On This Day in MMA History

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (July 11th )

UFC on Fuel TV 4: Muñoz vs. Weidman (July 11th 2012)

The fourth UFC event on Fuel TV was headlined by a fight between two middleweights who were thought to be on the path a title shot. Mark Muñoz was on a four-fight winning streak, his last fight being a victory over Chris Leben in the first ever non-title five round fight in the UFC. His opponent, Chris Weidman, was 4-0 in the UFC, 8-0 overall, and had long been tabbed as a future title contender. Weidman was coming off a unanimous decision victory over Damian Maia, a fight Weidman took on only 11-days notice, and it was felt that the winner of this fight would likely find themselves getting a shot at UFC’s Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva.

Card Changes

Rafael dos Anjos replaced Paul Taylor against Anthony Njokuani, Kenny Robertson replaced Jon Fitch against Aaron Simpson and James Te Huna faced a returning Joey Beltran, after Brandon Vera was pulled from the fight to face Mauricio Rua on an upcoming FOX card.

The Fights

There really wasn’t much to this card outside of the main event; Andrew Craig delivered a head kick knockout to Rafael Natal, and Alex Caceres upset Damacio Page with a triangle choke to hand Page his fourth straight loss, with Page subsequently getting cut by the UFC.

The fight between Weidman and Muñoz was expected to feature a lot of wrestling given their backgrounds; both men were NCAA Division I All-Americans. It did feature a lot of wrestling and it was all from Weidman, who dominated Muñoz from beginning to end. Weidman took Muñoz down with easy right away at the start of the first round and never let him back up. Weidman was working for a guillotine choke and Muñoz was close to getting caught a number of times. In the second round, Weidman took Muñoz down again but Muñoz got back up, but things didn’t any better; Weidman nailed Muñoz with short elbow as he darted in towards Weidman and Muñoz stumbled and fell, Weidman then following up with some brutal ground-and-pound; Muñoz took several unanswered shots before the referee even started asking Muñoz to fight back, with Muñoz then taking even more shots before the referee finally stepped in. To say this was a late stoppage is an understatement; it was bordering on criminal.

It was a great performance by Weidman who walked through Muñoz like he wasn’t even there, and it firmly established Weidman as then next contender to Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight tltle.

UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor (July 11th 2015)

UFC 189 was intended to be one of the biggest shows of the year, the long awaited showdown between UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo and the brash, loud-mouthed charismatic challenger, Conor McGregor. The main event was considered to be so big that the walk-in music of both main eventers would be performed live by their respective artists. UFC 189 was going to be a milestone event for the UFC. And then things started to fall apart…

The Champion Pulls Out

On June 23rd, news broke that Jose Aldo was injured and out of the fight. This would be confirmed one week later, also confirmed was that an interim featherweight title fight would take place as the new main event. Only July 1st, photographs were released of scans taken by Jose Aldo, and they seemed to confirm his injury, a fractured rib. However, UFC president Dana White disputed Aldo’s assertions of injury, and claimed that the scans Aldo showed were of an old injury and that Aldo’s injury was merely a bruised rib and cartilage. This led to some contentious back-and-forth before White accepted that Aldo was indeed injured in the manner he said he was.

The New UFC 189 Main Event

Once Aldo was confirmed as being out, that left UFC looking for a new main event, and once the replacement for Aldo was announced, it had a certain section of fans rubbing their hands in glee.

Replacing Jose Aldo would be two-time title challenger, Chad Mendes. Mendes had come back from his second title challenge with a first-round TKO win over Ricardo Lamas, and was eager for a third championship opportunity.

Where the Mendes’ appointment had some fans thrilled was their contention that Conor had been protected out of the UFC’s desire to make him a star. McGregor’s rise to superstar status had rubbed the more diehard MMA fans the wrong way, and they were constantly knocking his progress; with each victory McGregor earned in the octagon, his detractors were there to point out why that victory really didn’t mean so much. When McGregor beat a top 20 fighter, his detractors claimed that McGregor had just never faced a top 15 fighter and would be exposed when he did. When McGregor then beat a top 15 fighter, his detractors changed their claim that McGregor had just never faced a top 10 fighter and would be exposed when he did. This kept going until McGregor had earned his title shot, at which point the claim was then that McGregor had never faced a wrestler and would be exposed when he did.

With the appointment of Mendes as McGregor’s new opponent, a fighter with a great amateur wrestling background, the detractors of McGregor, who remained ardent in their belief even as their numbers dwindled, felt that this would be it; this would be the moment that Conor McGregor was finally exposed.

Other Changes to the Card

A discussed fight between Matt Brown and Nate Diaz was scrapped, with Brown staying on the card and facing Tim Means. A fight between Jake Ellenberger and Stephen Thompson was set to take place on this card, but ended up being moved back a day, as the main event of the TUF: American Top Team vs. Blackzillians finale. Gunner Nelson was going to face John Hathaway, but Hathaway pulled out due to injury; Brandon Thatch was removed from his against John Howards to replaced Hathaway, with Cathal Pendred taking added to the card to take on Howard.

The Rest of UFC 189

UFC 189 would have a championship fight in the co-main event as well, with UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler defending against Rory MacDonald.

These two had first fought back at UFC 167, with Lawler, the betting underdog against the highly rated MacDonald, earning a hard-fought split-decision victory. This victory would propel Lawler to his first, unsuccessful chance at gold, a unanimous decision loss against Johny Hendricks for the then-vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. Lawler had since fought his way back to a rematch with Hendricks, Lawler this time successful, beating Hendricks by split-decision at UFC 181. For his first defence, Lawler would be facing MacDonald, the man he had eked out a split-decision win against over two-and-a-half years prior.

Since that loss to Lawler, Rory MacDonald had won three straight, all convincing victories, including a third-round TKO win over Tarec Saffiedine. MacDonald had proven his credentials as a worthy challenger, and more than earning a title shot, MacDonald had earned the chance to avenge a close loss.

Elsewhere on the main card of UFC 189, Jeremy Stephens would look to halt a two-fight losing run against Dennis Bermudez, whose last fight had been a loss that a had snapped a seven-fight winning streak. The highly touted Gunner Nelson would look to bounce back from the first loss of his career, a split-decision loss to Rick Story, against Brandon Thatch, a fighter who had himself been highly touted at one stage but was also now having to come back from the first loss of his UFC run. Rounding out the main card would be Thomas Almeida, as he hoped to keep his unbeaten record intact as he fought the always exciting Brit, Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett.

UFC 189

The only result of note on the undercard was Alex Garcia beating Mike Swick by unanimous decision in what was Swick’s last fight. Swick was on the first season of TUF, as a middleweight, winning five fights in a row before a loss to Yushin Okami, after which, Swick moved down to welterweight. Again, Swick did well, winning four in a row, before suffering back-to-back losses. Swick would then spend two years on the shelf due to a misdiagnosed stomach condition and other injuries. Swick would make a triumphant return on the main card of UFC’s fourth event on FOX, knocking out DaMarques Johnson. Swick would lose his next fight and then this one tonight before finally calling time on a career where he had become something of a cult favourite, especially after coming back from injury and illness.

The main card opened up with a real cracker as Thomas Almeida battled Brad Pickett. Picket had the advantage for the first half of round one, landing some powerful hooks, flooring and rocking Almeida and bloodying him up. Then Almeida came back with some crisp boxing and he returned the favour by dropping Picket and bloodying him up, in a fight that was more even that some might have expected. By the end of the round, both men were bloodied and Pickett had broken the nose of Almeida with a knee. The second round saw Pickett for a jumping knee and miss, and when Almeida returned the favour this time, he did not miss and Almeida scored a spectacular knockout victory.

As Joe Rogan said on commentary, this was the kind of fight that Almeida should be, a fight where he’s in deep waters and has to fight back and fight out what he can be capable off. It was a good fight with a great finish and it got the night off to great start.

Gunner Nelson was the crowd favourite against Brandon Thatch; as Joe Rogan noted, Nelson was getting the trickledown Irish support due to being a training partner of Conor McGregor. Nelson and Thatch started tentatively but when Nelson caught Thatch off-guard with a one-two and dropped him, Nelson was all over Thatch and the fight was all over too as Thatch offered little defence against a ground specialist like Nelson and was choked out in just 2:54. An almost overly calm Nelson was loudly cheered, and Nelson had rebounded from his first career loss in style with a great showing.

Jeremy Stephens, coming in 3.5lbs over the weight limit, and Dennis Bermudez had a bloody first round in their fight thanks to an accidental clash of heads early on opening up a cut besides Stephens’ right eye. That thing was leaking like water from a tap. The second round was just as even, Stephens looking good in the stand-up and rocking Bermudez with leg kicks and punches, and Bermudez able to overpower Stephens in the clinch. The third round was looking to be much the same before Stephens caught Bermudez coming in with a jumping knee; some big punches on the ground and it was all over in 0:32 of the second round.

Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald for the UFC Welterweight Championship

The UFC Welterweight Championship fight between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald started out uneventfully, with a first round that saw virtually nothing happen outside of an accidental kick to the groin from Rory that Robbie almost casually brushed off. Things picked up a little in the second, Roar ending the round with a bloody nose, courtesy of a straight left, that looked like it was broken. The third round saw Lawler start to really pick Rory apart, bloodying him up again, and it was looking like this was a round for the champion until, with just over thirty seconds to go, Rory landed a kick the neck that wobbled Lawler and had him walking funny. Rory poured it on, battering Lawler with punches, but a bloodied champion hung on to survive. In the fourth round, Rory picked up the pace and he had Lawler in trouble for much of the early going, the champion getting a real beating before managing to comeback late in the round, but heading into the fifth and final round, it appeared that Rory had things well in hand. Lawler was getting back into the fight early in the fifth and Rory was matching him, but about a minute in, Lawler landed a hard straight left that cracked Rory in his broken nose, Rory having a delayed reaction before falling to the mat, clutching his face and covering up, and the referee stepped in to halt the fight and Robbie Lawler had retained his title.

It took a while to get going, but eventually this fight really picked up and it was the kind of hard fought battle that was typical of Robbie Lawler since his return to the UFC.

The Main Event; Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor

The atmosphere for the main event was pretty good considering the last-minute change of plans and the dynamic between Conor and Chad not being what it was for Conor and Jose. Conor’s walk-in music was performed live by Sinead O’Connor, which really added to the atmosphere and the live performance of walk-in music is something the UFC should really do for those once-in-a-blue moon special fight. Conor got a huge reaction and it really felt like something special and Joe Rogan was treating is such on commentary. Aaron Lewis performed Chad’s walk-in music, and Lewis was initially booed before the fans simply started doing the ‘Ole, Ole’ chant over his singing; the director reacted by dialling down the volume on the crowd micing.

Conor looks so drawn at featherweight. I know it’s not a newsflash that a fighter is going to be smaller at a lower weight class, but the Conor who fights at featherweight looks so much smaller than the Conor who fights at lightweight. It’s almost like it’s a different fighter, and I can see why Conor doesn’t want to go back down because he looked so drawn. Lightweight definitely seems to be his ideal weight class.

The atmosphere was obviously electric for the fight. Conor opened up with a lightning fast spinning back kick; he could really crack heads if he lands that thing at lightweight. Conor did a very good of keep the pace methodical as he picked Mendes apart with punches. Mendes was able to take Conor down but he couldn’t keep him down until the last minute or so, when he started to take control and he had bloodied Conor up by the time the round ended.

McGregor was picking Mendes apart for the first minute of the second round before Mendes took him down with ease. Mendes had control of McGregor for next three minutes but he didn’t really do much apart from a submission attempt late on that allowed McGregor to get back to his feet. McGregor resumed picking Mendes apart, and Mendes was too gassed to offer much in the way of resistance before being dropped and turtling up, and the referee stepped in and called the fight off, much to the obvious charging of Team Alpha Male.

An emotional Conor celebrated with his corner before dropping to his knees and draping himself with the Irish flag, and Conor is the interim UFC Featherweight Champion. Conor praises the Irish fans for their support in the post-fight interview, as well as knocking Jose Aldo for pulling out, Conor claiming to have suffered much worse injuries than a bruised rib in the run up to tonight.

It was good showing from Conor against a fighter who was thought to be his kryptonite, and whilst Chad was able to take Conor down, sometimes with ease, he couldn’t do much with it. The detractors remained, though, blaming Chad’s loss on his lack of a full training camp, some even calling it an early stoppage and crying foul.

UFC 189 sets records

UFC 189 set some records; the gate of $7.2 million broke the record for an MMA event in the US, and the attendance of 16,019 was a record for the UFC in Nevada, which hosted 91 previous events. The weigh-ins also set a record, with an estimated attendance of 11,500. Throw in 825,000 buys, which was considered a major success given the change in main events and the dynamic between Conor and Chad not being what it was between Conor and Jose, and the UFC were left beaming after one of the biggest events in their history.

[wandshogun09]

Are you doing a second part to July 11th? Because UFC 100 was on that date as well. Can't believe it's been 8 years since that show! Seems like yesterday I was jumping around with glee as Brock smashed Mir to bits and drooled into camera like a rabid dog. With cock tattooed on his chest. 

UFC 189 is still the single best show the UFC have ever done IMO. Just fantastic from start to finish and it has everything. The word epic is overused in MMA to the point it's kind of lost its meaning but Lawler vs Rory really was an epic fight. 

[Egg Shen]

8 years since 100, fucking hell.

[wandshogun09]

Arturo Gatti died the same day as UFC 100 as well. 8 years today he's been gone  

[Noah Southworth]

13 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Are you doing a second part to July 11th? Because UFC 100 was on that date as well.

I must admit that, somehow, that one flew under the radar when checking on dates for UFC shows. I am writing a bonus update to cover UFC 100, and that should be posted within the next couple of days.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (July 12th)

UFC 10:  The Tournament (July 12th 1996)

We’re going old-school as we go all the way back to UFC 10: The Tournament. It’s a time when there were fewer rules (gloves were not yet mandatory; you could grab the fence, etc) and the sport was still called ‘No Holds Barred’ fighting, with the term ‘mixed martial arts’ was some way from behind formally adopted. UFC 10 saw the return of the tournament format, with the ‘all superfights’ concept considered to have fallen flat at UFC 9, primarily due to the universally negative reaction the Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn II. The UFC felt they needed to go back to their roots, which meant a return to the tournament format.

UFC 10 would also feature a trio of notable firsts, as it was the first time we would see both Mark Coleman and Bruce Buffer in the UFC, and in perhaps the biggest first, there would be drug testing. The drugs tested for were Amphetamines, Barbiturates, Cocaine, Codeine, Marijuana, Morphine and PCP. You’ll note that steroids are not on that list.

The four quarterfinal fights were Mark Hall vs. Don Frye, Scott Fiedler vs. Brian Johnston, Mark Coleman vs. Moti Hornstein, and John Campatella vs. Gary Goodridge.

Before the fights, Jeff Blatnick ran down the ‘Laws of the Octagon’;

No Biting/Eye Gouging/Fish hooking
The referee can restart the fight
Fights would have a ten-minute time-limit with at three-minute overtime period in the quarterfinals and semi-finals
The final would have a fifteen-minute time-lime and two three-minute overtime periods

The Quarterfinals

The first fight of the might was Mark Hall vs. Don Frye. Hall was coming off of a very popular if technically illegal win over former Sumo wrestler and pro wrestler Koji Kitao at UFC 9. Frye, meanwhile, had also won at UFC 9, beating Amaury Bitetti in what was a real war. Frye had also previously won the tournament at UFC 8. In his pre-fight promo, Frye was, well, Don Frye, throwing shade at people in general and possibly Dan Severn as well. Frye slammed Hall to the mat almost right away, with what was essentially a belly-to-belly suplex. In the guard of Hall, Frye simply kept punching away at Hall’s ribs for ten-minutes as Hall just held on and did nothing. Eventually, with the two now up against the fence and Frye still punching away, referee John McCarthy stepped in and stopped the fight; Don Frye was through to the semi-finals.

Scott Fiedler vs. Brian Johnston was the second fight and on commentary, Jeff Blatnik touted Johnston as part of a new breed of hybrid fighters who mixed disciplines together, an unintentionally foreshadowing of the development of the fighters. Johnston took Fiedler over with a couple of throws but the second  throw ended up with Fiedler having Johnston’s back. Fiedler began going for a rear naked choke but had trouble getting it applied and eventually, Johnston shucked Fiedler off and punched him over and over again until the referee stepped in.

Up next was the UFC debut of Mark Coleman, who looked jacked. His opponent, Moti Hornstein, was apparently a karate guy, although his listed discipline was ‘Survival’. Hornstein didn’t survive for long here, getting taken down right away and slowly pounded on before Coleman unleashed a flurry to get the win in just over two-minutes. In both this fight and the Frye/Hall fight, you can wrestlers starting to take over and establish themselves in the fighting genre.

John Campatella vs. Gary Goodridge was a short and sloppy brawl with no technique. Goodridge ended up on top of Campatella and basically pounded him out, although it seemed like an early stoppage.

The Semifinals

Tank Abbott was out for colour commentary duties on the first semi-final, Don Frye vs. Brian Johnston. Abbott’s commentary went about as well as you’d expect, with Abbott making some colourful remarks about Johnston’s ring shorts and referring to his fight against Dan Severn at the Ultimate Ultimate in December as him spending twenty minutes getting raped by Freddie Mercury. As for the fight itself, Frye was able to slam Johnston to the mat but couldn’t finish him off with punches; switching to elbows did the trick, with Johnson tapping out after taking a couple of them while trapped in the mounted crucifix position.

The other semi-final was Mark Coleman vs. Gary Goodridge. Coleman’s wrestling was just too much for Goodridge, and despite Coleman clearly gassing out, his wrestling was good enough to compensate, and Goodridge ended up tapping out, more to due to exhaustion than anything else.

The Final

The final was between Mark Coleman and Don Frye, and there was something of a backstory this. Coleman’s manager was Richard Hamilton, who had been Frye’s manager until the two had a falling out. Hamilton was looking for revenge and had been looking who could beat Frye in the UFC. Hamilton had initially approached Mark Kerr and Tom Erickson before eventually choosing Coleman. Hamilton hated Frye to the point that he’d have other fighters lie to Coleman, telling him that Frye had purposefully hurt them, in order to get Coleman to hate Frye as much as Hamilton did.  It worked, and Coleman went into the octagon intending to put a real beating on Frye.

Adding colour commentary to Coleman and Frye’s fight would be the current UFC Superfight Champion, Dan Severn.

Mark Coleman vs. Don Frye was another war of attrition, with Coleman dominating the fight with his wrestling. Frye had his moments but Coleman, despite being gassed out, was just too good a wrestler for Frye to mount any real offense. Coleman won in 11:34 by TKO, a headbutt from the mount finally prompting John McCarthy to stop the fight. Mark Coleman had won his first UFC tournament, and with it, presented wrestling as the new dominant discipline in the UFC.

UFC 10 was 21-years ago and watching it back now, it’s incredible just how far the UFC and fighting in general has come since then. Everything looks so primitive, from the presentation of the product to the product itself.

The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians Finale (July 12th 2015)

This season of TUF featured a variation of the usual format as instead of pitting rival teams against each other, it pitted two rival gyms against each other, with American Top Team facing the Blackzilians. The Blackzilians were formed by a group of fighters who had left ATT to form their own gym, owned by Glenn Robinson, and as such, there was some intense feeling between the two gyms and their respective heads; Dan Lambert heads ATT, and he and Glenn Robinson do not like each other at all.

The new variation also had some new rules;

There will be 12 fights in the tournament. Each gym would pick eight fighters to represent them, and they could be chosen to fight up to three times, or not chosen at all. The first four fights would be worth 25 points, the next four would be worth 50 points, and the final four fights would be worth 100 points. The team with the most points at the end of the 12 fights will earn $200,000. After that, they move to the final, with each gym selecting a fighter to compete, but that fighter must have fought at least twice during the regular season. The winning fighter would earn $300,000 for their gym. During the series, the fighter would share a house, but would still be training with their coaches at their respective gyms.

Fighters would not know their opponents until weigh-ins, and the fighter who won would gain home court advantage for the next fight, meaning that next fight would take place at their gym.

TUF: American Top Team vs. The Blackzilians

As with previous seasons of TUF, there was plenty of drama and bullshit. During one episode, one of ATT’s fighters has trouble making weight for a fight at the Blackzilians gym; he used their sauna to try and help, which caused friction with some Blackzilian fighters who demand that he leave. In the next episode, another fighter has a seizure and is rushed to hospital. The heads of each gym, Glenn Robinson and Dan Lambert, really don’t like each other, and they also get into a number of arguments and their feud is actually the best built up one of the whole season. It’s a pity they couldn’t work out some kind of actual fight between them, because at the end of the season, you’re dying to see them go at it in the octagon.

In the end, ATT win the last three fights to complete a comeback victory and win the $200,000, which they subsequently donate to the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that helps military veterans injured in post-9/11 military action.

Card Changes

A fight between Benson Henderson and Michael Johnson, whilst never officially announced, was earmarked to headline the live finale. Instead, the bout is scrapped, and the main event is a fight between Jake Ellenberger and Stephen Thompson. Dominic Waters replaced Márcio Alexandre Jr. against George Sullivan.

In addition, Maximo Blanco failed to make weight for his fight against Mike De La Torre

The TUF Finale

The lone Fight Pass prelim saw Willie Gates beat Darrell Montague in 1:36; Gates cracked Montague just over a minute in, dropped him, and then finished him off with knees the ribs. It was a great way to kick things off. The first three main prelims didn’t keep the momentum going, the trio of fights all going the distance and all being very one-sided. The final main prelim was short and bloody as Josh Samman choked out Caio Magalhães in 2:52. Magalhães got a stern talking to by John McCarthy after he ignored Samman’s attempt at a handshake and then, as Samman turned around, spat his blood at Samman.

The main card started off with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair, as Maximo Blanco TKO’d Mike De La Torre in 16-seconds. At first glance, it looked like a way early stoppage by the referee, Yves Lavigne, and it remained so, even after multiple replays. Whilst De La Torre was on wobbly legs when he stood up post-fight, there was nothing as he went down from the fight ending punch that suggested De La Torre was done or out of it, and that’s what you’re supposed to go by. De La Torre was making an attempt to take Blanco down and wasn’t out of it, to any degree. Yves Lavigne blew this one big time.

Michelle Waterson made her UFC debut against Angela ‘Vinegar Tits’ Magana. This was intended to be a showcase fight for Waterson, and whilst she had to survive an armbar scare in the first round, for the most part, this fight was the showcase it was intended to be, with the end coming at 2:38 of the third round with rear-naked choke.  After Jorge Masvidal rebounded from a controversial split-decision loss to Al Iaquinta with a first round knockout of Cezar Ferreira, and Michael Graves beat Vicente Luque by unanimous decision, it was time for the TUF tournament final

The TUF Tournament Final

Former NCAA Division II All-American Kamaru Usman took on future TUF: Redemption competitor Hayder Hassan. Usman did a great job of smothering and suffocating Usman, and unlike most practitioners of this style, Usman makes it interesting to watch. Hassan rocked Usman very early in the second round but Usman responded by immediately taking him down and working his way into an arm triangle choke to get the tap in 1:19.

Stephen Thompson vs. Jake Ellenberger

Thompson, a practitioner of Kickboxing and Kempo Karate was on a four-fight winning streak going into this one, whilst Ellenberger was coming off a win over Josh Koscheck, with Ellenberger choking Koscheck unconscious with a north-south choke. Thompson was considered a star on the rise and likely heading towards title contention, whilst Ellenberger was a guy whose career was on the downside, but he had something of a name, so he was put in with Thompson to give him a showcase win

Thompson survived an early scare, getting dropped by a good right hand, to come back and show a little grappling before landing a spectacular spinning wheel kick; Ellenberger hung in there, and whilst wobbly, Ellenberger got back to his feet. But he was knocked back down for good with a second spinning wheel kick, this one just a glancing blow across the top of the head but enough to drop Ellenberger and win the fight.

It was a highlight reel finish and one that ensured the fight served its purpose, giving Thompson that big showcase win, but another one was planned for Thompson with his next fight, and this time, it would be against former divisional champion.

As Well As That…

And if all that wasn’t enough, it was revealed during the broadcast that Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber would be opposing coaches on the next season of TUF, with each man coaching a team of European and American lightweights respectively.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (July 13th)

Extreme Challenge 41 (July 13th 2001)

This was definitely different as this was held in a bar, and the fights took place in a ring. The non-fighting highlight was easily a very young Robbie Lawler sporting Josh Koscheck-style hair. He looked like a completely different person. Rich Franklin was fighting here, as was Matt Hughes. But the in-ring highlight was a tag team submission match with Pat Miletich and Jeremy Horn against Nate Schroeder and Tim Sylvia. Seriously. It was competed under pro-wrestling style tag team rules, so when you tagged out, you got five-seconds with a two-on-one advantage. If that wasn’t enough, Jens Pulver was the referee. This was surreal to watch.

UFC 38: Brawl in the Hall (July 13th 2002)

This was the UFC’s first event in the UK and was held at the famous Royal Albert Hall. The main event was a rematch between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton for the UFC Welterweight Championship. The two had first fought at UFC 34 and it ended in a controversial manner; Newton had Hughes in a triangle choke but Hughes managed to push Newton up the cage and then slam him to the mat. Newton was out cold and Hughes declared the winner and new welterweight champion, but the problem was that Hughes had been rendered unconscious by the triangle choke. It was a controversial ending that generated a lot of talk, to the point that WWE used the finish in a match on Smackdown between The Undertaker and Kurt Angle, and this was a fact brought up on the PPV.

There were obviously a bunch of UK fighters on the card, including James Zikic (facing Phillip Miller), Leigh Remedios (facing Genki Sudo), Mark Weir (facing Eugene Jackson) and Ian Freeman, with Freeman taking on Frank Mir. Vladimir Matyushenko was scheduled to fight Evan Tanner, but was injured and had to be replaced by Chris Haseman. Interesting fact; Zikic has gone to a draw with both Jeremy Horn and Fabricio Werdum.

This was a pretty good show, and by 2002, the fighters were starting to look more complete, even if the style is primitive by modern standards. Looking back at events like this shows that the sport of MMA has evolved so much. As Joe Rogan once said in around 2003, fighting had evolved more in the past ten years than it had in the previous hundred. And in the last 10-15 years, the evolution is almost as pronounced.

Obviously, the British fighters were cheered wildly, and the crowd was pretty knowledgeable for the most part, cheering the ground work, seeming to understand submissions. They didn’t boo when Genki Sudo tapped out Leigh Remedios. They naturally went crazy when Mark Weir starched Eugene Jackson in 10-seconds, in what was Jackson’s last fight in the UFC

Ian Freeman was considered a major underdog against Frank Mir when the fight was announced, but as the fight drew closer, all the talk about Mir was that he was looking past Freeman and already eyeing up a heavyweight title shot. By the time the fight arrived, the upset was considered as being very likely to place, and that’s exactly what happened with Freeman beating Mir by referee stoppage in 4:35 of the first round.

The main event between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton was pretty one-sided; outside of a near-armbar in the first round and the last 20-30 seconds of the third round, this was all Matt Hughes. Hughes was just too good a wrestler and too strong for Newton to deal with, with Hughes getting the TKO victory at 3:27 of the fourth round; Hughes had Newton trapped in the mounted crucifix and was raining down punches to Newton’s face.

Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg II (July 13th 2013)

The headliner to this one was a rematch between Marloes Conen and Cyborg, the winner becoming the first ever Invicta FC Featherweight Champion. There was also fight between Jennifer Maia and Leslie Smith to decide who gets the shot at Invicta’s Flyweight Champion, Barb Honchak.

There were a lot of changes to this card, more than there are to most MMA events.

Cassie Robb replaced Laura Sanko against Livia von Plettenberg when Sanko announced she was pregnant. Carla Esparza was scheduled to defend the Invicta FC Strawweight title against Ayaka Hamasaki but withdrew due to injury, and she was replaced by Claudia Gadelha. Gadelha was pulled from her fight against Joanne Calderwood to replace Claudia, so Gadelha was replaced by Sarah Schneider who subsequently pulled out herself due to injury and was replaced by Norma Rueda Center. Edian Gomes was supposed to face Julia Budd in a featherweight title eliminator, but Budd withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Charmaine Tweeet, who ended up not making the fight due to visa issues. Budd was then replaced by Tamikka Brents, with the fight having to a made a catchweight fight at 150lbs, only for Brents to miss weight by 5lbs and fight being changed once more, this time to a lightweight fight. But after all that Brents got injured and the fight with Gomes never took place. A fight between Cassie Robb and Livia von Plettenberg was cancelled when Plettenberg missed weight. And if that wasn’t enough, Veronica Rothenhausler passed out when making weight, so her fight against Mollie Estes was cancelled the day before the event.

Other fighters on the show that people will recognized are Jessica Penne, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres, with Namajunas and Torres fighting each other.

Without giving too much away, this is a show worth checking out. Before the UFC took all their best strawweight and bantamweight talent, Invicta FC was consistently putting on strong shows every time out, and this was no exception.

UFC Fight Night 91: McDonald vs. Lineker (July 12th 2016)

This was the UFC’s first event in South Dakota, and the original main event to this was going to be Tony Ferguson against Michael Chiesa, in a battle of former TUF winners. However, Cheisa pulled out due to a back injury and was replaced the debuting Lando Vannata. That bout was then moved to the co-main event spot, with a fight between Michael McDonald and John Lineker moved up to the main event slot to take its place. Alex White was going to face Ryan Hall, but White pulled out due to injury and Hall elected to fight on a different date rather than face a replacement.

Lando Vannata

This was a pretty good card and it featured a variety of exciting finishes. But the standout fight of the night featured the standout performance of the night, from the debutin. Lando Vannata. Vannata had replaced Michael Chiesa just 15-days before the event, and late notice replacements are generally not given much of a chance, especially when they’re a virtual unknown and they’re taking on one of the top ranked lightweights in the world. Tony Ferguson had won seven-in-a-row heading into tonight and was felt to be in the verge of a title shot, and it was widely expected that he would deal with Vannata with relative ease.

Instead, Vannata survived an early knockdown to give Ferguson the fight of his life. Vannata match Ferguson blow for blow, feinting and dodging Ferguson’s attack and catching him with a variety of strikes. Then, with just over a minute left in the first round, Vannata caught Ferguson with a headkick that appeared to destroy Ferguson’s equilibrium; Ferguson simply couldn’t stand up no matter how much he tried, and he was desperately trying. Vannata went for the finish but Ferguson held on until the second round. Vannata appeared to be ready to keep going in the second round, but his cardio quickly faded and Ferguson ended up getting the submission with a D’arce Choke.

Tony Ferguson had won the fight to extend his winning streak to eight, but it was Lando Vannata who had stolen the show and the headlines. Vannata, a last-minute replacement, had come close to upsetting one of the top ranked lightweights in the world and making himself a superstar in one night. And whilst the victory and superstar status that would have come with it had eluded him on this night, Vannata had still made a big name for himself.

Vannata’s efforts totally stole the show and the spotlight from the main event, a fight which saw John Lineker extend his own winning streak to five fights with 2:42 knockout of Michael McDonald. Normally, a streak like that would put you in title contention mix, but Lineker’s history of missing weight (4 times at the time of this fight taking place) meant that he would have to do more if he wanted to be in that championship picture.

For McDonald, the loss would keep his own streak going, of alternating between wins and losses in his last six fights. The loss would also end up being McDonald’s last fight in the UFC, as he would end up failing to sign a new contract due to the promotion dealing with him, in his words, "very dishonestly and disrespectfully”.

Josh Samman

One tragic postscript of this show is that would feature the last ever fight of Josh Samman. Samman, a contestant on the 17th series of TUF, as part of Team Jones, passed away on October 5th of 2016, six days after being found unresponsive in a South Florida apartment, along with a friend, Troy Kirkingburg. Kirkingburg was pronounced dead on the scene; his cause of death would later be determined as being due to an overdose of cocaine, heroin, and ethanol. And whilst no toxicology report was performed on Samman, his cause of death was listed as a probable drug overdose.

Samman’s struggles with addiction were well known, as was his having to deal with death of his girlfriend in 2013. His girlfriend, Hailey Bevis, died in a car crash whilst she and Samman were texting each other. Samman was known for many other things, including a highlight reel knockout of Eddie Gordon. But above all else, Samman was known for being a class act that had gone out of his way to try and teach others the lessons he had learned in the most painful of ways.

[jimufctna24]

57 minutes ago, Noah Southworth said:

Ian Freeman was considered a major underdog against Frank Mir when the fight was announced, but as the fight drew closer, all the talk about Mir was that he was looking past Freeman and already eyeing up a heavyweight title shot. By the time the fight arrived, the upset was considered as being very likely to place, and that’s exactly what happened with Freeman beating Mir by referee stoppage in 4:35 of the first round.

Freeman talked about the build-up in his book. He said that Mir was a bit of a knob. I wasn't a fan of UFC at the time, but I remember the show getting rave reviews on TalkSport's wrestling show. My memory isn't the best, but it might have been shown on Sky Box Office. 

[wandshogun09]

Also on this day in 1985, I was born  

Needless to say, I fucking LOVED Freeman vs Mir. Never connected the dots that that beautiful moment actually happened on my birthday. It's like a present from the MMA gods just for me. 

I remember UFC 38 being a really enjoyable show. Proper cool venue as well. I've always been a mark for the Albert Hall ever since that Battle Royal the WWF did there in 90 or 91, whenever it was. 

And I always recommend it and nobody probably watched it, but Namajunas vs Torres 1 from Invicta 6 is fucking amazing. Still one of the best women's fights I've seen and they were both as green as the stuff Nick Diaz smokes. 

[jimufctna24]

Happy Birthday Wand.

[wandshogun09]

Cheers Jimbo. 

[Noah Southworth]

13 hours ago, jimufctna24 said:

My memory isn't the best, but it might have been shown on Sky Box Office. 

It probably was shown on SBO given that, leading into UFC 38, the UFC had a 13-week run on Sky Sports of a ‘Best of the UFC’ type show, that was the forerunner of UFC Unleashed. It featured highlights of past fights with Mike Goldberg doing wraparounds to explain the background of the fights, so that people would both know the fighters and be educated as to what to expect during the fights. I’d say they did a pretty good job on both accounts, given what kind audience they had at UFC 38.

The entry on UFC 100 is done and I’ll post that when we next have a slow day.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (July 14th)

UFC 6: Clash of the Titans (July 14th 1995)

This was the first UFC where everything seemed to click and they put on their first all-round great show. It had good fights, exciting and dramatic moments, the debut of an iconic UFC name; it even had the first of the only two dodgy fights in UFC history. And it was set to be headlined by the first high-profile legitimate fight (scuffles and whatnot aside) between two major pro wrestlers in decades, with the winner to become the UFC Superfight Champion.

Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn (the build)

When Shamrock vs. Severn was first made, it was set to be the first legitimate fight between major wrestling champions in decades. Shamrock was the King of Pancrase, the major singles champion of Pancrase, the MMA promotion in Japan that billed itself as Hybrid Wrestling; the Hybrid Wrestling title was even in the name of its first few events. Meanwhile, Severn was the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the title representing, such as they were, an alliance of pro wrestling promoters. The NWA title had been the biggest title in pro wrestling in its heyday, but at this point in time, it was little more than a glorified Indy title with little actual value despite its history.

The ‘battle of the champions’ aspect of the fight didn’t last long. A few months before UFC 6, in what was one of the few Pancrase fights to have a ‘business finish’, i.e. a worked ending, Shamrock dropped the King of Pancrase title to Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase did not want to risk having their champion losing to a ‘fake wrestling’ champion, so wanted Shamrock to drop the KoP title. Pancrase had wanted Shamrock to drop the title to Bas Rutten, but Shamrock, at the time the top foreign star in Pancrase, refused, instead agreeing to drop the KoP title to Minoru Suzuki. Shamrock then dropped the title to Suzuki in a fight where the idea was clearly to avoid getting hurt ahead of the highest profile fight of his career.

Dan Severn also had a name in Japan due to his involvement with the UWF-I promotion, a company that did a worked shoot style, and was, on a per month average, the hottest promotion in the world for a couple of years. Severn’s involvement with the UWF-I came to an end the year before, as they didn’t want Severn taking part in UFC IV. The irony being that after his strong showing at UFC IV and his tournament win a UFC V, Severn could have given the UWF-I a much needed boost after the Yoj Anjo/Rickson Gracie fiasco and the subsequent follow up did a real number on the UWF-I’s popularity.

The Tournament

The UFC 6 tournament involved new names as well as fighters coming back for another chance at the tournament crown. Among those returning to the UFC were Oleg Taktarov and Dave Beneteau; Taktarov and Beneteau had both competed at UFC 5, where they both lost to Dan Severn, with Beneteau falling to Severn in the tournament final. Also returning was Pat Smith, a boxer and kickboxer who had competed at the first two UFC’s. Rounding out the field were David 'Tank' Abbott, John Matua, Rudyard Moncayo, Paul Varelans and Cal Worsham.

The favourite going into the tournament was Taktarov, due to his background in Sambo, but it would be Abbott who would go into the tournament with the most buzz, primarily due to his look and lots of pre-event hype from his crew, all of this despite a lack of discernible credentials.

UFC 6

The four quarterfinals were wild affairs and they didn’t last long.

David ‘Tank’ Abbott billed as Tank Abbott and given the label of ‘Pitfighter’, destroyed John Matua in 20-seconds. Matua was billed as 400lbs, a ridiculous exaggeration, and as a practitioner of Kuʻialua, the Hawaiian art of bone breaking. This art did Matua no good as he was left stiffened out, his arms in the air and his legs lifted off the ground. He was also twitching spasmodically, which Abbott mocked because, well, he’s a dick.

Paul Varelans, a 6’8 300+lbs ‘Trapfighter’, decimated Cal Worsham in 1:02. After the almost requisite wild swinging, Varelans ended the fight when they were clinched up and Varelans pushed Worsham’s head down and elbowed him in the back of the head. Worsham dropped to the mat and referee stopped the fight right as Worsham was tapping. Pat Smith, a kickboxer, choked out Rudyard Moncayo in 1:08. And Oleg Taktarov came back from being taken down right away to choke out Dave Beneteau in 57-seconds.

The first semi-final pitted Tank Abbott against Paul Varelans. They clinched and Abbott forced Varelans backwards and then got him down and pressed against the fence. Abbott then, with his knee across the chest and throat of Varelans, grabbed hold of the fence for balance and almost leisurely punched away at Varelans before the referee stopped the fight in 1:53.

Then we had the other semi-final and one of the most notorious fights in UFC history. It was supposed to be Oleg Taktarov against Pat Smith. But Smith backed out, citing stomach cramps. Nobody believed him. Before the PPV started, there two alternate fights, but the winner of one of those fights was too injured, and the other winner, Anthony Macias, was a stablemate of Taktarov and refused to fight him. The loser of one of the fights also declined to face Taktarov. Guy Mezger was an impromptu alternate, but as a stablemate of Taktarov he also refused to fight him.

Eventually, they got Anthony Macias to agree to the fight, and as soon as the fight started, he promptly walked right into a guillotine choke and tapped out in 9-seconds. Taktarov looked like he was genuinely unhappy with Macias, and it certainly appeared as if Taktarov was not in on the work. The fans were not obviously happy and they let that be known with heavy booing. Jeff Blatnik, Bruce Beck and Jim Brown were on commentary and they openly questioned the legitimacy of the fight, all but outright calling it a fix.

Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn

The build up and the intrigue surrounding to this fight was almost better than the fight itself, which didn’t last too long. For most of its duration, Shamrock and Severn were clinched Greco-Roman style, each man fighting for position. Severn would duck his head low when going for the takedown, which Shamrock later said was a habit he and his team had scouted out. The first time Severn left himself open like that, Shamrock got a guillotine choke but Severn pulled free. A few moments later, Severn presented the same opening, and this time the choke was on tight and as Shamrock took Severn down to the mat, a frustrated ‘Beast’ tapped out in 2:14.

In some ways, the fight was anti-climactic, especially with all the intrigue and speculation over how the fight would go. But Shamrock was good at scouting his opponents and taking advantage of the openings he knew he would see coming. Severn would later say that nothing went right for him this night, and to be fair, Severn and his management were having severe issues at the time. Whatever the case, a ‘Clash of the Titans’ ended with a decisive winner, and all that was left was to find out who would be winning the traditional UFC tournament.

Severn would also later admit that it took several weeks before he could properly swallow food again.

Oleg Taktarov vs. Tank Abbott

Going into the tournament final, the expectation was that if Abbott was going to win the fight, he would have to land a big punch and end it early. Otherwise, the better conditioned and well rested Taktarov would probably eat him up on the ground.

There were flurries of grappling in the first few minutes, and Taktarov even managed to take Abbott down with a guillotine choke. But Abbott broke free and for quite a while, the fight consisted of Abbott on top of Taktarov but not really doing anything. Taktarov was content to simply lay back and let Abbott tire himself out, whilst Abbott was just as content to lay there and catch a breather because during the few times the fight had been standing, he was breathing heavily and too tired to throw anything effectively. At the fifteen-minute mark, the referee finally stood them back up. Abbott ended up bulling Taktarov back up against the fence and Taktarov took Abbott down with a guillotine choke. It wasn’t the best of chokes and Abbott escaped but he was completely gassed, and Taktarov was able to take his back and get in a rear naked choke for tap. The same fans that had started the fight off by chanting ‘USA’ were now cheering the ‘Russian Bear’ wildly.

If you watch his fight through 2017 eyes, it’s pretty boring because nothing happens for much of it. But in 1995, when the knowledge and understanding of the fight game was infinitesimal compared to now, it was dramatic and exciting, in part because people didn’t know enough to know that nothing was happening. The crowd were into this fight from beginning to end; the cheering and shouting never abated throughout, so nobody was bored despite the lack of apparent action.

The Aftermath

There was plenty of excitement left to happen; it just didn’t happen inside the octagon

In the week leading up to the event, there were a series of confrontations between the entourages of both Tank Abbott and Patrick Smith, with Smith especially being a target or instigator. And from here, I’ll simply quote what Dave Meltzer wrote in the Observer about what happened;

Quote

 

According to Abbott, after the show on Friday night at the post-match party, he and Smith had words again. At about 4 a.m., members of his and Smith's entourage had words once again and Abbott, who was asleep in his room at the time, said his guys woke him up for a rumble in the hotel but he wanted to get some sleep. At about 10:40 a.m. the next day there was an incident near the hotel elevator which resulted in Smith winding up in the hospital for several hours. Exactly what happens depends upon which eye-witness is telling the story.

According to Abbott, the member of his entourage that Smith had taken a poke at the night before sucker punched Smith in the jaw, dropping him and "did the morse code, dot-dot-dot," on his face (being in the mounted position and punching straight down). According to the Japanese media and a story in Tokyo Sports, it was Abbott who suckered Smith, knocking him out and leaving him writhing on the ground all bloody. According to Tai Mak, the martial arts actor who was the substitute referee, and who was coming down the elevator when this all took place and broke up the fight, Smith and the member of Abbott's entourage were talking trash back-and-forth when Pat was attacked by two of them, neither being Abbott, knocked down, and punched out on the ground and left laying all bloodied up. According to Dennis Coraluzzo, a member of the Severn entourage, who witnessed the whole thing, Smith was arguing with a member of the Abbott entourage when another person, who he said was Abbott, who was behind Smith, KO'd him with a blindside punch knocking him cold, and the guy who Smith was arguing with got on top and did the morse code on his face until Maurice Smith, a kick boxing champion a member of the Shamrock camp, and Tai Mak pulled him off. According to the police report, Smith was jumped in the elevator by one of Abbott's entourage and that person was charged with misdemeanor assault, and since everyone left town and they don't extradite on a misdemeanor, the case is for all real purposes closed.

 

The bottom line is that when Tank Abbott is in town, shit happens.

Hook ‘n Shoot: Showdown (July 14th 2001)

This one is worth noting purely as it features the MMA debut of Frank Mir. Mir’s debut fight would be the first of the only two times Mir ever fought outside of the UFC.

K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Fukuoka (July 14th 2002)

This card featured a series of ‘Superfights, involving K-1 fighters and a couple of fighters from PRIDE, Quinton Jackson and Gilbert Yvel. Jackon’s opponent was Cyril Abidi, an experienced kickboxer who was expected to manhandle Jackson considering that, whilst experienced as MMA fighter, he had never had kickboxing fight. Instead, Jackson overwhelmed Abidi and knocked him out in 1:55. Yvel faced Ray Sefo, and Yvel put up a good accounting of himself before being TKO’d after repeated leg kicks left him unable to stand.

Alaskan Fighting Championship 1 (July 14th 2004)

The debut of the Alaskan Fighting Championship merits a brief mention, if only due to the appearances of Rich Franklin and Jeremy Horn, who competed in the co-main event and main event respectively. It’s an OK event, worth watching if you want to watch a little history as AFC are still going fairly strong today, but necessarily worth going out of your way to see, especially as Franklin and Horn are the only fighters on the card to achieve any notable success.

Cage Rage 22: Hard as Hell (July 14th 2007)

Coming from Wembley Arena, this Cage Rage event had some old-school names, a few modern names, a minor celebrity, and a guy who would become a recognized face in MMA, but not through fighting.

The headliner was Tengiz Tedoradze vs. Butterbean, a rather rotund individual who gained cult-status in the US for his boxing fights, which were four-rounders and against fighters of questionable ability. Butterbean’s status was due to his look more than anything else, and it was this that landed him the fight most wrestling fans will remember him for, a boxing match with Bart Gunn at Wrestlemania XV in 1999. Gunn had won the WWF’s Brawl for a All tournament, a shortsighted idea to put WWE wrestlers in legit, toughman fights. The general plan was for it to be a vehicle to make Steve Williams look legit and then put him in a feud with Steve Austin. Gunn destroyed those plans, and Williams’ rep, by knocking him out in the second round of the tournament. WWE decided to try and get something out of it by putting Gunn in with Butterbean, although it was a long shot at best due to ‘bean’s legitimate boxing experience. Butterbean knocked Gunn out cold in 34-seconds.

Elsewhere on the card, Tom Watson was victorious in the opener; former DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix Champion Marius Žaromskis scored a spectacular flying knee knockout over Ross Mason. Mário Sperry choked out Lee Hasdell in what was Sperry’s last MMA fight. Sperry was a noted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner who, in addition to training future greats like the Nogueira Brothers, was the first person to tap out a Gracie in a BJJ match when he defeated Royler Gracie at the BJJ championships in 1998. Neil Grove knocked out James Thompson in 10-seconds.

But the most recognizable name on the undercard was in the co-main event, as Herb Dean; yes, that Herb Dean, fought Dave Legeno. Future MMA referee Dean looked good before having to retire after the first round due to an eye injury. It was Dean’s fifth and final MMA fight, with Dean ending his fighting career with a 2-3 record.

Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy (July 14th 2012)

This Strikeforce event would be headlined by Luke Rockhold defending the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship against Tim Kennedy. Rockhold had won the title from Jacaré the previous September before successfully defending it against Keith Jardine in January. Kennedy had earned his title shot after wins over Melvin Manhoef and Robbie Lawler.

The co-main event was Nate Marquardt fighting Tyron Woodley for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Championship. The title was vacated when Nick Diaz signed with the UFC. This would be Marquardt’s first fight since being released by the UFC the year before over his use of TRT; Marquardt had signed with, and been set to fight for BAMMA earlier in the year, but never fought for them after his debut fight was pulled back and he was subsequently released from the contract. Woodley was coming into this fight with a 10-0 record, with his most notable wins being over Tarec Saffiedine and Paul Daley.

The other two fights on the main card were Lorenz Larkin vs. Robbie Lawler and Roger Gracie vs. Keith Jardine, with both of those fights being in the middleweight division.

Larkin/Lawler was a really good fight, very exciting for the most part. Lawler had Larkin doing a funny dance in the first exchange of the fight but he couldn’t put Larkin away. Larkin came back strong and ensured that that early punch was about as good as it got for Lawler. It’s not that Lawler was unable to make things competitive but Larkin was just too good for him for the vast majority of this fight; Larkin even had Lawler bloodied up courtesy of a good head kick. Larkin won the unanimous decision on scores 30-27 across the board, which was the only way the fight could be scored.

Gracie/Jardine was not a good fight. It was actually rather boring at times. Gracie took Jardine down in the first two rounds and completely controlled him, even bloodying him up. The third round saw virtually nothing happen, both men content to just circle each other. Gracie got the unanimous decision victory. This would be Jardine’s last MMA fight, giving him a record of 17-11-2. Jardine hasn’t officially retired, although he remains unsure if he will ever return to fighting.

Marquardt/Woodley was a decent fight and if you want to know why Woodley has a rep for shutting down once the fight gets tough, watch this fight because that’s exactly what happened here. Things were pretty good in the first round; Woodley landing hard and having Marquardt reeling and then Marquardt returning the favour. But as soon as Woodley was in trouble, he completely shut down until the third round. He was backing up, not wanting to engage, and looked tentative, almost shell-shocked. Woodley did fire back in the third and get aggressive again, but when that didn’t pan out, Woodley withdraw back into his shell and completely shut down again. It’s like Woodley completely loses the will to fight once he’s under fire or feels he can’t get the finish.

Marquardt was far more aggressive, although anyone would look aggressive compared to how Woodley was doing, and he knocked Woodley out in the fourth round. It was a good showing by Marquardt who was fighting for the first time in a year.

Luke Rockhold and Tim Kennedy had a decent fight but nothing outstanding. It appeared that Kennedy’s strategy was to let Rockhold come to him to make it easier to deal with Rockhold’s reach. It didn’t work out too well; Kennedy some minor success, but Rockhold was able to keep up a consistent offensive output and do more damage overall. Rockhold won the unanimous decision, 49-46 on all three scorecards, and the result had the added bonus of seeming to confound Kennedy’s coach, Greg Jackson, who appeared not to understand why Rockhold had been declared the winner.

 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (July 15th)

UFC Fight Night 71: Mir vs. Duffee (July 15th 2015)

The main event to this show was a fight that was intended to give a showcase win to a heavyweight who was once considered a ‘blue chipper’, but was, for various reasons, never quite able to live up the potential others saw in him.

Frank Mir vs. Todd Duffee (the build)

Todd Duffee was 6’3, 247lbs and when he first entered the UFC, he looked jacked. He had the kind of physique that was a marketing team’s dream. Duffee entered the UFC with a 5-0 record and made an immediate impact on his debut, scoring a 7-second knockout win over the recently deceased Tim Hague. Duffee was then matched against Mike Russow at UFC 114 in May of 2010, and if you were going purely by their respective physiques, Russow didn’t stand a chance. And for two rounds and change, Duffee was giving Russo a serious beating; then, at 2:33, Russow threw a desperation punch and knocked Duffee out cold. The fans were going crazy. Joe Rogan called it the craziest thing he’d seen in a thousand fights. The man who looked like a Greek god was suddenly rendered very mortal.

Four months later, Duffee was released by the UFC. The reasons for this remain unclear; some thought it was because the UFC wouldn’t pay for surgery Duffee needed. Duffee himself commented at the time that fighters were underpaid and that he needed to take a second job just to pay for training. Dana White claimed that Duffee had an attitude problem and that Duffee neither wanted nor belonged in the UFC.

After taking a short-notice fight against Alistair Overeem in DREAM at the end of the year and an ill-fated relationship with the SFL promotion, Duffee returned to the UFC in December of 2012 at UFC 155, where he replaced Matt Mitrione against Phil De Fries. Duffee’s return was a successful won as he scored the knockout in 2:04 of the first round. It appeared as if things were beginning to look up for him.

However, shortly after the De Fries fight, it emerged that Duffee had suffered an injury during his training camp and would be out of action for most of 2013. Things looked bad but they were about to get worse. Three weeks after returning to training following rehab, Duffee woke up one morning with severe pains and numbness in his arm. He was eventually diagnosed with Parsonage–Turner syndrome, a condition which begins with severe shoulder or arm pain, and is followed by weakness and numbness. Affected muscles become weak and atrophy and in some cases, even paralyzed.

Duffee was initially told by doctors that he would be out of fighting for at least two years, but Duffee defied the doctors and returned to training after just six months, and in September of 2014, Duffee announced he was ready to fight again. Duffee returned to action at UFC 181 in December of 2015, defeating Anthony Hamilton by knockout in the first round.

After so much time on the sidelines, Todd Duffee was back and ready to go, for real, after making a successful recovery. And with Duffee long-envisioned as future heavyweight superstar, the fight with Mir was made, with the intention of giving Duffee the showcase win that would finally light a rocker under him and propel him into stardom.

Frank Mir was the former heavyweight champion who was making the slow and often painful slide down the ranks of the heavyweight contenders. After famously breaking the arm of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mir had lost four fights in a row. Despite then knocking out Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, it was a win that didn’t really do much for Mir, as Silva was more shot than then he was; Silva was 2-4 with one no-contest heading into the Mir fight and all four of those losses were first round knockouts. The loss to Mir made it five first round knockouts in eight fights.

As such, Mir was felt to be a relatively safe opponent for Duffee, despite his submission skills. Whilst Mir was dangerous on the ground, his questionable stamina and lack perceivable threat in any other area, meant that it was Duffee who went into this fight as the favourite.

The rest of UFC Fight Night 71

In the co-main event, Tony Ferguson would take on former Strikeforce standout, Josh Thomson. Ferguson had won five-in-a-row and was considered to be on course for a potential title challenge if he could keep up his form. Thomson, meanwhile, had hit an unfortunate run of bad luck as he’d lost two straight fights by split-decision. And even though they were close losses, they were still losses, and Thomson could ill-afford a third straight defeat.

The other fight of interest was a women’s bantamweight fight between Holly Holm and Marion Reneau. Holm and the UFC were hoping she would look better than she did in her UFC debut against Raquel Pennington, where she won a close and rather uninspiring fight by split-decision. Holm was a former boxer and kickboxer who was undefeated in MMA and was being earmarked for a title match against reigning divisional champion Ronda Rousey. Another underwhelming performance and Holm’s potential title fight would be in serious jeopardy, as other more exciting fighters would likely get the nod to face Rousey before Holm did.

Card Changes

Bobby Green was going to face Al Iaquinta but Green pulled out due to a torn ACL. Green was replaced by Gilbert Melendez, who was then himself pulled from the fight due to testing positive for ‘testosterone metabolites of an exogenous origin’ from a drug test taken at UFC 188 on June 13th. Iaquinta was then removed from the card altogether.  Rani Yahya and Masanori Kanehara were originally set to fight at UFC Fight Night 70 (Machida vs. Romero) but the fight was moved to this event, as several fights on that card were unable to secure travel visas. Lyman Good made his UFC debut replacing Edgar Garcia against Andrew Craig. And Yaotzin Meza replaced Doo Ho Choi against Sam Sicilia.

UFC Fight Night 71

This wasn’t the best of UFC events. Going into the main event, nine of eleven fights had gone the distance, and only one of those was competitive, a fight between Rani Yahya and Masanori Kanehara that went Yahya’s way by split-decision. Holly Holm had defeated Marion Reneau without much trouble but like with her previous fight, Holm failed to generate or inspire any confidence, and she came out of the fight flatter than when she went in. And Tony Ferguson had eased past Josh Thomson, handing him his third straight loss in what would be the final fight of Thomson’s UFC run.

Frank Mir vs. Todd Duffee

The fans and the UFC were desperately hoping that the main event would drag the show out of the doldrums and give it the spark of life that it been sorely lacking so far. Mir looked to be as soft as ever in terms of physique, and Duffee was looking less comic book-like than he had when he first fought in the UFC. The hopes for excitement were certainly looking to be rather forlorn.

What followed was 1:13 of rock ‘em sock ‘em violence, with both men swinging right from the beginning. Mir landed the heavier blows first and had Duffee in trouble. But Mir gassed out almost right away and was soon the one getting rocked. Duffee pressed forward but left himself open and a short left hook from Mir saw Duffee face-plant into the canvas, and Duffee was out cold.

The fans were thrilled and cheering, ecstatic at finally seeing some excitement. Frank Mir had managed to deliver a highlight-reel finish despite having little in the tank to begin with. And Todd Duffee had again lost a fight where he looked like, despite the dodgy beginning, he had thing well in hand. Perhaps a more patient and cautious approach would have paid better dividends. In any event, Duffee was knocked out cold and in the two years since, he has yet to fight again.

The Aftermath

For Mir, it was his second straight victory but it would be the last victory during his time in the UFC. Mir would lose his next two fights before failing a post-fight drug test after his fight with Mark Hunt in March of 2016. Mir failed for oral Turinabol metabolites, Turinabol being a modified version of the steroid Dianabol. Mir protested his innocence but almost a year of waiting, was finally handed a two-year suspension by USADA, retroactive to April 8th 2016, the date of his initial provisional suspension.

Mir subsequently requested and was granted his release by the UFC, on July 8th of his year, and when his suspension runs out, Mir has given every indication that he intends to fight again.

[wandshogun09]

The Alan Jouban vs Matt Dwyer fight on that Mir vs Duffee card was something else. Really exciting forgotten fight from a strong year in 2015. Think it was the first time I'd seen Jouban and he instantly made me a fan.