The show opens with Randy saying not fighting for over a year has been tough since he likes to compete. Dana and Randy are shown flying on a jet to ESPN studios in early September and they meet Brock in the hotel. Dana says this is going to be the biggest fight in UFC history.
The discussion is about Brock’s inexperience with Randy’s side saying that it’s going to be too much for him, while Brock’s side says that they said the same thing about Heath Herring.
Brock says Randy has to push 275 pounds around the octagon. He says that Randy won’t be able to control him like he has other wrestlers. Brock says that Randy’s going to be a stepping stone. Yikes.
Randy says what’s really important is the journey. Randy talks about his first UFC show at UFC 13. He beat Tony Halme and Stephen Grant to win the heavyweight tournament.
Randy says he was being set up to lose to Vitor Belfort. But he beat Belfort and then beat Maurice Smith to win the UFC heavyweight title.
They talk about Randy leaving the UFC but don’t explain why (money) and fighting in Japan for three years before beating Kevin Randleman to win the UFC belt again in 2000.
Though I’d been following the UFC for about a year through newsletters and the Internet, I hadn’t bought a PPV until UFC 43. I was a big Chuck Liddell fan, mostly because my co-worker Jeremiah Miller was a college buddy of Chuck’s. He gave me a signed poster that I still have today and I’ve been a big Liddell fan since. Jeremiah was even named in Chuck’s biography.
I remember buying this show mostly because my then wife was out of town on business and I had two toddlers to watch all weekend. When they went to sleep, I didn’t really have anything to do and figured that because I was a young dad home alone with his two young boys, I deserved to spend some money on an event. But also, I expected Chuck Liddell to win the interim light heavyweight championship in his match with Randy Couture and I wanted to see it happen. Let’s just say that I wasn’t a happy Chuck fan that night.
Couture wasn’t necessarily a set up for Liddell that night, but the fight was there for Chuck to win. Couture was a former heavyweight champion, but he was 38 years old and people were saying that he was now over the hill. He dieted down to make the 205 lb weight limit and looked to have nearly zero body fat. The reason Randy and Chuck were fighting rather than Chuck and Tito Ortiz (who was the champion at the time) was because Ortiz bailed on the fight. After beating Ken Shamrock (which was actually the first UFC PPV I ever saw), Tito seemed noncommittal about fighting Chuck after pretty much saying that he had to take care of Shamrock first and then he’d be ready. When push came to shove, Tito wasn’t there so Dana White and company decided to put Liddell in there with Couture to determine the interim champ. And then, Ortiz would have to face the winner.
This has gone from a show with the UFC’s top draw, to an overlooked show that was overshadowed by the Randy Couture’s return and his upcoming fight with Brock Lesnar.
But it’s still Chuck Liddell and whenever Chuck fights, there’s excitement.
1. Dong Hyun Kim vs. Matt Brown
Matt’s nickname is Matt “The Immortal” Brown. He’s just waiting to be beat with that nickname. I guess “The Undefeated” Matt Brown was taken. Kim didn’t have a nickname unfortunately.
Kim got Brown’s back within the first 30 seconds of the fight and tried for the standing rear naked choke, but it was too early in the fight and Brown was too strong. Brown kept the pressure on him, but Kim was pretty savvy and has great body control.
The second round was pretty much all Matt Brown. He used his strength to control Kim, got him in a clinch, and then took him down and utilized his ground and pound.
Brown used his strength to push Kim around for much of the third, but Kim got him down and was throwing some vicious elbows, busting Brown open underneath his left eye to end the round.
We are at a point in the calendar where every PPV card for the UFC is just one more card until November when Randy Couture makes his comeback against Brock Lesnar. Even with Chuck Liddell on this card, the buzz really isn’t there. Chuck vs. Rashad isn’t really a money fight and neither is anything else on the undercard. However, UFC 88 has some intrigue. First off, Rich Franklin is back at 205, facing Matt Hamill. Rousimar Palhares is facing a huge test in Dan Henderson. And if Chuck Liddell wins this fight, he more than likely gets a shot at reclaiming his light heavyweight championship with a fight against champ Forrest Griffin.
Your friends at Fight Game Blog have put together a preview of the top three bouts.
Alan posted a great preview of Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares earlier today if you want an in depth commentary on that fight. Here’s what the rest of the guys think.
Though Randy Couture hasn’t signed quite signed the dotted line with the UFC (as far as we know), the hot story around the MMA world is his possible comeback to the UFC. The big match that’s been speculated about is a November fight in Portland, Oregon against Brock Lesnar.
But there’s another fight that was bandied about back and forth and that was a fourth match against Chuck Liddell in a legend vs. legend of sorts. Liddell holds the edge in against Couture in their three match-ups with two wins to Randy’s one.
Their first bout was held at UFC 43 and it was fight for the interim light heavyweight championship. Tito Ortiz refused to face Liddell for the money that was being offered, and rather than wait for Ortiz, the UFC put Liddell, who was the number one contender, into the octagon against Couture, the former heavyweight champion who was coming off consecutive losses to Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett. Liddell was the hottest star and the money was supposed to be in Tito and Chuck fighting for the undisputed title. Couture showed everyone how to beat Liddell in that fight. He got inside of Liddell’s comfort zone, forced the fight on him, and won by TKO. It was an amazing performance.
It’s been a good year and a half since I missed watching a UFC PPV, but with their recent UFC 85: Bedlam show, I couldn’t talk myself into paying $44.95 to watch a very average card. Had this been on live television, I’d have been all over it. But there just wasn’t anything that I had to see. It wasn’t really the UFC’s fault though. Originally, Chuck Liddell was supposed to face Shogun Rua (and then Rashad Evans), but Chuck hurt his hamstring and turned it purple and he was out of the fight. Chris Leben and Michael Bisping were also supposed to fight, but Leben had issues with the authorities which didn’t allow him to train for the fight, and that one was scrapped too. Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves became the main event and while I’m a Hughes fan and Alves is a good fighter, there was nothing there. It was simply put together at the last minute and I wasn’t moved to buy the show.
Even though I wasn’t going to pay to watch MMA last night, I got my fix via the sweet science. Showtime and HBO both had fight cards last night and while it’s a pity as to what relates to big boxing cards on cable TV these days, at least I had some fighting to watch.
After last week’s slobberknocker of a fight between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott, Strikeforce comes back this week with Bob Sapp’s first fight in the US. Sapp is a huge star in Japan I’ve read that he even had his own merchandise store at one point. You’re talking Michael Jordan level status. While I don’t think Strikeforce is depending on Bob Sapp in the same ways that EXC depends on Kimbo Slice, with their business model, they don’t need to. Their big market is in San Jose, California with local headliners Frank Shamrock and Cung Le. Seattle has been a good market for minor league MMA and Strikeforce is using Sapp and his local ties to the area to try to sell tickets. The fight is on HDNet, which very few people receive (something like 6 million people in all), but for those who do get it, it should be an interesting spectacle. There aren’t many big name fighters, though former UFC fighter Joe Riggs and former UFC champion, Maurice Smith are on the card. Interestingly, Smith beat Tank Abbot in a fight over 10 years ago. We’ll see if he can do better against kickboxer Rick Roufus than Abbott did against Slice.
I was definitely wrong about both outcomes of the double main event at UFC 81. More importantly, I was also wrong about how exciting of a card it would be. UFC 81 was definitely one of the better UFC cards of late, and if it’s true that there were more first time PPV buyers for this show than ever, those folks got to see what makes MMA an action packed sport. I myself was watching the show at my parents’ house with a few non-hardcore fans. My father used to enjoy watching boxing and with some great hype, my mom can get into it too. Both seemed to be entertained and my dad stated the thing he didn’t like most about the sport was that you could take a beating and then pull off a submission and still win. I guess he wasn’t too fond of Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira pulling wins out with submissions. I may have also hyped Brock Lesnar up too much because after he tapped out, there was a bit of a deflated feel in the room. But the feeling was still that he was a monster.
While it would’ve been better for Mir had Tim Sylvia won the belt, I still think that coming out of this fight, he has the most buzz of possible heavyweight contenders not named Randy Couture. While Fabricio Werdum had a nice victory in January over Gabriel Gonzaga, Nogueira has already beat him and really, can you market Fabricio Werdum as your heavyweight champion if he is able to pull off an upset? I think Mir needs to be thrown in there immediately as a contender for the heavyweight championship. Nogueira isn’t going to be a big draw on his own, but if Mir is the new “pro wrestling killer”, act on him now. I think people would pay to see Mir fight Nogueira. And if Mir were to win, you could always do the rematch between he and Silvia.
Is Brock Lesnar the real deal? That question will be answered tomorrow evening when he does battle with Frank Mir. As you can tell by the links I posted above, most of the publicity surrounding this battle have to do with Lesnar and whether he can hang or not. If my prediction is right, then he will show that he’s the real deal. Frank Mir himself has stated in the past that he believes that if it lasts the full three rounds, he won’t be able win the decision. But he does think that he will get the better of the stand-up as well as be able to beat Lesnar on the ground. On the Countdown To UFC 81 show, there were highlights of Mir putting on sick submissions. If Lesnar’s strength is going to be his wrestling, wouldn’t taking Mir down mean that he’ll be set up for submissions? I think it comes down to a matter of who is in shape. Lesnar is going to be much stronger than Mir and Mir’s shot is to tire out Lesnar, weaken his defense, and get a submission locked on. If Lesnar outlasts him from a stamina standpoint, Mir is most likely going to tire out and his submissions will be far weaker. And if Lesnar outlasts him, I see Lesnar simply laying on top of him and pounding him. I think the first round will be important from Lesnar’s perspective in that it will be his first five minutes in the big time. He’ll be wide eyed and finally in the octagon for real. If he lasts the first five minutes, I think he’ll win the fight. Mir’s chance is to weaken Lesnar enough to be able to put him in a hold. Lesnar’s a big man and won’t be easy to maneuver.
There is an interim championship match, but it’s not the focus of the show. Tim Sylvia is facing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Both men are battle tested, but one would think Sylvia’s size would be too much for Nogueira. That’s definitely going to be an issue, but Sylvia’s style is going to be a bigger issue. Randy Couture laid out the blue print in how to beat Sylvia. Get in close, use your inside strikes, take him down, be quicker and don’t be afraid to take a punch to land a punch. Nogueira’s wrestling isn’t as strong as Couture’s and he may not be as crafty a boxer as Couture either. So it’s going to come down to whether or not he’ll be able to frustrate Sylvia enough to where he’ll be able to use quickness to take him down. On the ground is his best bet, but Sylvia doesn’t go down easily. Sylvia also has good ground defense and utilizes his size to keep his foe away from him as far as possible. I don’t think Sylvia will be able to knock him out. But I do think he’ll be able to fight his fight and beat Nogueira by decision after five rounds. And if that’s the case, it’s going to be a boring match.
Rather than do the regular news updates, I’m going to give out some awards. This will encompass all of MMA, but really, my focus will be on the American companies since I didn’t see much of Pride or K-1 this year.
Fighter Of The Year
There are some great candidates for this one, including guys that will get overlooked like Urijah Faber. But I think the year belonged to three men. Randy Couture had the comeback that all comebacks will be measured by, but near the end of the year, he was done with the UFC and any proposed big year end match was out the door. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had a banner year by beating Marvin Eastman, Chuck Liddell, and Dan Henderson. Anderson Silva held the middleweight title all year long, beating Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, and Rich Franklin for the second time. If you look at someone who dominated their division, the choice is Silva. But if you’re looking for who won the toughest and biggest fights, the answer is Jackson.
Winner: Rampage Jackson
Fight Of The Year
In the early summer, Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni had a war that ended when Shamrock called his own shot. Early on, he mocked Baroni, by putting his hands together on his cheek, insinuating that he was going to put Baroni to sleep. And after two rounds of fighting that left both guys completely exhausted, Shamrock caught Baroni in a choke and rather than tapping out, he went to sleep, just like Shamrock predicted. Tyson Griffin seemed to be on fire all year long, having great matches in wins against Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. But his best fight was one in which he lost, against Frankie Edgar at UFC 67. It was a wrestling war and ended with Griffin pulling on Edgar’s knee at the bell after putting him in a knee bar. Edgar would take the decision. Right before year’s end, Roger Huerta shook off two losing rounds against Clay Guida at the season finale to The Ultimate Fighter Season 6. He would go on to finish him in the third round in a very exciting comeback victory. While the two UFC fights were great, I have to go with the fight I saw in person.
Winner: Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni at Strikeforce Judgment Day
Frank Shamrock Hype Interview
Fight Card Of The Year
Strikeforce Judgment Day was an exciting card with a fantastic main event. UFC 68 had the most emotional MMA match that I’ve ever seen. UFC 76 had five matches that went the distance and had two of the biggest upsets of the year. And I was never able to see a good copy of the Pride show in February. But if I had to choose the card of the year, I’d have to go with The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale. It had two fight of the year candidates with an exciting finish to end the night when Huerta came back to stop Guida. The War Machine vs. J-Rock was a great brawl as well.
Winner: The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale
Upset Of The Year
Oh, there were many. How about Randy Couture coming out of retirement to chop down Tim Sylvia? What about Forrest Griffin beating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who was in his first UFC fight, after coming over from Pride. Keith Jardine outpointing Chuck Liddell? Or what about both Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo beating Mirko Cro Cop? Well, I guess that since he lost twice, maybe they weren’t such huge upsets. But the winner has to be Matt Serra beating Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 in Houston. When that fight ended, my jaw hit the floor. St. Pierre came into the fight looking unstoppable and Serra took the fight right to him, knocking him out and shocking St. Pierre himself.
Winner: Matt Serra knocking out Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.
Promotion Of The Year
When the UFC is the biggest game in town, how can they not be the best promotion? They are making money and drawing huge crowds and good PPV buyrates. Who are their competitors? Well, Zuffa, the same company that owns the UFC also owns the WEC, which put on some very fun and exciting cards, focusing on the smaller fighters. The San Jose based Strikeforce understands their fan base and sets up fights that the locals want to see. With local fighters like Cung Le and Frank Shamrock, they should have a pretty good 2008 as well.
The show opens with Randy saying not fighting for over a year has been tough since he likes to compete. Dana and Randy are shown flying on a jet to ESPN studios in early September and they meet Brock in the hotel. Dana says this is going to be the biggest fight in UFC history.
Couture wasn’t necessarily a set up for Liddell that night, but the fight was there for Chuck to win. Couture was a former heavyweight champion, but he was 38 years old and people were saying that he was now over the hill. He dieted down to make the 205 lb weight limit and looked to have nearly zero body fat. The reason Randy and Chuck were fighting rather than Chuck and Tito Ortiz (who was the champion at the time) was because Ortiz bailed on the fight. After beating Ken Shamrock (which was actually the first UFC PPV I ever saw), Tito seemed noncommittal about fighting Chuck after pretty much saying that he had to take care of Shamrock first and then he’d be ready. When push came to shove, Tito wasn’t there so Dana White and company decided to put Liddell in there with Couture to determine the interim champ. And then, Ortiz would have to face the winner.
