed some defensive frailties; he kept his hands down way too much and was constantly getting tagged because of that. Luckily for Kikuno, he could land too and a series of hard punches put Sicilia on the back foot and set up the finish. Masanori Kanehara beat Alex Caceres by unanimous decision in a fight that Kanehara dominate for the first two rounds, Caceres having little answer for the grappling of Kanehara. Caceres went for the finish in the third round, as he had to, and while his efforts were enough for him to win the round it wasn’t enough to avoid losing the fight.

UFC Fight Night 52 (the main card)

Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Jon Delos Reyes kicked off the main card with a short and fiery fight. Horiguchi drew first blood early on with a body kick that stunned Reyes, although he couldn’t finish Reyes on the follow up. Reyes landed a kick of his own but couldn’t avoid the counter from Horiguchi, a left hand that stunned Reyes; Horiguchi went for the kill, swarming Reyes with a multitude of strikes to get the TKO victory.

Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Richard Walsh saw Walsh have a very dominant first round, to the point that I gave him the round 10-8; it appeared that, at one point, Walsh broke the nose of Kunimoto with a knee as Kunimoto went for a takedown. In the second round, Kunimoto shut Walsh down with a lot of clinch work. The third round was even for the first half before Kunimoto once again used grappling and submissions to take over. There was a period where Walsh was warned three times in about ten seconds about grabbing the fence, with the referee even repeatedly pulling Walsh’s fingers off the fence. Yet the referee never deducted a point, thereby making the entire rule about grabbing the fence completely useless; what’s the point of the rule if it’s never enforced? I guess karma really is a B-I-T-C-H because Kunimoto won the fight by split-decision.

Rin Nakai vs. Miesha Tate wasn’t a particular good fight and it had a terrible outcome. Tate did absolutely nothing of note the entire fight and whilst Nakai did little more than that, she was at least doing something and she was controlling the fight for most of its duration. Nakai even tried to finish Tate with a rear naked choke at one point, which was far, far more than Tate did in terms of offence. Tate was purely defensive, never taking the fight to Nakai at all, and yet she somehow won by unanimous decision. As robberies go, this is one of the unsung ones and it’s a shame because Nakai got cheated out of what would have been a major upset.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Amir Sadollah was decent and one-sided, Akiyama controlling the whole thing from beginning to end. Akiyama got a nice judo throw in the first round and dominated from the top, with Akiyama using more ground and pound as the fight went on. Akiyama had no problems throughout this fight and eased to the unanimous decision victory.

Takanori Gomi vs. Myles Jury was very depressing to watch for longtime fans of Gomi and PRIDE as Jury wrecked Gomi, walking right through him in 92-seconds of a one-sided destruction. This was three years ago and even then it was time for Gomi to hang it up. These days, it is, quite frankly, sad to watch Gomi continuing to fight.

Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson

This was the battle of the heaviest hands and hardest chins in the UFC, two fighters who hit really hard and are very difficult to put down. There was a great atmosphere coming into the fight, with Nelson coming out to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and Hunt being the decided crowd favourite.

The fight wasn’t quite the slobberknocker that people thought it would be, but it was still a decent fight. It was all stand-up except for a moment early in the second round when Nelson took Hunt down, although Hunt was quickly able to get back to his feet. Nelson was a little more active in the first round but Hunt was landing the bigger shots, and as fight went on, Hunt was starting to read Nelson’s movements and time his punches accordingly. This paid dividends with about two-minutes left in the second round when Hunt timed an uppercut to perfection, landing it as Nelson was ducking his head to move in close and Nelson face planted to the mat.

It was a great win for Hunt, becoming the first fighter in the UFC to knock out Nelson, who had only ever previously been knocked out by Andre Arlovski back in 2008 in EliteXC.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 12,395

Fight of the Night: Kyung Ho Kang vs. Michinori Tanaka
Performance of the Night: Mark Hunt and Johnny Case

Michinori Tanaka lost his post-fight bonuses when failed the post-fight drug test, Tanaka testing positive for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which are stimulants and both on the prohibited substances list.

Next time out, we talk about the debut of Pancrase, and something of the history behind it, and UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson.

 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 21st)

Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1 (September 21st 1993)

The debut of Pancrase would be the culmination of a dream of one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts, even if he wasn’t aware of his pioneer status at the time and despite the fact that he would be heavily critical of what we would come to call mixed martial arts.

To understand Pancrase and its creation, one must first go back into the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

In the early 1980s, Hisashi Shinma was the booker for New Japan Pro Wrestling, as well as serving as figurehead president of the WWWF/WWF. In 1977, Shinma had recruited Akira Maeda into New Japan; with his size, 6ft 3, his speed and agility and background in karate, Maeda was Shinma’s choice to become the eventual top star of New Japan. To that end, after a few years of learning the basics in preliminary matches, Maeda was first sent to England, where he won a version of the world heavyweight championship, and then, in early 1984, Maeda was sent to the WWF. The plan was for Maeda to win the WWF International Heavyweight Championship, the same name of a title previously held by Tatsumi Fujinami, one that that had gained prominence in New Japan due to Fujinami’s feud with Riki Choshu, and for Maeda to return to New Japan as a worldwide star after a success tour of the WWF.

That all changed when, right as Maeda had started his tour with the WWF, Shinma was unceremoniously booted from New Japan, the fall guy for an embezzlement scandal involving resident New Japan kingpin Antonio Inoki; Inoki had been funnelling profits from New Japan into various money losing ventures, but with Inoki as the big star, New Japan couldn’t afford to punish him so Shinma was the scapegoat who took the heat.

Shinma was still the figurehead president of the WWF at the time, so Vince McMahon Jr had to decide whether to side with Shinma or with New Japan. McMahon sided with New Japan and Maeda’s political protection was gone, and with it his push; Maeda was turned into a jobber, even putting over the likes of Rene Goulet.

When Maeda returned to New Japan, it was with a deep seated hatred of mainstream pro wrestling and its more unrealistic aspects. Maeda wasn’t in New Japan for long, because after being fired by New Japan, Hisashi Shinma had formed the original Japanese version of the Universal Wrestling Federation, with the intent of basing it around a more serious version of pro wrestling. And for his top star, Shinma wanted the man he had recruited into New Japan, Akira Maeda. Shinma convinced Maeda, as well as Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Nobuhiko Takada into leaving New Japan and making the jump to the UWF. Yet this new union failed to last. When UWF business went down, the company made the decision to bring in Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, who had, by this point, retired from wrestling. But Sayama hated Shinma and the only way he would come in to the UWF was if Shinma was kicked out, which is exactly what happened.

Yet despite the UWF being hot property in Tokyo, with Maeda being very outspoken about pro wrestling having worked matches whilst insinuating that the UWF was real, it couldn’t sustain itself and by the end of 1984, the UWF folded and Maeda and everyone else, sans Sayama, returned to New Japan.

Coming into 1985, the biggest money match in New Japan would have been the singles match between Akira Maeda and the man he was meant to eventually replace as top star, Antonio Inoki. But the match could never take place because Maeda refused to put Inoki over. One time, the match was announced, quickly selling out Sumo Hall, but it was changed to a ten-tag on the day of the show.

The ball for the second incarnation of the UWF started rolling in May of 1986 when Maeda was booked against Kerry Von Erich at Korakuen Hall, one of the venues where the original UWF was red hot and whose fans still came out in force to support Maeda. The UWF faithful once more packed the arena to see their hero take apart a big name American who they felt couldn’t wrestle. But when the match went to a double countout, the UWF fans stormed out of the building in disgust. Maeda felt stung by the reaction, feeling that he had let his fans down. This prayed on the mind of Maeda for a long time and Maeda’s frustrations started to grow. The disquiet of Maeda was not helped when, in mid-1987, Riki Choshu and several other wrestlers jumped back to New Japan from All Japan, having left New Japan right before Maeda and company had themselves returned. With the return of Choshu and others, the queue behind Inoki in the pecking order was at something of a logjam and what seemed like Maeda’s certain ascension to the top was no longer so certain.

This all exasperated the frustrations that Maeda was feeling and heading into the traditional year-end tag team tournament in New Japan, there was ‘talk’ that something was going to happen. And on November 18th, during a six-man tag at Korakuen Hall, where the UWF had been king, with Maeda and Choshu on opposite teams, that ‘something’ turned out to be what is now referred to as ‘the shootkick’; as Choshu had the scorpion deathlock on Osamu Kido, Maeda came into ring and with Choshu wide open, Maeda kicked Choshu right in the eye. The match fell apart at that point and whilst they quickly went to the finish, the damage had been done and Choshu, one of the top stars in the company, was left with a broken orbital bone and was put out of action, right at the start of one of the biggest tours of the year.

Initially, a lot of people within wrestling, thought this was just a work, the type of worked shoot angle that New Japan had often run over the years. But this was no work.

New Japan was in a quandary. They had to punish Maeda but they had to be quiet about it because, from the outside, it looked like any other spot in pro wrestling, so to acknowledge the kick as being a cheapshot was to admit that it was real, and therefore be a tacit admission that the rest of the wrestling wasn’t. But New Japan did punish Maeda, or at least they tried to. If Maeda wanted back, he would have to accept a punishment that included working for several months in Mexico, which would mean working a style he hated and would go against his shooter rep, and that he’d have to put Choshu over clean in the middle in a big grudge match.

Maeda refused and instead found financial backers and the second incarnation of the UWF was formed. Maeda brought Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Nobuhiko Takada with him, and also two other young wrestlers from New Japan who it was felt would fit right in; Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Funaki, like Maeda, was also something of a hothead, having once been suspended by New Japan for punching a cab driver who had called wrestling fake.

Maeda was now a bigger name than he was in the first UWF, and the exposure in New Japan had helped educated the fans on the UWF style as well as the wrestlers who would be part of the UWF.

The second UWF started like gangbusters, selling out its first show in just 15 minutes and subsequently selling out every monthly show it ran for the rest of 1988. Maeda, like Inoki in New Japan, made his rep in the UWF by beating other stars from other combat sports, including future UFC competitor Gerard Gordeau, and sambo legend Chris Dolman, in worked matches that were pushed and presented as real fights. The UWF’s crowning glory was a November 29th 1989 show at the Tokyo Dome, selling a record setting 40,000 tickets on the first day tickets went on sale, eventually selling out the Dome in just three days and becoming the first pro wrestling event to ever sell out the Tokyo Dome for what was a then-record live gate of $2.9 million dollars. The main event saw Maeda defeat Willy Wilhelm, a Dutch Judoka who competed at the Olympics and the World Championships.

Yet just as the UWF reached its nadir, things fell apart behind the scenes and on December 1st 1990, the UWF ran one final show before closing its doors for good.

Maeda would go on to form RINGS, a promotion promoted as being real fighting, and occasionally did have real fights, but for the most part RINGS was really professional wrestling. Takada would form the UWF-I and become, for a while, one of the hottest draws in the world.

But it was Fujiwara’s venture, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, that wound eventually lead to the formation of Pancrase. Three of PWFG’s top young stars were Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki and Ken Shamrock. After a while, with business in a slump, Fujiwara wanted to work with New Japan, but the younger wrestlers, headed by the aforementioned trio, were dead against the idea, especially Funaki. And not just because they knew that Fujiwara would be the only PWFG guy to be protected whilst the rest of the PWFG crew would be jobbed out. But because they had long wanted to take the final step, to have genuine pro wrestling matches, to have matches that were completely real.

Fujiwara had dissuaded the trio from this line of thinking, with the older wrestlers in general being against true shoot matches, feeling that they were usually boring, that you couldn’t sell tickets to them, and you were beating yourselves up needlessly as a result. But Funaki was determined to see his dream fulfilled, so he, along with Suzuki and Shamrock, and a few others, left PWFG and, with the guidance of their trainer, the ‘God of Professional Wrestling’ Karl Gotch, Pancrase was formed.

As a side note, Karl Gotch was one of the most fascinating characters in wrestling history, and his obituary in the Wrestling Observer is a must-read, not just because it provides background on Gotch’s influence on Pancrase, such as coming up with the name ‘Pancrase’, but his career in general.

The first Pancrase show as scheduled for September 21st, and heading into the event, there was a lot of curiosity over just what people were going to see. It was touted as a new style of wrestling; they called themselves ‘hybrid wrestlers’ and the term was even used in the title of the show. But the claims that this would be real professional wrestling were met with well founded scepticism; such claims had been made before, as Funaki was well familiar with due to his past in the UWF. So whilst nobody really knew what to expect, not many people were expecting to see something totally real; rather they expected to see some new style of realistic wrestling.

Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1

If you want to see the complete show, you’ll have to find a non-Fight Pass version of the event; the Fight Pass version only has the fights and cuts out everything else.

At the start of the show, the only light on is a spotlight on the ring. Then a spotlight shines on a stage where the fighters are assembled, and they then make their way to the ring for the pre-show ceremony you get in a lot of smaller Japanese wrestling promotions, where the wrestlers come out and some of them give short speeches to the fans. And when the wrestlers came out, you notice that they are smaller than usual, a good 15lb or more down from their wrestling weight. Before we get the wrestlers talking, though, there are some pre-taped comments from Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki.

Back to the arena, and the wrestlers are all assembled in the ring; they are then introduced in turn and make some comments to the fans. We then get pre-taped comments from the rest of the fighters, intermixed with an in-ring demonstration of the rules, with the rules demonstration being something they did in groups like the UWF-I, RINGS.

Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Minoru Suzuki sees Suzuki walk through Inagaki without too much trouble; the most resistance Inagaki puts up is when they’re both trying to go for heel hooks on the other, but it’s not a lot of resistance. Otherwise, Suzuki is just too good for Inagaki, controlling him on the mat before choking him out in 3:25.

After this fight and all the others, we’d get taped comments from the winner, interspersed with clips from the fight.

Bas Rutten vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa saw Rutten, who lacks a lot of the muscle he’d gain by the time he entered the UFC, drops Yanagisawa with a palm thrust to the face almost right away. Once Yanagisawa gets back up, Rutten lands a series of kicks and knees that drop Yanagisawa, who doesn’t get back up and this fight is over in just 43-seconds.

Takaku Fuke vs. Vernon White opened with Fuke immediately taking White down and transitioning into the Mark Coleman grounded headlock, complete with additional armlock. Fuke was pulling on the headlock hard but White wouldn’t tap, so Fuke eventually worked his way into an armbar to get the tap at 1:19. Fuke celebrates his win like crazy.

Kazuo Takahashi vs. George Weingeroff opens with Weingeroff, an amateur wrestler, going in for a takedown on Takahashi; Takahashi is backed up into the corner, which helps him stay upright, and he  gets double underhooks on Weingeroff and delivers a series of knees that eventually force a break. Weingeroff keeps looking to shoot in for the takedown, leaving himself open a knee from the clinch that knocks Weingeroff  down to one knee and results in him having to take an eight count. The fight resumes and Weingeroff goes back to shooting in for the takedown; he takes more knees and then a kick that knocks him down and out, with Weingeroff unable to get back to his feet before being counted out. Takahashi’s win takes 1:23.

Weingeroff was brought in part because of his amateur wrestling credentials and also because he’s the son of former wrestling manager "Gentleman" Saul Weingeroff, so the Weingeroff name means a little something. Not a lot, but something.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Wayne Shamrock was the main event of the evening, with two of the founding fathers of Pancrase facing off, but it’s Funaki who is, by far, the biggest star of the promotion. The fight opens up with a lot of movement and feinting from both fighters, a lot of moving in and out. Shamrock clinches up with Funaki and manages to get behind him in a waistlock and take him down, with Funaki on his hands and knees as Shamrock tries to work into a rear naked choke; Funaki works hard to avoid it, which he’s able to do, but the scrambling around up with Shamrock in the mount on Funaki. Shamrock keeps a hold of Funaki in some form or fashion for about a minute before there is finally separation and they both go for heel hooks and leg locks on the other, although they end up in the ropes and have to be stood up. They clinch again and Shamrock is able to drag Funaki to the mat and end up in the mount. As Shamrock starts rubbing his forearm against Funaki, trying to force something, Funaki shifts around to avoid it, giving Shamrock the chance to slip to the side and apply an arm triangle; Funkai fights it for a bit before tapping out in 6:15. Shamrock is very happy with his win whilst Funaki looks disconsolate.

For those keeping track, that’s five matches with a total time of 13:05, on a card where ringside seats were $135.

If you want to know one of the motivations in the top guys carrying opponents before beating them, that’s one of the big ones right there. It doesn’t make people too happy to shell out so much for a ticket and get such a short night of action in return. Carrying guys was simply a business necessity.

Now, the biggest question about the main event is about just how real it was given that Funaki and company would carry fighters and do worked spots and the occasional worked finish for the good of the company, and that it was almost a tradition in Japanese wrestling for the top guy in a new company to lose in the main event. If it was a work, it didn’t look like one, because there were no holes, no moments where it looked obvious either guy was working. Could it have been worked in some fashion? Maybe, but I’m inclined to think it was a real fight that may have had a worked finish, but probably didn’t.

UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson (September 21st 2013)

The main event to UFC 165 would see the reigning and dominant UFC Light Heavyweight Champion defend his title against the latest challenger tasked with overcoming what many felt was an insurmountable obstacle, and in the process, prevent the champion from putting his name in the record books.

Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson (the build)

Jon Jones had debuted for the UFC at 87 as a late notice replacement for Tomasz Drwal against André Gusmão. Jones won the fight in impressive fashion, but it was Jones’ next fight, against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 that really opened eyes to how good Jones could be as he employed numerous spinning attacks and a number of suplexes to defeat the TUF 1 veteran. A win over Jake O’Brian was followed by a controversial disqualification loss to Matt Hamill, with the referee Steve Mazzagatti disqualifying Jones over his use of 12-to-6 elbows, strikes which are illegal in MMA.

Undaunted, the UFC, who were firmly behind Jones, continued their quest to push Jones towards the top as he headlined consecutive shows on Versus and gained one-sided victories over Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. This was followed at UFC 126 with a second round submission win over Ryan Bader, although Jones had gained headlines earlier in the day by apparently tackling a mugger whilst getting in a last-minute workout at a park. Further headlines were made when, after the fight, Joe Rogan informed Jones that the UFC wanted him to replace his friend, Rashad Evans against Maurício Rua as the challenger for Rua’s UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 128 just six-weeks later.

Despite what was said on the night and afterwards, Jones and his people were aware ahead of time what was going to happen. Regardless, Jones accepted and at UFC 128, at just 23-years-old, Jon Jones becoming the youngest UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in history with a one-sided systematic destruction of Maurício Rua. Jones was on top of the world and his first title defence was set to be against his now-former former friend, Rashad Evans at UFC 131. But a hand injury delayed Jones first title defence until UFC 136, where Jones would instead defend against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson.

It was a one-sided fight with Jackson offering little to trouble Jones before getting tapped out in the fourth round. Jones was once more planned to defend against Rashad Evans, this time at UFC 140, but it was Evans’ turn to be put on the shelf due to injury and Jones would face another former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida. Machida did give Jones trouble, and in some eyes had won the first round, but Jones came on strong in the second round to choke Machida out with a standing choke in one of the more visually memorable finishes in UFC history.

Jones had retained his title in devastating fashion and for his third title defence Jones would finally defend his title against Rashad Evans. During the build to the fight, Evans made several comments regarding Jones and how he wasn’t the person people thought he was. At the time, they were dismissed as the comments of a man bitter about his former friends’ success, and by the time the fight happened, Evans had become very unpopular. Thus, there was great cheering when Jones scored an almost entirely one-sided unanimous decision victory at UFC 145.

There was tremendous controversy surrounding Jones next planned title defence, which had been set for UFC 151 against Dan Henderson. Just eight days before the event, Henderson pulled out of the fight with a knee injury. The UFC tabbed Chael Sonnen as a late replacement, but Jones, on the advice of his coach, Greg Jackson, refused to take the fight and for the first time ever, the UFC cancelled a PPV, with blame being thrown at all parties.

Jones was set to back in short order, three weeks after UFC 151 was to have taken place, at UFC 152. Jones was to have defended against Lyoto Machida, but Machida declined the fight due to its short notice nature, so Jones would face yet another former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Vitor Belfort. Belfort wasn’t expected to trouble Jones too much but he would came as close as anyone had ever done to defeating Jones, with Belfort securing an armbar from the bottom whilst Jones was in his guard; Jones would later admit to being close to tapping, going so far as to claim he prayed in readiness for what would happen when he tapped, but the champion managed to escape and he dominated Belfort for the rest of the fight before submitting him in the fourth round.

Jones next title defence was set up by an assignment as one of the coaches on TUF 17, and opposing Jones as a coach, and the man he would defend his title against post-TUF, would be the man Jones had declined to face at UFC 151, Chael Sonnen. Jones made no secret of his feelings that Sonnen wasn’t a worthy challenger, and in fairness, the only reason Sonnen got the spot was because FOX wanted him as a TUF coach because of the belief it would mean ratings. Regardless, Jones would defend against Sonnen at UFC 159, with Jones handling Sonnen with ease en route to a first-round TKO victory at 4:33.

Yet despite Jones disdain of his contendership, Sonnen would come within seconds of dethroning Jones as champion. During the fight, Jones dislocated a toe in very graphic fashion. Had the fight not ended in the first round, then between rounds, the commission doctor would have seen the dislocated toe and had no choice but to call the fight off, handing victory and the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship to Sonnen. Chael Sonnen had been 27-seconds away from scoring one of the most bizarre title victories in UFC history.

But while Jones had escaped with his title, he would next have to defend the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against an opponent many felt had the best chance, ‘best’ being a relative term, of potentially dethroning a champion who had rarely been troubled and whose physical gifts and raw talent had made him seem virtually unbeatable.

Alexander Gustafsson entered the UFC in emphatic fashion with a 41-second knockout of Jared Hamman at UFC 105 in Manchester, England. It was quite the debut for a fighter who already stood out due to his 6ft 5 frame and extensive reach. Gustafsson hit a roadblock in his next fight, a submission loss to Phil Davis at UFC 112, but the Swede would bounce back with an epic run of results. Gustafsson scored submission wins over Cyrille Diabaté and James Te Huna, both by rear naked choke, before TKO’ing Matt Hamill and Vladimir Matyushenko. And if Gustafsson needed to prove his stamina, he did so with commanding unanimous decision victories over Thiago Silva and the famed Maurício Rua.

Gustafsson was showing a well-rounded game, proving he was dangerous whether the fight was on the ground or standing up, and that he had the stamina to take the fight into deep waters. Gustafsson would need all those weapons and perhaps those he didn’t know he had when it was announced that his victory over Rua had been the victory he needed to gain himself a shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones. Gustafsson had shown his mettle but he would have show that mettle and a whole lot more if he hoped to dethrone a champion that everyone felt would keep his title for a very long time to come, and who was one successful title defence away from setting a divisional record.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event of the evening would see Interim UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barão defend his title against Eddie Wineland. Barão entered the UFC with a 25-1 1 NC record and a six-year long unbeaten streak. That streak continued as Barão won his first four fights in the UFC, a run which was enough to earn Barão the spot opposite Urijah Faber in a fight for the Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship, with the official champion, Dominick Cruz having been sidelined due to injury. The fight wasn’t pretty but Barão claimed the unanimous decision victory and the Interim title, setting up a future showdown with Cruz.

In the meantime, Barão had a title to defend, and in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 7, in the UK Barão defended his title against Michael McDonald, a fighter on an eight-fight winning streak and coming into the title fight off of back-to-back first round knockout victories. Barão proved to be a class above McDonald, dominating his opponent on his way to fourth round submission victory. For his next opponent, Barão would be facing Eddie Wineland. Wineland had come into the UFC from the victories in his next two fights were enough to see Wineland put against the reigning Interim UFC Bantamweight Champion. The two were set to headline UFC 161 but the fight was postponed when Barão injured his foot, so the fight was rescheduled for the co-main event spot of UFC 165.

Also on the main card, TUF 10 veterans Matt Mitrione and Brendan Schaub would face off in a fight where I was hoping to see them knock each other out at the same time. A middleweight fight would see Francis Carmont face Constantinos Philippou, and kicking things off would be a potentially explosive lightweight encounter between Pat Healy and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Card Changes

Mark Bocek was to face Michel Prazeres, however, Bocek pulled out due to an injury and was replaced by promotional newcomer Jesse Ronson. Norifumi Yamamoto was to fight Ivan Menjivar, but Yamamoto was removed from the fight and replaced by Wilson Reis.

UFC 165 (the preliminary fights)

Daniel Omielańczuk knocked outNandor Guelmino in the third round. Omielańczuk dominated the first round-and-half with grappling and pressing Guelmino against the fence, along with some good punches, before Guelmino turned the tide with a grappling-based offence of his own and it looked like Omielańczuk was tiring out. In the third round, Omielańczuk resumed pressing Guelmino against the fence before eventually landing a big left hand that knocked Guelmino silly, Omielańczuk landing one more punch as the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Alex Caceres edged past Roland Delorme by split-decision in a fight with some nice grappling from both fighters and pinpoint striking from Caceres. Michel Prazeres dominated Jesse Ronson for two rounds and a portion of the third, yet only won the fight on a split-decision. John Makdessi knocked out Renee Forte in 2:01.

Mitch Gagnon scored the upset victory with his first-round win over Dustin Kimura, Gagnon choking Kimura out with a guillotine. Stephen Thompson knocked out Chris Clements in the second round, with Clements doing the delayed reaction fall after taking a big punch right behind the left ear. Wilson Reis ground out a split-decision win over Ivan Menjivar. Myles Jury beat Mike Ricci by split-decision in a rather uninspiring fight.

UFC 165 (the main card)

Pat Healy vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov was a solid fight, with Nurmagomedov putting in a good performance but showing a few weaknesses that could perhaps still be exploited. Nurmagomedov was superior in the grappling department and could land some very good strikes, but he had real problems when Healy was pressing forward and not giving Nurmagomedov any chance to rest or set anything up. And part way into the second round, Nurmagomedov was clearly tiring, and whilst he was able to fit through it here, an opponent who keeps up the pressure and doesn’t give him a chance to fight through it could potentiall yield results. It was a good performance from Nurmagomedov, who got the unanimous decision with 30-27s across the board.

Francis Carmont vs. Constantinos Philippou was a very boring fight. Carmont took Philippou down and controlled him on the ground; lather-rinse-repeat for fifteen mindnumbingly dull minutes. It was a great performance by Carmont but thoroughly unentertaining to watch.

Matt Mitrione vs. Brendan Schaub wasn’t too exciting outside of the finishing sequences. A barrage of punches from Schaub allowed him to rush Mitrione and slam him to the mat; when Mitrione tried to scramble out from under Schaub and take him down, Schaub caught him in a D’Arce choke and eventually choked Mitrione unconscious. On the one hand, Matt Mitrione was choked unconscious, but on the other, Brendan Schaub won, so I’m conflicted on how the fight turned out.

Renan Barão (ic) vs. Eddie Wineland – for the Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship was a fine enough fight, developing slowly over the first round before exploding into life early in the second round. Things were close in the first round, both men throwing punches but nobody really landing anything. There was a little clinching but it never led to anything. Around twenty seconds into the second round, Barão throws a spinning kick and as Wineland instinctively ducks, it catches him between the shoulder and the neck; Wineland stumbles backwards and falls, then goes to move forward as he’s on his hands and knees, but Barão swarms him with punches and lands a few before knocking him out and the fight is over. It was highlight reel finish for sure but until that point, the fight wasn’t anything to write home about.

Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson

It’s the main event of the evening and one of the most anticipated UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fights in a long time.

Round 1: Jones is coming forward more but Gustafsson is landing better shots, and even opens up a cut by Jones’ right eye. Gustafsson is even able to take Jones down, and whilst he can’t do much with it before Jones gets back to his feet, it is the first time Jones has ever been taken down. The most significant blow that Jones lands is one of his trademark eyepokes late in the round. This round is a clear 10-9 for Gustafsson.

Round 2: This is more even than the first round; early on, Jones is chasing Gustafsson, practically diving at him to for a takedown, but Gustafsson eludes him. Jones would later try and take Gustafsson down again, twice, but he couldn’t come close to taking the Swede down. The stand-up was more even, neither fight really outworking the other but Gustafsson landed a crisp punch and Jones landed a good elbow. It’s a close round but the takedown defence of Gustafsson makes the difference so I scored the round 10-9 for Gustafsson, making it 20-18 for Gustafsson overall.

Round 3: This is the closest round of the fight so far, yet not a lot actually happens. Jones goes for a takedown but can’t take Gustafsson down, and near the end of the round, Gustafsson tries to take Jones down but can’t. The only really significant strike of the round was Jones landing a good body kick, and because of that, I give him the round, but only just. That’s a 10-9 round for Jones making it 29-28 for Gustafsson heading into the championship rounds.

In between rounds, they show a replay of Gustafsson punching Jones just below the eye. Joe Rogan says that Gustafsson’s thumb went right into the eye, even after they show a replay, twice, both times in slow-motion, that clearly shows that Gustafsson’s thumb was both clenched and came nowhere near the eye of Jones. I don’t know why Rogan would insist that Jones got thumbed in the eye when it’s very clearly shown that he didn’t.

Round 4: Literally as soon as the round starts, Jones gets warned, yet again, for extending his fingers. Seconds later, Jones gets another warning for extending his fingers. Jones does it again a minute later and McCarthy just warns him again. Three warnings for the same offence in the space of 90 seconds, after already giving multiple warnings for the aforementioned offence, and McCarthy still won’t do anything. Jones gets another warning, his fourth of the round and his seventh or eight of the fight so far later in the round as well. Either McCarthy is too scared to do anything, in which case he should be benched because he can’t do his job, or he’s not actually allowed to do anything, in which case, why is he warning Jones at all?

The round itself is competitive but for the first 4:30, it’s all Gustafsson, who is landing better punches, landing bigger punches, stuffing takedowns as well, and just controlling all aspects of the fight. Then Jones lands an elbow off the clinch and Gustafsson starts backing up fast. Jones presses forward, going for the kill; Jones lands elbows and knees and Gustafsson looks shattered, but he hangs in to see out the round. Jones takes the round 38-38 going into the fourth and final round, and it’s that late flurry that wins it for Jones

Round 5: This was the most dramatic round of the fight, because Gustafsson was clearly exhausted and just trying to hang in there. Despite that, however, even though Jones finally takes him down, at the 10th time of asking, Gustafsson is quickly able to work his way back to his feet. Yet this was Jones’ round, pushing forward, going for the attack, with the crowd going crazy because of the feeling that Jones could need to get the finish to win. Jones tags Gustafsson a lot, with punches and elbows. He goes for another takedown but Gustafsson, despite being exhausted, still manages to stuff it. Gustafsson tries to fight back late in the round, and land some punches, but he can’t stop Jones coming forward, and the round ends with a fans cheering loudly and going wild. This is a 10-9 round for Jones so I have him winning the fight 48-47, but the third round could have gone to Gustafsson, so a 48-47 for Gustafsson is also a viable score. Really, the only viable score is 48-47; it’s just a question of which fighter gets it, and it all comes down to that third round.

The fight is over and both fighters are spent. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan have been pushing the fight as one of the greatest of all time. It was definitely one of the most dramatic of all time, because of the story that unfolded over 25:00, with the seemingly unbeatable champion on the verge of losing his title. But as far as fight quality goes, it was good but not great. It’s one of those fights that, if any other two fighters had the exact same fight, move-for-move, it wouldn’t be getting the nearly the same level of praise.

The judges score the fight 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 for Jones and he makes history for the most consecutive defences of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The fans boo, heavily, but I think that’s almost entirely because they felt they were about to see a historic title change, and whilst they did get a historic title defence, it wasn’t the kind of history they ended up wanting to see.

Chris Lee was the judge who gave the 49-46 score, which is a completely indefensible score. The only round that could have gone either way was round three; the other four rounds had clear winners. The second round was close, but it was still a clear win for Gustafsson, and scoring the fight 49-46 for Jones is simply bad judging.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 15,504
Gate: $1,900,000
PPV Buys: 310,000

Fight of the Night: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Knockout of the Night: Renan Barão
Submission of the Night: Mitch Gagnon

Next time out, we talk about UFC 27: Ultimate Bad Boyz, UFC 76: Knockout, and UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort.

 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 22nd)

UFC 27: Ultimate Bad Boyz (September 22nd 2000)

The backstory behind the main event to UFC 27 was one of the first cases of the UFC essentially throwing someone to the wolves in search for petty retribution.

Back in 1997, Maurice Smith was going to defend his newly won UFC Heavyweight Championship against Dan Severn at UFC 15. But after Severn agreed to the fight, yet before he signed the contract for it, Severn signed to fight Kimo at the first PRIDE event, an event taking place just one week before UFC 15. Severn assured the UFC that he would be able to take both fights, but the UFC put a contingency plan in place just in case. Severn went to a 30:00 draw with Kimo in PRIDE and whilst he didn’t take a lot of damage, Severn took enough kicks to the leg to leave calcium deposits in his thigh and Severn was forced out of his fight with Maurice Smith. The UFC’s contingency plan went into motion and Smith faced Tank Abbott instead, while Severn fell out of favour with the UFC, only returning to the UFC in early 2000, and even then as a referee for some preliminary fights at UFC 24.

The UFC had been building up Pedro Rizzo for the UFC Heavyweight Championship from the moment he stepped foot in the UFC. Rizzo’s first fight was against Tank Abbott at UFC Brazil, with Rizzo winning by knockout. Rizzo beat former champion Mark Coleman by split-decision at UFC 18, before knocking out Tra Telligman at UFC 20, and then TKO’ing Tsuyoshi Kohsaka at UFC 23 in Japan. These victories earned Rizzo his shot at UFC Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman. Their fight was scheduled to take placeat UFC 24, but Kevin Randleman knocked himself out backstage during the show and the fight was cancelled. The fight ended up taking place at UFC 26 but not only did Rizzo lose, he lost in one of the worst title fights in UFC history. Rizzo needed rebuilding and looking to use the method that has long been a trademark of combat sports, they put Rizzo against a veteran with a name, so that Rizzo would beat the veteran and gain some ‘star power’ off that victory. The veteran chosen for the role was Dan Severn. It wasn’t necessarily a given that Rizzo would win, but it was the most likely, the very likely outcome. Severn would get to fight in the UFC one more time, but in order to do so he would have to pay a penance for his sins three years prior.

UFC 27

Ian Freeman vs. Tedd Williams wasn’t a particularly good fight, with most of it seeing Williams smothering Freeman on the mat or pressing him against the fence, and when Freeman did get control of the fight, Williams was able to pull guard and neutralize Freeman’s efforts, which also sucked all the excitement out of the fight. It’s at this point in the evolution of MMA that you’re starting to see fighters no longer being single disciplined, with fighters using more than just punching or grappling, but combining the two. It’s very early on in the evolutionary timeline, but you can see the modern MMA game starting to emerge. The fight went the distance with Ian Freeman winning by unanimous decision, although they don’t announce the scores, just the result.

They run video pieces to promote Dan Severn’s fight in the main event, as well as UFC 28 in November, when Kevin Randleman defends the UFC Heavyweight Championship against the returning Randy Couture.

Alexandre Dantas vs. Yuk Kondo was a fight touted as potentially setting up the winner for shot at UFC Middleweight Champion Tito Ortiz. At the time, what would become the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship was still called the UFC Middleweight Championship. The fight was decent, a good grappling contest for the standards of the time. Dantas dominated for the first two rounds with grappling and positional control, as well as going for submissions. But Dantas looked exhausted coming out for the third round and a flurry of fancy kicks from Kondo set up a jumping knee that floored Dantas, with Kondo landing one more punch before John McCarthy stopped the fight. It sets up Kondo for a title shot against Tito Ortiz, but he did not impress in the process of doing so.

The hype up the UFC video game on the Dreamcast before interviewing Tito Ortiz; they reveal that Ortiz has signed a long-term contract with SEG, and they hype up Ortiz defending his title against Yuki Kondo in Japan.

Lavern Clarke vs. Fabiano Iha is a rematch from UFC 20, with their first fight going the way of Clarke due to a doctor stoppage after sustaining a cut. The stoppage was somewhat controversial as Iha had Clarke in an ankle lock when the referee halted the fight to let the doctor check the cut. There isn’t any controversy this time as Iha ducks a punch to take Clarke down and in the ensuing scramble, get a tight armbar on Clarke, who tries very hard to pull out of the hold and find an escape, but cannot and is eventually forced to tap.

Eugene Jackson vs. Jeremy Horn saw Horn quickly grab Jackson around the waist and eventually muscle him down to the mat. The fight remained on the mat, with Jackson unable to shift Horn off of him as Horn transitioned from one position to the next before spinning around into an armbar to get the tap out in 4:33.

They run a really good video package before the next fight to promote Maurice Smith, detailing his entire UFC run.

Bobby Hoffman vs. Maurice Smith sees Frank Shamrock, in the corner of Smith, and he’s mic’d up so we can hear what he has to say. Whilst it’s now commonplace to mic up cornermen, this was an innovation at this point in time. Also of note is that John Perretti, the UFC matchmaker at the time, was on commentary. Perretti was clearly a member of the Kenny Rice School of Broadcasting because he was undercutting both fighters constantly, although in the case of Smith it was probably intentional because Perretti has long had a beef with Frank Shamrock. The fight was OK but nothing too exciting. Hoffman dragged Smith down to the ground early on with a side-headlock and spent the first round on top of Smith, ether in top position or in side control and worked him over. Hoffman was gassed in the second round but still had enough to take Smith down and ride him out, although with Smith working Hoffman over for the first half of the round it made the round even. The third round saw Smith keeping Hoffman against the fence and working him over with punches and knees, all the while John Perretti on commentary burying Smith six-feet underground. Smith won on a “split, majority decision”, with Bruce Buffer making one of his few snafus.

The pre-fight video on Rizzo showcases his UFC run so far, with much made of Rizzo’s poor showing against Kevin Randleman at UFC 26, which was one of the worst title fights in UFC history. At the end of the video, the voiceover asks if this is a new chapter from the legend or a passing of the torch. The video on Severn is equally extensive, and is rather diplomatic when talking about the second fight with Ken Shamrock.

Pedro Rizzo vs. Dan Severn sees Severn open up with a takedown attempt but Rizzo almost casually shoves him aside; they briefly hit the mat before both getting back up. There is a lot circling before Rizzo throws a big head kick that hits enough to make a noise though Severn isn’t fazed. Rizzo drops Severn with a kick to the left knee. They circle again and Severn throws some speculative punches before Rizzo lands another vicious kick to the left knee of Severn, who buckles and falls before verbally submitting. It was a big win for Rizzo, very decisive, and just what Rizzo and the UFC were after.

UFC 76: Knockout (September 22nd 2007)

The main event to this show was expected to be Chuck Liddell’s long awaited showdown with former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva. But when Quinton Jackson upset Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 71, it left the UFC scrambling to find a replacement opponent for Liddell, with the feeling being that he needed a more winnable fight after his defeat. The UFC’s eventual selection would leave a lot of people anticipating one of the least purchased UFC PPVs of the year.

Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine (the build)

Chuck Liddell had become one of the biggest stars in the UFC during his quest to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. After being upset by Randy Couture for the vacant Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 43, Liddell tried to redeem himself in PRIDE’s 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix, and although he beat Alistair Overeem in the quarterfinals, he lost to Quinton Jackson in the semi-finals. Yet Chuck wasn’t deterred and at UFC 47, he faced off against former friend and training partner Tito Ortiz. Ortiz had been the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion but came up with myriad excuses to avoid the fighting Liddell, the top contender, forcing the UFC to create an interim title fight between Liddell and Randy Couture; after beating Liddell, Couture then beat Ortiz to become the undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

At UFC 47, put the issue with Ortiz to bed with a decisive and destructive second round knockout of his former friend. Liddell then delivered another one-sided beating, this time to Vernon White at UFC 49 before finally claiming the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with a knockout of Randy Couture at UFC 52. Liddell’s first title defence saw him beat Jeremy Horn at UFC 54,with Liddell avenging his first ever MMA loss, suffered at the hands of Horn way back at UFC 17. Liddell then retained his title against Randy Couture in their trilogy making fight at UFC 57, after which Couture announced his retirement from the sport.

Liddell was still going strong and at UFC 62 he handed out yet another one-sided beating, this time to Renato Sobral, with Liddell knocking Sobral out in 1:35. Liddell was now the king of the UFC as well as the reigning Light Heavyweight Champion. Whoever the UFC put in front of him, Liddell was knocking them down in decisive fashion and he was looking close to unbeatable. Liddell’s next title defence would see him get the chance to avenge another prior loss, as Liddell would defend the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Quinton Jackson at UFC 71. Jackson had beaten Liddell in PRIDE, but this was seen as another chapter in the ‘Liddell Revenge Tour’.

But Jackson upset the odds and the UFC with a stunning first round knockout of Liddell in just 1:53. The UFC was stunned, as was Liddell as his title reign came to a crashing end. The loss didn’t just end Liddell’s title reign; it also ended any immediate plans for Liddell to face PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva, a dream fight for MMA fans that had long been teased and was on the verge of finally becoming reality. The UFC felt Liddell needed a win to rehab him before they could go with the Silva fight and with UFC 76 fast approaching, options were limited. But it was still a surprise that the UFC ended up choosing as Liddell’s opponent a fighter who himself was in need of a little rehab.

Keith Jardine was a tough fighter who had entered the UFC through the second season of TUF, with Jardine competing in TUF as a heavyweight. Jardine would only fight once in the tournament, at the semi-final stage where he loss to eventual TUF 2 winner Rashad Evans. Jardine’s first official fight in the UFC was at the live TUF 2 finale, where he TKO’d Kerry Schall in the second round. Jardine then defeated Mike Whitehead by unanimous decision on the undercard of UFC 57 before suffering a unanimous decision defeat of his own, to Stephan Bonnar in the main event of UFC Fight Night 4.

Jardine’s next fight was a unanimous decision win over Wilson Gouveia at the finale of TUF 3, following which Jardine had the biggest figh of his career as he took on TUF 1 winner Forrest Griffin at UFC 66. Jardine went into the fight as a major underdog but Jardine proved his mettle with a brutal first-round TKO victory, in a loss so devastating for Griffin that it sent him running and crying from the cage in the aftermath. Jardine was red hot with this unexpected momentum behind him, so he was genuinely annoyed when his next fight saw him matched up against promotional newcomer Houston Alexander at UFC 71.

Jardine openly complained about the fight, calling it an insult and expressing the opinion that he should have been facing a contender instead of a complete unknown. Well, Houston Alexander wasn’t unknown for long when, at UFC 71 he handed out one of the most destructive and brutal one-sided beatings in UFC history, Alexander dismantling Jardine in devastating fashion in just 48 seconds.  Jardine was left face down on the canvas and unconscious, in the most undignified manner possible.

So you can imagine the shock and sheer bafflement when it was announced that UFC 76 would be headlined by Chuck Liddell against Keith Jardine. The fact that Liddell would face Jardine in his comeback fight after the title loss was not a surprise; whilst Jardine had had his credibility shattered in the loss to Houston Alexander, he still had something of a name due to his win over Forrest Griffin and was therefore considered the ideal opponent for Liddell in what was considered a very winnable fight for Liddell.

But the fact that it would headline a PPV, be the fight counted on the most to draw the buys, was something that left people shaking their heads and going into the event with the full expectations that it would be one of the least UFC PPVs in a long time.

The Rest of the Main Card

Yet UFC 76 wouldn’t be without strong support as it would feature the debut of one of PRIDE’s best fighters, the man widely considered by most to be one of the best light heavyweights in the world, Maurício Rua. Rua had been a mainstay of PRIDE for over three years, only suffering defeat once, a fluke loss to Mark Coleman in a heavyweight fight, when Rua broke his arm bracing himself when Coleman went for a takedown. Apart from that one loss, Rua won his other nine fights in PRIDE, with only one going the distance. Rua’s wins included a one-sided TKO of Quinton Jackson and knockout wins over Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona, the latter of which won Rua the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix.

Rua was felt to be the best light heavyweight in the world; PRIDE’s middleweight division was the equivalent of the light heavyweight division in the US. For Rua’s UFC debut, he would be pitted against a fighter with a strong name, but who was considered a strong name that Rua would beat, with Rua then moving on to challenge for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Forrest Griffin had become one of the most popular fighters in the UFC after winning the first season of TUF. Wins over Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic cemented his fighting credentials, but it was a loss, split-decision loss to Tito Ortiz that cemented his credibility, with many people feeling that Griffin had done enough to win the fight and had been the victim of bad judging. Griffin rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Stephan Bonnar in a rematch of their classic TUF 1 finale, but Griffin would face a major setback at UFC 66 when he was brutally TKO’d by Keith Jardine.

It was a difficult loss for Griffin, who stumbled through the post-fight interview and then ran crying form the cage. Griffin picked up the pieces of his career at UFC 72 with a methodical win over Hector Ramirez, but when Griffin was matched against Maurício Rua, it was expected by many that Griffin would lose to Rua, that Griffin was the opponent for Rua to beat to make his name in the UFC and then move on to bigger and better things, namely a shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Also on the card, TUF 1 Welterweight Tournament winner Diego Sanchez would be attempting to rebound from his first career loss, to arch rival Josh Koscheck at UFC 69, when he faced Jon Fitch, who was a training partner of Koshcheck and on a 13-fight winning streak. Lyoto Machida would face PRIDE veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura, and opening up the main card would be Tyson Griffin against Thiago Tavares.

Card Changes

A scheduled bout between light heavyweights Jason Lambert and Wilson Gouveia was removed from the card after Gouveia suffered a severely broken nose during training. A replacement for Gouveia was not found.

UFC 76 (the preliminary fights)

Matt Wiman beat Michihiro Omigawa by unanimous decision in an entertaining scrap. Christian Wellisch tapped out Scott Junk with a heel hook in a fight that was boring right up until the finish. Jeremy Stephens survived a first round domination on the ground to grind out a unanimous decision over Diego Saraiva. Rich Clementi weathered an early storm to submit Anthony Johnson in the second round of a fight where Johnson came it a whopping 177lbs, well over the welterweight limit. Johnson looked so much bigger than Clementi and he looked so tiny compared to how he looks now. This is a fight that I don’t think would be made today, and it shouldn’t have been made then because this was only Johnson’s fifth fight while Clementi had had 48 fights.

UFC 76 (the main card)

Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares was a really, really good fight; if we get a best forgotten fights threads that Egg mentioned, this one should go in it. This fight featured a lot of wrestling and grappling, lots of reversals and attempts at positional control, striking from the clinch; this fight had everything a fight based off of clinching and grappling could have. Tavares proved a tricky customer at times, even spending an extended period on the back of Griffin in the ‘backpack position’. It was a hard fought and a very close one; judged as a whole, I’d just about give the edge to Tavares, but under the 10-point must system (which Joe Rogan all but said was not fit for purpose for MMA fights, yet he we are, still using it ten years later), I think Griffin may have snuck over. The judges go 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for the winner, Tyson Griffin, and Tavares loses for the very first time.

Lyoto Machida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura wasn’t the most engaging of fights but it wasn’t really a bad one. Machida was just too good for Nakamura to do anything, although Nakamura did at least try to make a fight of it. At one point, Machida had Nakamura in a rear naked choke but Machida couldn’t keep the hold applied, and not because of anything Nakamura did; Machida just had a really poor rear naked choke. Again, not a bad fight, but not one you’d care to see again.

Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez was a very good, very competitive fight. It was wrestling-heavy, with plenty of reversals and submission attempts thrown in. Sanchez had trouble taking Fitch down, and Fitch barely made weight for the fight, but he was able to do, although Fitch came back with takedowns, too. Throughout the fight, Sanchez was by far the more aggressive, going for submissions off his back, which he had to do a lot of in the second and third rounds because Fitch was able to take him down or reverse him. And I believe that’s why Fitch won on a split-decision, with one judge, the notoriously terrible Cecil Peoples scoring it 30-27 for Fitch. Fitch had the top position for a lot of the fight and the judges scored that far more favourably then they should have. Yes, Fitch had the top position for a lot of the fight, but he wasn’t working Sanchez over, he wasn’t threatening him with anything; Fitch just stayed in top position and kept busy, but not a busy that was actually doing anything. Meanwhile, Sanchez was working constantly, whether he was on top or on the bottom, going for strikes, going for submissions, doing something to be aggressive. It was a competitive fight but it really wasn’t close at all, not when you look at what both fighters were actually doing from their respective positions.

Forrest Griffin vs. Maurício Rua was the big co-main event, the anticipated debut of the man felt to be one of the best light heavyweights in the world, if not the best light heavyweight in the world. This was a real dogfight at times, especially when both guys were tired and it was early in the second round when it became clear not just that Rua was tired but how tired he was, because Rua was breathing heavily and slowed down considerably. Griffin had slowed down too, but he had enough in the tank to keep going at a decent clip, whereas Rua was starting to play more defence the more tired he got. In the second round, however, Rua delivered the most significant blow of the fight, an elbow from the clinch that cut Griffin up and had him bleeding all over the place. In between rounds, his corner covered it with a big glob of Vaseline. In the third round, Rua managed to take Griffin down but he couldn’t do anything because of how tired he was and Griffin was able to reverse things and get in top position; with less than a minute to go, Rua gave up his back and Griffin managed to secure a rear naked choke to force the tap and Forrest Griffin had pulled off the upset to hand Rua only the second decisive loss of his career.

The place came unglued for the finish and Griffin celebrated as only he could. The winner of TUF 1 had scored the biggest win of his career and had done something that few people expected to be able to; beating Rua was one thing, but tapping him out was something else indeed.

Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine

It was time for the main event of the evening and time to see of the ‘Iceman’ could come back from losing his title in stunning fashion at UFC 71. The pre-fight video was really good, especially with Jardine being so confident about himself and his abilities.

The fight was a pure kickboxing battle, with punches and kicks aplenty and no attempt whatsoever by either fighter to take the fight to the ground. Liddell’s strategy was the same strategy it always is; lure the other guy in and play counterfighter. It didn’t work too well with Jardine, who was landing as much and sometimes more than Liddell. It was clear Liddell had no other gameplan to follow and he didn’t seem to know what to do once Plan A went out the window. This was especially evident as Jardine landed leg kicks and body kicks as the fight went on; it took well into the third round before Liddell even tried to check the leg kicks. That’s some basic stuff right there and Liddell either didn’t know to do it or couldn’t do it, and by the end of the fight his left side was beet reed. Jardine scored the biggest punch of the fight early in the second round, dropping Liddell, and whilst Liddell tried to come on strong, and seemed to perhaps wobble Jardine once, he just couldn’t land the big punches; more often than not, he was swinging in the wind. The first round was very close and could have gone either way, while the second round was a clear round for Jardine and the third round, whilst close, was another one for Jardine so I had it 29-28 for Jardine.

Post-fight, Liddell raises his arms and is booed and when a judge is announced as scoring the fight for Liddell, that gets booed as well, which tells you how the fans feel the fight went. Jardine is announced as the winner by split-decision; the fans pop pretty big but Wanderlei Silva is shown shaking his head in disbelief. Liddell sits down in a corner and seems disappointed. He should be but only in himself. Liddell fought a terrible fight; he had one gameplan and when that didn’t work, Liddell seemed to have no idea on what to do and just fought haphazardly the rest of the fight. And don’t get me started on Liddell’s complete inability or unwillingness to check leg kicks or defend against the body kicks. Jardine more than earned this one, although it would have been nice to see Liddell try something other than just winging punches and hoping for the best.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 13,770 (11,817 paid)
Gate: $1,985,000
PPV Buys: 475,000

UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort (September 22nd 2012)

The main event to UFC 152 was rather hastily put together, done so in the wake of a tumultuous series of events that culminated with the cancellation, for the first time ever of a UFC PPV.

Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort (the build)

Jon Jones, the long-time and seemingly unbeatable UFC Light Heavyweight Champion had been scheduled to defend his title against Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 151 on September 1st. Yet eight days before the event, Henderson pulled out of the fight due to a knee injury. The UFC opted to put Chael Sonnen in as a last-minute replacement, but Jones, on the advice of Greg Jackson, refused to fight Sonnen and for the first time ever, the UFC cancelled a PPV. UFC 151 would go into the record books as the show that never was.

The UFC wanted to rebook Jones at the earliest available opportunity, so he was set to defend his title in the main event of UFC 152. Originally, the UFC was going with Lyoto Machida as the challenger, but Machida refused to take the fight on short notice. Needing someone to face Jones, the UFC went to Vitor Belfort, came to terms and Belfort signed to challenge Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in the main event of UFC 152.

Vitor Belfort could be a violent and dangerous fighter, but he had the rep of being a frontrunner, a fighter who did well if he was ahead but who would withdraw and retreat into himself when faced with adversity. That made his task especially difficult, as Belfort would be facing a champion so dominant that not only did he look unbeatable, but people were ready to call him the greatest of all time, or at least the fighter who would come to be known as the greatest of all time.

Yet it was a chance that Vitor was ready to make the most of, one that had been offered to others but that had seen Vitor be the only one willing to step up to the plate.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event at UFC 152 would see history made as the first ever UFC Flyweight Champion would be crowned.

The UFC had put together a four-man tournament to decide who the first champion in UFC flyweight history would be, with both of those fights taking place at UFC on FX 2: Alves vs. Kampmann. In the first semi-final, Joseph Benavidez had TKO’d Yasuhiro Urushitani to book his place in the final. But in the other semi-final, controversy reigned in the fight between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall; the fight was scored as a majority decision win for Johnson, but it was later announced that the scorecards had been totalled up incorrectly and that the fight should have been ruled a majority draw, with the fight then going to a fourth deciding round. A rematch between Johnson and McCall was quickly booked, as the main event to UFC on FX 3, and Johnson finally sealed his place in the tournament final with a unanimous decision victory.

Elsewhere on the main card of UFC 152, Michael Bisping would face Brian Stann, Matt Hamill would return from retirement against Roger Hollet, and Charles Oliveira would fight Cub Swanson

Card Changes

Rory MacDonald was to have faced BJ Penn, but MacDonald withdrew from the fight after sustaining a cut to his forehead while training and the fight was rescheduled for UFC on FOX 5 in December. Roger Hollett was set to make his UFC debut against Matt Hamill, who was coming out of retirement, but Hollett pulled out of the fight due to a contract dispute. Hollett was replaced by Vladimir Matyushenko but Matyushenko tore his Achilles tendon and so the UFC rebooked the fight between Hamill and Hollett. A fight between Evan Dunham and TJ Grant was moved from the main card to the FX prelims. The fight between Charlie Brenneman and Kyle Noke was one that had been rebooked after the cancellation of UFC 151. Dan Miller withdrew from his fight against Sean Pierson when his son, who suffered polycystic kidney disease, was set to underdog a kidney transplant. Lance Benoist replaced Miller.

Charles Oliveira missed weight but as his fight was turned into a catchweight contest, he was not fined.

UFC 152 (the preliminary fights)

Kyle Noke stunned Charlie Brenneman with a right hand that dropped him and Brenneman took a few more punches before the referee, Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight in just 45 seconds in what Brenneman and Joe Rogan felt was a quick stoppage. The replay showed that Brenneman was knocked out for a moment, but before the referee stepped in to stop fight and Brenneman was back with it when the referee did step in. Mitch Gagnon caught Walel Watson flush with a counterpunch when Watson went for a Superman punch, and pounced on the opening to tap Watson out with a rear naked choke in 69 seconds. Seth Baczynski knocked out Simeon Thoresen in 4:10, with what looked like the most innocuous of left hooks. Marcus Brimage and Sean Pierson scored unaniumous decision wins over Jimy Hetes and Lance Benoist respectively. TJ Grant beats Evan Dunham by unanimous decision in what was a pretty great, and quite bloody brawl. This fight was two guys willing to stand and trade, but not in an overly wild and unrestrained manner; rather, it was measured and technical, more so than most brawls. Dunham and Grant were both moving forward throughout the fight, although Dunham was moving back more in the third round because he was clearly tired, and while Grant was tired as well he kept coming forward. There was something clinching and Dunham was able to take Grant down late on in the rounds, but for the most part this was a stand-up brawl and a heck of brawl it was. Grant won on scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28, which Dunham was quite upset by. Vinny Magalhaes dominated Igor Pokrajac with jiu-jitsu before tapping him out early in the second round.

UFC 152 (the main card)

Charles Oliveira vs. Cub Swanson was a fight that was turning out nicely, some solid boxing from both fighters, before Swanson delivered a pair of body shots that seemed to have Oliveira backing up a little. Swanson then cracked Oliveira with an overhand that saw Oliveira take a few steps backwards before crumpling to the canvas, turtling up and Swanson had scored a big knockout victory.

Matt Hamill vs. Roger Hollett was not the most exciting of fights thanks to large portions of it seeing Hamill and Hollett content to circle and throw speculatory punches and make the most feeble of takedown attempts. The best work was in the first round when Hamill was able to take Hollet down and beat him up for most of it, Hamill getting very close to having the fight stopped. But that was it as far as genuine excitement got, in a fight that was frequently booed by the fans, and with the announcement of Hamill’s unanimous decision victory also getting booed.

Michael Bisping vs. Brian Stann had an OK first round but the only highlight were a pair lowblows, Bisping and Stann each taking a shot to the groin. Of note in the first round, especially in light of his upcoming fight with GSP, is that Bisping tried hard to take Stann down and couldn’t do it and Stann isn’t close to the level of wrestler that GSO is. Also of note, and this happened again in the second round, is Bisping kept grabbing the shorts of Stann. The first round ended with Bisping getting wobbled a bit and Stann going for the finish. Bisping finally got the takedown, and a big one early in the second round, but with Bisping in side-control Stann was able to sweep him. From top position, Stann landed some good elbows but Bisping scrambled free to take control of Stann, although in among the scramble Stann complained about an eye poke, but the referee didn’t see it. Late in the second round, Bisping scored another takedown. The third round saw Bisping keep up the pressure with takedowns and takedown attempts; Bisping couldn’t keep Stann down for too long, but he could keep taking him down in a fight that went the distance. Bisping won the unanimous decision on scores of 29-28 on all three scorecards.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson – for the vacant UFC Flyweight Championship was the fight that would end in the historic crowning of the first flyweight champion in UFC history. The best way to describe this one is that it was the kind of fight that was what we’d now call the prototypical Demetrious Johnson fight; as technically proficient is it comes, with nothing out of place or sloppy in any way, to even the smallest degree, but not at all engaging unless you’re into the minutiae of fighting, of watching it on a pure technical level. The fans started booing after the first round and they’d get intermittently louder as the fight went on. Joe Rogan couldn’t believe it and dismissed the fans as ‘just bleed’ fans who just wanted guys to stand and swing. It’s far too easy to dismiss the fans like that and it’s quite lazy because it doesn’t address the fact that for all its technical proficiency, this style of fight doesn’t get over with most people because most people aren’t into the sport with the level of depth to where they’d be genuinely interested and fascinated by it. They can appreciate it, and I think the vast majority of fans do appreciate all styles of fighting, but that doesn’t mean they’re engaged by all styles of fighting, and to dismiss that out of hand is being ignorant and arrogant. It’s not fair that fighters of this proficiency get booed but not all styles appeal to all people.

The fight itself was very close; I thought the first two rounds could have gone either way and the fourth round was almost as close. The only rounds I felt were clear, and not necessarily by much were rounds three and five, which I gave to Johnson. I scored the fight 48-47 to Johnson, but it could easily be 48-47 for Benavidez. The judges are divided as Johnson wins the fight and the title on scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 47-48. All three scores are perfectly viable.

Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort

The main event of the evening was pretty underwhelming for a UFC PPV main event and a Jon Jones fight. The only moment of serious excitement came early in the first round, with Belfort on his back and Jones in his guard; Belfort threw up his legs and managed to catch Jones in an armbar, and it was tight enough that Jones later claimed he was mentally preparing to tap out. But Jones pulled free and from there on out, Jones controlled the fight.  After that first round armbar attempt, Belfort pretty much withdrew into his shell for the rest of the fight, not pushing for anything or being aggressive to any serious degree. Belfort would occasionally pull guard, but then he’d just hold on tight and do nothing, which Joe Rogan was desperately trying to sell as Belfort setting up another armbar attempt.

Jones eventually got the tap early in the fourth round with an Americana.

It’s worth mentioning that Jones was constantly holding his fingers out extended, which has become known as one of Jones best tactics. The referee, John McCarthy, warned Jones about this but Jones kept doing it and McCarthy did nothing about it. If McCarthy had the power to do something, he should have and he had plenty of chances because he warned Jones at least six or seven times. But if McCarthy couldn’t do anything, then what was the point of warning Jones when nothing could come if it? Whatever the case, McCarthy completely dropped the ball on this one, and by warning Jones constantly and never pulling the trigger on punishing him, it came across like McCarthy was too scared to do anything.

The Aftermath

It would later come out that one of Belfort’s pre-fight drug tests indicated an abnormally high level of testosterone, high enough to the point that the fight should really have been called off and Belfort suspended, if only temporarily. But as tends to happens in these situations, nothing happened. The test results were sent out to people by mistake and even then it took a few years for them to come to light. But they did and when they did, it caused quite a lot of embarrassment as it made it look like the UFC and everyone else involved had covered up the test results to ensure that the fight still went ahead. And I don’t know that you’d be wrong to think that that is exactly what did happen.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 16,800
Gate: $1,900,000
PPV Buys: 450,000

Fight of the Night: TJ Grant vs. Evan Dunham
Knockout of the Night: Cub Swanson
Submission of the Night: Jon Jones

Estimate payroll for UFC 152, not including fight night bonuses;

Jon Jones: $400,000 def. Vitor Belfort: $275,000
Demetrious Johnson: $46,000 ($23,000 win bonus) def. Joseph Benavidez: $30,000
Michael Bisping: $425,000 ($150,000 win bonus) def. Brian Stann: $23,000
Matt Hamill: $64,000 ($32,000 win bonus) def. Roger Hollett: $6,000
Cub Swanson: $42,000 ($21,000 win bonus) def. Charles Oliveira: $21,000
Vinny Malgalhaes: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Igor Pokrajac: $19,000
TJ Grant: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus) def. Evan Dunham: $78,000
Sean Pierson: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Lance Benoist: $8,000
Marcus Brimage: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Jimy Hettes: $10,000
Seth Baczynski: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Simeon Thoresen: $6,000
Mitch Gagnon: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus) def. Walel Watson: $6,000
Kyle Noke: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Charlie Brenneman: $18,000

Next time out, we talk about UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn II, Bellator 30 and Invicta FC 19: Maia vs. Modafferi, as well as pass comment on DREAM: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round.

[wandshogun09]

Tyson Griffin vs Thiago Tavares was tremendous. Right up there with the more talked about lightweight fights around that time like Edgar vs Griffin, Griffin vs Guida and Huerta vs Guida. The lightweights really brought it in 2007. It was the year the UFC bought Pride and we started getting some of the big names over but I thought the reemergence of the 155ers was the highlight of that year. Great fight after great fight after great fight. There's a bunch of really fun forgotten fights from the lightweights in 2007. Joe Stevenson vs Kurt Pellegrino and Spencer Fisher vs Sam Stout were also fantastic.

And one lightweight fight you'll get to soon @Noah Southworth which I remember being excellent - Matt Grice vs Jason Black from UFC 77, October 20th 2007. Nearly 10 years to the day. I haven't seen it in ages but I loved it at the time. Proper forgotten gem. 

[Egg Shen]

we need a forgotten fights thread. I feel theres so much MMA these days that people just focus on whats next and miss out on some absolute pearlers from back in the day.

[jimufctna24]

2 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Matt Grice

My memory is playing tricks on me.  I thought Grice was the prospect who trained with Matt Hughes. Turns out that was Matt Veach. Funnily enough, Grice and Veach faced one another in the UFC. Veach won by TKO. 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah and that was also a really exciting fight. 

Matt Grice topped both the Black and Veach fights with an absolute blinder against Dennis Bermudez on the Rousey vs Carmouche undercard in 2013. A genuine but forgotten FOTY candidate from a year full of great fights. Sadly that ended up being his last fight before the car crash that left him brain damaged. 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 23rd)

UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn II (September 23rd 2006)

The main event to UFC 63 would be one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history, and a rematch that originally wasn’t even supposed to happen.

Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn II (the build)

Heading into 2004 and his upcoming title defence against BJ Penn at UFC 46, UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes looked to be unbeatable. Hughes had won the title from Carlos Newton at UFC 34, and while the win was highly controversial in that Hughes had knocked Newton unconscious with a slam whilst he himself was also unconscious but the referee had not known Hughes was unconscious and so awarded him the fight and title, Hughes had gone on to secure his championship credentials with five successful title defences; Hughes had TKO’d Hayato Sakurai, TKO’d Carlos Newton in a rematch, and TKO’d Gil Gastillo, before scoring a unanimous decision win over Sean Sherk and then tapping out Frank Trigg in what was one of the most memorable title fights in UFC history.

Hughes’ championship reign had been part of a tremendous 13-fight winning streak; put together, it was no surprised that Hughes was heralded as the greatest champion in UFC history and was seen to be an unstoppable force in the welterweight division. But looming on the horizon was a challenger who was looking to do the impossible, to beat the unstoppable welterweight champion, but he would go into the fight at what most people felt would be an incredible disadvantage.

BJ Penn had burst onto the MMA scene with tremendous hype behind him due to his background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; not only had Penn trained under Ralph Gracie, but he had been awarded his black belt by Andre Pederneiras and then become the first non-Brazilian to ever win the black belt division at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Penn had displayed such natural talent that he was given the nickname ‘The Prodigy’, and Penn, who was competing as a lightweight, seemed to live up to that nickname when won his first three fights in the first round, the third of which saw him dispatch Caol Uno in just 11-seconds in what was a lightweight title eliminator.

Penn got his shot at UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver UFC 35 but it was this fight that saw the first showing of a problem that would plague Penn his entire career. Penn was naturally talented, hence the nickname he bore, but Penn was so reliant on that natural talent that didn’t put in the kind of work that other, less naturally talented fighters did, and that was evident at UFC 35 when Penn gassed out early and Pulver took over the fight to win by majority decision.

Penn returned to winning ways with back-to-back wins, including a win over Matt Serra to earn a spot in the tournament final to crown a new UFC Lightweight Champion, with former champion Pulver having left the promotion. Penn’s opponent in the final would be old foe Caol Uno, but on this occasion the fight would end without a winner as the contest was ruled a draw, leaving the UFC Lightweight Championship vacant. Penn’s next fight would be outside the UFC, with Penn competing in his native Hawaii where he submitted future PRIDE superstar Takanori Gomi in the fourth round.

It therefore came as a major surprise when it was announced that at UFC 46, Penn would be moving up a weight class to challenge Matt Hughes for the UFC Welterweight Championship. It was a fight that seemed to make little sense, with Penn given even less of a chance of victory; not only would he be moving up a weight class to take on the bigger, stronger and seemingly unstoppable Hughes, but Penn would be competing outside of his normal weight class, a weight class where he had shown that he could gas out early.

Regardless, the fight was on and in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history Penn dominated Hughes, taking him down quickly before eventually submitting him with a rear naked choke in 4:39 of the first round. It was a stunning upset of a seemingly dominant champion.

The question of where Penn would go from here in the UFC was never answered as a contract disputed resulted in Penn leaving the promotion and vacating the UFC Welterweight Championship. Hughes would regain the title at UFC 50, beating Georges St. Pierre for the vacant title, before engaging in his epic rematch with Frank Trigg, dismantling Joe Riggs in a non-title fight, and walking right through one of the UFC’s founding fathers, Royce Gracie. Meanwhile, outside the UFC, Penn would not only compete at middleweight but he would even face future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida in an openweight contest, with Penn managing to go the distance with his much bigger opponent.

In early 2006, Penn would return to the UFC and he would once again be competing in the welterweight division, and his first fight back would be a big one, as he would face Georges St. Pierre in a welterweight title eliminator at UFC 56 in March of that year. But despite dominating GSP for the first half of the fight, old problems would again come back to haunt Penn as he gassed out, allowing GSP to dominate the second half of the fight and sneak by a with split-decision victory to claim the shot at UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes.

Yet GSP would miss out on his rematch due to a groin injury, and with a challenger needed for Hughes at UFC 63, Penn would end up getting the title opportunity he badly wanted, in a fight that would also give Hughes the chance to avenge the loss to Penn, the last defeat Hughes had suffered in MMA.

The Rest of the Main Card

The highlight of the rest of the main card was the return to the UFC by former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver. Pulver had become the first ever UFC Lightweight Champion at UFC 30, when he defeated Caol Uno by majority decision. Successful title defences against Dennis Hallman and BJ Penn followed, before Pulver left the UFC after a contract dispute. In his time outside the UFC, Pulver went 9-4, a run which included fights against Takanori Gomi and Hayato Sakurai. Pulver’s return was somewhat unexpected as there had been a lot of bad feeling between Pulver and the UFC over his departure, but that was put aside as the UFC welcomed back their first lightweight champion, a title which was still vacant, despite the UFC’s best efforts to fill the vacancy. Pulver would be taking on Joe Lauzon, who, at this stage, was only 22-years-old, but had still amassed a 13-3 record.

Elsewhere on the main card, TUF 2 Heavyweight Tournament winner Rashad Evans would face Jason Lambert. This would be a big test for Evans, who was 8-0 going into this fight, with Lambert having a huge experience edge. Mike Swick, on a four-fight win streak with all four fights ending in the fourth round, would face former middleweight title challenger David Loiseau, with this being Loiseau’s first fight since facing the Rich Franklin for the title. And TUF 2 competitor Melvin Guillard would face Gabe Ruediger.

Card Changes

Jason Dent was a late replacement for Jason Reinhardt against Roger Huerta.

UFC 63 (the preliminaries)

Tyson Griffin choked David Lee into submission in 1:50. Jorge Gurgel edged past Danny Abbadi by split-decision. Eddie Sanchez knocked out Mario Neto just 17 seconds into the second round of their fight. And Roger Huerta cruised past late-notice replacement Jason Dent by unanimous decision.

UFC 63 (the main card)

Joe Lauzon vs. Jens Pulver opened with a Lauzon taking Pulver down but Pulver was soon able to get back up. Pulver ducked early to avoid a takedown and Lauzon got a hold of his head, stunned him with a knee and then dropped him with a left hook, Lauzon landing two more punches before the referee stopped the fight and Joe Lauzon had scored a major upset in 48 seconds to spoil the return of ‘Little Evil’. Pulver gave an emotional interview afterwards, promising to be back and vowing that if he had to, he would die in the cage. For Lauzon, it was the first stop into what would turn into a highly successful UFC career.

Rashad Evans vs. Jason Lambert saw Evans use a wrestling-heavy approach to dominate Lambert in the first round, although Lambert did almost get a kimura locked up from the bottom. Evans kept to the wrestling in the second round, much to the chagrin of the crowd but at the half-way point, Evans took the mount on Lambert and pounded him out for the stoppage.

They ran an awesome commercial for Ortiz vs. Shamrock III, coming to Spike TV. Joe Rogan interview Georges St. Pierre, who will be watching the main event tonigiht with interest and says that he will be fighting the winner.

Melvin Guillard vs. Gabe Ruediger had a pretty good first round with Guillard battering Ruediger for the first half it and Rudediger coming on strong with wrestling in the second half and getting the back of Guillard towards  the end of the round. Early in the second round, Guillard landed a strong punch to the gut of Ruediger that had Ruediger backing off, and Guillard landed another one moments later to drop Ruediger to get the stoppage.

David Loiseau vs. Mike Swick was, outside of a moment in the first round when Swick took the back of Loiseau, very dull, with the second round especially being excruciating. It was noted on commentary that Loiseau was perhaps gunshy, this being his first fight since taking a one-sided beating from Rich Franklin at UFC 58, and the action or lack thereof seemed to bear that out.  This also was evident in the third round when Swick was clearly gassed out; Loiseau had Swick trapped against the fence and was starting to lay into him with punches and elbows, before inexplicably clinching up and bringing the action to a screeching halt. The fight went the distance with Swick winning by unanimous decision, but it was a win that did more harm than good and curtailed whatever plans there were for Swick to be matched up with a higher ranked opponent and perhaps get the chance to enter the title picture.

Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn II

The pre-fight video is so good and the stand-up discussion with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan, who are joined by Randy Couture, is really good too and does a great job of setting the stage for a main event that has the big fight feel, of an event that feels like it’s really something special.

The Fight Pass version of the show butchers up Penn’s tremendous walk-in music which is some Hawaiian (I presume) chanting that transitions into Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, with Fight Pass replacing “Crazy” with the some terrible generic rock music, which seems to be the go-to choice of replacement music for Fight Pass. Matt Hughes’ trademark walk-in music, “A Country Boy Can Survive” is replaced with some generic rock/country instrumental piece taking its place. As such, commentary that refers to the walk-in songs is edited out.

The first round is based around Hughes attempting to take Penn down and being unable to do so; the best Hughes does is getting one leg of Penn, with Penn sprawling with the other in a splits-type position. Other than that, Hughes just ends up pressing Penn against the fence and cannot get him down. Penn tags Hughes a few times and by the end of the first round, Hughes face is reddening from the punches he’s taking. Of note during the fight is a period late on, of about fifteen seconds when the commentary has been edited out on the Fight Pass version of the show, and there was also some redubbing of Mike Goldberg earlier on in the round as well.

The second round sees Hughes finally able to take Penn down, but not only does it take a lot of effort, once he’s in the guard of Penn Hughes can’t do anything; whatever he tries, Penn blocks or defends against it. Late in the round, Penn manages to slip behind to take the back of Hughes and transition into an inverted triangle choke. It looks tight, and at the time it made for an incredibly dramatic moment in the fight because Hughes looked to be trapped with nowhere to go. But through 2017 eyes, it’s clear that the triangle wasn’t as tight as it appeared to be and that Hughes, while trapped, wasn’t in much danger of tapping to the triangle, with the armbar than Penn was also going for actually the more dangerous hold of the two he had applied. Regardless, Hughes survives and sees out the round, and as Hughes’ corner noted, Penn was looking tired as he walked back to his corner.

In between rounds, Eddie Bravo gives his scores, but the Fight Pass version edits out what Bravo says despite showing the graphic that displays Bravo’s scores.

Coming out for the third round, Penn is gassed and is a sitting duck for the punches of Hughes, who quickly takes Penn down, against the advice of his corner. Hughes manhandles Penn in the ground, beating him up, transitioning from guard to side-control and then half-guard before pulling free and taking a mounted crucifix position, with Hughes hooking Penn’s left arm with his legs and Penn’s right arm with his left arm. This leaves Hughes free to punch at Penn’s exposed head with his right fist and Hughes peppers Penn with punches, over and over, and there isn’t anything Penn can do to escape and after a while, John McCarthy has no choice but to stop the fight and Matt Hughes makes a dramatic comeback, after being dominated, to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship.

“I’m not impressed by your performance”

After the fight is over, Hughes is surrounded by his corner and they celebrate. In the background, Penn is sat on his stool and looks despondent, and understandably so given that not only did he lose but he lost for the same reason he loses most of his fights for, gassing out. Hughes is interviewed and when he says he was looking for five rounds and wished that Penn had been in shape to go five rounds, the fans boo him for knocking Penn. Hughes also remarks that the armbar Penn had him in was more severe than the triangle, Hughes conceding he’d lost the first two rounds and admitting he was surprised at not being able to take Penn down.

They bring in Georges St. Pierre to set up their title fight and GSP utters what may still be the most famous line of trash talk in UFC history, telling Hughes he wasn’t impressed by his performance. St. Pierre would later say that he made the remark because he thought Hughes had knocked him first, and a few years ago, St. Pierre said he wished he had never made the remark at all.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 12,604 (9,343 paid)
Gate: $1,582,370
PPV Buys: 400,000

Bellator 30 (September 23rd 2010)

This Bellator show would feature the semi-finals of the bantamweight tournament, a qualifying fight for the upcoming welterweight tournament, and a special feature fight of Bryan Baker taking on Jeremy Horn, with Baker having battled through chronic leukaemia.

Jose Vega vs. Ed West – in a bantamweight tournament semi-final had a really good fight before things slowed down to halt part way into the third round. Before that point, however, this was really fun to watch, but I don’t think it’s the type of fight that would appeal to everyone as it was more of a gruelling contest of wills rather than a spectacular display of strikes. The contest, over the first two rounds, was the submissions of West against the submission defence and counters of Vega; West had Vega trapped in something was either defending against it and trying to escape or countering it to escape. West had Vega in trouble, to a varying degree, but couldn’t quite get the job done, despite appearing to come very close to doing so. The fight slowed to crawl early in the third round as it seemed both fighters were just too tired to really push the pace anymore and not much happened in the final half of the third round. It went to a split-decision with Ed West getting the win and moving to the tournament final.

Bryan Goldsby vs. Zach Mackovsky – in a bantamweight tournament semi-final wasn’t a particularly exciting fight, with Mackovsky, who was giving up five inches in height, actually outwrestling his taller opponent, with almost the entire fight taking place on the ground. However, there was no real excitement, outside of a guillotine choke early in the third round, with neither Mackovsky nor Goldsby able or willing to do anything when they were dominant. The fight went the distance with Mackovsky winning by unanimous decision.

They ran a great video feature on Baker and it does a strong job of getting over the emotion of Bakers trials and tribulations.

Bryan Baker vs. Jeremy Horn was a rather dour fight; Baker didn’t want to press the action and Horn couldn’t, as it was painfully obvious just how slow Horn had become by now. The only moment of excitement came in the third round when Baker had Horn in a triangle choke, but Horn was able to pull free. Other than that, this fight was dull and listless and a chore to watch. It went the distance and Baker won the unanimous decision. One judge gave him all three rounds, which is a stretch.

Jacob McClintock vs. Brent Weedman was the qualifying fight for the upcoming welterweight tournament. The fight was actually bumped from the broadcast due to time constraints, and as I couldn’t find a video, I shall simply have to tell you that Weedman won by TKO in 3:50.

Instead of the aforementioned qualifying fight, they aired a fight between Stoney Hale and Mike O’Donnell that was on the undercard; Stoney Hale sounds like the name of a TBS jobber from the 80s. Hale looked good in the first round, having O’Donnell rocked and stumbling, but he couldn’t make it count and O’Donnell tapped him out in the second round with an armbar.

Invicta FC 19: Maia vs. Modafferi (September 23rd 2016)

The 19th show from the premier all-women MMA promotion would see a main event of Jennifer Maia, the consensus top ranked female flyweight in the world defend the Invicta FC Flyweight Championship against Roxanne Modafferi. Modafferi had failed to impress during her UFC stint but since that time, had made tremendous improvements to her game and was looking like a completely different fighter. The co-main event would have Ayaka Hamasaki defending the Invicta FC Flyweight Championship against Jinh Yu Frey.

Invicta FC 19: Maia vs. Modafferi

Sunna Davidsdottir vs. Ashley Greenway had a decent fight but with both women 31, I don’t know that they’ll progress further than the regional level. That aside, this was a fine fight; nothing outstanding but nothing sloppy, either. It went the distance and Davidsdottir won by unanimous decision.

Amy Coleman vs. Amber Leibrock was a decent fight but Leibrock had a real good single underhook, as she’d hook the arm of Coleman and either control her with it or use it to deliver knees to the body and ribs, like it was the traditional Muay-Thai clinch. It was very effective and led to the finish, with one such knee appearing to catch Coleman in the liver, as she folded up and fell to the mat, Leibrock delivering a few more punches as the referee moved in to stop the fight at 3:15 of the first round.

Julia Jones vs. Stephanie Singer had a nice fight for as long as it lasted. Jones caught the leg of Singer and took her down, but whilst in the guard of Jones, Skinner caught her with an armbar from the bottom; Singer really tried to get the submission, rolling with Jones as Jones tried to escape, and it looked nasty for a while before Jones broke free. Jones shortly found herself in the half-guard of Singer, moving in and out of it as Singer tried to wriggle free, but Jones took mounted Singer and began raining down elbows; Singer gave up her back and Jones went for the rear naked choke, getting it and getting the tap in 2:38.

Kal Holliday vs. Tiffany Van Soest has an almost entirely dominant first round for Holliday, who gets a hold of Van Soest early for a takedown attempt and eventually gets her down, Holliday not letting go until late on, during which time she gets a rear naked choke applied, with Van Soest face down on the canvas but somehow able to escape. Late on, Van Soest traps Holliday in an armbar off of her back but the round ends before she can get the tap. It doesn’t take too long for Holliday to take Van Soest down in the second round, and she eventually gets the back of Van Soest again, again she gets a rear naked choke, but this time she manages to get to the submission. This was the pro debut of Holliday, who had two amateur fights, with Van Soest having one amateur fight and one pro fight heading into tonight, although for some reason, she’s billed as making her pro debut. Regardless, they’re both 28 so they probably need to kick it into gear if they want to make it out of the regional level, and they do seem to have the potential to become good fighters.

Majit Kolekar vs. Kaline Medeiros had good fight but it tailed off in the third round due to neither fighter seeming to be willing to engage. Up to that point, it was an entertaining fight; Kolekar had decent striking and was the more powerful striker, but she had real problems with the wrestling and strength of Medeiros, who delivered some impressive slams in the first two rounds, Medeiros also able to take the mount on Kolekar and threaten with submissions The fight went the distance and I had it 30-27 for Medieros, and two of three judges agreed, with the third judge giving her the fight 29-28.

Irena Aldana vs. Faith Van Duin saw Aldana take the fight to Van Duin from the beginning and it set the tone for the fight, with Van Duin on the backfoot throughout, never able to get in more than token offence; Aldana dropped Van Duin twice late on in the first round and got the stoppage at 4:57 of the first round.

Ayaka Hamasaki © vs. Jinh Yu Frey – for the Invicta FC Atomweight Championship had a good fight, very closely contested, but with an unfortunate ending. After a closely contested first round that saw Frey get the mount on Hamaski late on, pounding away and almost getting an inverted triangle choke, the second was more of a boxing battle and during one such exchange, Hamasaki nailed Frey with a punch that opened a nasty cut right by the left eye of Frey, at about a 45 degree angle in relation to the eye; it was bleeding badly, so the referee halted the fight for the doctor to check the cut and the doctor called the fight off due to nature and position of the cut. It was a nasty cut and the stoppage was the right call, but it was still a deflating ending to what seemed like was going to be a heck of a fight.

Jennifer Maia © vs. Roxanne Modafferi – for the Invicta FC Flyweight Championship had a good fight. For the most part, it was a stand-up fight and Maia dominated the striking, with Modafferi looking quite bruised by the end of the fight. Modafferi had some success on the ground early on, getting an armbar from the bottom and later working Maia over from the mount. But as the fight went on, Maia took control and shut Modafferi down. I scored the fight 49-46 for Maia. Maia gets it on a split-decision, on scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 47-48. Even in defeat, Modafferi showed lots of a improvement since her UFC stint, making her a real favourite in the ongoing season of TUF.

Other Notes for September 23rd

Dream 6: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Final Round (September 23rd 2008)

This show featured the semi-finals and finals of the Middleweight Grand Prix, with the winner becoming the first DREAM Middleweight Champion. The first semi-final saw Gegard Mousasi tap out the dangerous striker Melvin Manhoef in 1:28 with an arm triangle. In the other semi-final, Ronaldo Souza submitted Zelg Galesic in 1:27 with an armbar. The final was OK but didn’t have much time to get good, as Mousasi caught Souza with an upkick at 2:15 that knocked Souza out cold. In other results of note on the undercard, Masakatsu Funaki submitted Ikuhisa Minowa with a heel hook in 52 seconds, and the fight between Mirko Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem ended in a no-contest when Overeem accidentally kneed Cro Cop in the groin.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 24th)

UFC 22: There Can be Only One Champion/Only One Can Be Champion (September 24th 1999)

The main event to UFC 22 was a middleweight title fight that would be hailed as the first true classic fight in UFC history.

Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz (the build)

The bad blood between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock and in turn Frank Shamrock had its beginnings at UFC 13, when Ortiz, competing as an alternate, lost to Lion’s Den fighter Guy Mezger. Ortiz returned to the UFC at UFC 18 to beat Lion’s Den fighter Jerry Bohlander, before avenging his loss to Mezger at UFC 19 with a first round TKO victory. It was at this event that the bad blood between Ortiz and the Shamrock clan kicked off, as Ortiz, in the post-fight, not only did his now-customary ‘grave digger’ routine, but put on a t-shirt that read “Gay Mezger is my bitch”. Ortiz looked to rub it the face of Ken Shamrock, who was cornering Mezger, and John McCarthy had to pull Ortiz away as the situation was in real danger of boiling over.

The fuse had been lit but a grudge match between Tito and Ken Shamrock was not immediately possible as Ken had joined the WWF in early 1997 and was under contract with them. And whilst Ken and Frank Shamrock were estranged at this time, that was not publicly known, and when it was announced that Ortiz would be challenging Frank for the UFC Middleweight Championship, it was presented as Frank stepping up to defend the Shamrock name.

Frank Shamrock had compiled a 14-7-1 record before entering the UFC, with Shamrock putting together a very successful career in the Pancrase organization. Yet despite his run in Pancrase and being considered one of the best underrated fighters in the sport, Frank was a major underdog at UFC Japan when he took on Kevin Jackson, a former Olympic Gold medallist in freestyle wrestling, for the inaugural UFC Middleweight Championship, the title that would later be renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Indeed, Shamrock was put in the fight to be a name fighter in Japan for Jackson to beat to propel himself to stardom in the world of NHB fighting and the UFC.

But Shamrock stunned Jackson and the UFC brass with a sensational 17-second armbar submission to upset the odds and become the first UFC Middleweight Champion. Shamrock followed up on that with another incredible finish, as, at UFC 16, Shamrock knocked out Igor Zinoviev in just 22-seconds with a high angle slam, a move which injured the formerly unbeaten Zinoviev so badly that he would never fight again. Successful title defences against Jeremy Horn and John Lober, a victory which avenged a prior loss, followed before Shamrock stumbled in Japan, going to a draw with Kiyoshi Tamura in RINGS, in a fight that was one of the increasingly frequent shoots that were starting to take place in RINGS as it evolved into a pure shoot promotion.

Back in the UFC, Frank Shamrock was still the middleweight champion, and at UFC 21 it was announced Shamrock would defend his title against Tito Ortiz in the main event of UFC 22. Both fighters were interviewed inside the octagon, with Ortiz actually coming across as more of the babyface than Shamrock, who was playing the role of subtle heel. Regardless, it was the one of the most anticipated title fights in UFC’s short history. Ortiz was the more inexperienced fighter, but he was expected to go into the fight with a major weight advantage, due to his amateur wrestling background and his ability to cut weight. Conversely, Shamrock was small for a middleweight, and at the weigh-in for the fight, he even made a point of highlighting the weight difference when, after weighing in at 198lbs, Shamrock, who had weighed in fully clothed, pulled various items out of his pockets, including a large book.

By fight time, it was felt that Ortiz would be as big as 220lbs, probably more, whereas Shamrock would be roughly the same 198lbs he weighed in at. It added a lot of intrigue to the fight; Shamrock was the more talented and experienced fighter, but Ortiz would have a significant weight edge. Would that weight pay dividends for Ortiz or would it end up being a detriment?

The Rest of the Main Card

In a middleweight fight, it would be Paul Jones vs. Chuck Liddell. A heavyweight fight would see Jason Godsey take on Jeremy Horn. In the burgeoning lightweight division, Lowell Anderson took on John Lewis, whilst the heavyweights would open up the card with Tom Lajcik vs. Ron Waterman.

UFC 22

Tom Lajcik vs. Ron Waterman wasn’t a particularly good fight, most of it involving either fighter in top position but not doing a whole lot with it. There was some striking and Waterman got a few cuts and seemed to come off the worse. In the third round, Waterman got control of Lajick in top position and began working him over, but it wasn’t done with any kind of urgency. The fight went the distance and it was announced that Waterman was given a foul in the first round and that because of that, the fight is a draw. No scores are announced.

Lowell Anderson vs. John Lewis wasn’t a particularly good fight; Anderson was a ground specialist and Lewis a good striker, and for the most part, neither fighter seemed to be too keen on making a go of things, perhaps wary of giving the other an opening. The fight ended in the third, with Lewis quickly grabbing the Muay-Thai clinch and hitting Anderson with three good knees to the head, leaving Anderson reeling and Anderson’s corner throwing in the towel.

Jason Godsey vs. Jeremy Horn saw Horn giving up what appeared to be a good 15lbs or more against Godsey, but that weight advantage didn’t count for much when he fight hit the ground; with Godsey in the guard of Horn, Horn surprised Godsey with an armbar from the bottom for the quick tap. Godsey would go on to a 16-16 career with only three of fights going beyond the first round.

Paul Jones vs. Chuck Liddell saw Jones, who was jacked, spend the first minute or so trying to take Liddell down and failing, which resulted in Jones gassing out badly. This left him open to get picked apart by strikes, with Liddell opening up a cut that had the referee halting the action for the doctor to check the cut, with the doctor then stopping the fight.

With time to fill, they show the undercard fight between Steve Judson and Brad Kohler, which features one of the all-time highlight reel knockouts in UFC history. In some places, I’ve read descriptions of the finish as Kohler going for a takedown and Judson going to defend and leaving himself open, and I can only presume that people have said that without actually watching the fight because watching the fight shows that that is just not the case. Judson was simply holding his hands way too low and was holding his chin out, practically inviting Kohler to hit it as hard as he could. Kohler did just that and Judson was sent into the shadow realm, where legend says he still resides.

Frank Shamrock © vs. Tito Ortiz – for the UFC Middleweight Championship was a very dramatic fight at the time and the fans were always into it, but because of the evolution of the sport, it would seem boring by today’s standards. It’s why fights like Abbott vs. Taktarov don’t age well; people didn’t know enough about fighting to understand that nothing was actually happening. That’s not to say nothing was happening here, but there wasn’t a whole lot happening. For the first three rounds, the fight was Ortiz taking Shamrock down and working him over with punches from the guard. It should be mentioned that Ortiz looked to have at least 20lbs on Shamrock, so he had a massive weight advantage. Shamrock would occasionally threaten with submissions but Ortiz would evade them or escape and go back to working Shamrock over with punches. Ortiz didn’t go for the finish or do anything other than punch Shamrock from the guard. When Ortiz took Shamrock down in the fourth round, people did boo, which was a reflection on the rather repetitious nature of the fight. But Ortiz had slowed down a lot, and Shamrock was able to get the fight back standing and he unleashed punches and kicks; Ortiz was able to take Shamrock down again but he couldn’t do anything because he was too tired. With a minute left in the round, Shamrock elevated Ortiz to escape and went wild with a barrage of punches; Ortiz made a desperation takedown but Shamrock caught him in a guillotine choke, and while Shamrock couldn’t quite get the tap, he used the hold to turn Ortiz over onto his back. Ortiz rolled onto his hands and knees as Shamrock let go, Shamrock then delivering hammerfists to the side of Ortiz’s head over and over again and the Ortiz tapped out at 4:42 of the fourth round.

The fans roared at the epic comeback, and it was an epic comeback with Shamrock being completely dominated for three rounds and showing no signs of having anything that could trouble Ortiz. As Shamrock noted after the fight, his plan was to let Ortiz extended himself so that he tired himself out, though it was a risky plan, because it meant taking a beating and hoping he could survive it. But it worked and Frank Shamrock tapped out a much bigger and stronger opponent through having better conditioning and having a smarter gameplan.

After the fight, Shamrock publicly announced his retirement and vacation of his UFC title, something his contract with SEG required if Shamrock wanted to fight before the expiration of his non-compete clause, which ran until July the following year. It really is a shame that Dana White’s beef with Frank has essentially erased him from the UFC’s history books, because he is a definite Hall of Fame fighter, both in terms of his UFC achievements and his achievements in MMA in general.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 4,000

PRIDE 16: Beasts From The East (September 24th 2001)

The show opened up with a minutes silence held in remembrance of 9/11, which was impeccably observed.

This show suffers from the same problem that a lot of the PRIDE shows on Fight Pass do, as the picture has been formatted in such a way that portions of the top and bottom of the original picture have been cut out. The picture quality is also rather poor, especially for Fight Pass, and the original version I downloaded years ago is of a much better standard.

PRIDE 16

Gary Goodridge vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu was a rematch that wasn’t needed of a fight that wasn’t needed, with Goodridge taking on aged pro-wrestling veteran Yatsu. Yatsu is a former Olympian with an amateur wrestling background, but he had no business fighting and never had any business fighting, especially someone like Goodridge. Their first fight took place at PRIDE 11, with Goodridge battering Yatsu for 8:58 before the slaughter was finally ended. This fight didn’t take as long, purely because Yatsu’s corner threw in the towel, at the behest of Yatsu, at the first sign of danger, at 3:05 when Goodridge stuffed a takedown and had Yatsu in a guillotine. Prior to that, Goodridge was picking Yatsu apart with strikes and Yatsu could not come close to taking Goodridge down.

They run a video feature of Matt Hume, a PRIDE judge, explaining the judging criteria and saying that he’ll be judging the fights live with the fans. Hume goes through the judging criteria in turn, from most important to least important, explaining the reasoning behind them. Hume also explains the yellow card system.

Assuério Silva vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto saw Silva blast Yamamoto into oblivion in 11 seconds. You knew this was going to be short when they showed Silva’s walk-in in full.

Daijiro Matsui vs. Murilo Rua was pretty good for what was an almost entirely one-sided fight. Matsui’s best moments came early on when he managed to control Rua on the ground or reverse positions. But Matsui couldn’t do much with his advantage, and Rua took over with some typically wild brawling, like kicks and stomps to a downed opponent.

Ricardo Arona vs. Guy Mezger had a fight that was physically gruelling but that wasn’t too much fun to watch because there wasn’t a lot of action to it. The majority of the fight saw the two clinched up and jostling for positional control. Early on, Mezger went to drag Arona down but ended up on his back, with Arona in his guard, but Arona couldn’t do anything. The two exchanged punches intermittently, and when that happened, Mezger came out the better. Later, near the end of the fight, Arona managed to take Mezger down but he was too gassed to do anything except deliver some short punches to the ribs of Mezger. This one went the distance, which is 20:00 in PRIDE; the first round is 10:00 and the second and third rounds are 5:00. In one of PRIDE’s dodgiest decisions, Arona stole the split-decision victory.

Semmy Schilt vs. Akira Shoji presented quite the visual given the size disparity between the two men; Schilt is 6ft11 whilst Shoji is 5ft8. Shoji had early success as he somehow managed to take Schilt down, but he couldn’t do anything and Schilt reversed position and the fight soon ended up back on its feet. At that point, it became a question of how long Shoji could last as Schilt began picking him apart with punches and kicks, and it eventually took its toll on Shoji who was finally stopped at 8:19, although Shoji was not knocked out.

Don Frye made his walk-in to the American national anthem, and he looked quite emotional as he made his way to the ring, with the fans cheering him all the way.

Don Frye vs. Gilbert Yvel ended up as one of the most notorious fights in PRIDE’s history and that covers a lot of ground. What made this one so ‘special’ was Yvel’s persistent rule breaking, as he repeatedly thumbed Frye in the eye and repeatedly grabbed the ropes to block Frye from being able to take him down. When Frye could get Yvel down, he gave him a good going over with punches all over the body and the occasional knee to the head, so Yvel’s reluctance to get taken down was understandable. Unfortunately, Yvel’s constant rope grabbing become too much and he wound getting disqualified. Yvel was not happy and tried to start something after the bell, but his corner held him back and a measure of order was maintained.

How much it was due to recent events and how much of it was because he felt he had no chance at winning is hard to know, but Mark Coleman had exact same look on his face that Tito Ortiz did when Ortiz was walking to the cage for his first fight against Chuck Liddell; the look of a man walking to his own funeral.

Mark Coleman vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira saw them clinch up early with Nogueira getting double underhooks and keeping Coleman tightly pulled in. When there was separation, the two exchanged punches and Nogueira got the better of that, lighting Coleman up. Coleman got a break when Nogueira went for a head kick and whiffed, ending up on his back. Coleman went into the guard of Nogueira but that was playing into Nogueira’s game and the Brazilian began working for submissions off of his back; Coleman evaded the first few but he couldn’t evade them forever, Coleman eventually getting caught in a triangle choke and armbar and tapping out.

UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage (September 24th 2011)

The first title defence by Jon Jones of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship was expected to be against former friend and training partner Rashad Evans. But injury ended that plan, and instead, Jones’ first title defence would be against a former PRIDE superstar, a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion himself, and one of the sport’s most colourful characters.

Jon Jones vs. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson (the build)

Jon Jones had entered the UFC rather unobtrusively, making his debut in a preliminary fight at UFC 87 as a late-notice replacement for Tomasz Drwal against Andre Gusmao. But the potential of Jones was evident in his next fight, a unanimous decision win over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94, a fight where Jones showcased a variety of spinning attacks and other impressive moves. Jones followed that with a submission over Jake O’Brien on the preliminary card of UFC 100, before suffering his first setback at the live finale of TUF 10, when Jones was controversially disqualified against Matt Hamill for his use of the 12-to-6 elbows.

It was a temporary setback, though, as Jones was already being earmarked for superstardom by the UFC, and he was put in the main event of consecutive shows on Versus, with Jones scoring back-to-back first round TKO victories over Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko. And if the UFC’s plans for Jones were not clear enough already, at UFC 126, after submitting Ryan Bader, Jones was offered the chance to replace former training partner Rashad Evans against the reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Maurício Rua. In reality, Jones had been told ahead of time what the plans were, but in any event, the grand gesture made it obvious that the UFC were backing Jones to be the future of the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

Those plans came to fruition at UFC 128 when Jones put in one of the best all-round performances of the year to dismantle and destroy Rua inside three rounds, Jones systematically taking Rua apart to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with a third-round TKO, with Rua even tapping out as the fight was already being stopped. Jon Jones had been pencilled in for the top spot almost from the beginning, and now he had achieved that status. Jones first title defences would not be an easy one, as at UFC 133, he was set to defend his title against Rashad Evans, his former training who had developed a rivalry with Jones over Jones getting the title shot originally given to Evans.

But a hand injury sidelined Jones and Evans opted to take a fight against Tito Ortiz at UFC 133. Jones hand injury was not as severe as first thought, though, and Jones would be back in action at UFC 135, and Jones first title defence would be against a man who was not only a former standout in PRIDE and one of MMA’s biggest characters, but who was a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Quinton Jackson became a star in PRIDE almost from the beginning, with the promotion cultivating a homeless thug persona for Jackson, one he was only too happy to play up. Despite losing his debut fight against Kazushi Sakuraba, Jackson developed into one of PRIDE’s most memorable characters, almost as much for his style of fighting than his victories. Jackson’s run included a six-fight winning streak that saw Jackson score wins over Igor Vovchanchyn, Maurilo Bustamante and UFC star Chuck Liddell, the latter two fights being part of PRIDE’s 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix.

Jackson lost in the Middleweight Grand Prix Final to Wanderlei Silva in an epic brawl, but Jackson’s popularity remained unabated, and after beating Ikuhisa Minowa, Jackson scored the most memorable win of his PRIDE career with one of the most memorable finishes in MMA history at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004, when Jackson knocked out Ricardo Arona with a powerbomb slam. Slams were one of Jackson’s signature moves in PRIDE and he had delivered the most memorable slam of his career.

Jackson would eventually make his way to the UFC in early 2007 with Jackson debuting at UFC 67 where scored an unremarkable TKO win over Marvin Eastman. Jackson himself admitted to not being happy with the fight and despite the UFC’s plans to match Jackson against Liddell, who was by now the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jackson wanted one more fight before facing Liddell again. But the UFC pressed ahead and at UFC 71, Jackson challenged Liddell for his title, with Jackson scoring a sensational first-round knockout to claim UFC gold.

Jackson’s first title defence saw him go against the last PRIDE Middleweight Champion, Dan Henderson, at UFC 75 in England, with Jackson winning their title unification fight by unanimous decision. Jackson would then be placed in the role of coach for TUF 7, opposite Forrest Griffin whom Jackson would be defending his title against at UFC 86. After a season that saw Jackson’s now-notorious temper become more evident, Jackson would lose the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship to Griffin by unanimous decision.

Jackson’s attitude and temperament exploded during a wild out-of-the-cage incident just ten days after the Griffin fight, when Jackson led police on a wild car chase that eventually led to charges of one felony count of evading police while driving recklessly, one felony count of evading police and driving against traffic, three misdemeanor counts of hit and run with property damage, and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving. Jackson ended up pleaded guilty to one felony count of evading a police officer and driving against traffic, and one misdemeanor count of driving recklessly as part of a plea agreement.

Back inside the cage, Jackson avenged prior losses to Wanderlei Silva with a brutal first-round knockout at UFC 92 before beating Keith Jardine by unanimous decision at UFC 97. Jackson would once again be put in the role of TUF coach, this time opposite Rashad Evans for season 10. It was one of the most intense seasons of the show ever, with Jackson and Evans developing such a rivalry that when they finally met, in the main event of UFC 114, it drew just over one-million buys, on a show where no other fight on the main card had any measure of marketability.

Jackson lost to Evans by unanimous decision and his next fight did him no favours despite coming out victorious, as Jackson beat Lyoto Machida by split-decision, in a fight that even Jackson himself later conceded he should have lost. Jackson then beat former TUF 3 competitor Matt Hamill by unanimous decision and whilst Jackson’s run wasn’t the most impressive, it was enough to put him in line for a title opportunity and it was announced that at UFC 135, Jackson would challenge newly crowned UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.

Jackson would be one of the most, if not the most experienced opponentsthat Jon Jones had ever faced and combined with a wild style and unorthodox attacks, it made Jackson a potentially dangerous opponent for Jones. Jones, for all of his natural talent, had never faced a fighter like Quinton Jackson, and it made their title fight all the more interesting.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event to UFC 135 was originally going to see former UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes take on TUF 1 Welterweight Tournament winner Diego Sanchez. But a broken hand put Sanchez on the shelf, and Hughes would instead face another TUF 1 Welterweight Tournament fighter, Josh Koscheck. Koscheck had oft been compared to Hughes because of his wrestling background and his evolution into a complete mixed martial artist. He had become a very dangerous fighter but was coming into this fight with something to prove, having been on the self for almost a year after unsuccessfully challenging Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 124.

A battle of the heavyweights would see former PRIDE and K-1 standout Mark Hunt take on Ben Rothwell. In another heavyweight fight, an admittedly curious choice for a PPV main card attraction would see Rob Broughton fight Travis Browne. And the opener to the PPV would be a top lightweight clash as Nate Diaz would face former PRIDE superstar Takanori Gomi. Gomi had lost to Nate’s Brother Nick at PRIDE 33 but the result of the fight was ruled a no-contest when Nick failed a post-fight drug test.

Card Changes

Manny Gamburyan was set to face Diego Nunes but Gamburyan withdrew due to injury. Nunes would then also pull out, citing injury and an attempt on the life of his father. A fight between Norifumi Yamamoto and Damacio Page was also set to take place here, but was scrapped when both fighters sustained injuries during training.

UFC 135 (preliminary fights)

James Te Huna destroyed Ricardo Romero in 47 seconds. Takeya Mizugaki TKO’d Cole Escovedo  in 4:30 of the second round, Mizugaki getting the stoppage after a flurry of punches and kicks. Junior Assunção eased past Eddie Yagin for the unanimous decision victory.     

Tim Boetsch came back from being dominated in the first round to dominate rounds two and three to score the unanimous decision win over Nick Ring. Tony Ferguson TKO’d Aaron Riley, with the stoppage coming between rounds, as Ferguson broke the jaw of Riley in the latter stages of the first round, with Ferguson lighting Riley up with some nice punches.

UFC 135 (the main card)

Nate Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi was disappointingly one-sided as Diaz was picking apart Gomi in the stand-up, landing almost at will and not giving Gomi any chance to get into the fight. Gomi landed a few shots here and there, including a nice body shot, but Diaz was virtually using him for target practice. Late in the first round, the fight hit the ground with Gomi in the guard of Diaz; Diaz quickly locked on a triangle choke and when that didn’t immediately work, he transitioned into an armbar to get the quick tap out.

Rob Broughton vs. Travis Browne was a listless and uninspiring fight, with Browne winning by unanimous decision but failing to impress.

Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell had a decent first round, with Rothwell taking Hunt down early on and able to deliver some damage before Hunt got back to his feet. After some leisurely striking from both fighters, Rothwell tried to take Hunt down again but failed and Hunt ended up on top, Hunt then moving to side-control to deliver some punches, bloodying Rothwell up before the big man made it too his feet, and Rothwell was able to take Hunt down again before the round ended, Rothwell landing some nice elbows. The pace slowed down in the second round, with Hunt able to take Rothwell down and control him on the ground, Hunt working Rothwell over for the majority of the round and even going for an armbar and almost getting it as the round came to a close. When the round ended, Duke Rufus, who was cornering Rothwell, rushed into the octagon to help Rothwell to his corner because Rothwell was completely shattered, totally gassed out, and he was chevked over by the doctor before the third round could start. Hunt dominated an exhausted Rothwell in the third round, either on the ground or on the feet, but Hunt couldn’t come close to stopping Rothwell, in part because he too was gassed. Rothwell came on strong in the final minute, bleeding profusely, but he simply didn’t have the strength to do anything. As a fight, this was not anything special, but it was quite the spectacle to watch two completely shattered fighters, who were gassed and then some still finding something in the tank to keep going. It went the distance and Hunt won the unanimous decision.

Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck was our co-main event of the evening, the old-guard versus the new. Despite being slow for the first minute or two, with Koscheck appearing to be wary of pulling the trigger, the fight had a lot of heat as the fans were solidly behind Hughes, chanting “Let’s go Hughes”, and also later “Koscheck sucks”. Hughes started tagging Koscheck with a jab to the eye which inspired Koscheck to start landing punches of his own. It’s purely a boxing match for the first three minutes before Koscheck went for a takedown but couldn’t get in good on Hughes to take him down. With about thirty seconds left, Koscheck starts landing hard shoots and Hughes is reeling and stumbling around; Hughes goes to his back, but Koscheck, who stays standing, starts punching away and Hughes turtles up and Koscheck lands some big hammerfists to knock Hughes out with one second left in the first round.

This would be the last fight in the career of Matt Hughes. A short time after the fight, Hughes said he was telling the UFC to put him on the shelf for a while and to see what happens, but no more fights were to happen and in early 2013, Hughes formally retired and was named the UFC’s Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations.

Jon Jones vs. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

The main event of the evening had been built up as a big test for Jones, his first title defence, against a veteran who had fought some of the best in the sport and who was thought to provide some challenges for his younger and more inexperienced opponent.

The first round wasn’t particularly exciting, with most of it seeing Jones press Jackson up against the fence in an effort to wear him out. There were some strikes thrown, none of them really landing, and Jones threw some spinning stuff that whiffed, but other than that, the first round was pretty mundane. Even so, it was painfully obvious that Jones had so many more tools to use than Jackson. Even Jackson’s cornermen were one-dimensional in their advice. The second round was even worse, with almost nothing happening outside of Jones pulling guard and going for a triangle choke right at the end of the round, and it was clear by now that Jackson was unwilling to pull the trigger and make a go of things. Things picked up in the third round with Jones taking Jackson down with ease and transitioning into the full mount, although he couldn’t do much before Jackson was able to shift Jones and get back to his feet. As Jones started to land punches and kicks, Joe Rogan sounded completely starstruck with Jones as he talked about how much Jones had improved his striking since his UFC debut. This was more than an announcer pushing a talented fighter; this was an announcer sucking up for all he was worth. Jones was also starting to extend his fingers a lot, and, as always, all the referee did was warn Jones over and over and over again without actually doing anything. The fourth round didn’t last long, Jones landing a nice punch that stunned Jackson before dragging Jackson down to the mat and getting a rear naked choke to force the tap, with Jackson submitting for only the second time in his career and the first time in the UFC.

As a fight, it wasn’t that good and it wasn’t a great Jones performance, either. Jones did the bare minimum and no more than that. Also interesting to note was that, on the Fight Pass version of the fight, there were quite a few instances of overdubbed commentary from Mike Goldberg, as well as some commentary getting sound edited out.

After the fight, they interviewed Jones and Jackson, and then they bring in Rashad Evans, who is booed mercilessly by the fans; Joe Rogan pleads for the fans to show Evans some love and they respond exactly as you would expect, with more booing. After Evans is interviewed, so is Jones and he claims that Evans as now twice ruined his special night and he will make him pay for that when they fight.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 16,344
Gate: $2,089,575
PPV Buys: 520,000

Fight of the Night: Jon Jones vs. Quinton Jackson
Knockout of the Night: Josh Koscheck
Submission of the Night: Nate Diaz

Bellator 51 (September 24th 2011)

This Bellator show would feature the four quarterfinals in their bantamweight tournament, with one of the participants being the current Bellator Featherweight Champion, Joe Warren. The winner of the tournament earns themselves a shot at Bellator Bantamweight Champion Zack Makovsky.

Luis Nogueira vs. Ed West was a decent fight, with nothing that bad but nothing that stood out either. It was mostly stand-up, with a little grappling, and neither really established themselves over the other, although I thought West edge it over three rounds. West gets the win by unanimous decision win.

Chase Bebee vs. Marcos Galvao had a great fight. The first round was an awesome ground battle, lots of submissions from both fighters and all of them looking real good and feeling like they could be the finish. The second and third rounds were mostly standing, as, despite being tired from trying so hard to get the submission in the first round, both Bebee and Galvao, especially Galvao, were throwing wild punches to try and score the knockout. It was sloppy as hell but it was fun to watch because Galvao was constantly pressing the action. It managed to go the distance, with Galvao winning by split-decision. If we get that forgotten great fights thread, stick this one in it.

Eduardo Dantas vs. Wilson Reis had a decent fight but it really couldn’t follow the previous fight. Dantas had five-to-six inches in height on Reis and it showed, with Dantas tagging Reis a with plenty of strikes; early in the second round, Dantas landed a running flying knee that knocked Reis down, and a few more punches finished the job.

Alexis Villa vs. Joe Warren saw Villa stun Warren early with a big right hand but he couldn’t immediately capitalize. Just as Jimmy Wheelock is talking about Villa not being able to stand Warren, Villa lands a massive left hook that knocks Warren out cold in just 64 seconds. Villa is obviously very happy with the result and celebrates with his corner. After Warren recovers enough to get up, he is shown crying his eyes out, completely devastated. Well, that tends to happen when reality tears down the fantasy you’ve built up around yourself and come to believe is true.

UFC Fight Night 95: Cyborg vs. Länsberg (September 24th 2016)

The UFC returned to Brazil for a Fight Night headlined by Brazil’s own Cris Cyborg as she continued her rampage through undersized and overmatched opponents.

Cris Cyborg vs. Lina Landsberg (the build)

There really wasn’t any build to this fight. The UFC needed an undersized fighter to be the next ‘Victim of the Week’ to be fed to Cyborg and Lina Länsberg was the latest poor soul to play punching bag for the jacked up Brazilian.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would see former UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barão take on Phillipe Nover. After losing his rematch with TJ Dillashaw, in a fight even more one-sided than their first enouncter, Barão had moved up to featherweight. But his first UFC fight at featherweight saw yet him lose to Jeremy Stephens, a very tough featherweight, and this fight with Nover had all the hallmarks of giving a guy a fight that would allow him the best chance of getting back in the win column. Nover went to the finals of TUF, losing to Efrain Escudero. Nover lost his next two fights, was released by the UFC, and went 5-2 before being brought back. Nova’s first fight back saw him score his first official win in the UFC, a split-decision win over Yui Chul Nam, before losing by split-decision to Zubaira Tukhugov.

Brazilian Antônio Silva would face Roy Nelson; Silva was coming into this fight off of consecutive first round losses, both by stoppage, while Nelson was coming off a split-decision loss to the new ‘everyman’ heavyweight in the UFC, Derrick Lewis. Paul Felder, who had won his last two fights, would face another Brazilian, Francisco Trinaldo, who had won six-in-a-row. Set to complete the main card were Thiago Santos vs. Eric Spicely, and Mike De La Torre vs. Renato Moicano.

Card Changes

A slew of card changes came about on August 13th; Brandon Thatch and Shinsho Anzai pulled out of their fights against Erick Silva and Luan Chagas respectively, with Silva and Chagas then matched against each other. Renato Moicano and Joaquim Silva withdrew from their respective fights against Mike De La Torre and UFC newcomer Gregor Gillespie. De La Torre would face Godofredo Pepey and Gillespie would face TUF: Brazil 4 winner Glaico França.

Michel Prazeres missed weight by two pounds. As a result, he was fined 20% of his fight purse, which went to Gilbert Burns.

UFC Fight Night 95 (preliminary fights)

Gregor Gillespie survived early pressure and persistent striking to use wrestling and clinching to grind out a unanimous decision win over Glaico França.Vincente Luque scored a brutal knockout win over Hector Urbina in 1:00. A wrestling and grappling-heavy fight saw Alan Patrick beat Stevie Ray by unanimous decision.

Erick Silva submitted Luan Chagas in 3:57 of the third round of what was a pretty good fight. Most of the action was in the first two rounds because they both gassed in the third. The finish was as unique as the recent Mighty Mouse suplex/armbar combination; Chagas grabbed hold of the arm of Silva as Silva tried to run, and as Silva turned around, Chagas rushed for a takedown but Silva dodged behind and took the back of Chagas, quickly getting a rear naked choke for the tap. This was a good fight, with a finish that needs to be seen. A trio of unanimous decisions followed, with Jussier Formiga beating Dustin Ortiz, Rani Yahya defeating Michinoru Tanaka, and Michel Prazeres overcoming Gilbert Burns

UFC Fight Night 95 (the main card)

Mike De La Torre vs. Godofredo Pepey started off as a wild and sloppy brawl with Pepey landing early and getting the better of things. This was fun to watch while it lasted; Pepey ended dragging Torre to the ground, getting his back and tapping him out with a rear naked choke. This one is worth a watch if you’re short on time and want something quick and fun.

Thiago Santos vs. Eric Spicely was a ground version of the previous fight, and a lot of fun to watch as well. Santos took Spicely down early and controlled him on the ground, although Spicely came back into it with an omoplata; when Santos countered it, Spicely was able to spin out and get to his feet. Spicely soon took Santos down and controlled him for around a minute before taking the back of Santos, who was standing at the time; Spicley got Santos in a rear naked choke, the Brazilian tried his best to shift Spicely off of him, but couldn’t and was forced to tap. As with the previous fight, it’s worth watching if you’re short on time.

Paul Felder vs. Francisco Trinaldo had an OK fight that wasn’t particular outstanding.  Trinaldo opened up a nasty cut above the right eye of Felder in the second round, and in the third round, it had opened up enough and was bleeding enough that the referee had the doctor check the cut and the doctor called off the fight.

Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva was a slow, plodding fight, with Nelson uppercutting Silva in the second round and delivering a few more punches before John McCarthy stepped in to stop. The stoppage by McCarthy was a source of consternation to Nelson, who, after the stoppage, went over and literally kicked the referee in the backside. Nelson would later be fined for his actions.

Renan Barão vs. Phillipe Nover saw Barão looking to arrest his slide in form since losing the bantamweight title. Barão did so in the most workmanlike and remarkable fashion possible, easily winning the fight by unanimous decision but doing so in a manner that showed absolutely nothing to suggest that he was in any way close to the form that propelled him to his lengthy unbeaten streak. Going into this fight cold, with no knowledge whatsoever of either fighter, you wouldn’t have known that Barão was once considered one of the best in the world.

Cris Cyborg vs. Lina Länsberg

The slaughter...main event was upon us with, Cyborg getting a typically boisterous reception from the vocal Brazilian fans.

Cyborg spent most of the first 3:30 pressing Länsberg against the fence before dragging her to the mount and attempting to pound her out for the finish. Länsberg managed to not only survive but get back to her feet. Länsberg was then backed up against the fence, with Cyborg landing several heavy punches and knees as Länsberg held on to see out the first round. Länsberg survived an early barrage in the second round to clinch up and press Cyborg against the fence, but this provided only a momentary respite as Cyborg was soon able to drag Länsberg back down to the mat, where she eventually got past the defences of Länsberg to pound her out for the TKO victory.

The Carnival Show rolls on.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 8,410

Fight of the Night: Erick Silva vs. Luan Chagas
Performance of the Night: Eric Spicely and Vicente Luque

Next time out, we talk about PRIDE Bushido 9: The Tournament, UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop, and Bellator 143, with passing comment made about DREAM 16.

There is one thing I want to make mention of and this comes from watching events from the beginning of the UFC all the way up to the last year, and is becoming even more apparent in the wake of the recent events when the contrast is more heightened. Steroid use in the UFC is way, way down. Drug use overall is probably down a lot in the wake of USADA getting tough, but steroid use is down to the point that I believe it’s safe to say that nobody is hitting them hard. The changes in the physique of the average fighter; not just the top guys, but the mid-level guys, is staggering when you compare the physiques of the fighters of today to those of even a few years ago. We’ve gone from shows where guys up and down the card were looking jacked, to where the few guys who do look jacked stand out a lot because there are so few of them. I’m not saying that everybody is clean because that’s just never going to happen no matter how hard USADA try, and I believe they should try hard. But the UFC is a whole lot cleaner than it used to be.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 25th)

PRIDE: Bushido 9 – The Tournament (September 25th 2005)

This show was built around the 2005 Welterweight and Lightweight Grand Prix’s. The two tournaments would each feature eight fighters, with the quarterfinals and semi-finals of both tournaments taking place tonight. By the end of the night, we would know who would be meeting in the tournament finals and both of those finals will be taking place at PRIDE Shockwave 2005 on December 31st. The winners of the tournaments would not only win their respective Grand Prix’s, though, as they would also become the first PRIDE champions in their respective weight classes.

Paulo Filho vs. Ryuta Sakurai saw a little striking before it hit the ground, at which point it was rather straightforward with Filho completely controlling Sakurai on the mat before working his way into an armbar for the submission.

Daniel Acacio vs. Akihiro Gono – Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal was a fine if unremarkable fight with nothing bad or outstanding about it. It was mostly stand-up, only going to the ground late on, with nothing happening when it did. The fight went the distance and Gono won by unanimous decision.

Ryo Chonan vs. Dan Henderson – Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal saw Henderson drop and finish Chonan on the first striking exchange. Henderson was headhunting from the opening bell, with his vaunted overhand right being the mainly and really only serious weapon in his arsenal.

Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa Minowa – Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal was a rematch from PRIDE 7, when Baroni KO’d Minowa by stomping him in the head. The first round (10:00) of this fight was mostly Minowa in side-control and working for either a top wristlock or an americana, with Baroni only able to escape from under Minowa just before the end of the round, although Baroni tried to pound Minowa as Minowa stayed on his back. In the second round, Minowa took Baroni back down, despite Baroni holding on to the ropes, and tried to work for submissions again, but he couldn’t get one and Baroni eventually escaped from under Minowa but they soon clinched up again and again Minowa took Baroni down; Minowa went for an armbar, and came close to getting it but Baroni escaped and went for one last flurry of strikes before the round ended. Having gone the distance, it went to the judges and Minowa won by unanimous decision.

Murilo Bustamante vs. Masanori Suda – Welterweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal didn’t last too long, and wasn’t that interesting while it did. The end came after Suda got a little reckless when throwing strikes in the guard of Bustamante, with Bustamante catching the arm of Suda and getting an armbar. They were in the ropes so Bustamante couldn’t get Suda on his back, but Bustamante didn’t let go of the arm and eventually got enough of a good position to get the tap, and this was the first time Suda had submitted in over ten years.

Charles Bennet vs. Dokonjonsuke Mishima saw Mishima quickly go for a takedown, with Bennet countering with a guillotine choke; Mishima avoided it and moved to side-control. Mishima controlled Bennet on the mat before they ended up battling for a heel hook with Mishima winning the battle and getting the tap.

Jens Pulver vs. Hayato Sakurai – Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal was a good scrap, almost entirely a kickboxing battle, although it was predominantly boxing that we saw. It was a back-and-forth encounter, neither fighter really dominating the other and this made it fun to watch because you didn’t know who would come out on top. The end came after Sakurai hit a body shot and then a knee to the head from the clinch; Pulver collapsed to the mat, and Sakurai pounced with kicks and punches. Pulver was moving around, evading the strikes, but the referee felt it was too much and jumped in to stop the fight. Pulver seemed to protest, as he should have because it was a quick stoppage, but Pulver stopped once he realized it wouldn’t make any difference.

Yves Edwards vs. Joachim Hansen – Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal had a good fight, very competitive, with constant action. The fight was contested mostly on the ground in the first half, with Hansen doing the better, but as the fight became more of a stand-up contest, Edwards came on the stronger. Hansen retaliated with some nice clinch work and even a belly-to-back suplex, but Edwards was making a fight of it and when the fight ended up going the distance, it was a decision that could have gone either way; I felt that Edwards just about edged by being a little but more aggressive. The judges were divided as it went to a split-decision and it was Hansen who made it through to the semi-finals of the Lightweight Grand Prix.

Takanori Gomi vs. Tetsuya Kawajiri – Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal was something of a grudge match with the pre-fight video package showing a distinct lack of respect between the two. This was another really good scrap, made all the more exciting by the fact that neither fighter was willing to back down from the other, which was a nice change from most grudge fights that are usually rather boring because the fighters are trying not to lose rather than trying to win. That wasn’t the case here in what was purely a striking battle, as both Gomi and Kawajiri were looking for the win and swinging for the fences with most of the punches they threw. The end came after Gomi delivered a couple of knees to the head of Kawajiri from the clinch, the second one dropping him; Gomi tried pounding Kawajiri out for the TKO but he couldn’t get the stoppage and had to settle for getting the tap with a rear naked choke.

Luiz Azeredo vs. Naoyuki Kotani – Lightweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair with Azeredo catching Kotani with a right hook, dropping him, with Azeredo delivering a soccer kick and then some knees to get the finish in just 12 seconds.

Dan Henderson vs. Akihiro Gono – Welterweight Grand Prix Semi-Final was an OK fight but it had trouble sustaining momentum because there was a lot of extended clinching up where nothing ended up happening. It was mostly initiated, or at least prolonged by Gono who was looking to avoid the big overhand right of Henderson, with Henderson going with his usual strategy of headhunting. The fight ended with Henderson swinging wildly, dropping Gono, and Henderson finishing off the job with hammerfists. Henderson books his place in the Welterweight Grand Prix Final with the next fight to decide who faces him.

Murilo Bustamante vs. Ikuhisa Minowa – Welterweight Grand Prix Semi-Final was a solid fight with Bustamante dominating the action, outside of a brief moment part-way into the fight when Minowa had Bustamante in a guillotine choke. Bustamante was controlling Minowa on the ground with positional control and submission attempts and Minowa had to survive an arm triangle choke. Bustamante got the win in dramatic and brutal fashion just seconds before the end of the first round, with Bustamante soccer kicking Minowa in the head three times and the referee rushing in to stop the fight and prevent Minowa from taking more punishment. Bustamante will face Dan Henderson in the Welterweight Grand Prix Final.

Joachim Hansen vs. Hayato Sakurai – Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Final had a very competitive fight, with Hansen dominating the early going but Sakurai coming back strong in the latter stages of the first round. The second round followed a similar pattern, with Hansen dominating at first and then Sakurai making a comeback. The fight was generally contested on the ground and when it was standing the action was close as well, close enough that when the fight went the distance it was hard to know for sure who would get the nod from the judges, but Sakurai got the unanimous decision and booked his place in the Lightweight Grand Prix Final.
    
Luiz Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi – Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Final was a rematch, with their first fight taking place a PRIDE’s Bushido 7. On that occasion, Gomi knocked out Azeredo with perhaps the greatest one-two punch combination in MMA history. For some reason, Gomi kept attacking Azeredo after the bell, drawing in people from both corners and a lot of pushing and shoving went on before things were eventually settled. This fight was very intense; Azeredo was able to take Gomi down early on but Gomi stalled out a stand-up, although he got a green card in the process which resulted in a fine of 10% of his pay. Gomi made it count, though, pressing forward and tagging Azeredo with plenty of punches and whilst Azeredo was eventually able to take Gomi down, a combination of Azeredo being tired and more stalling from Gomi resulted in another stand-up and another green card for Gomi. With the fight back standing, it was all Gomi, Gomi even able to take Azeredo down now, and ‘the Fireball Kid’ cruised to a unanimous decision victory and secured his spot in the Light Grand Prix Final at Shockwave where he would be taking on Hayato Sakurai.

At the time, PRIDE’s Bushido 9 was heralded as one of the best shows of the year and one of the greatest shows in both MMA and PRIDE history. It was good show, no doubt, but I think it just missed out on being a great show because there was just a little too much that wasn’t good that dragged it down.

UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop (September 25th 2010)

The original main event to this show was to have pitted former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir, in what would have been a much-anticipated rematch; their first fight had taken place at UFC 92 and Mir had won that contest. But injury put paid to plans for a rematch and Mir instead another former PRIDE mainstay, and a fighter who had been one of the promotion’s biggest names.

Frank Mir vs. Mirko Cro Cop (the build)

Frank Mir debuted in the UFC with a submission win over Roberto Traven at UFC 34, but it was his fight against former top heavyweight contender Petey Williams at UFC 36 that really saw Mir announce his arrival as he upset Williams with a shoulder lock submission in 47 seconds in what would be Williams’ last ever fight. Mir was immediately touted as a future star and possible heavyweight champion. Indeed, whilst Mir was set to fight Ian Freeman at UFC 38 in the UFC’s debut in the UK, taking place at the famous Royal Albert Hall, the talk was already starting about Mir challenging for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Yet this talk would be the undoing of Mir, who was looking beyond the Freeman fight, and that proved to be a mistake when Freeman delivered a one-sided beating on Mir with the fight being stopped by the referee as Mir stumbled about in no shape to defend himself.

Mir came back, though, tapping out Tank Abbott and then beating Wes Sims twice before breaking the arm of Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 to claim the UFC Heavyweight Championship. But Mir would never have the chance to defend his title as a motorcycle accident sidelined him for many months and Mir was stripped of the heavyweight championship. Mir finally returned the following year at UFC 57 against the unheralded Márcio Cruz, but Mir was out of shape and entered a terrible performance as Cruz TKO’d Mir in the first round. An equally listless showing in a unanimous decision win over Dan Christison at UFC 61 followed by a one-sided drubbing by Brandon Vera at UFC 65 meant that Mir, at just 27-years-old, was being looked at as already on the downside slide.

Mir was not done yet, though, and after submitting Antoni Hardonk at UFC 74, Mir was chosen to face Brock Lesnar in Lesnar’s highly anticipated UFC debut at UFC 81. Lesnar dominated early with some brutal ground-and-pound but a controversial restart allowed Mir to surprise Lesnar with a kneebar and get the submission victory. Mir was back, and at UFC 92, after a stint on TUF coaching opposite his opponent, Mir became the first fighter to ever finish Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira when Mir TKO’d Nogueira in the second round, and in the process also Mir became the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. Mir’s next fight would headline what was at the time the biggest UFC PPV ever, UFC 100, as Mir faced Brock Lesnar once again, as Lesnar was now the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

History did not repeat itself as Mir was mercilessly mauled by Lesnar, who battered the shit out of Mir with some devastating ground-and-pound and rendered Mir senseless. Mir rebounded in epic fashion as he choked out Cheick Kongo in just 1:12 at UFC 107, a victory that put Mir opposite Shane Carwin at UFC 111 in a fight for the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship; Brock Lesnar was still UFC Heavyweight Champion but he was sidelined due to injury. History did repeat itself again for Mir, but not in a good way as Mir was once more battered into senselessness by the awesomely destructive Carwin and left an unconscious heap.

Despite all of this, though, Mir still had name value, the perceived ability to headline a PPV, and so it was that Mir was tabbed to headline UFC 119 against former foe Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. But Nogueira was shelved due to injury and instead, Mir would be facing another former PRIDE legend and man once considered to be the most dangerous heavyweight striker in the sport.

Mirko Cro Cop had become major name in kickboxing thanks to his exploits in K-1, but it would be in MMA and in PRIDE that Cro Cop would become a superstar. Cro Cop’s initial forays into MMA were against former or current pro wrestlers, mainly those associated with New Japan Pro Wrestling, in part due to Antonio Inoki’s misplaced and ultimately disastrous obsession with putting New Japan wrestlers into real fights as part of his quest to prove pro wrestlers were real tough guys and therefore give wrestling credibility and to intimate that pro wrestling was real.

Once Cro Cop entered PRIDE, however, his career kicked into high gear, compiling an 18-4-2 record and putting together a score of brutal knockout finishes that earned Cro Cop the tagline “Right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery”. Cro Cop’s run included fights with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Igor Vovchanchyn, the legendary Fedor Emelianenko, and even José Alberto Rodríguez, better known today as Alberto Del Rio. But Cro Cop’s crowning achievement in PRIDE was becoming the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix Champion, with Cro Cop delivering a trademark devastating head kick knockout to Wanderlei Silva in the semi-final, before beating Josh Barnett in the tournament final later that same night.

It was this run that made Cro Cop’s entry into the UFC greatly anticipated and at UFC 67, Cro Cop took on and defeated journeyman fighter Eddie Sanchez by TKO. It wasn’t the performance or finish that many expected, so when Cro Cop was put against Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 70 in England, with the winner set to challenge Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, anticipation was high for a vintage Cro Cop finish. And at UFC 70, we got that vintage Cro Cop finish...but it wasn’t Cro Cop who delivered it, as, in one of the biggest upsets of all time, Gabriel Gonzaga ‘Cro Cop’d Cro Cop, knocking him out with an incredible head kick in a one of the most spectacular knockouts in UFC history.

Mirko Cro Cop’s foray into the UFC was looking like a bust, especially when his next fight saw the Croatian lose to Cheick Kongo by unanimous decision, and it wasn’t long after that that Cro Cop was quietly released from his high-priced UFC contract. Cro Cop failed to impress outside the UFC, with wins over Tatsuya Mizuno and Choi Hong-man, and a no-contest against Alistair Overeem, in a fight that was looking fairly one-sided before it was stopped after Overeem accidentally kneed Cro Cop in the groin.

So it was something of a surprise that Cro Cop was brought back to the UFC, returning at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany to face and defeat Mostapha al-Turk. Cro Cop then took on Junior Dos Santos at UFC 103, in what turned into another one-sided fight with Cro Cop calling it off in the third round claiming an eye injury. Yet wins over Anthony Perosh and Pat Barry, the latter coming by way of submission, led one to believe that Cro Cop, despite being far from his best, still had some gas left in the tank and when Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira pulled out of his fight at UFC 119 against Frank Mir, it was Cro Cop who stepped up to take his place and a man with the pedigree as one of the most dangerous heavyweight strikers in MMA history would take on an opponent with the pedigree of being one of the most dangerous heavyweight submission fighters in MMA history.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would see TUF 8 Light Heavyweight Tournament winner Ryan Bader take on Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Bader had won TUF with a knockout win over Vinny Magalhães, Bader then going 3-0 in his next three fights, showing continued great wrestler and an ever improving striking game. Bader would need those tools against Nogueira, the younger brother of former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion and PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. ‘Little Nog’ was a skilled boxer and in his UFC debut he knocked out Luiz Cané, and whilst his next fight was a disputed split-decision win over Jason Brilz, Nogueira was a dangerous striker with an underrated submission game, making him a dangerous opponent no matter where the fight went.

Elsewhere, a hot welterweight clash would see Chris Lytle take on Matt Serra in a battle of the hard-hitting striker versus the submission whizz. The two had previously faced off in the final of TUF 4: The Comeback, a fight which Serra won, but one both fighters felt was disappointing with neither man happy with how they performed on the night. Lytle came into the rematch having won three fights in-a-row and never being finished, whilst Serra was best known for his stunning upset of Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship. A top lightweight affair pitted rising star Evan Dunham against the former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk. And kicking things off on the PPV would be a fight that promised fireworks as Melvin Guillard faced Jeremy Stephens.

Card Changes

Aaron Riley was to face UFC newcomer Pat Audinwood, but Riley was forced out due to injury and was replaced by Thiago Tavares.

UFC 119 (the preliminary fights)

Sean McCorkle tapped out Mark Hunt in rapid fashion in Hunt’s UFC debut. TJ Grant dominated Julio Paulino with grappling and submissions to gain a unanimous decision victory. This wasn’t a bad fight but the fans really didn’t like it, booing frequently. Waylone Lowe beat Steve Lopez by split-decision, with Joe Rogan openly calling for the firing of the judge who scored the fight for Lopez, in a fight that turned into a bloodbath near the end after Lowe opened up a cut above the left eye of Lopez. Thiago Tavares was dominant in a first-round submission win over Pat Audinwood.

Matt Mitrione lucked his way into a unanimous decision win over Joey Beltran, despite being dominated for two of the three rounds. CB Dollaway submitted Joe Doerksen in 2:13 with a guillotine choke.

UFC 119 (the main card)

Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens was a fight that failed to live up to expectations, as it appeared that both fighters were unwilling to pull the trigger. There was frequent booing from the fans because of this. Guillard was the quicker of the two and at times Stephens was left swinging in the wind when he went to throw punches. This was a terribly disappointing fight with Guillard winning by split-decision; the announcement of the result was booed and they quickly cut to a video packaged for the next fight.

Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk had a good first round that was fairly even; Dunham caught Sherk in a few really good submissions, but Sherk was controlling Dunham with wrestling and opened up a nasty cut by the right eye with a vicious elbow. The second round was more of a stand-up battle, with Sherk again going for takedowns and again getting caught in a tight guillotine choke that he managed to escape from. Sherk controlled Dunham but not as much as he did in the first round and Dunham landed some big punches late. In the third round, Dunham landed big early on and right at the end of the round, but in between it was Sherk in control as he pressed Dunham against the fence or smother him on the floor. The fight went the distance and it was tough one to call; Dunham did the more damage overall but Sherk landed the biggest strike of the fight, and whilst he controlled Dunham a lot, Sherk didn’t do a much with that control, making Dunham the more effective fighter. The judges were divided, with Sherk winning by split-decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29, a result which the fans booed long and loud.

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra was a fantastic fight that was almost entirely a stand-up boxing battle. The fight was so great because both fighters were constantly pressing forward, as if Lytle and Serra had both decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. This was a war, pure and simple, another candidate for the oft mentioned Best Fights That Have Been Forgotten thread, and it’s a fight that you should go out of your way to see.

Ryan Bader vs. Antônio Rogério Nogueira wasn’t a particularly gripping fight, with only intermittent moments of genuine action and excitement. The majority of the fight was contested at a distance with mediocre boxing; Bader took Nogueira down a few times but was usually not able to keep him down for long, although in the first round Bader was able to unleash some nasty looking ground-and-pound. The biggest chunk of action took place with about a minute of the third round when it seemed like Bader and Nogueira were going to just swing it out, but that didn’t last too long before Bader took Nogueira down again. The fight went the distance and Bader won by unanimous decision with 30-27s from all three judges.

Frank Mir vs. Mirk Cro Cop

The pre-fight video package was a good one although it was notable that almost all of Cro Cop’s best highlights were from PRIDE. And Frank Mir comes off as a bit of a dick. For some reason, Joe Rogan says Cro Cop knocked out Josh Barnett in the PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix, which is not what happened; Barnett tapped out after Cro Cop jammed his thumb in Barnett’s eye.

The main event was ungodly boring, just completely devoid of any excitement outside of the finish. The bulk of the fight saw Mir pressing Cro Cop against the fence and just holding him there; whenever they’d get broken up, the fight soon went back to that position. Early in the second round, Joe Rogan tried to put over Mir’s improved striking by commenting on how the fight has been a kickboxing battle and Mir’s improved striking means he can now hang with Cro Cop. Because neither guy’s striking was looked good, all that did was to highlight how poor Cro Cop’s striking had become, and it really was poor.

By the third round, the fight was passive to the point that Rogan was saying the fight was like a sparring session because neither guy was willing to really go for it, Rogan even going so far as to joke that Mir and Cro Cop had a silent agreement to keep the aggression to a minimum. The fans kept booing because the fight was so boring and as the round was winding down, Rogan buried the fight six-feet under, welcoming the fact that it was almost over and saying that if he was at home he would going to get something to eat right now.

The lone, sole, single moment of excitement came with just under a minute left when they went to clinch up and Mir grabbed the head of Cro Cop and nailed him in the face with a knee and knocked him out cold. The fans finally had something to cheer about, and they did cheer, but it wasn’t as loud as a finish like that deserved because the fight that preceded it was hideously dull.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 15,811
Gate: $1,600,000
PPV Buys: 295,000

Fight of the Night: Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham and Matt Mitrione vs. Joey Beltran (How Lytle vs. Serra didn’t get this is a mystery, because it was far better than Dunham vs. Sherk and several levels above the heavyweight fight)
Knockout of the Night: None (It probably says something that the only knockout of the night, which was a good one, didn’t get a post-fight bonus)
Submission of the Night: CB Dollaway

Bellator 143 (September 25th 2015)

This Bellator show would be headlined by a top bantamweight fight as LC Davis, coming off of an epic war with Hideo Tokoro, took on the self-proclaimed ‘baddest man on the planet’, Joe Warren.

Vinicius Spartan had few problems on his way to a second round submission over Ewerton Teixira. Emmanuel Sanchez earned a somewhat bloody split-decision win over Henry Corrales. Kendall Grove knocked out Joey Beltran in the third round of a lacklustre fight.

Before the main event, they detail Joe Warren’s title loss to Marcus Galvao, and how Warren reacted to the fight being stopped when he yelled in pain whilst caught in a kneebar; at the time, Warren complained bitterly about the finish, bitching long and loud about how he never tapped and storming out of the cage without acknowledging Galvao at all. Jimmy Smith talks about his disappointment in how Warren behaved after the loss and Warren, to his credit, admits he should have shook Galvao’s hand. Warren then goes back to being a tool by saying that everyone says they’re better than him and then he crushes their ass in the Bellator cage. I guess when Alexis Villa knocked Warren out cold he damaged his memory at the same time.

Joe Warren clinched and smothered his way to a unanimous decision victory over LC Davis.

Numbers

Ratings: The average audience was 669,000 viewers with a peak of 885,000 during Kendal Grove vs. Joey Beltran. The main event averaged 777,000 viewers.

Other Notes for September 25th

DREAM 16 (September 25th 2010)

The main event here saw Gegard Mousasi defeat Tatsuya Mizuno by submission to win DREAM’s 2010 Light Heavyweight Grand Prix and also become the first DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion. In the co-main event, Jason Miller tapped out Kazushi Sakuraba in 2:09 with an arm triangle.

Next time, we talk about UFC 44: Undisputed and Bellator 126: Shlemenko vs. Halsey.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 26th)

UFC 44: Undisputed (September 26th 2003)

This UFC show was suitably titled as it would resolve the controversy over the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, and when the night was over, one man would be the undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Tito Ortiz vs. Randy Couture (the build)

The UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was Tito Ortiz. Ortiz had won the vacant title, which was then called the UFC Middleweight Championship, at UFC 25 in Japan with a unanimous decision victory over Wanderlei Silva. Ortiz would retain his title in dominant fashion over Yuki Kondo before scoring one of the all-time highlight reel knockout finishes over Evan Tanner at UFC 30, with Ortiz knocking Tanner out in 30 seconds with a slam. Ortiz followed up on that with a decimation of Elvis Sinosic and then a unanimous decision win over Vladimir Matyushenko, before engaging in one of the biggest grudge matches in UFC history when he faced UFC legend Ken Shamrock at UFC 40.

Ortiz had sparked off a bitter rivalry with Ken Shamrock at UFC 19 when, after defeating Lion’s Den fighter Guy Mezger, whom Ken was cornering, Ortiz had put on a t-shirt that read “Gay Mezger is my bitch”. The bad blood simmered for over three years, in part because Ken was working for the World Wrestling Federation and therefore no fight between the two was possible. But Ken returned to MMA in 2000, and after competing in PRIDE, he came back to the UFC to finally have his big grudge match with Tito Ortiz.

It was this fight, drawing approximately 100,000 buys, a then-record for the Zuffa era that gave the Fertitta Brothers the hope that the UFC could flourish, the fight essentially allowing the UFC to survive. The fight itself was almost entirely one-sided, with Ortiz handing out a brutal beating before Ken’s corner pulled him out of the fight at the end of the third round. Ortiz’s next fight was set to be against friend and former training partner Chuck Liddell, who cemented his status as top contender with a knockout over Renato Sobral on the undercard of UFC 40.

But Ortiz wanted no part of Liddell and he came up with a litany of excuses for why the fight couldn’t happen; it was because they had agreed to never fight, it was because he wasn’t being paid enough, or it was because he had ‘entertainment commitments’. Tito Ortiz rattled off one excuse after another for why he couldn’t fight Chuck Liddell. Tired of Ortiz ducking the Liddell fight, the UFC decided to create an Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, with the idea of matching Liddell against a highly credentialed opponent that he could beat for credibility, so that when they stripped Ortiz of his title and made Liddell the official champion, he would be taken seriously.

It was a good plan, one that was set to unfold at UFC 43. But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.

Randy Couture entered the UFC at UFC 13 with a background in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Despite winning UFC 13’s heavyweight tournament, beating both of his opponents in short order, Couture wasn’t thought of a particularly tough fighter and he was felt to be a safe and highly credentialed opponent for Vitor Belfort to beat at UFC 15 and earn his shot at the UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith. But Couture spoiled those plans and derailed the Vitor Belfort hype train with a one-sided TKO in 8:17. Despite this, few gave Couture a chance against Maurice Smith at UFC Japan, but once more Couture played the spoiler and upset Smith by majority decision to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

A contract dispute resulted in Couture leaving the UFC and being stripped of the UFC Heavyweight Championship, which was eventually won by Kevin Randleman. The UFC wanted to give Randleman credibility and given his explosive nature and style, and his background in freestyle wrestling, it was decided to bring Randy Couture back at UFC 28 so that Randleman could get the boost from defeating the former champion who had never lost his title in the octagon.

Once again, though, Couture crashed the party and TKO’d Randleman in the third round to regain the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Couture then retained his title in back-to-back fights against Pedro Rizzo, with one of those fights, and I’m not sure which or of the exact circumstances, being set up in a manner specifically so Couture would lose. Couture eventually lost his title to Josh Barnett at UFC 36, and after Barnett was stripped of the title due to falling a post-fight drug test, Couture would then lose to Ricco Rodriguez in a fight for the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 39.

It was felt that Couture’s time had finally gone and that he was no longer a serious threat to the younger and hungrier fighters. It therefore made perfect sense to the UFC to put Couture, a two-time heavyweight champion, against Chuck Liddell in a fight for the vacant Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, because Liddell would get a big win over the former two-time heavyweight champion, and gain instant credibility.

Can you guess what happened next?

Randy Couture once again upset the odds as he not only beat Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 but he did so in one-sided fashion, beating Liddell in the stand-up before pounding him out for the TKO victory. Randy Couture was now the Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. By sheer coincidence, right after Couture won and knocked Liddell out of his top contender spot, Tito Ortiz was suddenly willing to return to the UFC and defend his title. What are the odds?

With the former champion back in the picture it set up a clash with the interim champion to decide once and for all who was the real and disputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event to UFC 44 would see Tim Sylvia making the first defence of the UFC Heavyweight Championship against Gan McGee. Sylvia had won the title in a major upset, beating Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 42, and he would be defending it against one of the very few fighters in the sport who was taller than he was; Sylvia was 6ft8 but McGee was 6ft10. Sylvia would not only be defending his heavyweight title but an undefeated record, Sylvia being 15-0 going into the defence of his heavyweight title. McGee was 12-1 heading into UFC 44 and had earned his title shot with back-to-back TKO victories, including a victory over two-time title challenger Pedro Rizzo.

A potential new challenger for the heavyweight title could be determined when Andrei Arlovski took on Vladimir Matyushenko. Arlovski had rebounded from back-to-back losses with a knockout of the tough Brit Ian Freeman, whilst Matyushenko was coming into the fight off of wins over Travis Wiuff and Pedro Rizzo. A middleweight fight would see Canadian David Loiseau face ‘El Conquistador’ Jorge Rivera, and opening up the main card was a light heavyweight fight between Rich Franklin and Edwin Dewees.

UFC 44 (the preliminary fights)

Hermes Franca knocked out Caol Uno in 2:46 of the second round, a result and finish that was something of an upset. Nick Diaz dominated Jeremy Jackson on the ground en route to a third round submission victory in what was Diaz’s UFC debut. Josh Thomson knocked out Gerald Strebendt in 2:45, Strebendt taking a number of heavy punches before going out. Strebendt was a colourful character outside the cage; in 2005, Strebendt was solicited to commit murder and ended up testifying against the man who had tried to hire him. Then, in 2014, Strebendt was involved in a road rage incident that resulted in Strebendt shooting the other driver dead. Strebendt ended up pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide as a police investigation found some mitigating factors in Strebendt’s favour. Karo Parisyan completely dominated Dave Strasser, using a variety of judo throws before tapping him out with a kimura in the first round.

UFC 44 (the main card)

Edwin Dewees vs. Rich Franklin saw Franklin survive a takedown and guillotine choke to come back and put a real beating on Dewees. Franklin was in another level when it came to striking, unloading with punches and kicks and proving to be especially devastating in the clinch, with Franklin landing heavy knees to the ribs and face of Dewees. Franklin dropped him late in the first round, kicked him the ribs, and worked Dewees over with more punches and by kneeing Dewees in the ribs; Dewees was just covering up and offering no proper resistance so the referee stepped in and stopped fight. This was a light heavyweight fight so Franklin naturally looked bigger than he would do at middleweight, but he also looked far more muscular and defined than he would ever be, even at middleweight.

They ran a video promoting various fights that would be taking place at UFC 45, and it’s a good package and the type of thing you don’t often see today, when they usually just run down the card and put up a graphic.

David Loiseau vs. Jorge Rivera had a real good hard-nosed scrap. In the first round, most of the action came in the clinch, with Loiseau especially excelling with elbows, eventually opening up a pair of cuts on the head of Rivera. It became more of a boxing battle as Rivera started evading the clinch, yet Rivera started working well in the clinch himself, and as the fight went on it seemed like Loiseau was slowing down, especially as Rivera landed more and more. At the end of the third round, Rivera dropped Loiseau and was pounding away on him as the fight ended and it felt like Rivera had cemented his win with that final flurry. And so it would be that Rivera won by unanimous decision.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Vladimir Matyushenko didn’t last too long, either, with Arlovski just too big for Matyushenko, normally a light heavyweight, to deal with. Matyushenko’s takedown attempts were for nothing as he got picked apart in the stan-up and knocked down and out in 2:14. Joe Rogan was pushing hard on commentary for Arlovski to face Tim Sylvia over the heavyweight title.

Tim Sylvia © vs. Gan McGee – for the UFC Heavyweight Championship was a pretty sloppy boxing fight for as long as it lasted, neither fighter showing a lot of refinement. The end came with Sylvia dropping McGee with a couple of good punches and McGee was out as he collapsed to the mat, Sylvia following up with a few more punches before the referee could jump in to stop the fight.

Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz

The pre-fight video is really good, showing the training that both fighters went through and having comments from both. In the pre-fight stand-up, Joe Rogan buys into one of Ortiz’s excuses for ducking Chuck Liddell, saying Ortiz wasn’t ducking Liddell, he was just renegotiating his contract. Go toke a little harder, Joe; you might come up with a coherent thought.

Simply put, this fight was 25:00 of Randy Couture making Tito Ortiz his bitch. Couture was taking Ortiz down virtually at will, and Ortiz had never been taken down in the UFC before. Ortiz tried to take Couture down in the first round and only momentarily succeeded as Couture was soon back to his feet; other than that one time, Ortiz just could not take Couture down. Couture was taking Ortiz down left and right, clinching him up against the fence to wear him down, was controlling him on the ground and mounting him; Randy Couture completely owned Tito Ortiz. The only moment of the fight, outside of the aforementioned takedown, where Ortiz was not getting owned was a desperation heel hook late in the fifth round, but it had so little effect that Couture responded by literally spanking Ortiz like he was baby. It was surreal. Joe Rogan had been pushing hard all fight that Ortiz had this great submission game that was hidden, that we just hadn’t seen yet. Apparently, it was so well hidden that Ortiz couldn’t find it.

This was ownage on such a scale that after the fight was over, Ortiz broke down and cried and he was still crying when the result was announced. Randy Couture had done more than beat Tito Ortiz; he had completely broken him.

Aftermath

Tim Sylvia failed a post-fight drug test, Sylvia testing positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. Sylvia claimed he was taking it to cut weight and get in better cosmetic shape. Sylvia was stripped of the UFC Heavyweight Championship, was fined $10,000, and suspended for six-months.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 10,400
Gate: $1,127,985
PPV Buys: 94,000

Bellator 126: Shlemenko vs. Halsey (September 26th 2014)

This show would be headlined by long-time Bellator Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko defending his title against Brandon Halsey, plus the lightweight tournament final, with Marcin Held facing Patricky Pitbull.

Mike Richman delivered a brutal first-round walkway knockout to Ed West, with a great combination. Bubba Jenkins survived a few scares to grind out a unanimous decision win over Thiago Meller Marcin Held grappled and smothered his way to a unanimous decision win over Patricky Pitbull to win the lightweight tournament and earn himself a shot at the Bellator Lightweight Championship. Brandon Halsey took Alexander Shlemenko down almost right away and choked him out in 35 seconds to claim the Bellator Middleweight Championship.

Shlemenko’s problem was the same one he faced in the ill-advised Tito Ortiz fight; he was giving up too much weight. Shlemenko is a very small middleweight; he looks to be about 185lbs at most, and at middleweight, that’s small. Here, he was taking on a guy who had at least a 15lbs weight advantage over him, and he paid the price.

Next time out, we discuss UFC 39: The Warrior’s Return, Bellator 101, UFC 178: Johnson vs. Cariaso, and UFC Fight Night 75: Barnett vs. Nelson.

 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 27th)

UFC 39: The Warrior’s Return (September 27th 2002)

This show would be headlined by a major fight in the heavyweight as the two top contenders battled it out to claim the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Randy Couture vs. Ricco Rodriguez (the build)

Randy Couture had upset the odds early in his UFC run with a TKO victory of Vitor Belfort at UFC 15 in a heavyweight title eliminator, Couture then upsetting the odds again when he beat Maurice Smith at UFC Japan later that year to claim the UFC Heavyweight Championship. A contract disputed ended Couture’s run before he could defend the title, but that didn’t stop the UFC from putting Couture right back into the title picture upon his return, with Couture challenging Kevin Randleman for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 28.

Couture was expected to be easy prey for his younger and stronger opponent, and give Randleman a credibility boost by beating the unbeaten former champion, but Couture continued to defy expectations with a third round TKO win over Randleman to regain the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Couture retained his title in back-to-back defences against Pedro Rizzo, with their first ending with a unanimous decision win for Couture, but with a rematch being ordered due to the fact that a lot of people, including the UFC felt the judges got it wrong.

Couture would face defeat for the first time in the UFC at UFC 36 when Josh Barnett TKO’d Couture and claimed the UFC Heavyweight Championship. But Barnett’s reign did not last as he failed a post-fight drug test, forcing the UFC to strip him of the title, leaving the UFC Heavyweight Championship vacant. The obvious choice to put in the fight to fill the vacancy was the former champion, Randy Couture. His opponent would be a heavyweight fighter who was rapidly making waves in the UFC thanks to a string of impressive victories.

Ricco Rodriguez entered the UFC with a solid 7-1 record, with most of his wins coming by submission. Rodriguez debuted at UFC 32 against Andrei Arlovki with Rodriguez stopping the Belarusian in the third round by TKO, the first win via strikes for the California native. Rodriguez continued his run with a TKO victory over former heavyweight title contender Petey Williams, Rodriguez stopping Williams late in the second round. Next up for Rodriguez was Jeff Monson and again the submission specialist won with strikes as Rodriguez TKO’d Monson in the third round.

But it would be at UFC 37 where Rodriguez would score the biggest win of his career as he scored his fourth straight TKO victory by stopping Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in the third round. Kohsaka was one of the early pioneers of MMA, popularizing the ‘TK guard’, a forerunner of the butterfly guard, Kohsaka also being a training partner to former UFC champions Frank Shamrock and Maurice Smith. It was the signature win that Rodriguez needed and that, combined with an unintentionally abrasive personality put him front and centre for title contention and it would be Randy Couture vs. Ricco Rodriguez for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 39.

The Rest of the Main Card

The other big matches on the main card would involve a four-man tournament that was intended to crown a new UFC Lightweight Champion, with the former champion, Jens Pulver, having been stripped of the title after leaving the promotion. One semi-final would see Din Thomas take on Caol Uno, whilst the other semi-final would see former title challenger BJ Penn taking on Matt Serra.

The 6ft10 Gan McGee would make his UFC debut taking on two-time heavyweight title challenger Pedro Rizzo. In a fight featuring two men both making their UFC debut’s Wes Correia would fight Tim Sylvia. And starting the main card off would be former UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne, as he would have his first fight since losing his title to Murilo Bustamante, Menne facing the heavy-handed ‘New York Badass’ Phil Baroni.

UFC 39 (the preliminary fights)

Sean Sherk TKO’d Benji Radac in 4:16, whilst Matt Lindland beat Ivan Salaverry by unanimous decision.

UFC 39 (the main card)

The main show opens with a video package of UFC highlights set to Reveille's “What You Got”. Reveille are a rap-metal band and the song sounds similar to the original TUF theme. The highlights are good, though, and they do make you miss the grander entrances UFC used to use.

Phil Baroni vs. Dave Menne kicked things off in brutally explosive fashion; after clipping Menne early, Baroni pounced, backing Menne up against the fence and unloading on him with a furious fistic barrage of piston-like punches and obliterating the former champion in just 18 seconds. The fans go crazy for this finish. Baroni is ecstatic, climbing the octagon to celebrate, proclaiming himself as the best ever and telling former foe Matt Lindland that he was next. This finish remains on the UFC highlight reel to this day and deservedly so because this is one of the most memorable finishes in UFC history.

Gan McGee vs. Pedo Rizzo had a pretty mediocre fight, neither willing to commit or take the initiative in what turned into an exchanging of pawing punches. McGee landed some decent shots late in the first round that broke the nose of Rizzo, which bled heavily, and as soon as the round was over, Rizzo went to his corner and told them “no more, no more”, Rizzo wanting out of the fight. It was stopped between rounds and McGee had won by TKO. The commentators has talked about Rizzo’s lack of aggression during the fight and it came off like he was lacking heart as well, because Rizzo wasted no time in looking for the fight to be stopped.

In between fights, they acknowledge Jens Pulver being stripped of the UFC Lightweight Championship because he and Zuffa couldn’t come to an agreement over a new contract. They also make sure to mention that one of the participants, Din Thomas, has a win over Pulver.

Din Thomas vs. Caol Uno – lightweight tournament semi-final had a solid fight, rather unspectacular by modern standards but very good work for time. Thomas dominated Uno on the ground in the first round, catching him in various submissions that Uno had to defend against.  The second round was more competitive but slightly edged by Uno, who gained an edge when Thomas had a point deducted for landing an illegal upkick. This left Thomas needing a finish or a 10-8 third round if he wanted to win; just a 10-9 wouldn’t do it. Thomas got neither as Uno took another close round to win the unanimous decision on three scores of 29-27.

BJ Penn vs. Matt Serra – lightweight tournament semi-final wasn’t a particularly good fight and despite these two being noted submission guys, this was purely a boxing battle, which may be why this wasn’t very good. There were no moments of excitement or danger, no points where the fight seemed like it might end, and never any hint of the talent these two posses. It went the distance with Penn winning by unanimous decision on 29-28s across the board.

Wes Correia vs. Tim Sylvia had a fantastic first round, a total war with both fighters pushing forward and throwing bombs. Outside of a few kicks here and there, this was purely a boxing match, and both men were letting loose with the punches. Correria’s punches were very good, very technical, and Sylvia’s punches weren’t too bad, either. Correria was taking most of the punches as the round went on and the commentator marvelled at the chin of Correia as he was getting tagged left and right but didn’t seem to register any of them. The second round was more of the same but early into it, Correia took an accidental thumb to the eye and he couldn’t properly defend so after taking a series of punches, Correia’s corner threw in the towel. This is definitely a fight for the forgotten gems thread.

Randy Couture vs. Ricco Rodriguez

This was our main event and it was a fight of two halves. For the first two rounds, it was Randy Couture who was in control, executing a number of great takedowns from the clinch, controlling Rodriguez on the ground and smothering him, as well was landing a lot of good punches and even a couple of kicks. Heading into the third round, things were looking good for a decisive fight-winning performance from ‘the Natural’. And for the first half of the third round, that’s how things remained looking but then Randy Couture started to gas out, to get tired, and Ricco Rodriguez began taking over. Rodriguez was overpowering Couture, taking him down and keeping him down and pretty much giving him a good working over. The fourth round saw Ricco dominating Couture, much it from the mount, to the point that it would have been, even under the old judging system, a 10-8 round if not for a late flurry from Couture. Rodriguez resumed brutalizing Couture in the fifth round as Couture just had no answer for Rodriguez, ‘the Natural’ taking a real beating before verbally submitting at 3:04 after taking a particularly vicious elbow to the eye.

Ricco Rodriguez had survived being dominated and controlled to come back and not just dominate but severely beat up Randy Couture, and claim the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship. This was a good fight and it’s a shame that Rodriguez couldn’t get himself together enough to get another run in the UFC because he would have made a great addition to the roster in the 2007-2012 period.

Of note is that Tito Ortiz was in Rodriguez’s corner and for the whole time, during the fight and after, Ortiz was wearing his UFC title belt, but not only that, he had it on the wrong way around.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 7,800
PPV Buys: 45,000

Bellator 101 (September 27th 2013)

This show was built around the quarterfinals of the eight-man lightweight tournament, with the winner earning themselves a shot at Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler. Also in action is Joe Warren as he takes on Nick Kirk in the semi-final of the bantamweight tournament.

Saad Awad vs. Martin Stapleton – lightweight tournament quarterfinal was short and fun, somewhat competitive before Awad ended Stapleton’s eight-fight win streak with a rear naked choke in 3:46 of the first round. John Alessio vs. Will Brooks – lightweight tournament quarterfinal was a fine fight, heavy in grappling and submissions, especially from Alessio who twice had Brooks in a guillotine choke. In the third round, Brooks busted Alessio open with a knee and Alession was gushing blood. It went the distance with Brooks winning by unanimous decision. Rich Clementi vs. Ricardo Tirloni – lightweight tournament quarterfinal was bland and boring and didn’t excite at all, with Triloni getting the unanimous decision victory. Marcus Davis vs. Tiger Sarnavskiy – lightweight tournament quarterfinal was entirely one-sided, Davis not getting in one piece of offense before being submitted with a rear naked choke in 1:40. Nick Kirk vs. Joe Warren – bantamweight tournament semi-final was pretty much one-sided as Kirk offered little in the way of resistance to the grappling and striking of Warren, who was taking Kirk down with ease and end up submitting him in the second round with an armbar/reverse triangle choke combination.

UFC 178: Johnson vs. Cariaso (September 27th 2014)

This show was originally going to be headlined by the rematch between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, with the two men having first fought at UFC 165. But injury forced Gustafsson out of the fight and whilst Daniel Cormier replaced Gustafsson, Jones was then pulled from the fight due to injury. Consequently, the UFC moved a fight from UFC 177 to the main event spot of UFC 178.

Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso (the build)

Demetrious Johnson had been part of the four-man tournament to crown the inaugural UFC Flyweight Champion, and after making it past Ian McCall at the second attempt, a judging error resulting in their original fight being ruled a majority decision win for Johnson by mistake when it should have been a majority draw, Johnson edged past Joseph Benavidez in the tournament final at UFC 152 to become the first ever UFC Flyweight Champion. Johnson’s first title defence was a headline fight on the FOX network and it was against the only fighter in the division who it was felt matched Johnson for speed, John Dodson, but after a very competitive fight, Johnson emerged with a unanimous decision victory.

Johnson’s next defence was against the relatively unknown John Moraga, again as a headline fight on the FOX network, and whilst Moraga pushed Johnson into the fifth round, Johnson was dominant and he ended up submitting Moraga with an armbar. Johnson was then rematched against Joseph Benavidez in another FOX network main event, and this time, Johnson left no doubt who the better man was as he delivered a highlight reel knockout finish to become the first, and to date only fighter to ever finish Benavidez.

Johnson would headline his first PPV for his fourth title defence as he outclassed Ali Bagautinov for a unanimous decision victory, Johnson winning all five rounds on all three scorecards, with Bagautinov’s ignominy added to by failing a post-fight drug test, for Erythropoietin (EPO) and getting a one-year suspension.

Johnson was looking completely dominant as UFC Featherweight Champion, and when Chris Cariaso was named the next fighter tasked with trying to dethrone the dominant champion, it was felt that this would be yet another straightforward defence for Demetrious Johnson. Cariaso was a solid fighter on a three-fight winning streak, but was 4-2 overall since moving down to flyweight. Regardless, the fight was on and Johnson had his next title defence to look forward to.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event of the evening would feature the long-awaited and much delayed UFC debut of the two-time Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez had originally agreed a deal with the UFC in mid-2013 but Bellator, then being run by Bjorn Rebny, invoked a clause in Alvarez’s Bellator contract to match the UFC offer and re-sign Alvarez. A legal dispute followed, with Alvarez’s position being that the Bellator contract, which was literally a copy of the UFC contract but with ‘UFC’ being replaced by ‘Bellator’, was not a true match of the UFC offer because the PPV bonuses offered by Bellator could never match those offered by the UFC, given that no Bellator PPV could realistically hope to come close to doing the business a UFC PPV did.

Eventually, a compromise was reached, where Alvarez would face Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler, the man who had beaten Alvarez for the title; if Alvarez lost, he was free and clear to join the UFC. But if he won, Alvarez would have to face Chandler in a rematch and then, regardless of how the fight went, he would be free and clear to join the UFC.

Alvarez slipped past Chandler by split-decision in a fight widely felt to be one of the best in Bellator’s history to reclaim the Bellator Lightweight Championship. The rematch with Chandler was set for Bellator 120 on May 17th 2014, but a week before the fight Alvarez withdrew due to a concussion. By the time Alvarez was cleared to fight again, Scott Coker had taken over the reins at Bellator and had decided to give Alvarez a full contract release and Alvarez was free to sigh with the UFC, which he did.

Alvarez’s first fight would be against a fighter who it was impossible to have a bad fight with, the always game Donald Cerrone. Cerrone had originally been matched up against Khabib Nurmagomedov but Nurmagomedov was sidelined with a knee injury; Cerrone was then earmarked for a fight against Bobby Green, but when Eddie Alvarez was signed, the UFC instead opted to match the ‘Cowboy’ against the former Bellator fighter. Cerrone was a perennial title contender and winner of numerous post-fight bonuses, and was one of the most exciting fighters in the sport with an aggressive style that always produced crowd-pleasing results. In fact, Cerrone was on a four-fight winning streak and all four of those fights had secured Cerrone a post-fight bonus. Cerrone would have a tough fight ahead of him because Alvarez was just like Cerrone, a game fighter who always pushed forward and a fight between the two of them virtually assured the fans of fireworks.

Also on the main card would be a fighter fast becoming the hottest star in the UFC, Conor McGregor. The Irish sensation was making waves with a confident demeanour and undeniable charisma. Combined with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, talents he was not shy about using, McGregor had skyrocketed to superstardom and was on course for a title shot against Jose Aldo, the UFC Featherweight Champion. Before that, however, McGregor would have to face one of the featherweight division’s most dangerous fighters, Dustin Poirier. Poirier mixed powerful striking with dangerous submissions, Poirier being especially known for his D’Arce choke, making him a threat to anyone in the division and someone more than capable of derailing the Conor McGregor hype train.

A middleweight fight would see Tim Kennedy take on former Cuban Olympian Yoel Romero, and the opener would see the return of Cat Zingano as she took on Amanda Nunes. Zingano had been set for a stint as coach on TUF opposite Ronda Rousey to set up a title fight between the two, but a devastating knee injury had put Zingano on the shelf for over a year. Zingano had also suffered a huge personal tragedy when her husband committed suicide in January of 2014. Now, recovered and healed, as best as one can be after such events, Zingano would need to find a way past the hard-hitting Nunes if she wanted to once more prove herself worthy of a championship opportunity.

Not on the main card but the main fight on the FS 1 Prelims, former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz would return to action after almost three years of being sidelined due to injury. Cruz’s opponent would be the tough and dangerous Takeya Mizugaki.

Card Changes

Jorge Masvidal and Bobby Green were originally set to fight on this card, but Green was booked against Donald Cerrone; when the Eddie Alvarez vs. Donald Cerrone was made, Green was moved to a future event. Jorge Masvidal ended up fighting James Krause.

UFC 178 (the preliminary fights)

Manvel Gamburyan took a full-force kick to the balls almost immediately in the second round, but came back to get a late tap out against Cody Gibson. Kevin Lee suffered for his unanimous decision win over Jon Tuck, taking two kicks to the groin.

Brian Ebersole scored a rather unimpressive split-decision win over John Howard. Stephen Thompson used a lot of unorthodox movements and strikes to outstrike Patrick Côté for the unanimous decision victory. Jorge Masvidal cruised to a unanimous decision win over James Krause. And Dominick Cruz needed just 61 seconds to destroy Takeya Mizugaki in his comeback fight, the former UFC Bantamweight Champion announcing to the world that he is back and better than ever.

UFC 178 (the main card)

Amanda Nunes vs. Cat Zingano saw Zingano take a real beating in the first round after getting taken down. Zingano threatened with submissions off the bottom but she was getting beat up for most of the round, although late on, when the fight was back standing, Zingano pulled off a DDT. Seriously. The second round saw Zingano come on strong, taking Nunes down early and dominating her, although not delivering as much damage as Nunes had done in the first round. The third round saw Zingano deliver a DDT-like takedown, Zingano mounting Nunes and elbowing the shit out of her, busting Nunes open and eventually getting the TKO victory. Zingano delivered a very emotional post-fight interview and she came off as such a likable human being, which she really is.

Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero had a decent first round that Romero, who was notably pacing himself, edged with the superior striking. The second round was pretty mundane until right near the end, when Kennedy unloaded on Romero, battering him and having him all but finished when the round ended to save Romero. In between rounds, we had the controversy, with Romero’s corner pulling every trick in the book to stall out the next round in order to give Romero more time to recover, and the referee, John McCarthy, was unwilling to firmly put his foot down about it. Romero dropped Kennedy in the third round and somehow found the energy to blister Kennedy with punches and eventually knock him out. It really was a remarkable comeback from Romero, because he was not only almost finished, he was also completely gassed, so I guess the stunt his corner pulled paid dividends.

The pre-fight video is great and McGregor’s walk-in music is kept intact on Fight Pass. McGregor gets wildly cheered whilst Poirier is a major heel. They even do the deal of bringing the fighters to the middle of the octagon for the referee to give his instructions, which is usually reserved for title fights and main events.

Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier was 1:46 of McGregor using a lot of movement and throwing some fancy kicks to keep things interesting before picking Poirier apart with some precise punches, dropping Poirier to the mat and finishing the fight with more punches. Poirier seemed to protest the stoppage but he had his hands to his side and wasn’t making any attempt to defend himself, so the stoppage was a good one.

Eddie Alvarez vs. Donald Cerrone had a decent first round, Alvarez tagging Cerrone with some nice punches, especially when he used dirty boxing in a clear round for the newcomer. The second round saw Cerrone come on very strong with kicks and knees, Cerrone also using the clinch a lot to set up knees, but it was leg kicks that really served Cerrone well as Alvarez lacked either the ability or the willingness  to check the keg kicks. By the third round, Alvarez’s left leg was marked up and it got worse as Cerrone landed a steady stream of kicks; near the end of the round, Alvarez’s left leg finally gave out; for some reason Cerrone went on the ground with Alvarez rather than keep it standing, but didn’t matter in the end because nothing happened by the time the round was over. Cerrone won with scores of 29-28 on all three scorecards. It was a good fight for Cerrone, but Alvarez showed some serious flaws in his game, especially when it came to leg kicks.

Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso

I said at the time that this may have been the least anticipated UFC main event in modern UFC history, and if it isn’t anymore, it still ranks right up there. It was also one of the most one-sided main events in modern UFC history, with Johnson handling Cariaso with consummate ease, never once in danger or coming close to being in danger. Cariaso was on the low end of the title challengers Johnson has faced and it showed as Johnson tapped Cariaso out in the second round with a kimura.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 10,544
Gate: $2,200,000
PPV Buys: 205,000

Fight of the Night: Yoel Romero vs. Tim Kennedy
Performance of the Night: Dominick Cruz and Conor McGregor

The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Nevada State Athletic Commission;

Demetrious Johnson: $183,000 (includes $54,000 win bonus) def. Chris Cariaso: $24,000
Donald Cerrone: $126,000 (includes $63,000 win bonus) def. Eddie Alvarez: $100,000
Conor McGregor: $150,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus) def. Dustin Poirier: $34,000
Yoel Romero: $58,000 (includes $29,000 win bonus) def. Tim Kennedy: $70,000
Cat Zingano: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus) def. Amanda Nunes: $15,000
Dominick Cruz: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus) def. Takeya Mizugaki: $32,000
Jorge Masvidal: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus) def. James Krause: $15,000
Stephen Thompson: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus) def. Patrick Côté: $33,000
Brian Ebersole: $42,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus) def. John Howard: $21,000
Kevin Lee: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Jon Tuck: $10,000
Manvel Gamburyan: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus) def. Cody Gibson: $10,000

UFC Fight Night 75: Barnett vs. Nelson (September 27th 2015)

This would be the UFC’s fourth event in Saitama, with the famed Saitama Super Arena previously playing host to UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson, UFC on Fuel TV 8: Silva vs. Stann, and UFC Fight Night 52: Hunt vs. Nelson. This time, Saitama would play host to a headline fight between two of the mainstays of the UFC’s heavyweight division, one of whom was no stranger to Japan or to Saitama.

Josh Barnett vs. Roy Nelson (the build)

Josh Barnett was, and still is the youngest heavyweight champion in UFC history, but he would never defend his title, Barnett being stripped of the belt after failing a post-fight drug test. Barnett took his talents to Japan where he worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling, in both worked wrestling matches and shoots, as well as worked shoots in the U-Style promotion, before resuming his mainstream MMA career with a lengthy stint in PRIDE. Barnett’s run in PRIDE included wins over Mark Hunt and Alexander Emelianenko, but his biggest victory was a split-decision win over former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira in PRIDE’s 2006 Openweight Grand Prix.

After his run in PRIDE was over, Barnett competed in Strikeforce before eventually returning to the UFC in 2013. Barnett’s first fight back saw him delivered a crushing knockout to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir at UFC 164, but Barnett stumbled in his next fight as he suffered a brutal knockout at the elbows of Travis Browne. Barnett was out of action for two years after this fight, for not entirely fight-related reasons, but when he did compete again, Barnett would be returning to some familiar hunting ground as he would once again competed in the historic Saitama Super Arena.

Roy Nelson was never on the UFC’s shopping list, primarily because of his giant gut giving the impression Nelson was an out-of-shape slob, and at the time he was available, the UFC didn’t want to put someone who looked like Nelson on the air because they were still combating the image that MMA still had of being a sport out-of-shape thugs. Finally, the UFC acquiesced and brought Nelson into the fold, but Nelson had to work his way into the UFC by competing on the 10th season of TUF and earning his spot on the roster that way. Nelson would win the 10th season of TUF, knocking out Brendan Schaub in the finals to finally secure himself a spot on the UFC roster.

Nelson’s run in the UFC was one of contrasting fortunes as, heading into the Barnett fight, Nelson was 7-7. Nelson could beat the guys who were mid-level and thereabouts, but against the higher ranked fighters or those who were simply better, Nelson would fall short. Nelson lost to the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum and Daniel Cormier, but would gain victories over Mirko Cro Cop, Check Kongo and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nelson had carved himself a spot in the UFC as a gatekeeper, someone to be put against the guys rising up the ladder to see if they had what it took to make it into the upper echelon.

Such a status gave Nelson something of a name, name enough that when the UFC looked to make in-roads into Japan and run a version of TUF tailored to the local market, Nelson was chosen as one of the coaches for the show. The opposing coach would be his opponent in the main event of UFC Fight Night 75, a man who was well known in Japan to fans of both mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, giving the fans in Japan a chance to see a returning name from the past.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would be a middleweight contest between Uriah Hall and Gegard Mousasi. Mousasi was set to face Roan Carneiro but Carneiro pulled out of the fight due to injury. Hall had come out of TUF 17, losing in the tournament final to Kelvin Gastelum by split-decision before another split-decision loss, this time to John Howard, performances which had curtailed all the momentum Hall had coming from TUF where he scored a series of brutal knockouts. But a three-fight winning streak had regained much of that momentum, and whilst Hall was coming off another split-decision loss, to Rafael Natal, he came into this fight prepared to make a statement. As was his opponent, Gegard Mousasi, who was looking to regain his position as a contender in one of the UFC’s most loaded divisions. After alternating losses and wins in his first three fights in the UFC, Mousasi had scored back-to-back victories, including a first-round knockout of MMA legend Dan Henderson, and a third straight victory, especially with a big finish could be enough to vault Mousasi back into contender status.

Also on the main card, Japanese flyweight Kyoji Horiguchi would look to rebound from an unsuccessful challenge of divisional champion Demetrious Johnson as Horiguchi faced Chico Camus. Camus was coming off a unanimous decision loss to Henry Cejudo. Japanese bantamweight and former title contender Takeya Mizugaki was hoping to arrest a two-fight losing streak when he fought George Roop, with Roop coming off a first-round knockout loss to Rob Font.  Diego Brandão would face Katsunori Kikuno, and opening up the main card would be the featherweight final of the Road to UFC: Japan reality series, with Mizuto Hirota going against Teruto Ishihara.

Card Changes

Roan Carneiro was to face Gegard Mousasi at this event, but Carneiro was forced out due to injury and was replaced by Uriah Hall. Kiichi Kunimoto was to fight Li Jingliang at this event. However, Kunimoto pulled out citing injury and he was replaced by the returning Keita Nakamura. A fight between Matt Hobar and Norifumi Yamamoto was scrapped when both fighters suffered injuries during training.

UFC Fight Night 75 (the preliminary fights)

Shinsho Anzai dominated Roger Zapata for two rounds before getting the stoppage finish, but it wasn’t because of anything Anzai did; Zapata was extending his fingers, with both hands, and his left hand got jammed somehow and he injured his fingers. Because the referee had to step in, the fight was over. Kajan Johnson beat Naoyuki Kotani by unanimous decision in a fight that had few moments of real excitement. The same can be said about the unanimous decision win of Nick Hein over Yusuke Kasuya. Keita Nakamura choked out Li Jingliang in the third round of a fairly competitive fight.

UFC Fight Night 75 (the main card)

Mizuto Hirota vs. Teruto Ishihara – Road to UFC: Japan Featherweight Final was a really good contest, with no dull moments. Ishihara was tagging Hirota for the first round-and-a-half but he seemed to tire and Hirota came back strong and he was the one tagging Ishihara and rocked him, Hirota landing the bigger punches of the round. The third round was fairly even but Hirota was landing better punches and more consistently, and he took Ishihara down late on; it was more than enough to win the round for Hirota and I had him winning the fight 29-28. The judges were divided and the fight ended up being ruled a draw; both men got a 29-28 from the judges, whilst the third judge had it 29-29. The second round was the decider because rounds one and three had clear winners. The second round was close enough that scoring it 10-10 isn’t unreasonable, but you’re supposed to pick a winner regardless of how close the round is, and in that respect, it would come down to whether you rewarded the fighter who landed more punches or the fighter who landed the better punches and did more damage. Despite the non-finish, both fighters were awarded UFC contracts.

Diego Brandao vs. Katsunori Kikuno saw Brandao drop Kikuno very quickly and go in for the kill, Brandao swarming Kikuno with punches and kicks and getting the TKO in just 28 seconds. To pour salt on the wound, Kikuno was subsequently released by the UFC.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. George Roop had a decent fight but most of the action was in the first round, with Mizugaki landing some good hard punches on Roop. There was a lot of clinching throughout, generally initiated by Roop who didn’t have any answer for the striking of Mizugaki and it put a damper on the fight because nothing was happening when they clinched up. The fight went the distance and Mizugaki won by unanimous decision, and he gave a very tearful post-fight interview, Mizugaki happy to have been fighting in front of his countrymen. After losing here, Roop was released by the UFC.

Chico Camus vs. Kyoji Horiguchi was a fine if unspectacular flyweight, following the typical pattern of the division with lots of movement and lots of punches thrown, with the majority either missing or not landing to any serious effect. But those punches that did land flush caused noticeable damage and both Camus and Horiguchi were blooded up by the end of the fight. Horiguchi was landing a little harder and was the more aggressive, helping him secure the unanimous decision victory.

Uriah Hall vs. Gegard Mousasi saw a big first round for Mousasi as he dominated Hall on the ground, with Hall’s only moment of real offense being a surprise armbar attempt that Mousasi eventually worked his way out of. This was, armbar attempt aside a total domination from Mousasi and he was looking very comfortable for the win. Then, five seconds into the second round, Hall went for a spin kick at the exact same moment that Mousasi ducked down for a takedown and Hall caught Mousasi flush in the side of the face; Mousasi stumbled backwards and Hall ran forward to drop Mousasi with a jumping knee. Hall swarmed Mousasi with punches; the refereed moved to stop the fight but pulled back, but Hall kept unloading the punches and eventually the referee pulled Hall away and Uriah Hall had pulled off the spectacular upset. On the slow-motion replay, it looked like Mousasi was actually ducking to avoid the kick, which in doing so put Mousasi in prime position to take the kick right in the side of the face.

Josh Barnett vs. Roy Nelson

This was a solid but fairly one-sided affair, with Barnett outclassing Nelson at every stage and dominating him for virtually the entire fight.

Barnett was using punches, kicks, knees from the clinch, and was also going for submissions when the fight hit the ground. Barnett was using a variety of tactics and methods of attack. Nelson threw punches and the occasional kick. Apart from that, Nelson offered absolutely nothing. When the fight went to the ground and Nelson was on top, he just looked to stay in top position, doing nothing in terms of advancing his position or trying to go for a submission. It was the kind of performance that made it clear why the UFC didn’t keep Nelson around because he has absolutely nothing going for him outside of the overhand right and a wildly overrated ground game that seems to consist of just holding on for dear life and riding out the clock. Nelson is tough and he took a lot of punishment, but it takes more than being a punching bag to be worth keeping around. The fight went the distance and for some reason, two judges gave Nelson two rounds, which was terrible judging, just completely inexcusable and indefensible scoring. Nelson was a glorified jobber throughout and in no way deserved to get even one round.

Barnett got a big pop for speaking Japanese in his post-fight interview and Barnett did most of the interview in Japanese, actually. Barnett translated some of it into English, saying “pro wrestling is strong, isn’t it?” Barnett is a big pro-wrestling fan so it wasn’t a surprise to see him put over pro wrestling.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 10,137

Next, we talk about one of the most notorious shows in UFC history, UFC 33: Victory in Vegas, as well as Bellator 74, and make comment on Sengoku 5.

[ColinBollocks]

I only really caught the knob end of Couture in the UFC - I got into the sport when Lesnar smashed him to bits. Where do folk rank him in the GOAT list? He's someone you always hear people bang on about as great, but rarely do people list him up there with the best? Was he too limited for that, or has time and a larger/newer audience forgotten about him?

I fear the same thing could happen to the "dull Canadian".

[jimufctna24]

Couture has been forgotten about a bit. His MMA record is 19-11, which isn't too impressive taken at face value. However, some of his wins were truly inspired. He upset the form book against Ortiz in 2003, in a fight few gave him a prayer on winning. He also stopped Liddell a few months prior to the Ortiz win, in a fight he was expected to lose (check the amount of effort they put into Chuck's entrance that evening). The next year he took apart Belfort in very impressive fashion. He beat the 3 best Light Heavyweights the UFC had to offer fair and square, and at a time where he was pushing 40, and they were 5-10 years younger. 

He had some impressive wins at Heavyweight as well (for the standards of the time). He beat prime versions of Randleman and Rizzo, and later beat Gonzaga and Sylvia while in his mid-40's. He also beat a young Vitor Belfort at a time where Belfort was thought to be the sport's future reference point. Most of his losses were forgivable - Barnett and Ricco were formidable Heavyweights, and the former tested positive after beating him. Randy also changed his diet after those losses, and applied himself in a way that few MMA fighters did at that time. In some ways, he was the pre-cursor to GSP in that regard. 

He's left a bit of a bad taste in some regards though. He fell out with his Team Quest teammates and the UFC. While in exile from the UFC in 2007/2008, he spent a year chasing a fight with Fedor that never happened. There is also something a bit "Lance Armstrong" over his run at Heavyweight in 2007. It's unfair because nothing was ever proven, but at the time and now, there was a lot of speculation that "The Natural" was anything but. 

He's certainly in the top 25 MMA fighters of all-time. You could make an argument that he belongs in the top 10 if you use a specific criteria. However, I don't think anyone really rates him on par with the GSP's and Anderson's of the world. 

[wandshogun09]

41 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said:

I only really caught the knob end of Couture

You and seemingly half the hot blonde 20-something year old women who were in Vegas in the mid 2000s. There might never have been a man more appropriately named than Randy.