On This Day in MMA History

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (August 28th)

PRIDE Shockwave Dynamite! (August 28th 2002)

At this point in time, PRIDE and K-1 had a strong working relationship, and as part of that relationship, PRIDE guys had fought in K-1 and K-1 guys had fought in PRIDE. Tonight, we’d see more of that, with Don Frye facing Jerome Le Banner in a K-1 rules kickboxing match. We’d also see two kickboxers compete in MMA fights, with Jerrel Venetiaan and Lloyds van Dam facing Daijiro Matsui and Gary Goodridge respectively. There would be a pure K-1 fight with Semmy Schilt, in what was only his second kickboxing match, face the man widely regarded as one of the best in the sport, Ernest Hoost.

The main event to this supershow would see Kazushi Sakuraba facing Mirko Cro Cop. This was an ill-advised fight to make given the size disparity between the two, but they wanted a big PRIDE vs. K-1 main event, and Sakuraba and Cro Cop were the two biggest names in their respective companies. Plus, Cro Cop had the added ‘pro wrestling hunter’ gimmick, which made Sakuraba even more of a natural storyline opponent, even if it was a fight that simply shouldn’t have been made.

The other big fight for Japanese fans would see former Olympic gold medallist Judoka Hidehiko Yoshida taking on the legendary Royce Gracie. It would be a grappling match under special rules; striking would be limited to the body, there would be no judges, so if it went the distance it would be a draw, and both men would wear a gi.

The most intriguing fight, though, would see PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira defend his title against Bob Sapp. Nogueira was considered the best heavyweight fighter in the world at the time, whilst Sapp was almost pure gimmick; he was a former NFL player, who had dabbled in pro wrestling before being signed by PRIDE. After some brief training, Sapp was put against Yoshihisa Yamamoto and then Kiyoshi Tamura, two men who were, by leaps and bounds, better fighters than Sapp, but who Sapp outweighed by in excess of 150lbs, and he waylaid them in short order.

The circus-like nature of Sapp and his fights, and his incredible charisma turned Sapp into a cultural phenomenon; to call Sapp the hottest pop culture name in Japan would be a massive understatement. Sapp was literally everywhere, in commercials, print adverts, TV, etc. There was no hotter name in Japan than Bob Sapp.

I’m watching the Japanese version of this show. It starts with footage from outside the stadium, with the fans slowly filing into the stadium. The President of K-1, Kazuyoshi Ishii, gives a speech to the fans, after which fireworks go off and there is a torch lighting ceremony, with Helio Gracie lighting the flame, much as you’d see in the Olympics. We then have a drum and light show as all the fighters competing tonight are brought out one-at-a-time. It’s a spectacular production, far above anything we’ve ever seen in the US, and one we’ll probably never see in the US, even if the UFC ever do run a major outdoor stadium.

Tatsuya Iwasaki vs. Wanderlei Silva; Iwasaki was a Kyokushin Karate fighter making his MMA debut. The reason for this fight is that PRIDE wanted Silva on the show, but it was at late notice and the only way Silva would agree to fight is if they gave him an easy opponent. The fight lasted 1:16 and went the way you’d expect, with Silva demolishing Iwasaki with no problems at all.

Daijiro Matsui vs. Jerrel Venetiaan wasn’t particular good; most of the fight saw Matsui trying to take Venetiaan down, usually successfully, and Matsui would hold him down and work him over. The fight went the distance and somehow, Venetiaan won by split-decision.

Lloyds van Dam vs. Gary Goodridge wasn’t much of a fight; Goodridge powered van Dam to the mat and held him down in side control, doing nothing for a few minutes before mounting van Dam and pounding away for the referee stoppage.

Ernest Hoost vs. Semmy Schilt was a K-1 kickboxing fight, and was decent as kickboxing fights go, with Schilt, a virtual novice, outgunning his more experienced opponent at almost every turn. It wasn’t quite a total domination, but Schilt unquestionably dominated Hoost for the vast majority of this fight. In one of the more dubious judging decisions in K-1 history, and K-1 was known for dodgy judging and officiating, all three judges ruled the fight a draw. To call the decision questionable would be an understatement; this decision was downright corrupt.

Jerome Le Banner vs. Don Frye saw Frye making his K-1 and kickboxing debut against the far more experienced Le Banner. Frye was giving up more than just experience; Le Banner was taller and bigger as well. The fight went as badly as you’d think, with Frye getting battered and knocked out in 90 seconds. It could have been worse because Frye was originally going to be facing Mark Hunt.

In the next segment, the fans start clapping, the lights dim, and Antonio Inoki makes his entrance by tandem skydiving into the stadium. Seriously. He’s even wearing a camera of some sort because they show his face on the big screen as he’s diving in. The arena goes bananas for this. Can you imagine the UFC holding a show in an outdoor stadium and Dana White skydiving in? Inoki is rather obviously treated as a god by the fans, getting cheered and applauded as he makes a speech and then leaves.

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira © vs. Bob Sapp – for the PRIDE Heavyweight Championship is perhaps the best known ‘spectacle’ fight in PRIDE history, not just because of who’s involved but because it featured one of the craziest spots in MMA, and it happened right out of the gate; Nogueira shot in for a double leg but Sapp grabbed Nogueira around the waist, lifted him up and dropped him right on his head. This wasn’t a power bomb; this was the ganso bomb, and Nogueira brushed it off like it was nothing. Emelianenko getting dropped on his head by Kevin Randleman is considered the bigger spot, probably because of Mauro Ranallo calling it, but this was so much more dangerous.

It was the craziest thing you’ve ever seen. Nogueira kept going for the double and Sapp kept trying to lift Nogueira but he wisely stopped trying to avoid gassing out. Sapp was in the guard of Nogueira and trying to rain down punches, and whenever the fight was standing Sapp tried to bull rush Nogueira; at one point, Nogueira went for the double leg again and when Sapp tried to lift him, Nogueira slipped behind Sapp and managed to take the mount for a while, although he couldn’t get anything done against Sapp.

Eventually, Sapp reversed position through sheer power alone and resumed battering Nogueira. Nogueira was taking a real pounding; he went for a triangle choke but Sapp just lifted him up and shook him off. Nogueira managed to see the round out but he was taking a major beating and all of his technique wasn’t doing him any good.

The second round started and Nogueira’s face was a mess, but more significantly, Sapp was gassed, and it showed, with the round playing out initially as a slower version of the first round; Sapp was in top position, but his punches were a lot weaker and he couldn’t do much. Nogueira was able to threaten with submissions but Sapp still had enough to break free, and he was also to sweep Nogueira off of him. But he couldn’t keep it up and Nogueira eventually managed to get side-control and then work his way into an armbar for the submission victory.

This was a great, dramatic fight. It showed that size and strength can offset even the most skilled of fighters; if Sapp had better stamina he would have won because Nogueira couldn’t do anything before Sapp gassed out. Sapp deserves tons of credit for being able to dominate Nogueira like he did, even if he wasn’t doing with anything more than brute force, because he still had to have the wherewithal to avoid submissions, which he was able to do before tiring out. Sapp showed a lot of heart for hanging in there when he was gassed out; his habit of looking for the easy way out wasn’t around at this point in time.

It makes you wonder what Sapp could have done had he applied himself, because if the raw and unrefined Sapp could batter Nogueira like this, a Bob Sapp with a year or more of training with the best would have been just about unbeatable, and they mention on the American commentary that Nogueira himself noted that the time to face Sapp was now, before he was fully trained knew what to do. Of course, Sapp never did reach the potential he clearly had, and turned into something of a joke at the end. But that was years down the line, and on this night, Sapp may have lost the fight, but he gained so much more.

In a pre-fight interview, Royce is very confident, almost relaxed about the fact, which in his mind it is, that he’s going to win. Yoshida got a big entrance for this contest and was super popular, obviously.

Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida was a contest where, depending on your view of pure grappling, your enjoyment of it will vary. I found it fascinating, especially as a battle of Judo vs. Jiu-Jitsu. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Gracie fight without some controversy. Yoshida had gotten the mount on Royce and had managed to secure a decent looking Ezekiel choke; it wasn’t on tight or smooth, but it was mostly there. Yoshida asked the referee if Gracie was out and the referee barely bothers checking before calling for the bell.

The stadium goes crazy as Royce Gracie jumps to his feet like he’s Hulk Hogan in 1987 kicking out of The Heel of the Month’s finisher. The Japanese side are jubilant, surrounding Yoshida in a wild celebration. The Gracie’s are incensed, surrounding the referee in wild disgust. Officials have to step and protect the referee because Royce is going after him and the rest of the Gracie clan have similar intentions as well. They are absolutely livid, protesting the stoppage of the fight, with Royce proclaiming that he wasn’t out.

We’ve all seen the Gracie’s bitch and moan about losing fights before; it’s nothing new. But this is one of those rare times where they’re actually in the right. Royce Gracie was not unconscious and there was no serious attempt to check if he was unconscious. The referee saw his chance to call the fight, and in the process make Hidehiko Yoshida a national hero, and he took it. The win over Royce meant that much. The Gracie’s continued to protest long and loud, and they had every right to in this case, before storming off, incensed, leaving Yoshida to make his victory speech.

In the aftermath to this debacle, the finish was investigated, and whilst it was officially determined that Gracie’s arm and leg went momentarily limp (false), the result was nevertheless changed to a no-contest, and a rematch with Yoshida was promised for a future date.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Kazushi Sakuraba had a typically wacky Sakuraba entrance; he wore a miniature version of Vader’s original head gear, and had someone walking behind him spraying a pair of aerosol cans to mimic the smoke blowing that Vader’s head gear was known for. Sakuraba then took the headpiece off to reveal an orange coloured version of Vader’s leather mask. The size difference was very noticeable; Cro Cop looked to be at least 35lbs bigger than Sakuraba.

The fight was contested over five-minute rounds and the fight itself was wasn’t particular exciting. Sakuraba would try and pick Cro Cop off with punches and kicks in between takedown attempts; the strikes had no effect and Cro Cop’s sprawl meant Sakuraba never came close to taking him down. Sakuraba was eventually able to get Cro Cop down, but he had to get in real close to do it and not give Cro Cop a chance to sprawl.

Sakuraba was able to take Cro Cop down and keep him down in the second round, with Cro Cop literally holding on tight to stall out a stand up. Cro Cop was able to kick away at Sakuraba to get to his feet near the end of the round but Sakuraba made a big effort to take him back down and was able to do so before the round ended. Cro Cop got to his feet at the end of the round but Sakuraba did not, and it turned out that one of Cro Cop’s upkicks had caught Sakuraba in the eye; Sakuraba couldn’t see properly, his injury later diagnosed as a broken orbital bone, and the fight had to be called off.

It was a disappointing way to end the main event, especially with Sakuraba was having a modicum of success, but in all likelihood, Cro Crop’s sprawl and the ineffectiveness of Sakuraba’s strikes meant that Sakuraba’s chances of winning would have been very small had the fight continued.

Overall, this was a good show; the quality of fights ran the gamut, but it had enough good-to-great fights and some great spectacle to make it a thumbs up.

PRIDE FC: Final Conflict 2005 (August 28th 2005)

This show would feature the semi-finals and finals of PRIDE’s 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix. The biggest fight of the show, however, was the long awaited showdown between PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Cro Cop.  The fight had been delayed for a while, with Fedor citing an injured thumb among the reasons for the previous postponements, but the fight had finally arrived. For the diehard fans, this was the ultimate dream match, one that they’d been anticipating for a long time.

The semi-finals to the Middleweight Grand Prix would see Brazilian Top Team and Chute Boxe Academy renew their heated rivalry as Ricardo Arona faced reigning PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva, and Alistair Overeem would take on another member of Chute Boxe Academy, Maurício Rua.

For some reason, this show, like Total Elimination 2003, has a messed up aspect ratio that cuts off part of the top and bottom of the picture. The show had a laser light show for the pre-show introductions of the fighters. Again, few shows match the production values of a PRIDE show.

As a prelude to the first fight of the night, they show comments from both Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Igor Vovchanchyn in regard to their exits from the Middleweight Grand Prix. Nakamura admits that removing his gi in the middle of his fight against Wanderlei SIlva was as mistake, and he also says that Silva’s punches were not as strong as he expected them to. Vovchanchyn says there is nobody to blame but him for his loss to Alistair Overeem.

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Igor Vovchanchyn was a pure grappling battle, with Vovchanchyn getting no chance to show the power punching he is known for. It was good for the most part, and also fairly even, but Nakamura was more active and more aggressive, going for the finish, and when the fight went the distance, he was given the decision victory.

They have pre-taped comments from both Arona and Silva, and it’s pretty clear there is real dislike between the two. They referenced this earlier in the broadcast, and at the weigh-ins they exchanged words as well. Arona was particularly critical of Silva’s ground skill, claiming Silva has nothing on the ground. Going into this fight, Silva, who won the 2003 version of the Middleweight Grand Prix, is the reigning PRIDE Middleweight Champion.

Ricardo Arona vs. Wanderlei Silva started off with an epic staredown; Bas Rutten was so excited, it sounded like he was talking and beating off at the same time. This was also another chapter in the rivalry between Brazilian Top Team (Arona) and Chute Boxe Academy (Silva).

If you were expecting a war, you were disappointed. The majority of the fight was Arona in the guard of Silva and he was reasonably aggressive in trying to advance his position, but not overly so. Silva, though, was doing nothing; he was happy to hold on and wait things out. In the first round, when this happened for too long, the fight was eventually stood up and Silva got a yellow card, which in PRIDE, means a fine of 10% of your pay. When the fight was standing, both fighters were cautious and for a while, not much was happening and it was very boring and made the fight seem like even more of a disappointment. If this was not a tournament fight, I’d like to think we’d have seen more action. Anyway, the fight went the distance, and for the semi-final, matches are one round of ten-minutes and one round of five-minutes. Arona got the unanimous decision, giving Silva his first loss at middleweight in PRIDE. Silva walked off, looking disappointed, but he only has himself to blame.

Alistair Overeem vs. Maurício Rua was more like it, with plenty of action. Rua dominated, it has to be said, and Overeem was always on the backfoot, always defending. Overeem did manage to secure a guillotine choke at one point, and the hold is something a trademark of his; for some reason, Mauro Ranallo said this would be seven in a row for Overeem, winning with the guillotine, which is pure fabrication. The fight ended at 6:42 with Rau taking the mount on Overeem and waylaying him with punches; they weren’t all landing flush, and they weren’t all full power, but Overeem couldn’t escape and eventually the referee called off the fight. Rua moves to the Middleweight Grand Prix final and has a chance to avenge the loss suffered by fellow Chute Box member, Wanderlei Silva.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Roman Zentsov saw Werdum open up with a running flying kick, which Zentsov simply sidestepped to avoid. Other than that moment, the fight was rather nondescript, ending in 6:01 when Werdum secured an armbar as Zentsov was in top position.

Tank Abbott vs. Hidehiko Yoshida opened up with Abbott taking Yoshida down right away, and they stay like that for several minutes, with not much happening, until the referee stands them up and issues both with a yellow card. Yoshida then takes Abbott down, eventually takes his back, and gets a weak looking choke on Abbott that Abbott taps out to without any resistance.

Fedor Emelianenko © vs. Mirko Cro Cop – for the PRIDE Heavyweight Champioship was an almost entirely one-sided affair, with Cro Cop getting in only a smattering of offence in a fight where Emelianenko who was able to do a very effective job of shutting him down. Emelianenko was pushing forward a lot, so Cro Cop couldn’t really get off any decent kicks and the ones he did deliver failed to land with their intended effectiveness. Cro Cop did land a nice punch that bloodied up the nose of Fedor, and it looked like Fedor also sustained a cut on the top of his head from a kick, but that was about the extent of the damage Cro Cop was able to inflict. Admittedly, Fedor did have trouble getting Cro Cop down the mat, but in the PRIDE system favours attempts to win the fight more than pure defence. And Fedor eventually did get Cro Cop down, and when he did, Cro Cop pretty much hung on to Fedor.

It wasn’t a great fight, or even a good one. But it was a remarkable showing by Fedor to shut down a fighter like Cro Cop and neutralize his every weapon. Fedor got the unanimous decision and retained his PRIDE Heavyweight Championship.

Ricardo Arona vs. Maurício Rua was the final of the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix. It was a chance for Rua to avenge the loss of fellow Chute Boxe Academy member Wanderlei Silva; the rivalry between Chute Boxe Academy and Arona’s Brazilian Top Team is well known, so that added to the atmosphere. And during the introductions of both fighters, Arona’s teammate Paulo Filho was on the ring apron and he raised two fingers, indicating his belief that a second Chute Boxe Academy fighter would fall.

For the 2:54 this fight lasted, it was fairly exciting; Rua dominated, though, and it definitely felt like Arona gave up the ghost once Rua got going. The fight ended with Rua missing with a stomp but the positioning allowed him to sit down and hammerfist Arona into unconsciousness, with Arona taking four big shots before the referee could step in and stop the fight. Chute Boxe Academy swarmed the ring to celebrate with Rua and everyone was ecstatic.

Arona, who bears a passing resemblance to Roman Reigns, wasn’t happy, and left the ring to stew with the rest of Brazilian Top Team before returning to take part on the post-fight ceremonies. As Mauro Ranallo noted on commentary, it was a bittersweet night for Arona; he had become the first person to beat Wanderlei Silva in a middleweight fight in PRIDE but he had lost in the finals, so he’d had to take the rough with the smooth.

PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 was a decent show but it lacked that one killer fight to really put it over the top.

UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn II (August 28th 2010)

The main event to this show would be a rematch of one of the bigger upsets in UFC title fight history, a fight that, when looking back on it, gains great historical significance.

Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn II (the build)

Frankie Edgar seemed to be on the track for great things when his debut in the UFC saw him defeat Tyson Griffin by unanimous decision in a contest that won Fight of the Night honours. A knockout win over Mark Bocek was then followed by a unanimous decision win over Spencer Fisher before Edgar suffered the first loss of his career, a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Gray Maynard. Edgar responded with a unanimous decision win over Hermes França in another Fight of the Night, before he scored the biggest win of his career, at least at that time, a unanimous decision win over former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk. Another Fight of the Night win followed, over Matt Veach, and this was enough to give Edgar a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 112, a title held by the consensus best lightweight of all time, BJ Penn.

BJ Penn had been nicknamed ‘The Prodigy’ for his natural talent and ability, but it wouldn’t be until UFC 46 that he finally started achieving the success that been predicted for him, when he upset Matt Hughes by submission to win the UFC Welterweight Championship. A contract dispute saw Penn leave the UFC without defending his title, but he returned at UFC 58 to face Georges St. Pierre in a title eliminator, with the winner to get a shot at Matt Hughes, who had since regained the UFC Welterweight Championship.

Penn lost the fight by split-decision but he still got the title shot, with GSP pulling out of his fight against Hughes due to injury. Penn dominated Hughes in their title fight before his old habits, coasting on his natural talent, came back to haunt him as he gassed out badly and was TKO’d in the third round. Penn returned to his natural weight class of lightweight and it seemed like Penn finally found the focus he had been lacking; after dismantling former rival Jens Pulver, Penn destroyed Joe Stevens to claim the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship.

Penn’s first title defence saw him retain the title against former champion Sean Sherk, who had been stripped of the title due to failing a drug test. Penn made another move up to welterweight to challenge GSP for the UFC Welterweight Championship, but the size difference was too much and Penn lost a one-sided contest after his corner pulled him out of the fight. Penn resumed defending his title, first submitting Kenny Florian and then becoming the first fighter to stop Diego Sanchez when the doctor stopped the fight after Penn had given Sanchez a gruesome looking cut on the forehead.

Penn then co-main evented the UFC’s first show in Abu Dhabi, as he defended the UFC Lightweight Championship against the rising star, Frankie Edgar. It was a close fight, certainly closer than the scorecards wound indicate, but the fight ended with what was a major upset as Penn, the dominant champion, considered the best lightweight of all time, beng upset by Edgar, with Edgar winning the fight by unanimous decision.

The close nature of the fight, scorecards notwithstanding, and Penn’s tenure as champion as well as his recognized ability, meant that an immediate rematch was booked, and it would be that rematch that would headline UFC 118.

The Rest of the Card

The co-main event was a rather historic fight, one that, superficially, would decide an age old question, but in reality would answer nothing at all. One of the much talked about debates, which is ultimately futile as it’s the rules that decide the fight more than the discipline involved or the talent of the fighters, is who would win between a boxer and an MMA fighter. There was no boxer who would ever take up the challenge, at least no current, high-profile boxer; there had been a few mixed fights, but the boxers involved were not in their prime and their fights meant nothing.

But one boxer, albeit removed from his prime, eventually did step up to the plate, and James Toney, who had won various titles in boxing and was a big name in his heyday, was announced in March of 2012 as having signed multi-fight deal with the UFC. It was subsequently announced that his first fight would be against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Randy Couture.

Randy Couture was a former Olympic alternate in Greco-Roman wrestling before entering MMA, where his storied career involved multiple title victories as he became one of the most beloved competitors in the UFC. If there was one fighter to put up against the ‘outsider’ coming into the UFC, it was the man who, perhaps more than any other was considered the heart and soul of the sport of the UFC.

The other fights on the main card would see Demian Maia take on Mario Miranda, Kenny Florian face Gary Maynard, and Nate Diaz fight Marcus Davis. The fight between Florian and Maynard would take on even greater significance when it was announced that the winner of their fought would be guaranteed the next shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Card Changes

Alessio Sakara was to face Jorge Rivera but Rivera broke his arm during training and was replaced by Gerald Harris. Sakara subsequently withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Joe Vedepo, although the fight ended up being scrapped altogether. A fight between Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares was moved to UFC Fight Night 22 as the new main event. Terry Etim was forced out of his fight gainst Joe Lauzon due to a broken rib, and was replaced by the notorious TUF veteran, Gabe Ruediger. Dan Miller replaced Phil Baroni against John Salter.

UFC 118 (the preliminary fights)

Mike Pierce submitted Amilcar Alves with a straight armbar in 3:11 of the third round; up until the submission, Pierce had dominated Alves with a smothering top game, with Alves looking completely out of his league. Greg Soto beat Nick Osipczak by unanimous decision. Dan Miller tapped out John Salter in the second round at 1:53 with a ninja choke; the choke had been set up by Miller grabbing hold of the neck of Salter as Salter went for a takedown.

Nik Lentz dominated TUF 9 finalist Andre Winner, to a fight by unanimous decision that did not engage the crowd at all. That was all forgotten in the next fight when Massachusetts’ favourite Joe Lauzon got a monstrous reaction as he dismantled Gabe Ruediger in 2:10, Lauzon submitting Ruediger with an armbar. Everything Lauzon did to Ruediger got a huge response and when he got the submission, the fans went crazy. Remarkable what a reaction you can get when the local favourite has a chance to look good. It’s almost as if beating down and humiliating the local favourite just for kicks isn’t what the fans want tosee. But I digress.

UFC 118 (the main card)

Nate Diaz vs. Marcus Davis started off as decent technical boxing battle and then turned into a delightfully sloppy brawl. It was a lot of fun for the first two rounds; Davis ended up with a badly swollen right eye that the doctor had to check out. Davis also ended up with a bloody face.  The pace slowed down considerably in the third round, taking away a lot of the excitement. There was more clinching as well, and late in the third round Diaz took Davis down and worked his way into a guillotine choke and Davis was choked out.

Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard was for a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship, with Florian going into the fight as the betting favourite and as the big crowd favourite as he was born in Westwood, which is not too far from Boston, the site of this PPV. The first round was pretty dull, with almost nothing happening until Maynard got a takedown with about a minute left in the round, with Maynard controlling Florian until the round ended. Things picked up a little in the second round; Maynard got a takedown at the half-way mark again controlled Florian until the round ended. Two rounds in, and the betting and crowd favourite was not looking good for the win. The third round was more of the same, with Florian, who needed to go for the finish, being far too tentative and he got taken down again, even quicker this time, and controlled by Maynard for the majority of the round.

It was neither the performance nor the result the fans wanted, with Maynard getting unanimous decision victory and he would be the most interested observer of the main event now that he had guaranteed himself a shot at the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Demian Maia vs. Mario Miranda was typical Demian Maia; whenever he had a hold of Miranda, which was often, he was controlling him on the ground and working for submissions. Miranda had his moments; he escaped from a couple of submission attempts. But for the most part, this was all Demian Maia, who cruised to a unanimous decision victory.

Randy Couture vs. James Toney went exactly the way everyone but the most fervent and diehard of boxing fans knew it would; Randy took James down right away, easily slipped into the mount, slapped on an arm triangle and James Toney tapped out. The fans erupted; Joe Rogan was rather forlorn, saying he’d hoped Toney would have worked on his takedown defence, but also admitting that there’s not a lot you can really learn in 9 months.

Randy was very humble in his post-fight interview, giving Toney credit for actually having the courage to step up and fight in the octagon, with Randy also hoping that boxers would give MMA more credit. James Toney was interviewed; the only thing he said that I could understand was that he felt he got caught. The rest of his interview was completely incomprehensible gibberish. If you want to know what a career of standing and banging like a ‘real fighter’ can do, listen to James Toney speak.

Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn II

The intrigue over this fight was how much of the first fight was Frankie having a great night and BJ having a bad one, and how much of it was simply Frankie being the better fighter.

We got an indication of the answer, as it were, when Edgar took Penn down right away, with little trouble. Penn’s takedown defence was legendary; he’d rarely been taken down at all at lightweight. And here he was getting taken down like it was nothing. Penn was able to work his way back to his feet, but throughout the fight, Edgar was able to take Penn down and Penn offered little if anything in the way of resistance, his takedown defence simply no longer there.

For virtually the entire 25:00 of this fight, Edger outclassed BJ Penn at every turn. Whether it was striking, grappling, movement, or anything else; Edgar was the superior of BJ Penn. And even when Penn had a measure of success and was able to take Edgar down and get in top position, Edgar was able to escape from under Penn and get back to his feet. Edgar was doing what not too long ago would have been considered impossible, and he was doing it with very little trouble.

There was never any doubt what the outcome was going to be when the judge’s decision was announced, with Edgar retaining his title by unanimous decision, all three judges scoring the fight 50-45.

If there were questions about Frankie Edgar, he had well and truly answered them here and the UFC’s lightweight division had a new, undisputed kingpin. BJ Penn is a legend. But every legend’s time comes, when their moment is over and it’s time to step aside, and at UFC 118, BJ Penn’s moment was well and truly over.

A curiosity about this fight is that, for some reason, they’ve overdubbed some of the commentary on the final twenty seconds of round four on the Fight Pass version of this event.

The original commentary;

Mike Goldberg: “…trying to defend his title and then maybe somewhere down the road, avenge his only loss”.

Joe Rogan: “Well, that’s what next if he wins tonight…”

And then they segue into discussing a prospective fight between Edgar and Maynard.

The redubbed version on Fight Pass is very different;

Mike Goldberg: “…trying to defend his title against what many consider the greatest lightweight of all time. And he’s been dominant here tonight in Boston.”

There are then a few seconds of silence before the original commentary cuts back in. They completely edit out all references to Gray Maynard. The original commentary was fine, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it; there was no obvious reason to edit the commentary other than to remove the references to Gray Maynard. And why they would want to do that, I don’t know.

Numbers

Attendance: 14,169
Gate: $2,800,000
PPV Buys: 570,000

The official payouts to each fighter as reported by the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission;

Frankie Edgar: $96,000 (includes $48,000 win bonus) def. B.J. Penn: $150,000
Randy Couture: $250,000 (no win bonus) def. James Toney: $500,000
Demian Maia: $68,000 ($34,000 win bonus) def. Mario Miranda: $8,000
Gray Maynard: $46,000 ($23,000 win bonus) def. Kenny Florian: $65,000
Nate Diaz: $60,000 ($30,000 win bonus) def. Marcus Davis: $31,000
Joe Lauzon: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Gabe Ruediger: $8,000
Nik Lentz: $22,000 ($11,000 win bonus) def. Andre Winner: $10,000
Dan Miller: $30,000 ($15,000 win bonus) def. John Salter: $8,000
Greg Soto: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus) def. Nick Osipczak: $10,000
Mike Pierce: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Amilcar Alves: $6,000

UFC Fight Night 27: Condit vs. Kampmann II (August 28th 2013)

This edition of the Fight Night series would be headlined by a welterweight clash that practically guaranteed fireworks and excitement, with a rematch that had been four years in the making.

Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann II (the build)

Carlos Condit entered in 2009 the UFC on an eight-fight winning streak, a run which included three successful defences of the WEC Welterweight Championship, with Condit being the last welterweight champion of the WEC. Condit’s debut in the UFC saw him face Dutch striker Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC Fight Night 18. It was a close fight and Condit would slip up, with Kampmann winning the fight by split-decision.

Following that loss, Condit scored four straight victories, a run which included knockout wins over Dan Hardy and Dong Hyun Kim. This run resulted in Condit being chosen to oppose Nick Diaz at UFC 143 in a fight to determine the interim UFC Welterweight Champion, with the official champion, Georges St. Pierre, sidelined due to injury. Despite being the underdog, Condit employed a perfect strategy to outstrike and outperform Diaz en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Condit and GSP would face off at UFC 154 to unify the titles, and whilst Condit put in a great performance, Condit even dropping GSP with a head kick and having him in real trouble, it was St. Pierre who walked out of UFC 154 as the undisputed UFC Welterweight Champion. Condit’s next fight would see him get right back into this mix as he faced Johny Hendricks in welterweight title eliminator, but despite a late surge from Condit, it was Hendricks who came out the victor, winning the fight by unanimous decision.

Condit needed a win to avoid slipping too far down the ladder, but to get that win he would have to face off once more with the man who had handed him that close loss in his UFC debut.

Martin Kampmann was a hard-hitting striker with an underrated ground game who came into the UFC with a 9-1 record. Kampann won his first four fights before suffering his first loss in the UFC, a TKO loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 88. Kampann won two more, including the split-decision win over Carlos Condit, before suffering another TKO loss, this time to Paul Daley at UFC 103. Kampmann was soon back in the win column as he won his next two fights, but Kampmann dropped the two fights after that, including a split-decision loss to Jake Shields in Shields’ UFC debut.

Kampmann then put together the first three-fight win streak of his career in four years before suffering his first ever knockout loss at the hands of Johny Hendricks. The fact Kampmann had been knocked out was a shock, as he’d faced some of the heaviest hitters in the sport and the best they’d been able to do was TKO Kampmann; he had been beaten but not knocked out, so for Hendricks to pull off the feat was a major accomplishment.

Kampmann was tough as nails, though, and difficult to keep down, so he was right back after a tough opponent, and his next opponent would be a tough one, as Kampmann would again be paired off against the man he had welcomed into the UFC back in 2009.

The Rest of the Card

The co-main event would be a big fight in the lightweight division as Rafael dos Anjos, on a four fight winning streak, would face former WEC Lightweight Champion Donald Cerrone, who was himself on quite the streak as he’d won his last eight fights. A win for dos Anjos would cement his status in the top 10, whilst a win for Cerrone would surely gain him his long awaited chance at UFC gold.

Elsewhere on the main card, TUF 17 Middleweight Tournament winner Kelvin Gastelum would make his welterweight debut against Paulo Thiago. TUF 11 Tournament (middleweight) winner Court McGhee would continue his welterweight run as he faced TUF: The Smashes Welterweight Tournament winner Robert Whittaker. Takeya Mizugaki too on Erik Perez, and another TUF fighter would round out the main card, with Bubba McDaniel, who was part of TUF 17, fighting Brad Tavares.

Card Changes

A fight between newcomers Nandor Guelmino and Derrick Lewis was scheduled for this event, but Lewis was forced out of the fight due to injury and Guelmino was removed from the card and booked for a fight at UFC 165. Jason High replaced Bobby Voelker against James Head, with Head having been moved to UFC on FOX 8 to replace Siyar Bahadurzada against Robbie Lawler.

Brian Melancon replaced an injured Paulo Thiago against Kelvin Gastelum. Sara McMann withdrew from her fight against Sarah Kaufman for undisclosed personal reasons. Kaufmann was removed from the card altogether. A flyweight fight between UFC newcomers Dustin Ortiz and Justin Scoggins was briefly set for this event, but was removed from the card. The two would eventually fight on the main card of the live finale to TUF 19: Team Edgar vs. Team Penn.

UFC Fight Night 27 (the preliminary fights)

The fight between Roger Bowling and Abel Trujillo ended in a no-contest at 4:57 of the second round when Trujillo landed an illegal knee to Bowling and Bowling couldn’t continue. I don’t know why Trujillo wasn’t disqualified because it was as deliberate an illegal blow as you can get. That was followed by Zak Cummings submitting Ben Alloway in 4:19 with a D’arce Choke, in a fight Cummings dominated with a lot of clinching against the fence.

Jason High submitted James Head with a guillotine choke in 1:41. It was a choke that High secured off of a scramble, with Head really trying hard to buck High off of him and get free but he couldn’t and was forced to tap. Darren Elkins beat Hatsu Hioki by unanimous decision. Elkins was the slight underdog but he dominated much of the fight with a relentless high-pressure attack. After a wild and reckless open, Brandon Thatch destroyed Justin Edwards in 1:23, mainly with knees from the clinch but also with punches. It was the kind of performance that made you sit up and take notice and painted Thatch as a guy to watch out for in the welterweight division. Dylan Andrews knocked out Papy Abedi in 1:32. Until the finish, Abedi had been showing flashes of the kind of form that had seen him enter the UFC with something of a rep, a rep he ultimately never lived up to. Abedi would be released from the UFC after this loss, and wouldn’t fight again until 2016. He won that fight but lost his next fight, which was against, of all people, Dylan Andrews. That fight is worth looking up for due to it having a spectacular finish.

UFC Fight Night 27 (the main card)

Bubba McDaniel vs. Brad Tavares was a decent fight, although whatever excitement it generated was always snuffed out by McDaniel’s strategy of grappling and controlling Tavares without advancing his position or going for anything. There were flashes of excitement when the fight was standing because Tavares landed some nice kicks and punches. But anytime they were up close, McDaniel would grab hold of Tavares and hold on for dear life. The fight went the distance and Tavares won by unanimous decision, and he extended his winning streak to four fights.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Erik Perez had a good fight that was full of action, and with both fighters pressing forward, there were few lulls in the action. It was mostly a boxing battle, with the occasional kick and takedown attempt mixed in. Mizugaki and Perez were both throwing bombs but it was Mizugaki who landed more of his power punches, and whilst the grappling battles were more even, Perez had to escape a very tight rear naked choke just over half-way into the third round. This was another fight that went the distance, and the close nature meant we had a split-decision, and it would be Mizugaki who walked out the winner. The fight was close but Mizugaki’s precision and power spelled the difference.

Court McGee vs. Robert Whittaker had a fight with constant pace but not a lot of action; both fighters were moving a lot, but there weren’t a lot moment of significant. The biggest moment of the fight came in the second round when McGee landed a short left that dropped Whittaker to one knee and had him in real trouble before he managed to fend McGee off and recover. Things picked up in the third round, both fighters landing some nice strikes, but overall, you really wouldn’t have pegged Whittaker as a future champion. The fight went to a split-decision, with McGee getting the win. Interestingly, each fighter got a 30-27 from one of the judges.

Kelvin Gastelum vs. Brian Melancon saw Gastelum stay patient before landing a series of punches that dropped Melancon, Gastelum then going for a rear naked choke to get the submission in just 2:26.

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone was a decent fight, lots of pace and movement, but outside of dos Anjos momentarily dropping Cerrone in the first round, there really wasn’t anything memorable that happened. Dos Anjos won by unanimous decision. The win extended RDA’s winning streak to five-in-a-row and ended Cerrone’s eight-fight win streak.

Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann II

This was our main event and it was good fight but not outstanding. Kampmann opened up with a takedown and it was clear that his gameplan was to try and exploit Condit’s weakness when it came to takedowns and takedown defence. Kampmann had success with this strategy for the first two rounds and Condit was struggling to get anything together. But such a strategy requires a big gas tank to be effective over the course of the whole fight and Kampmann started to slow down during the third round and this was Condit’s chance to get into the fight. Condit began picking up the pace with strikes and Kampmann, known for his striking game, was just too tired to put up a really effective defence; Condit bloodied up the face of Kampmann and he used a standing choke to take Kampmann down, Condit having great success as the round ended.

Kampmann tried to keep going with the wrestling but he had nothing left, and Condit was soon lighting him up with punches and kicks and Kampmann was just trying to survive; a pair of knees from the clinch dropped Kampmann and that was enough for the referee to step in and stop the fight.

It was the victory Condit needed to reassert himself in the welterweight division, but he was made to work very hard for it as Martin Kampmann once again showed his toughness and durability.

Overall, UFC Fight Night 27 was a solid show, but it could have done with a few more moments of quality.

Numbers

Attendance: 6,417
Gate: $355,290
Ratings: 0.69 with an average of 824,000 viewers. The show peaked with the final 15-minutes of the main event, averaging 1,017,000 viewers. The prelims, aired on FS2, drew a rating of 0.25 for an average of 109,000 viewers.

Other Notes for August 28th

Bellator 141: Guillard vs. Girtz (August 28th 2015)

Melvin Guillard was making his Bellator debut against Brandon Girtz, but would lose on a split-decision. Patricky Freire and Justin Wren had unanimous decision wins over Saad Awad and Josh Burns respectively, with the opener to the main card seeing Marloes Coenen tap out Arlene Blencowe.

Next up, just one event to talk about, UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira.

[Carbomb]

I think a big part of why Sapp never went further was because he was a megastar in Japan because of the combination of his (at the time) impressive fighting ability, his size, and, most of all, his personality. I was living in Japan around the time of Sapp's rise to fame, and he was pretty much a household name to every Japanese I spoke to, even those who didn't watch K-1 (which was bigger than MMA on a casual basis at the time). A big part of that was because, according to pretty much everyone I spoke to (and I appreciate that anecdotal testimony isn't worth a whole lot in general, but I did speak to a load of people about this, because I just didn't understand it at the time), he did a lot of appearances on Japanese television panel shows (these account for a very large percentage of Japanese TV), and on each one he just came across as this incredibly personable, likable, and intelligent guy. Even after his MMA career, he was very much a loved figure in Japanese popular culture, which would explain why Tekken 4 even had a character based on him.

[wandshogun09]

Bas Rutten said on Joe Rogan's podcast a while back that he wanted to fight Wanderlei Silva on that Pride/K-1 supershow. Think he said he wanted to do it as a kickboxing match in Pride gloves. He also said there were talks of a third fight with Ken Shamrock around this time as well, obviously neither ended up happening but when you look at that Shockwave card and imagine a Bas vs Wandy fight added to that lineup, it'd have been insane. 

I absolutely love Nog vs Sapp. It's surely the most Pride Pride fight ever. When I think of Pride of course it's with the rose tints. It wasn't all great. But when I think of Pride I think of the best stuff. Great fights, fun freakshow fights, big fight atmosphere etc. And Nog vs Sapp was all the things I loved about Pride rolled into one. 

[jimufctna24]

Jordan Breen took a dim-view on Sapp's popularity in Japan. In fact, Breen took a dim-view on Sapp in general - http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/Opinion-The-Anniversary-of-a-Terminal-Beastly-Sickness-120819

Josh Barnett thinks that Sapp's biggest weakness was application. Not that he lacked application, quite the opposite in fact. The more he thought about fighting, and who he was facing; the more he struggled. He was at his best when he fought purely on instinct. This approach was nurtured by the lax rule sets that Japanese promotion deployed at the time.

Once Fujita exposed him in 2004, it was all over for him in many ways. The Japanese MMA fad was starting to slow down in general by 2005/2006, and his fighting career slowed down with it. Sapp returned to America with little fanfare and no success.

He then became a fighter who would be paid to fall down after 30 seconds on various outlaw shows. These instances were a light years removed from Pride/K1 circa 2002; both in terms of relevance and spectacle. For newer MMA fans, he will probably be best known for his exchange with Helwani on the MMA Hour, where Helwani called him out for taking dives for money.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (August 29th)

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira (August 29th 2009)

UFC 102 would be headlined by a battle of the legends, two men who, long before they fought, had sealed their place in any legitimate MMA Hall of Fame.

Randy Couture vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (the build)

Randy Couture is a UFC and MMA Hall of Famer. The first man to win titles in two different weight classes in the UFC, Randy had become a UFC and MMA legend through his inspirational story of defying the odds, of finding a way to win the fights that he was expected to lose. At various points, Randy Couture was expected to lose to Vitor Belfort, Maurice Smith, Kevin Randleman, Pedro Rizzo twice, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia, and Gabriel Gonzaga. But each and every time, Randy won, not only the fight but the respect and admiration of fans around the world. As Joe Rogan stated on numerous occasions “that man is my hero”.

Randy’s wins over Smith, Randleman, Liddell, Ortiz and Sylvia, all gained him championship gold, and coming out of the fight against Tim Sylvia, one of the most heated and emotional fights in UFC history, Randy was once again UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randy’s fights against Sylvia and Gonzaga especially, had fans worried about his well being; here were bigger and stronger fighters, with devastating knockout power, and Randy was stepping into the cage against them. But Randy defied the odds, and age to come out on top.

But there was one uphill battle that Randy Couture couldn’t win, when he entered into a protracted legal dispute with the UFC. After being offered a title defence against Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81, Randy resigned, citing complaints over both his pay and the UFC’s failure to sign Fedor Emelianenko, which was a fight Randy badly wanted.

As this legal fight went on, Randy was still officially the UFC Heavyweight Champion as the UFC didn’t strip the title from Randy as part of their legal strategy; they didn’t want to do anything that could be seen as strengthening Randy’s legal arguments against them. So, a fight between Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and Tim Sylvia was booked for UFC 81, with the winner becoming the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. Nogueira won the fight, and later that year, was made one of the coaches on the eighth season of TUF opposite Frank Mir, with the season designed to build up their interim title fight at UFC 92.

A few months before this event, Randy Couture and the UFC settled their legal issues, and Randy returned to the company. His first fight back would be a big one, as he would defend the UFC Heavyweight Championship against former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar. The idea was for the two heavyweight title fights to be considered a mini-tournament, with the two winners facing off to become the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randy and Antonio lost their respective fights, effectively putting both of them in the ‘loser’s bracket’, and whilst it was unofficial in status, it did provide the impetus to make one of the few remaining MMA dream fights, and at UFC 102, Randy Couture and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira would finally meet.

Randy Couture versus Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira: two men who were legends in their respective promotions and legends in the sport of MMA. Who would win the battle of two sure-fire first ballot Hall of Fame fighters?

The Rest of the Card

The co-main event would be a light heavyweight fight between Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva. Jardine had alternated wins and losses in his last six fights, although two of those wins had been a knockout win over Forrest Griffin and an upset split-decision win over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell. Jardine was a tough fighter, a good opponent for someone like Thiago Silva. Silva was coming off the first loss of his career, a knockout loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 94. For Silva, this would be the ideal test to see if he could come back from that first loss, something that not all fighters are able to do.

TUF 1 badboy Chris Leben would face Jake Rosholt. Leben was coming off a nine-month suspension for failing a post-fight drug test for stanozolol, a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid that several fighters have failed for, including Cris Cyborg and Tim Sylvia. A top middleweight clash would see Demian Maia face Nate Marquardt, and the main card opener was set to be Matt Hamill vs. Brandon Vera.

Card Changes

The fight between Kyle Kingsbury and Razak Al-Hassan was moved from this card to UFC 104. Krzysztof Soszynski replaced Matt Hamill against Brandon Vera due to injury. Ed Herman replaced an injured James Irvin against Wilson Gouveia, but the fight was then scrapped entirely when Gouveia was himself injured. Marcus Aurélio replaced an injured Matt Veach against Evan Dunham.

UFC 102 (the preliminary fights)

The action started with Evan Dunham and Mark Muñoz scoring split-decision wins over Marcus Aurelio and Nick Catone respectively. We then had a fight for the record books, as Todd Duffee scored the fastest finish in the history of the UFC’s heavyweight division when he knocked out the late Tim Hague in just 7-seconds. Mike Russow dominated Justin McCully for the unanimous decision victory.

Gabriel Gonzaga, normally a submission fighter, needed just 2:27 to TKO Chris Tuchscherer, although there was a lengthy delay very early into the fight when an inside leg kick from Gonzaga caught Tuchscherer flush in the junk. Tuchscherer was down for several minute and even threw up into a bucket before continuing to fight, and Joe Rogan was very impressed with Tuchscherer continuing.

And the main preliminary fight came to an unfortunate end, with Aaron Simpson beating Ed Herman by TKO when Herman badly injured his knee and was unable to continue. Herman had injured his knee earlier in the fight and decided to keep going, but when he missed kick and fell to the mat, the impact jarred his knee and he couldn’t go on.

UFC 102 (the main card)

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brandon Vera was a decent enough fight but it struggled to really get going, to find some sustained excitement. A lot of that was because Soszynski couldn’t match Vera’s striking and so he did a lot of clinching, pressing Vera up against the fence, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything with it. This stifled whatever momentum the fight was generating at the time. Vera outstruck Soszynski and controlled the majority of fight, easily winning the unanimous decision, getting 30-27s on all three scorecards.

Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia was a middleweight fight that plenty were looking forward to, and the pre-fight video package did a great job of building the fight and making it a fight to look forward to. It therefore made it a big disappointment, especially if you were Maia fan, when the fight last mere seconds; after some tentative movements and feints from both fighter, Maia moved in close to deliver a big kick, but left himself open to a violent straight right hand from Marquardt, and it looked like Maia was knocked out in mid-air and he dropped to the mat.

Maia was down, dazed, and the fight was over after the first punch in just 18-seconds.

Marquardt backs off for a moment or two before going to check on Maia and help him to his feet, although Wanderlei Silva quickly moves in to take care of that. Maia looks disappointed and still a little dazed as he walks back to his corner, and it’s an agonizing way to suffer your first defeat in MMA.

Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt was an OK fight, a lot more ground-based than your typical Leben fight, and it was mostly Leben who took the fight to the ground. It was pretty even throughout and that helped keep the interest up because neither fighter was ever out of it, at least until the end when Roshot took Leben down and choked him out with an arm triangle. Leben actually tapped but the referee either didn’t see it or didn’t realize he was tapping and Leben ended up going out at 1:30 of the third round.

Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva featured a fighter who would turn into one of MMA’s most psychotic individuals, Thiago Silva. At this stage, though, Silva hadn’t turned into a raging lunatic, and he was only dangerous when he was in the cage. This was a fine enough scrap for a 1:35 fight. The end came when Silva caught Jardine as he was swinging and dropped him, Silva landing a few more shots to knock Jardine out. Silva stood over Jardine and taunted him, so the referee had to usher him away.

Randy Couture vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira

The main event was the much anticipated battle of the legends, and it was one of those fights that would be bittersweet no matter what, because, unless it went to a draw, one of MMA’s nicest guys was going to lose. Randy was the more popular fighting, by far, with the live fans, though, not only because of his UFC tenure but because of his time living in Oregon.

In building up the fight, and during the fight, Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan repeatedly say that Randy has never been submitted in the UFC, which is technically correct but very misleading. Randy verbally gave up when facing Ricco Rodriguez way back at UFC 39, due to strikes, but whilst Ricco made Randy submit, technically he didn’t submit him because the intention with the strikes wasn’t to submit him. It’s playing around with words to present an inaccurate portrait of the facts.

The fight itself is pretty good, but it’s not as competitive as hindsight has perhaps made it. Nogueira dominates Randy for much of this fight, dropping him in the first and third rounds with some well timed punches, dominating him on the ground, and thwarting much of Randy’s attempted offense. Randy did take Nogueira down a couple of times, but he couldn’t do much with it and in the third round when this happened, Nogueira reversed positions with an almost casual ease. In some circles, Nogueira’s excuses for losing to Frank Mir at UFC 92 are knocked, but they seem pretty valid when he looked so much better here, showing flashes of his previous high levels of form.

Randy had a few moments, and they popped the crowd, but they were few and far between, and Nogueira pretty well dominated Randy Couture. Interestingly, Brock Lesnar was at ringside and he was even shouting instructions to Randy during the fight. Given Brock’s dislike of leaving home and his propensity to always have a reason for being somewhere, especially at a UFC event, I suspect Brock was at ringside so that in the event Randy won, they could set up Brock vs. Randy II.

UFC 102 was a solid PPV; nothing overly bad or overly good, and with a decent main event to end the night.

Numbers

Attendance: 16,088
Gate: $1,920,000
PPV Buys: 435,000

The official payouts to each fighter as reported by the Oregon State Athletic Commission;

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira: ($400,000 includes $150,000 win bonus) def. Randy Couture: ($250,000)
Thiago Silva: ($58,000 includes $29,000 win bonus) def. Keith Jardine: ($55,000)
Jake Rosholt: ($26,000 includes $13,000 win bonus) def. Chris Leben: ($30,000)
Nate Marquardt: ($80,000 includes $40,000 win bonus) def. Demian Maia: ($28,000)
Brandon Vera: ($70,000 includes $35,000 win bonus) def. Krzystzof Soszynski: ($8,000)
Aaron Simpson: ($18,000 includes $9,000 win bonus) def. Ed Herman: ($24,000)
Gabriel Gonzaga: ($120,000 includes $60,000 win bonus) def. Chris Tuchscherer: ($10,000)
Mike Russow: ($20,000 includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Justin McCully: ($15,000)
Todd Duffee: ($10,000 includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Tim Hague: ($7,000)
Mark Muñoz: ($24,000 includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Nick Catone: ($5,000)
Evan Dunham: ($14,000 includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Marcus Aurélio: ($13,000)

Next time, it’s another single event to talk about as we discuss one of the most cursed UFC cards of all time.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (August 30th)

UFC 177: Dillashaw vs. Soto (August 30th 2014)

UFC 177 was originally to be headlined by a rematch of one of the greatest title fights in UFC history, as Jon Jones would once again defend the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Alexander Gustafsson. However, the fight was moved back a month to headline UFC 178.

In its place, the main event of UFC 177 was set to be another rematch, this time a rematch of the biggest title upsets in UFC history; at UFC 173, TJ Dillashaw MMA when he not only upset but destroyed Renan Barão to claim the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Barão had been undefeated for nine-years, with a 32-1 (1) record; the shock of Barão‘s defeated reverberated throughout the MMA world.

The rematch was Barão’s chance to prove the first fight was a fluke, and Dillashaw’s chance to prove the opposite, that he truly was the better fight. And both fighters would get their chance...just not at UFC 177.

TJ Dillashaw vs. Joe Soto (the build)

There was literally no build to TJ Dillashaw vs. Joe Soto. The day of the weigh-ins for UFC 177, Renan Barão was hospitalized due to major problems with his weight cut and he was pulled from the card. In desperate need of a replacement to save both the main event and the PPV itself, the UFC turned to Joe Soto. Joe Soto was on a five fight winning streak and coming into the UFC as the bantamweight champion of the Taichi Palace Fights organization. Soto, who had only fought just weeks earlier on August the 7th, was scheduled to face Anthony Birchak on the preliminary card of UFC 177. But instead of debuting for the UFC in the preliminaries, Soto would be making his debut in the main event of UFC 177, challenging TJ Dillashaw for the UFC Bantamweight Championship.

In the blink of an eye, Joe Soto had gone from preliminary fighter to UFC PPV headliner, and with it, he had been given an opportunity to write his name in the history books.

The Rest of the Card

The original co-main event to UFC 177 was to be Demetrious Johnson defending the UFC Flyweight Championship against Chris Cariaso. However, when the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight was pulled from UFC 178, the Johnson vs. Cariaso fight was moved to be the new headliner for UFC 178.

The co-main event to UFC 177 would now be a lightweight fight between Danny Castillo and Tony Ferguson. Castillo was 3-2 in his last five fights and was coming off of a spectacular knockout win over Charlie Brenneman. Ferguson, meanwhile, was 2-0 since suffering the first loss of his UFC career to Michael Johnson, and had an overall record of 15-3. Both men had amateur wrestling backgrounds as well, although Ferguson’s was more extensive, and it promised to be an exciting encounter.

Elsewhere on the main card, Shayna Baszler would face Bethe Correia in a fight in the women’s bantamweight division, with both this and the Castillo vs. Ferguson fight having been rescheduled after the cancellation of UFC 176. Carlos Diego Ferreira would take on Ramsey Nijem, and Justin Edwards was to square off against Yancy Medeiros.

It was a card admittedly lacking in name value, but the assembled fights were set to deliver a lot of action.

Card Changes

A heavyweight fight between Ruslan Magomedov and Richard Odoms was cancelled when Odoms pulled out of the fight. Justin Edwards was to face Yancy Medeiros. However, Edwards, citing an injury, pulled out in the days leading up to the event and was replaced by newcomer Damon Jackson. Scott Jorgensen was to fight Henry Cejudo, but Cejudo pulled out of the fight on the day of the weigh-ins due to complications trying to cut weight.

Because this show went through so many changes and cancellations, Joe Rogan began the weigh ins by introducing the crowd to "the haunted UFC card".  The number of cancellations meant that there were only eight fights on the entire card, making it the smallest UFC PPV since UFC 72.

UFC 177 (the preliminary fights)

A truncated preliminary card opened up with Chris Wade showing some great ground control as he required just 72-seconds to choke out Cain Carrizosa. A terrible fight saw Anthony Hamilton TKO Ruan Potts with body shots in the second round. And Derek Brunson shows his wrestling ability in a unanimous decision win over Lorenz Larkin.

UFC 177 (the main card)

Damon Jackson vs. Yancy Medeiros was a good fight, with Medeiros showing good technical striking and some pretty solid takedown defence. It went into the second round, where Medeiros scored a very unique finish with a first for UFC as Medeiros choked Jackson out with a reverse bulldog choke. It looked real nasty and Jackson was choked out bad, with his eyes still open and his body twitching as he lay on the mat.

Diego Ferreira vs. Ramsey Nijem had a first round filled with plenty of wild and sloppy striking, neither fighter showing a lot of technique. Not much of this fight took place on the ground. The telling point for this fight was Nijem’s notoriously poor chin; he got wobbled in the first round and was dropped in the second, at which point Ferreria delivered hammerfists to a stunned Nijem before the referee stepped in. Ferreira looked like he had some potential, although he’s yet to live up to it, and he’s been out of action since January 2016 due to failing an out-of-competition drug test conducted on April 29th 2016. Ferreira is eligible to return in September of 2017, so we could hear something about his next move in the coming weeks.

Shayna Baszler vs. Bethe Correia was an OK fight, with Baszler dominating the first round and second rounds, with Correia never really in the fight until she got Baszler trapped against the cage and just unloaded with body shots. Baszler was pretty well trapped against the cage; even when she got space, Baszler was too tired to move or just didn’t care to. The fight ended with Baszler against the cage, Correia blistering her with body shots, and John McCarthy eventually deciding that he had seen enough and the fight was over.

Danny Castillo vs. Tony Ferguson was decent fight, with constant action and pace for the most part. Ferguson dominated the stand up in as much as he didn’t always land what he wanted, but he landed more of what he went for. Castillo was often swinging and missing or just not connecting like he wanted. In the second round, Ferguson had Castillo in a D’arce choke, off his back, but it wasn’t overly tight and Castillo just stayed in it for about a minute before working his way out. Most of the third round was Castillo in top position on Ferguson but not doing a whole lot with it, which is what usually happened in this fight when Castillo was on top; he’d stay busy but otherwise do little to advance his position, although Castillo went for an arm triangle as third round ended.

It went to a split-decision and the Sacramento faithful were left unhappy when it went the way of Ferguson. In Castillo’s corner, Wand’s favourite fighter, Justin Bucholz and whoever the guy was that was with him threw a very obvious strop over the decision. Ferguson praised Castillo in the post-fight interview but the fans weren’t having it and they just kept jeering him. Castillo was interviewed and said he didn’t think Ferguson landed any punches on his feet, but that statement that was outright delusional. Castillo apologised to the fans and it seemed like he was about to break down. Castillo wondered what the judges at ringside were looking it because he was controlling Ferguson on the ground, with Castillo saying that if the other guy can’t get up off his back, then that guy is losing and that it’s not Castillo’s fault that the other guy can’t back up.

The problem with that line of thinking is that, for the most part, Castillo wasn’t really controlling Ferguson and Ferguson wasn’t even trying to get back up; Castillo was just holding Ferguson down, doing nothing, and Ferguson was happy to just wait it out and let the referee stand them up. If all you’re doing is holding a guy down and nothing else, then the only way that wins a fight is if there is literally nothing else that happened. And that didn’t happen here. I like Danny Castillo but he’s only got himself to blame, because he just wasn’t aggressive enough when it counted.

TJ Dillashaw vs. Joe Soto

The most unexpected and unlikely main event in the UFC for quite some time, and maybe ever, was entirely one-sided. Joe Soto made something of a fight of it in that he made Dillashaw work for his success, but at the same time, Dillashaw also never had to get out of third gear; Dillashaw was happy to cruise and do only what he had to and no more, and he clearly felt no need to hit the gas, as it were. Soto was never in the fight and at no point was Dillashaw in even the remotest of danger. Dillashaw showed his usual great footwork and movement, but it was very obvious that Dillashaw was taking it easy and treating this fight as a glorified sparring session.

As soon as Dillashaw did kick it up a notch, in the fifth round, the fight was over as he stunned Soto with a head kick and then dropped him with a punch, which was enough for John McCarthy to step in and stop the fight.

It was a rather deflating ending to a show that had had the wind taken out of its sails before it begun, although full credit to the UFC for trying to keep the main event together and TJ Dillashaw for agreeing to fight Soto, when he didn’t have to, and when others would have played it safe and just sat out the night.

Numbers

Attendance: 11,100
Gate: $700,000
PPV Buys: 125,000

The official payouts to each fighter as reported by the California State Athletic Commission;

TJ Dillashaw: $100,000 ($50,000 win bonus) def. Joe Soto: $20,000
Tony Ferguson: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus) def. Danny Castillo: $36,000
Bethe Correia: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Shayna Baszler: $8,000
Carlos Diego Ferreira: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Ramsey Nijem: $18,000
Yancy Medeiros: $24,000 ($12,000 win bonus) def. Damon Jackson: $8,000
Derek Brunson: $44,000 ($22,000 win bonus) def. Lorenz Larkin: $28,000
Anthony Hamilton: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Ruan Potts: $10,000
Chris Wade: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Cain Carrizosa: $8,000

Scott Jorgensen ($52,000/$26,000) and Anthony Birchak ($16,000/$8,000) were paid both their show money and win bonuses, after their fights were scrapped as the last minute. Neither Renan Barão nor Henry Cejudo were compensated.

On paper, some of those amounts are, quite frankly, derisory, and you would like to think that a few fighters were given something discretionary in their pay packet. And given that the UFC was still under the old ownership, they probably did.

There is just the one event to talk about next time, UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis II.

 

[jimufctna24]

Just to comment on Fedor vs Cro Cop:

If Shockwave 2002 was Pride's commercial peak; then Fedor vs Cro Cop was probably where Pride's relevance to the sport peaked. From a purist's perspective, it was the biggest fight in Pride history, and easily the biggest fight in MMA for its time.

It also serves as the best example that a pure sport's build can work in MMA. While there was speculation that Fedor was ducking Cro Cop;  there wasn't any trash talking or press conference brawls. They weren't needed. The fight sold itself based on the fighter's back catalogue, and both being in their primes. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good feud, and I am very partial to novelty fights. I look forward to Bellator's major shows ffs. But for its kind, Fedor vs Cro Cop hit the mark.

Pride did a masterful job of building it up. They presented it in the correct way. Bas and Mauro cut down on their comedy shtick when the fight was publicly confirmed. It conveyed to the audience that the fight was very serious, and a removal from the norm. For Fedor it was a career defining fight. It earmarked him as the best fighter his time; regardless of weightclass. It was probably his meal ticket to being considered in the top 5 fighters ever; a status he still has today. 

[wandshogun09]

I never bought the claims that Fedor was ducking Cro Cop. It just never lined up until 2005. Be it Fedor's injuries or Mirko losing fights right when he was on the cusp of a crack at Fedor. 

Theoretically, when Big Nog vs Cro Cop happened in late 2003, if Cro Cop had won that he'd have been lined up to fight Fedor next. But Nog's submission skills derailed him that time. Then there was the 2004 GP tournament. If Fedor was avoiding Mirko he wasn't doing a good job of it because they were both entered in the tournament. But again, Cro Cop got derailed when he got KO'd by Randleman. This was shit that was out of Fedor's control, obviously. You had to assume Pride were hoping for a GP final of some combination of Fedor/Cro Cop/Nog in 2004. On paper, you wouldn't have picked Randleman to take Cro Cop out of the tournament. And with shite like Giant Silva, Sentoryu Miller etc in the field you'd be forgiven for assuming the path to the finals was relatively straight forward for a Fedor/Cro Cop/Nog final. And it was I guess, because we did get Fedor vs Nog 2 in the finals. 

People saying Fedor avoided Cro Cop are just trying to discredit him. We didn't even wait that long for Fedor vs Cro Cop either, when you think about it. Fedor won the title in March 2003. He fought Cro Cop in August 2005. Considering Cro Cop was stopped twice in that period, we were lucky he was able to fight his way back in to the point we got that fight at all. 

[jimufctna24]

There was speculation around in late 2003 and early 2004 that Fedor declined to fight Cro Cop twice. The timeline does somewhat fit the speculation. Fedor fought Goodridge in August 2003, on a card where Cro Cop also fought. I would say that Cro Cop was a much more deserving contender than Goodridge at the time.

After this, Cro Cop was booked against Nog in November, while Fedor fought on a Inoki show on New Years Eve. It's possible that Fedor turned down a November date with Cro Cop and chose instead to fight on the Inoki show (this is all my speculation mind). The losses to Nog and Randleman didn't really put Cro Cop to the back of the line either. That's not how Pride worked. Remember, Hunt got a title shot coming off a loss in late 2006.

Overall, I agree though. The 2004 tournament is what debunks the theory. Fedor entered that tournament with the knowledge that Cro Cop would almost certainly be in it as well. It's also hard to see when else Fedor could have fought Cro Cop in 2004. Fedor was tied up with Grand Prix throughout most of 2004, especially as he had to re-do the final with Nog on New Years Eve. 

I recall the rumours re-emerged in 2005, around 6 months before they actually fought. It's possible that Fedor's team were lukewarm to the fight during certain periods. I don't believe for a second that Fedor was scared or anything. Even if Fedor was ducking him for a time, it ended up being irrelevant anyway, as he eventually fought him and won convincingly. 

[Noah Southworth]

I always got the impression that Fedor himself didn’t care who he fought and that it didn’t matter to him one way the other who was on other side of the cage/ring. Fedor’s management, on the other hand, they very much did care who Fedor faced and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they were very careful about whom Fedor faced and when he faced them. I also don’t think it’s a stretch to say that, for whatever reason and it very well may have been as much for control reasons as to protect Fedor, that they never wanted Fedor in the UFC. I think that’s the only real blemish, and it’s not a big blemish but it still is one, on Fedor’s run, that it was very obvious someone on Fedor’s side, even if it wasn’t Fedor himself, didn’t want him in the UFC.

[jimufctna24]

I totally agree Noah. 

Another factor to consider is the Yakuza's influence on affairs. Tons of stuff was going on behind the scenes in late 2003/early 2004 in regards to Fedor's management; all of which appears to out of Fedor's control.

This page provides a good summary. I despise Reddit as a rule, but they have done a good job of collecting information here - https://www.reddit.com/r/NoNewsMMA/comments/3rerx0/interesting_stuff_about_pride_and_yakuza_ties/

 

[Keith Houchen]

Thanks for posting that @jimufctna24 that's a cracking read!

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (August 31st)

UFC 164: Henderson vs. Pettis II (August 31st 2013)

The main event to this show was expected to see the reigning UFC Lightweight Champion defend his title against one of the hottest lightweights in the division, a man who had put together a strong run of form to earn a spot in a title eliminator, a fight he would then win in destructive fashion. But injury would put paid to that idea, and another injury would subsequently allow UFC 164 to be headlined by a rematch of the last ever fight from a cult promotion, a fight that featured one of the most famous spots in modern MMA history.

Benson Henderson vs. TJ Grant/Anthony Pettis II (the build)

Benson Henderson had migrated over to the UFC on the back of one of the most thrilling title fights in MMA history, a defence of the WEC Lightweight Championship against Anthony Pettis, in what was the last ever fight in the history of the WEC. It was a close fight that could have gone either way and was hinging on the fifth and final round, and it was all decided by one of the most incredible moves in MMA history; Pettis ran up the wall of the cage and propelled himself off to nail Henderson in the face with what would be dubbed ‘the Showtime Kick’. It dropped Henderson, and whilst it didn’t finish him it ensured Pettis won the round and fight and closed out the history of the WEC as the final ever WEC Lightweight Champion.

Pettis was intended to challenge Frankie Edgar for the UFC Lightweight Championship in an unofficial ‘champion vs. champion’ fight, but Edgar’s trilogy making fight with Gray Maynard meant that Pettis had to keep busy; he faced Clay Guida, lost, and Pettis’ title fight was out the window.

Henderson, meanwhile, had started off his UFC career with a win over Mark Bocek at UFC 129. Wins over Jim Miller and then Clay Guida in a title eliminator put Henderson opposite UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in Japan; a close fight saw Henderson walk away with the unanimous decision victory and the UFC Lightweight Championship. An immediate rematch saw Henderson edge past Edgar again, this time by split-decision. Henderson then retained against Nate Diaz (unanimous decision) and Gilbert Melendez (split-decision), before his fourth title defence would see him put the title on the line against a fighter who was starting to make some serious waves in the UFC.

TJ Grant entered the UFC as a welterweight with a 13-2, alternating wins and losses in his first six fights. Grant was never stopped in any of those losses but opted to make the move down to lightweight, which he felt would be a better weight class. The move paid immediate dividends for Grant who defeated Shane Roller in his debut fight at lightweight. Grant registered three more wins at lightweight, over Carlo Prater, Evan Dunham and Matt Wiman, to score himself a fight against former title challenger Gray Maynard, a fight that would be a lightweight title eliminator.

Grant went into the fight as the underdog, with Maynard having pushed UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar to the limit in two incredible wars and considered a tough, top-level lightweight. But Grant shocked the world with a vicious knockout of Maynard at UFC 160 in just 2:07. It was a win that put the UFC Lightweight Champion and the lightweight division on notice; there was a new force in the division and his name was TJ Grant. Grant had earned his shot at gold and at UFC 164 TJ Grant would challenge Benson Henderson for the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Grant would never get his title shot; several weeks before the fight was to take place, Grant was sidelined due to concussion issues. And whilst Grant eventually, albeit two years later recovered from those issues, Grant has yet to fight again.

This put the UFC in a bind; they needed a new challenger for Benson Henderson. And as luck would have it, a new challenger but an old face was ready and waiting to step into the breach.

After losing to Clay Guida, Anthony Pettis edged past Jeremy Stephens by split-decision before scoring consecutive ‘Knockout of the Night’ victories over Joe Lauzon and Donald Cerrone. It seemed that Pettis was getting back on track and shooting up the lightweight ladder. Yet Pettis was unwilling to wait for his shot to come and in a surprise move it was announced in early 2013 that Pettis would challenge Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship in the main event of UFC 163 in Brazil.

But Pettis was sidelined by a serious knee injury in early Jun, and The Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung took his place. Yet fortune was on Pettis’ side; his injury healed up much faster than anticipated, so when TJ Grant was forced to pull out of UFC 164, Anthony Pettis was ready willing and able to step up and take his place, and UFC 164 would now be headlined by a rematch of the last fight in WEC history, a fight that featured one of the most creative moves in MMA history, and ‘Smooth’ Benson Henderson would defend the UFC Lightweight Championship against Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis.

The Rest of the Card

The co-main event of the evening would be a battle of former UFC Heavyweight Champions, as Josh Barnett returned to the UFC after an 11-year absence. Josh Barnett had last fought in the UFC at UFC 36 in March of 2002, when he TKO’d Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. However, Barnett failed a post-fight drug test for steroids, and as well as losing his appeal, which saw his manager actually use the “does he look like he’s on steroids?” defence, Barnett was stripped of the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Barnett competed for PRIDE, various other promotions and then Strikeforce over the years, before, to the surprise of many, signing with the UFC in mid-2013. Barnett’s first fight back would not be an easy one as he would take on fellow former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.

Frank Mir had won the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 48 when he broke the arm of Tim Sylvia with an armbar. Mir, like Barnett, would be stripped of the title, but not failing a drug test. Mir was injured in a motorcycle accident and was sidelined for many months, forcing the UFC to strip Mir of the title. Mir eventually returned to action, and after beating Brock Lesnar in Lesnar’s UFC debut, Mir beat Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 to claim the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship. Mir then lost to Brock Lesnar, who was the UFC Heavyweight Champion, at UFC 100.

Mir would then choke out Cheick Kongo, get massacred by Shane Carwin in a fight for the vacant interim UFC Heavyweight Championship, before scoring consecutive wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Roy Nelson, and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, with his win over Nogueira coming as a result of breaking Nogueira’s arm with a kimura. This run of results gave Mir one more shot at gold and he faced UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 146. Mir would fall in the second round, taking a beating in the process. Mir would then lose his next fight to Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision.

Mir was in a serious rut and on a downward slide. As much as Barnett needed the win to remind people of just how good he was, and remind them of who he was, Mir needed the win almost as badly, before his downward slide saw him slip into complete irrelevancy.

Also on the main card, a tasty featherweight clash would see Clay Guida face Chad Mendes. Ben Rothwell would welcome Brandon Vera back to the heavyweight division. And a top featherweight fight would open up the PPV with Erik Koch fighting Dustin Poirier.

Card Changes

Ryan Couture was to fight Quinn Mulhern, however, Mulhern was forced out with a hand injury and was replaced by Al Iaquinta. Brian Houston replaced an injured Derek Brunson against Yoel Romero, but was himself injured, so the fight was scrapped and Romero was removed from the card altogether.

UFC 164 (the preliminary fights)

Magnus Cedenblad submitted Jared Hamman with a guillotine choke in just 57-seconds. Al Iaquinta defeated Ryan Couture by unanimous decision in what would be Ryan’s last fight in the UFC. In a terrible fight, Soa Palelei TKO’d Nikita Krylov in a 1:34 of the third round.

Chico Camos defeated Kyung Ho Kang with a fairly comfortable unanimous decision victory. Hyun Gyu Lim knocked out Pascal Krauss in 3:58 of a red hot slugfest, one that is absolutely worth going out of your way to see. Tim Elliot eased passed Louis Gaudinot by unanimous decision. And Gleison Tibau edged past Jamie Varner by split-decision.

UFC 164 (the main card)

Erik Koch vs. Dustin Poirier was really good fight although the best action was in the first two rounds. In the first round, Koch twice had Poirier in a real tight triangle choke that Poirier managed to escape from and it appeared to that Koch gassed himself from the attempts to submit Poirier because he slowed down considerably after that point. Poirier was lighting him up in the final minute of the first round and almost had finished when the round ended. The second round saw Poirier dominate again and Koch was mostly backing up and it looked like he was either still tired from trying to submit Poirier or was trying to recover from getting battered around. The pace slowed down a lot in the third round and whilst Koch started to take over as the round went on, controlling Poirier on the ground and working for submissions, Poirier held on to see the round out and he won the unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-27 and 29-27.

Ben Rothwell vs. Brandon Vera was a very methodical fight; it wasn’t contested with any kind of serious pace, but there was enough constant action to keep things mildly interesting. For the majority of the fight, Rothwell was pressing forward and Vera was trying to pick his shots as he tried to avoid getting trapped against the fence. Vera landed some good leg kicks and even momentarily stunned Rothwell with a good punch, but Vera just didn’t have the power to bother Rothwell outside of that one moment. Rothwell hurt Vera early in the third with a good punch, stunning Vera against the fence, and Rothwell poured it on until Vera dropped and the referee stepped in.

Brandon Vera had the potential to be really good at light heavyweight, but his early success as a heavyweight was really his undoing because it he kept going back to that division and he just didn’t have the tools to be an effective heavyweight once he faced top competition.

Clay Guida vs. Chad Mendes was a typical Clay Guida fight as he was always moving, always in constant motion. It was an OK fight; Guida couldn’t take Mendes down but Mendes could take Guida down, although Guida was soon back to his feet. The end came early in the third after Mendes wobbled Guida with a quick right hook; Mendes forced Guida back against the fence, Guida sat up, and Mendes just unloaded with punches on Guida before Guida turtle up and the referee stopped the fight. This was Mendes’ fourth win in a row and it marked the first time that Guida had ever been stopped with strikes.

Josh Barnett vs. Frank Mir was the battle of the submission fighters. So naturally it a was mainly a striking battle, fought almost entire in the clinch, with lots of dirty boxing and forearm shivers so that each fighter could maintain a hold on the other. They ended up pressed against the fence, Barnett controlling Mir. Barnett manages to get control of Mir’s head, pulls it down and nails Mir with a knee to the forehead; Mir drops to the mat, seemingly out, and the referee rushed in to stop the fight.

Mir is back to his feet right away and protesting the stoppage and the fans are booing. A replay of the finish shows Mir drop to the canvas and he’s clearly out, albeit only for a moment, a second at most before he starts to get back to his feet. Joe Rogan, in his infinite wisdom, suggested that Mir needed to have been allowed to take one or two more shots so that would make for a convincing stoppage. However quickly Mir recovered, and he did recover almost right away, Mir was out and once that happens, it doesn’t matter how quickly the fighter recovers, because the fight is over. Rogan can bemoan it all he wants but stopping the fight was the right call to make.

Even though the fight went just two-minutes, and he had plenty of time to catch his breath, Barnett is still winded during his post-fight interview.

Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis II

Pettis, the home state favourite, got a big reaction when he was shown on the big screen starting his walk-in and he sustained that reaction all the way to the cage. Henderson obviously got the complete opposite reaction. Joe Rogan notes that Henderson has finally got his hair braided and tied up to stop it falling in front of his eyes.

The fight starts and Henderson quickly goes for a single leg, trying to take Pettis down, but Pettis stays upright and pressed against the fence as a ‘Let’s go Pettis’ chant breaks out. Henderson keeps trying to take Pettis down but Pettis always ends up with his back against the fence. Pettis doesn’t start getting to land anything until just over three-minutes in when he hits Henderson with a nice body kick. Pettis lands a few more kicks before Henderson decides he’s not happy with that and he catches the leg of Pettis off of a kick to finally get him down to the mat.

Henderson is in the guard of Pettis, working for a position; with just over thirty seconds to go in the round, Pettis throws up his legs to catch Henderson in an armbar. It’s a tight armbar and Pettis keeps a grip of Henderson as Henderson tries walking around to escape the arm but he can’t; Pettis lets go of it for no apparent reason and starts to celebrate and Henderson tells Herb Dean he gave up and the fight is over.

The fans erupt and it’s a pretty strong reaction. Whether because he didn’t do it or the cameras simply didn’t catch it, we don’t see Henderson do his usual trick of running around the ring to show he’s not really hurt and take the spotlight off the victor. Pettis gives a good post-fight speech and he calls out Jose Aldo, saying they have unfinished business; “my belt or your belt”, indicating he wants a championship fight with Aldo and doesn’t mind which title is one the line.

Because Henderson verbally gave up and Herb Dean has no idea what happened, Henderson could have easily played dirty and got the fight restarted or at least declared a no-contest. There was no tap for the cameras to catch and none of the mic’s picked up Henderson’s verbal submission, so Henderson, if he was so inclined, could have protested and either had the referee restart the fight on the spot or complained enough that it was changed to a no-contest down the road, meaning he’d get the lightweight title back.

Numbers

Attendance: 9,178
Gate: $907,116
PPV Buys: 270,000

Fight of The Night Pascal Krauss vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Knockout of The Night: Chad Mendes
Submission of the Night: Anthony Pettis

The official payouts to each fighter as reported by the Milwaukee State Athletic Commission;

Anthony Pettis: $54,000 ($27,000 win bonus) def. Benson Henderson: $110,000
Josh Barnett: $160,000 (no win bonus) def. Frank Mir: $200,000
Chad Mendes: $62,000 ($31,000 win bonus) def. Clay Guida: $44,000
Ben Rothwell: $108,000 ($54,000 win bonus) def. Brandon Vera: $70,000
Dustin Poirier: $40,000 ($20,000 win bonus) def. Erik Koch: $15,000
Gleison Tibau: $74,000 ($37,000 win bonus) def. Jamie Varner: $17,000
Tim Elliott: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Louis Gaudinot: $8,000
Hyun Gyu Lim: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Pascal Krauss: $15,000
Chico Camus: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Kyung Ho Kang: $8,000
Soa Palelei: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Nikita Krylov: $8,000
Al Iaquinta: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus) def. Ryan Couture: $15,000
Magnus Cedenblad: $12,000 ($6,000 win bonus) def. Jared Hamman: $14,000

It’s quite the disparity in pay between Pettis, who is in the main event, and several of the other fighters. Once you discount the win bonus and the FotN bonus, the only guys on the main card to make less than Pettis were Dustin Poirier and Erik Koch. Benson Henderson made more than four times what Pettis did, and Josh Barnett made more than five times what Pettis did.

Next time out, three major shows to talk about, although only two actually happened; Pancrase: Road to the Championship 4, Pancrase: 1995 Anniversary Show, and UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 1st)

Pancrase: Road to the Championship 4 (September 1st 1994)

I’m watching a commercial version of this event that has been uploaded to You Tube; the unedited version on Fight Pass is completely unwatchable due to the sound and picture being out-of-synch. This show is most notable for having a somewhat predetermined finish in the main event, something that happened from time to time in Pancrase, and we’ll talk about that when we get to the fight in question.

Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit was a decent and fairly competitive fight, and as with most Pancrase fights, it was purely a grappling battle. I always find this early Pancrase shows fascinating to watch because the grappling and submission game is so primitive and it makes you appreciate how far the game has evolved over the past 20+ years.

Richard Saar vs. Vernon White was developing nicely and it even featured palm strikes, which, whilst legal in Pancrase, you don’t see too much of, at least from the Japanese talent, due to their desire to concentrate on submission and grappling. But it was one of those palm strikes that ended this one in just 3:25, with White catching Saar in the side of the face during an exchange; Saar had a delayed reaction but when we went down to one knee, he stayed down and couldn’t get up and White had scored the knockout victory.

Jason DeLucia vs. Matt Hume was a pretty strong contest and with it being between two foreigners, the palm strikes, and kicks, were in full effect. It was pretty entertaining, although DeLucia was doing a lot of backing off, which only got worse when DeLucia went for a side kick and appeared to hurt his thigh in the process. Hume pressed the advantage throughout but ended up losing the fight from losing too many points.

Todd Bjornethun vs. Minoru Suzuki appeared to be an instance of one of the top fighters, Suzuki, carrying a lesser talent before putting him away. Bjornethun was having all kinds of success with Suzuki, going for submissions and even forcing Suzuki to use a rope break. Suzuki was doing almost nothing but playing defence…and then he quickly took Bjornethun and immediately transitioned into an armbar for the submission. It was pretty obvious that once Suzuki decided to try, that there was nothing Bjornethun could do.

Yusuke Fuke vs. Manabu Yamada had a pretty good and very competitive fight. This went around 14 minutes and both Fuke and Yamada were in great shape because they never tired or slowed down for the whole fight. Really, all the Japanese fighters have the stamina to go for days because of the all the intense conditioning work they do, although that sort of thing had a knock-on effect because they wore their bodies out through overtraining.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ken Shamrock was the main event and this is a fight with a quasi-predetermined finish. Some Pancrase fights, but not many, had a ‘business finish’, that is a finish that was predetermined for business reasons. These things happened infrequently and usually with the intention of building someone up or protecting the company in some form or fashion. This was not exactly one of those occasions but it fight where one of the competitors, Shamrock, was not fighting in earnest.

Shamrock was fighting at UFC 3 eight days later, with the expectation of facing Royce Grace in the final of the one-night tournament, in a rematch that Shamrock badly wanted and intended to win. Because of that, Shamrock went into this fight looking to get in and out as quickly as possible whilst taking as a little damage as possible.

It’s pretty obvious that neither Funaki nor Shamrock are going all out; they do literally nothing for the first 35-seconds, before Shamrock goes for a takedown and gets Funaki down to the mat. Shamrock goes to strike Funaki but then pulls back. They grapple but it’s with little intensity and Shamrock does nothing at all whilst Funaki is in top position, before rolling to escape and all too easily giving up his back. Funaki slowly works his way into a rear naked choke and Shamrock makes no attempt to escape the hold and taps the second the choke is applied.

Funaki’s post-match celebration is very subdued for a guy who, on paper, just scored a big win.

Pancrase: 1995 Anniversary Show (September 1st 1995)

For some reason, even though they have a hard camera and a camera at ringside, which they do shoot from, the fights themselves are only shown from the overhead camera. It’s shooting straight down, so it makes it impossible to properly follow the action. It happens with other Pancrase shows from this timeframe, where they only show the fights from the overhead camera. It makes no sense as it renders the shows virtually unwatchable.

The only fights I could make it through were Masakatsu Funaki vs. Guy Mezger and Bas Rutten vs. Minoru Suzuki,  and they appeared to be good, competitive fights, but it’s hard to give a lot of detail because the viewing angle makes it impossible to properly ascertain what is going on.

UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson (September 1st 2012)

UFC 151 aka The Show That Never Was.

This was the PPV set to be headlined by Jon Jones defending the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Dan Henderson. Henderson is a former PRIDE Welterweight and Middleweight Champion, and a former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion.

But that all changed on August 23rd when Dana White announced that Henderson had withdrawn from the fight due to a partially ruptured MCL, with White then announcing later that day that, for the first time ever, the UFC was cancelling a PPV. White put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Jon Jones and his trainer, Greg Jackson, with White revealing that Chael Sonnen had agreed to step in and take the fight on eight days notice, but that Jackson had advised Jones not to take the fight with Sonnen.

Whilst Dana blamed Jon Jones and Greg Jackson and Jones’ his refusal to fight Chael Sonnen as the reason for UFC 151 being cancelled, the truth is that there is plenty of blame to go around.

The first person to blame is Dan Henderson. It was subsequently revealed that Henderson had been injured three weeks prior to pulling out of the Jones fight but that he had kept the injury secret in the hopes of being able to fight. Whilst it’s understandable that Henderson would want to keep the injury quiet in case he could fight, the second he knew there was a possibility that he might not be able to fight, Henderson should have been on the phone to Joe Silva and the UFC to give them the heads up that they need to put someone on standby to take his place.

The second person to blame is not a person, but an entity, and that’s the UFC as a whole, for both running so many shows that the ability to get last-minute substitutes was greatly hindered, and for putting together a PPV card that literally lived and died by the main event. That’s something that, as a promoter, you never want to do because if the main event falls through, you’re screwed. By running so many shows that it forced them to put together line-ups that were carried, from a marketing standpoint, by only or two fights, combined with the loaded scheduled leaving fewer fighters to call on at the last minute, the UFC were setting themselves up for this. It was bound to happen at some point, that the only fight holding together a weak card would fall, and it finally happened with UFC 151.

The third person to blame is Jon Jones, and while some have chosen not to blame him too much, or at all, in that he had more to lose than most fighters who have in this situation so he would be more cautious, at the same time, Jones would have been fighting a guy who would have had zero training and preparation time for the fight, who would have been undersized and, if history is anything to go by, wouldn’t have had time to get jacked to the gills. Jones, meanwhile, had been training hard, preparing hard, and, if his history is anything to go by, would have had time to get jacked to the gills. As much as you can’t fault the idea Jon Jones for not wanting to fight Chael Sonnen at short notice, the truth is that had he done so, Jones would have been going into that fight with every advantage in the book.

Where Jones came off really looking bad in hindsight, especially to UFC management is because of how TJ Dillashaw dealt with a similar situation at UFC 177.

The day before UFC 177, Dillashaw’s opponent, Renan Barão, was pulled from their fight due to health issues related to his weight cut. Joe Soto, a fighter who was already set to fight at UFC 177, took Barão’s place. Soto was actually training for a fight, one that was set to take place that same night, and he was far more of a threat to Dillashaw than Sonnen was to Jones. Dillashaw wouldn’t have been out of place had he opted to decline the last minute change in opponent and wait for Barão to get healthy again, but he didn’t; Dillashaw accepted the change, went ahead with the fight, and whilst he won, it was still a risk to take and he took it.

UFC 151 goes into the history books as the first UFC PPV to be cancelled due to the main event falling through, and whilst history has yet to bear this out, you would like to think that one day the UFC will eventually learn the lessons that this sorry mess should have taught them.

There isn’t anything overly noteworthy for September 2nd, but there are few things worth commenting on

Other Notes for September 2nd

Icon Sport: Mayhem vs. Lawler (September 2nd 2006)

This was a fight that caught my eye, having slipped under the radar when it first happened. This was for the Lawler’s Icon Sport Middleweight Championship. The first round wasn’t that good as Lawler seemed to be waiting until there was a minute left in the round before doing anything; up until that point, he did virtually nothing but back up. There was a flurry of action to end the first round and in the second, Lawler kicked it up a gear with some real aggression. Of note is Lawler’s use of knees and kicks to a grounded Miller, so clearly, Icon were operating outside of the traditional Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Miller was in real trouble throughout the second round but he hung on, literally at times, to see the round out. Lawler was gassed and breathing heavily before the third round even started, which made Miller’s job all the more easier; when the fight went to the ground, Lawler offered nothing in the way of defence as Miller laid into him at will before submitting him with an arm triangle.

It was on OK fight; the first round was dull, but things kicked up several notches in the second round before mellowing out in the third round.

Bellator 27 (September 2nd 2010)

The main event to this one featured Bellator’s Featherweight Champion, Joe Soto, defending against Joe Warren, who had earned his title shot by winning the season two featherweight tournament. The first round was completely one-sided as Soto was picking Warren apart on the feet; Warren was taking a lot of punches, getting rocked and wobbled, and whilst he wasn’t going down, Warren was showing no real punch defence and his few takedown attempts were easily stuffed.

So naturally, the first round opened up with Warren clipping and dropping Soto with the first punch of the second round; Warren swarmed Soto with punches and whilst Soto managed to get back to his feet, Warren stunned him with a knee, dropped him with a punch, and the referee hauled Warren off of Soto, Warren getting in one more punch as the fight was stopped, and Joe Warren was the new Bellator Featherweight Champion.

This was a big come-from-behind win for Warren; he was getting battered by Soto in the first round and it may have been stopped by some referees because Warren was offering no defence and even turned his back on Soto a time or two. But Warren hung on and managed to pull out a pretty good victory.

Next time, just one event to talk about, UFC Fight Night 93: Arlovski vs. Barnett.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 3rd)

UFC Fight Night 93: Arlovski vs. Barnett (September 3rd 2016)

The UFC’s fifth event in Germany and their first ever in Hamburg would be headlined by the first-time meeting between two former UFC Heavyweight Champions.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett (the build)

Andrei Arlovski had won the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship back at UFC 51, before being promoted to full champion status when the former champion, Frank Mir, had his return to action delayed by continued injury. After retaining the title against Paul Buentello in a fight where Arlovski set the record for the fastest heavyweight title fight in UFC history, with Arlovski knocking Buentello out in just 15-seconds, Arlovski was upset by Tim Sylva for the heavyweight title at UFC 59, with Arlovksi also losing the rematch, the trilogy making fight with Sylvia.

Arlovski would win his next three fights before leaving the UFC to take a lucrative contract with Affliction. Arlovski plied his tried outside the UFC for the next six years, compiling an 8-5 record with 1 no-contest before returning to the UFC in mid-2014. Arlovski put together an improbable run of four victories, including wins over Travis Browne and Frank Mir, before getting knocked out in 54-seconds by Stipe Miocic. Arlovski would then lose to Alistair Overeem, with Arlovski getting knocked out in the second round.

Arlovski had enjoyed the buzz of nostalgia on his return, and whilst his first four fights had all ended in victory, his subsequent losses dulled the excitement over his return, and it would be another former champion that Arlovski would be up against next as he looked to arrest the slide and put one more tick in the win column.

Josh Barnett had defeated Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship way back at UFC 36, but it was a title that Barnett would never defend as he failed his post-fight drug test. Stripped of the title and essentially fired by the UFC, Barnett spent the next two years in both pro wrestling (New Japan and U-Style) and mixed martial arts, before signing with PRIDE. Barnett went 5-4, a run which included a trio of fights with Mirko Cro Cop and a pair of fights with Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Barnett would spend six more years outside the UFC, mainly in Strikeforce where Barnett made it to the finals of their Heavyweight Grand Prix before losing to Daniel Cormier, before returning to the UFC in August of 2013. Barnett’s opponent was a fellow former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir, with Barnett winning their fight with a first round knockout. Barnett was upset in his next fight, a knockout loss to Travis Browne, before defeating Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 75 held in Japan, a country that Barnett had called home for many years.

Barnett’s next fight saw him face Ben Rothwell and, in a major shocker, Rothwell actually tapped out the catch wrestling specialist, with Rothwell catching Barnett in a gogo choke. It was a finish that nobody saw coming, the knockout artist tapping out the submission specialist. It meant Barnett had alternated wins and losses in his previous four fights; Barnett wasn’t slipping down the ladder, but he was treading water at best, and he needed a win in his next fight to reassert himself in the heavyweight division, but to do that, he would have to beat a fighter who, like himself, was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and an opponent who was dangerous both on the ground and standing up.

The Rest of the Card

The co-main event would see two European fighters square off, with Jan Błachowicz fighting Alexander Gustafsson. Błachowicz was 2-2 in the UFC so far and was coming off win against Igor Pokrajac. Gustafsson was coming off a split-decision loss in challenging Daniel Cormier for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Błachowicz was hoping to make a name for himself by taking down the Swede, whilst Gustafsson was trying to get back into title contention.

In another light heavyweight fight, perennial top 10 fighter Ryan Bader would take on Ilir Latifi, whilst the main card opener would be a lightweight clash between Nick Hein and Tae Hyun Bang.

Card Changes

A fight between newcomers Emil Weber Meek and Jessin Ayari was scrapped when Meek was removed the card due to ‘compliance’ issues in relation to the UFC’s Anti-Doping Policy. Replacing Meek against Ayari would be veteran British fighter Jim Wallhead, who would be making his UFC debut. Leandro Silva replaced Reza Madadi against Rustam Khabilov at the event, with Madadi pulling out due to undisclosed reasons. Similarly, Iuri Alcântara replaced Henry Briones for undisclosed reasons against Brad Pickett, although that fight ended up being rescheduled for UFC 202.

Aisling Daly was going to fight former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion Michelle Waterson, but Daly was pulled from the fight due to injury, with Waterson herself being removed from the card when she too was injured. Germaine de Randamie withdrew from her fight against Ashlee Evans-Smith citing a foot injury, and was replaced by Veronica Macedo. The fight between UFC debutants Martin Buschkamp and Alex Enlund was cancelled when Enlund injured himself in the week leading up to the event.

UFC Fight Night 93 (the preliminary fights)

Rustam Khabilov beat Leandro Silva by unanimous decision, in a fight that started off boring and managed to work its way up to being just mediocre. Right away, it was clear that neither Khabilov nor Silva was willing to press the action, and throughout the fight it was obvious that both fighters were only willing to do the bare minimum. Jack Hermansson defeated Scott Askham by unanimous decision, with Hermansson’s wrestling and precision boxing providing too much for Askham to handle.

Christian Colombo and Jarjis Danho went to a majority draw. The pivotal moment was late in the first round when Colombo landed an illegal knee to Danho; Danho had put one hand on the mat when Colombo decided to hit him with a knee to the head, a move which was illegal at the time. As a result, the referee, Mark Goddard, deducted a point from Colombo. What made the moment even mroe pivotal is that the scores for the fight ended up being 29-27, 28-28 and 28-28; if Colombo hadn’t thrown the knee, he would have won the fight by split-decision.

Taylor Lapilus beat Leandro Issa by unanimous decision; the first round was even with Issa controlling Lapilus with grappling in the first half of the round and Lapilis coming on strong with punches in the second half. The second and third rounds were equally even, but Lapilus did more with his striking than Issa could do with his grappling. Ashlee Evans-Smith beat Veronica Macedo by third round TKO in a decent, competitive fight, with Macedo showing flashes of some real potential. Peter Sobotta looked good in a convincing unanimous decision win over Nicolas Dalby, with Sobotta showing good striking and Dalby showing good eye-poking ability as he managed to get away with a blatantly deliberate eye poke in the second round.

Capping off the preliminary card, Jessin Ayari edged Jim Wallhead by split-decision in a very underwhelming fight.

UFC Fight Night 93 (the main card)

Tae Hyun Bang vs. Nick Hein was a tedious fight, devoid of any real excitement and enjoyment, with Hein ‘winning’ by unanimous decision. Ryan Bader vs. Ilir Latifi was a decent fight, which is actually a big improvement over the usual excitement or lack thereof generated by Ryan Bader. A lot of that was because that the wrestling background of Bader and Latifi seemed to cancel each other out and we had what was mostly a boxing match, and whatever takedown attempts either fight went for were unsuccessful. The finish came in the second round when Bader went to deliver what I’m pretty sure was intended to be a kick, but as Bader started to move Latifi went for a takedown and as Latifi ducked his head going forward, Bader’s knee was coming up and it caught Latifi square in the jaw and knocked him silly. Bader raised his arms and walked off stealing the trademark of Mark Hunt, the walk-away knockout, but it was definitely a highlight reel finish.

Jan Błachowicz vs. Alexander Gustafsson was a decent fight and whilst it didn’t have any memorable moments, Gustafsson did put in a fairly complete performance, dominating the action wherever it went and easily getting the unanimous decision victory.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett

The pre-fight video package for this was really good and did a great job of setting the tone for the fight and explaining the history behind it.

The fight didn’t live up the hype, unfortunately, with the action contested at an almost leisurely pace, with extended periods of one fighter pressing the other against the fence or otherwise running down the clock. It wasn’t necessarily a bad fight but at no point did it feel like a fight. The ending came after Barnett had grabbed the arm of Arlovski for a kimura, Barnett using the hold to take Arlovski over with Barnett ending up in the mount. Barnett pounded on Arlovski a little bit before Arlovski gave up his back; Barnett began to sink in rear naked choke although Barnett didn’t have time to apply any pressure before Arlovski was giving up. It came across like Arlovski wanted out and wasn’t interested in putting up a fight.

The Aftermath

As of the time of writing, Barnett has yet to fight again; Barnett was notified in December of 2016 of a potential violation of USADA’s anti-doping policy. For those keeping track, this is Barnett’s fourth positive drug test and that is a record for an MMA fighter. Barnett would use the tainted supplement defence and he would later claim that his manager told him that someone from the testing lab had told the manager that it looked like Barnett’s supplements were tainted, but nothing further has been heard about the matter and Barnett’s fate within MMA remains unclear. Barnett has kept active, though, including a very short run in TNA that saw him work one squash match and then lose to Bobby Lashley in a match for the TNA world title.

Numbers

Attendance: 11,763
Gate: $913,428

Fight of the Night: Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett
Performance of the Night: Ryan Bader and Josh Barnett

Next time out, just the one event to talk about; UFC Fight Night 28: Teixeira vs. Bader.