Fighters Only

Issue 024

April 2007

UFC 67: All or Nothing

February 3rd, 2007, Mandalay Bay Events Centre, Las Vegas, Nevada. Question: When is a title fight not a title fight? Answer: when the challenger is unable to make weight. This is the situation the UFC were left in when Travis Lutter failed to make 185lbs for his clash with middleweight champion Anderson Silva. With the welterweight title fight between Georges St Pierre and Matt Serra off the card due to the Canadian being injured, this left the UFC in trouble. Good thing they had lined up two new imports for this very event, otherwise they would have been well and truly screwed.

The UFC debuts of Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson were probably two of the most highly anticipated UFC events of the last year or so. As exciting as any title match, their appearances in the UFC exuded promise, and brought a breath of fresh air to the light heavy and heavyweight divisions. They could prove to be good for business in time, but for now they would simply exist to save the show.

Silva submits Lutter

Travis Lutter was quoted as saying that he struggles to motivate himself for fights sometimes. With that in mind, you have to ask whether he was truly bothered about his only decent chance in the UFC? Incredibly boring yet surprisingly efficient, Lutter is a submission fighter with skills yet is the kind of fighter who has the crowd in more danger of going to sleep than his opponent.

His opponent and polar opposite was Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, a sassy striker with slick jiu-jitsu and the kind of clinical precision striking that promoters have wet dreams about. He landed in the UFC and took out two of their most high profile fighters – first the ghastly Chris Leben, then former champion Rich Franklin. Stylistically, Silva would have a troublesome match up tonight, and Lutter proved that even though he can’t make weight or get a crowd interested in his fights, he can put an elite fighter in danger.

Lutter avoided Silva’s strikes long enough to take down and mount him but was denied a chance to finish by Silva’s cunning and the end of the round. The second round saw Lutter look to grapple once again, but this time he found himself tied up in a triangle choke – the BJJ black belt was being choked by a Muay Thai specialist. Oh the irony. With Silva tightening the choke and pounding on his skull with elbows, Lutter tapped out before he passed out, and Silva rejoiced in his first successful title defence.

Cro Cop crushes overmatched Sanchez

Dun, dun dun-dun… Dun, dun dun-dun… That was the sound that accompanied Mirko Cro Cop to the Octagon. The heavy drums that signal the beginning of every PRIDE show in Japan may not be instantly recognisable to the majority of US fans, but for those in the know this was a telling moment. The music blared, and Cro Cop stalked to the ring with his trademark cold eyes and detached air.

You have to realise something about Cro Cop. Whereas some fighters are in the business for the money, the girls or because they love to fight, Cro Cop isn’t really interested in any of the above. This is all he knows, because by his very nature he is a trained killer, a professional. A member of an elite SWAT-style police squad in his home country of Croatia, Cro Cop eats, sleeps and breathes all-things combative. You could imagine him snuggling up in his hand wraps at night under his PRIDE duvet cover, reading the latest copy of Fighters Only and drinking a hot protein shake. He is that serious.

The point is that Cro Cop isn’t about fun and games, or entertainment. He’s all about business, baby. It is this intensity he brings to the ring that gets people fired up (that, and his merciless fighting style, deadly striking and killer left high kick). The UFC have needed a boost to their heavyweight ranks for some time (the succession of rematches last summer, coupled with a dreadful champion and the sad news that Randy Couture had to be brought back to liven things up) and Cro Cop is just the thing they have been dreaming about.

With a string of vicious knockouts in Japan, 32-year-old Mirko Filipovic is widely regarded as the number two heavyweight in the world. His record going into the fight was 21-4-2 and with a knockout ration of over 60%, you knew exactly what the UFC were hoping he would produce. Aiding him somewhat, they fed him Hispanic fighter Eddie Sanchez, a 6-fight veteran who had appeared only once in the UFC. Can anyone see a plot going on here?

Sanchez fumbled his way around the cage, surviving at range for as long as possible as Cro Cop incessantly walked him down. Sanchez had obviously been told to circle from the left leg of Mirko, but that didn’t stop Cro Cop from landing his famous left kick a number of times, although never cleanly. It was a combination of intimidation and sustained pressure that forced Sanchez to the canvas. Easily slipping into mount, Cro Cop battered away at Sanchez’s head until picking up his 22nd MMA win.

Rampage gets revenge over the Beastman

Rampage Jackson is the straight-talking, no-messing badass who tore a hole in the PRIDE middleweight division before coming back to the USA. Feeling misused and having suffered a couple of tough losses, Jackson came back home and shacked up with the short-lived World Fighting Alliance. He fought and defeated Matt Lindland, but the question on everyone’s lips was whether he’d join the UFC and rematch Chuck Liddell (Rampage famously destroyed Liddell in PRIDE).

It wasn’t long before the fans (and Jackson, would you believe it) got their wish; Rampage in the UFC. His first fight: a rematch with the man to give him his first professional loss, Marvin ‘the Beastman’ Eastman. Las Vegas-based Eastman is a stocky and explosive B-class kickboxing stylist. He’s dangerous though susceptible to a fighter with the right skills. Jackson didn’t have those skills back in the early days of his career, but now he’s a changed man. He punches, knees, kicks and slams his opponents with a flair that has him legions of supporters, and though the fight between him and Eastman got off to a slow start, he definitely gained a few more fans after his KO victory.

The first round was almost entirely spent in the clinch, and in the second Jackson followed the advice of his corner and capitalised on the shorter fighter’s height disadvantage, catching him with a series of strikes that put him on the canvas. Some “black on black crime” (Jackson’s own description) followed until the referee waved it off 3.49 into the second round. The first round drew some boos from the impatient crowd, which irked Jackson, but the finish was highlight reel quality and should put any doubts to rest as to his abilities in the Octagon. He openly admitted he was not ready for Chuck and needs some time to get rid of the rust, but it’s clear which direction the wind is blowing.

Round-up

Patrick Cote decisioned solid striker Scott Smith in a battle of TUF 4 contestants. Having lived and trained together for many weeks, they knew each other well enough for the fight to be fairly evenly matched, although Cote’s cautiousness harmed him – he staggered Smith a number of times but failed to finish, instead cruising to the unanimous verdict.

Relative unknown Terry Martin knocked out Jorge Rivera with a crushing overhand right in only 14 seconds while Roger Huerta stopped John Halverson in only 19 seconds – two quick finishes that were at odds with the three decisions that peppered the undercard.

Lyoto Machida comfortably took a decision win over Sam Hoger in an uneventful fight, but the real star attraction of the early fights was the epic tussle between lightweights Frank Edgar and Tyson Griffin. Viewers were treated to a back and fore affair that saw all manner of techniques on show. This frantic 15-minute war had the half empty arena on their feet, proving that the little guys can be just as entertaining as any heavyweight match.

Full results

Dustin Hazelett def Diego Saraiva via Decision (Unanimous)

Lyoto Machida def Sam Hoger via Decision (Unanimous)

Frank Edgar def Tyson Griffin via Decision (Unanimous)

Terry Martin def Jorge Rivera via KO (Punches) 0:14 Rd1

Patrick Cote def Scott Smith via Decision (Unanimous)

Quinton Jackson def Marvin Eastman via KO (Punches) 3:49 Rd2

Roger Huerta def John Halverson via TKO (Strikes) 0:19 Rd1

Mirko Filipovic def Eddie Sanchez via TKO (Strikes) 4:33 Rd1

Anderson Silva def Travis Lutter via Submission (Triangle) 2:11 Rd2

EliteXC Destiny

February 10th 2007, DeSoto Civic Centre, Southaven,.Mississippi.

EliteXC and their contract with Showtime may be projected to be a diamond mine but this first show turned out to have minor flaws in the main event of an otherwise solid show. Long-time boxing (and now MMA) promoter Gary Shaw’s vision is not to compete with individual promotions like UFC or PRIDE as a stand-alone promotion per se, but instead be the place for the best fighters from all organizations to compete against each other. The most important angle to this event however is Showtime, the premium cable channel with an estimated 13 million household audience and a reputation for boxing events. Although only five of the ten bouts this night were televised (with the other five streaming live on EliteXC’s website) EliteXC, like the IFL and BodogFIGHT last year, have massive potential exposure across North America.

The only flaws were minor and stem from the main event of Frank Shamrock versus Renzo Gracie. Gracie/Shamrock would have been news seven years ago when Frank was UFC Champion and Renzo in PRIDE, but now they are known more as coaches of IFL teams with a family feud than the stars they once were. In addition Frank was already signed to Strikeforce and the resulting court battle jeopardised this fight. The real black eye however came from the way the fight ended. Frank controlled the stand up, scoring leg kicks and trying to KO Gracie, while Renzo took Frank down at will but was unable to find a submission before being restarted. The issue was that while Frank was on his back and Renzo was in side control Frank fired off two knees to the head of Renzo, a blatant foul that earned him first a warning and a point deduction the second time. After the second knee Renzo rolled off him in distress, and after a lengthy break to regain his wits declared he was unable to continue. Frank was disqualified in what might be more of a step back for the sport than anything else.

The rest of the card more than made up for the main event and truly showed Shaw’s vision. Champions of established shows such as King of the Cage, WEC, and TKO faced off against vets from the UFC, IFL, Strikeforce, PRIDE and even BodogFIGHT, making this show a tour de force of the North American scene. As if this wasn’t enough this card featured the highest-profile fight in the women’s divisions to date as undefeated Strikeforce vet Gina Carano faced HOOKnSHOOT Champion Julie Kedzie.

Although the ground game is where Julie had the advantage when she did take Gina down she couldn’t hold her there for long, and most of the fight was a stand-up war. For three rounds these two traded powerful punches with the occasional scramble or kick thrown in, but most of the damage was scored by Carano, earning her the unanimous decision. The only black mark on this fight was the fact Carano failed to make weight for the fight, making this the second time she has done this in her four-fight career.

Arguably the biggest news was the scrap between UFC vet and TKO champion David Loiseau and PRIDE vet and former King of the Cage champion Joey Villasenor. Villasenor did a great job taking Loiseau out of his game, evading both the “big shot” finishes and the lethal elbows of Loiseau. Loiseau seemed lacklustre in the first two rounds and in the first round couldn’t stop Villasenor’s takedowns, but by the third this fight turned into a solid technical battle. It was too little too late for Loiseau who lost by unanimous decision.

The televised segment was rounded out by BodogFIGHT vet Antonio Silva versus UFC vet Wesley “Cabbage” Correira and PRIDE vet Charles Bennett versus much-hyped up-and-comer KJ Noons. American Top Team’s Silva seemed to have little problem dispatching Correira, first with a solid knee to the chin followed by punches to get Correira to the ground and finally more punches to the head of the prone Hawaiian to earn the TKO. Bennett’s fight at lightweight was more of a come-from-behind victory as the much more technical Noons was raking in the scoring when Bennett landed an uppercut to the chin that turned Noons’ lights out in the first round.

The non-televised segment of the show was as solid as most shows’ main cards and continued to demonstrate Shaw’s vision. At lightweight Edson Berto, a vet of shows televised in Florida, beat IFL vet and hometown hero John Shackelford after a flurry of strikes in the second round. Also at lightweight former KOTC Champion and Abu Dhabi Worlds qualifier Javier Vazquez made a triumphant return to MMA after almost four years off due to ACL surgery and subsequent recovery. Javi’s opponent Adriano Nasal was not just a local fighter; he is a member of the Brazilian Top Team with Murilo Bustamante in his corner. For three rounds Javi proved he had the better stand-up and the tools needed to negate Nasal’s offence, taking a split decision.

Not all the fights were close. Gladiator Challenge heavyweight champion Bo Cantrell fell victim to a barrage of punches from Team Punishment’s Tim Persey in 1:33. At middleweight the sole international fighter Riki Fukuda clinched late replacement Chris Gates early, avoided the guillotine attempt, and followed his takedown up with ground-and-pound until Gates’ verbal submission. Finally IFL vet Mike Pyle was the only local fighter to pick up a win this night, due in large part to his training with former UFC champion Randy Couture. Returning to welterweight Pyle made short work of Ross Ebanez with a rear naked choke win at 1:55.

Overall this was a solid card with high production values and if not for the main event would have been an accurate representation of what is going on outside the UFC. Hopefully their May 5th card with Jake Shields and Murilo “Ninja” Rua will be even better.