Fighters Only

Issue 005

July 2005

Hot on the heels of a glitzy event at UFC 52, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) invaded Atlantic City, New Jersey with a pack of new dogs looking to reload their talent pool. This card didn’t have the flash and dash of Couture vs Liddell 2, but Heavy Hitters definitely lived up to its name.

The main event featured possibly the hottest current heavyweight fighter in the world in Andrei Arlovski. His opponent, Justin Eilers, lacked the drawing power of a usual UFC contender due to his coming into this bout off a knockout loss to Paul Buentello in his last fight. Bringing a fighter into a title fight straight off a loss is very rare for the UFC, but everyone else they offered the fight to turned it down for one reason or another. Give Eilers credit though, he stepped up when no one else would and came to the Octagon ready to give the performance of his life.

But also give Arlovski credit. He is a world-class striker and grappler that has attained the confidence that only a four-fight winning streak can give a fighter. He brought that confidence to the Octagon and let it loose

on Eilers.

Though Eilers got in some good shots of his own, it was Arlovski that was consistently the sharper striker. He was very methodical as he chipped away at Eilers with a stiff left jab and inside leg kicks that started to accumulate damage and take away any hopes that Eilers had of trying to get this fight to the ground. Before Arlovski could unload with the big right cross that he was working towards, Eilers fell to the canvas clutching his right knee. Arlovski quickly dropped on top of him and rained down blows until referee John McCarthy stopped the bout with a little under a minute left in the round.

The injury came when Eilers shifted his weight to fire back at Arlovski, twisting his right knee and shredding his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). According to his manager, Monte Cox, he also suffered a broken nose as well as injuring both hands.

For Arlovski, who is the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, this sets up a premier fight to unify the UFC heavyweight belts against champion Frank Mir, hopefully in October. Mir has been out for months due to an injury suffered in a motorcycle accident, but looks to be on track for a return in October.

The co-main event was another title bout: the first defence of the middleweight belt for Evan Tanner. Stepping into the cage across from him was Rich Franklin, fresh off a win over Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) legend Ken Shamrock.

Tanner’s stand up game, which used to be non-existent, has improved tremendously. He looks much more comfortable and fluid than ever on his feet. Unfortunately for Tanner, Franklin’s striking game looked a step ahead of his. There was a moment in the first round where Tanner did drop Franklin, but he recovered quickly and started to go to work on the champ.

Throughout the duration of the nearly four rounds that this fight lasted it was universally Franklin’s night. Tanner wasn’t without his moments, landing some heavy leather of his own at times, but it was Franklin that continued to cause damage by rocking Tanner with stinging combinations and leg kicks.

Tanner’s face was the only scorecard needed in this one. Late into the fourth round, as Tanner had a huge gash on his left eyebrow and a tears of blood streaming from his eye, referee Herb Dean stopped the fight on the recommendation of the ringside doctor.

It was a short-lived title reign by Tanner, but he once again displayed the warrior spirit that got him there in the first place. There is no shame in losing to a fighter like Franklin either. Many questioned Franklin’s abilities coming into this fight, especially moving from light heavyweight down to middleweight, but against Tanner he showed why he should be considered among the best fighters in the world and walked away with the UFC Middleweight Championship belt.

In the night’s swing bout, which took place between the two title fights, New Yorker Matt Serra made another return to the Octagon to square off with welterweight contender Karo Parisyan. This was a bout that many thought could end up being a slow war of attrition from the two grappling specialists… it was anything but.

Serra finally displayed the striking skills that he always professes to be working on when he dropped Parisyan in the first round. But it was Parisyan that wasted no time in redeeming himself as he finished strong with an array of back fists and kicks to finish the round.

The two spent most of the night trying to keep the fight on the feet, constantly taunting each other into throwing blows. It was Parisyan, however, that seemed to be the more accurate striker. He wore Serra down as the fight went on, then employed his judo throws on the Renzo Gracie disciple. After three exciting rounds Parisyan walked away with a unanimous decision and a step closer to a shot at the welterweight title.

Going into his fight, most people expected another striking war from Ultimate Fighter Forrest Griffin. After all, most people in the US know him for the tremendous stand up battle that he had with Stephan Bonnar in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ finale in April. His opponent, Canadian striker Bill Mahood, probably would have preferred it that way, but it wasn’t to be.

Right away Mahood attempted a kick that Griffin caught and used to take the Canadian to the ground. From here it was all just a matter of progression. Griffin worked the ground ‘n’ pound briefly before standing and passing Mahood’s guard, taking his back, locking on the body triangle and then finishing him with a rear naked choke.

The first fight of the pay–per-view broadcast was Paul Buentello returning to the Octagon to face first timer Kevin Jordan. This was a perfect opener for an event titled Heavy Hitters as Jordan landed a combination early on that dropped Buentello to one knee. He got up and drove Jordan around the ring, rocking him with a huge right hand that had him stunned. The two went back and forth, exchanging blows until Jordan shot in for a takedown, which Buentello blocked and used to lock on a guillotine choke. As they fell to the ground Buentello turned Jordan over to his back and finished him off with a one-armed guillotine neck crank combination for the submission.

In their last fight it was Buentello that knocked out Justin Eilers. The reason that Eilers fought Arlovski for the title instead was because Buentello injured his wrist in their fight and couldn’t be cleared by a doctor before the UFC’s deadline to sign the title match.

In the preliminary bouts that took place before the live broadcast, Nate Quarry (another Ultimate Fighter participant) was put to the test against long-time veteran Shonie Carter. This was Quarry’s first fight on a UFC pay-per-view card and Carter’s first time in the Octagon since UFC 32, nearly four years ago.

This time it seemed the young dog knew all the tricks, as Quarry used a very orthodox style to lay in wait for Carter’s more unorthodox techniques. As Carter threw his spinning back fists and kicks, Quarry would time them, then step in and do damage with his straightforward boxing style. He put Carter on the mat early on but couldn’t finish him despite the numerous elbows and forearms that he dropped down. Back on their feet, the two clinched and Quarry stunned Carter with a couple of great knees and then sent him down queer street with a hard combination that left him stumbling and the referee waiving off the fight.

With a short list of accomplishments, many critiques doubted the validity of Quarry being in the UFC. After the way that he dispatched of Carter only half way into round one, it’s doubtful anyone will question his presence again.

With many Canadian fighters coming on strong in the UFC, David ‘The Crow’ Loiseau returned at UFC 53 to fight rookie Charles McCarthy. Starting off aggressively in the first round, McCarthy was able to get Loiseau down and take his back but couldn’t sink in the choke as Loiseau defended nicely.

Unlike the first, the second round was all for The Crow. Quickly going to the mat, Loiseau ground ‘n’ pounded McCarthy before a stall in the action resulted in a stand up. He then peppered McCarthy with a couple of jabs and stunned him with a flying knee before a perfectly executed spinning back kick crushed McCarthy’s ribs and sent Loiseau to victory.

This was another extremely impressive victory for Loiseau — his fourth straight. His manager, Stephane Patry, is trying to get him on the UFC 54 card, but even if he’s not there The Crow will be back in the Octagon soon.

The opening bout of the night featured welterweight contender Nick Diaz back in the ring against Pancrase fighter Koji Oishi. The Japanese fighter made his way to the UFC as part of a deal with Pancrase to use some of their fighters in the UFC in return for them allowing David Terrell to fight for the title a few shows ago. And with a record of 11-3-4 coming into this fight, Oishi was no slouch.

Despite being known more for his takedowns and ground ‘n’ pound, Oishi chose to stand and trade blows with Diaz, a Cesar Gracie fighter. That was a bad choice. Although Oishi landed some shots, it was Diaz that landed the harder blows and with much more frequency. Little more than a minute into the first round and Diaz knocked Oishi down with some powerful left hands to the head. He then pounced on top of Oishi and threw a couple more blows before the referee stopped the fight.

Diaz has now won four of his five fights in the UFC with his only loss being a split decision that went in Karo Parisyan’s favour. With two victories in a row, it would seem that Diaz is among the group that would include Parisyan and Georges St. Pierre to contend for Matt Hughes’s welterweight strap.

Despite a lack of star power at UFC 53, the Heavy Hitters were out in full force. Before a nearly sold out Boardwalk Hall, many young fighters continued to establish themselves and Andre Arlovski and Rich Franklin seemed to cement themselves amongst the top two or three fighters in their respective weight classes.