Issue 007
September 2005
AUGUST 6th 2005
On August 6, 2005 Ultimate Fight Night took centre stage on SpikeTV in the United States. The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first full fight card to be shown live on basic cable/satellite television, Ultimate Fight Night fell right in line with the UFC’s ‘As Real As It Gets’ slogan. A few fights went the distance, some were over in mere seconds and a handful landed somewhere in between.
The night’s main event featured seven-time King of Pancrase Nathan Marquardt making his UFC debut against middleweight contender Ivan Salaverry. Most casual fans weren’t too thrilled with the way the fight played out and many of the fans in attendance left the building in a grumble.
Marquardt and Salaverry are two veteran fighters with very similar styles; both have solid stand-up and ground skills and are known as intellectual combatants. Their bout progressed in a highly technical manner, which is to say that it wasn’t the slugfest that many casual fans are looking for.
In a fight that uncannily took the appearance of a human chess match, Marquardt’s superior athleticism quickly established him as the aggressor. Carefully but consistently he moved towards Salaverry, landing effective Thai kicks and trying to find an opening with his boxing skills. For his part, Salaverry was continually looking to take the fight to the ground, but Marquardt stuffed his every attempt.
As the fight progressed, so did Marquardt’s advantage. Patiently he moved in on Salaverry, trying to penetrate his defences, but in the end earning the judges’ marks for being the aggressor, landing the more effective strikes and taking Salaverry down nearly every time he attempted to kick.
The rest of the show featured many of the fighters from the highly successful first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality series, also on SpikeTV. One of the most well-known fighters from the series, Chris Leben, stepped into the Octagon with veteran Canadian fighter Patrick Cote. Though it wasn’t the slugfest of Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin from ‘The Ultimate Fighter Finale’, Leben and Cote came ready to bang away.
Somewhat the opposite of the main event, the two threw most of the technical aspects of fighting out the window. As the two traded shots in the beginning, it was Cote that was a little cleaner, landing the harder shots, but as the fight wore on, Leben started to control more of where the fight went and ended up with a split decision from the judges.
Part of one of the most exciting fights in the history of the sport, Stephan Bonnar was expected to roll through fellow ‘Ultimate Fighter’ competitor Sam Hoger. Although he did dominate the fight, it was far from the cakewalk that most had expected. In fact, Hoger even had Bonnar in trouble early on with an arm-triangle choke that put Bonnar’s ground defences to the test. He worked himself out of the submission attempt and put pressure on Hoger throughout the bout, but was continually reversed every time that he attained a superior position. Even as Bonnar attained the mount and rained down blows, Hoger dug deep and found a way to weather the storm.
Going into this fight most people felt that Bonnar would punch Hoger’s ticket out of the UFC. Bonnar did dominate en route to a unanimous decision, but Hoger showed a ton of heart and some skill that many had questioned. It’s not clear whether he will be back immediately, but Hoger may have done enough to prove that he deserves another shot.
In what will go down as probably the most controversial fight of the night, Team Quest’s Nate Quarry got the TKO victory over Pete Sell, almost before the bout even got started. As the two met, Quarry hit Sell with a straight right hand and then dropped him with a left jab. Sell was definitely dazed as he went down, but Quarry met him on the mat and landed a hard right hand that had referee Cecil Peoples stopping the fight.
The controversy started as people debated whether or not Peoples stopped the fight too soon or not. “When he dropped from the first shot I moved in to be in a position to be able to stop the fight, and when Quarry hit him with that right hand, I saw his eyes roll up into his head and that’s when I stopped it,” said a confident Peoples, sure that he made the right call.
Josh Koscheck was a heavy favourite going into his fight with long time veteran Pete Spratt. Turns out that the favouritism was well justified. Never giving Spratt, a striker, the chance to get off any kicks or punches, Koscheck immediately worked for a single leg takedown and got it. As Spratt worked his way out to get back up to his feet, Koscheck took his back and, reminiscent of Matt Hughes vs Frank Trigg 1, worked the rear naked choke around Spratt’s neck and held on until he tapped out.
Not one to let a good nickname go to waste, Mike ‘The Quick’ Swick has definitely earned his. At the ‘Ultimate Fighter Finale’ he put Alex Schoenauer away in just 20 seconds. At Ultimate Fight Night it took Swick only two seconds longer to do the same to UFC veteran Gideon Ray. Swick came out and dropped Ray with a three punch combination, pounced on him and threw down a couple more shots for good measure before Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.
I saw his eyes roll up into his head and that’s when I stopped it.
The ‘Fight of the Night’ honours have to go to Kenny Florian and Alex Karalexis, without a doubt. These two came out fighting for their UFC lives and it showed. In the first round Florian came out strong with an impressive Muay Thai attack, contrary to his jiu-jitsu background. Karalexis was throwing back just as vehemently, but about midway through the round Florian staggered Karalexis with a round kick to the ribs. He moved in quickly but, despite landing a couple of knees to the same ribs, Karalexis was able to recover and came on strong towards the end of the round. The entire first stanza was spent with the two trading shots, despite both being known as grapplers, with the edge going to Florian.
Contrary to the first round, Florian came out and immediately looked to take the fight to the ground in the second round, which he did briefly. Karalexis stood the fight right back up, though, and started to take command with his strong attack of uppercuts and boxing combinations. As the round wore on it appeared that Karalexis was well in control and on his way to putting Florian down. But as Florian was standing with his back to the cage he unleashed a well-timed forearm that opened a deep gash across Karalexis’s nose. As the two separated, the referee had the doctor check the cut and the fight was immediately waived off, as the cut was extremely deep and appeared to be splitting in the direction of Karalexis’s eye.
An amazing fight, with both fighters swinging for the fences and neither willing to back down. Kenny Florian came out on top, but this is a fight that would be worthy of a rematch.
The bout that kicked off the evening was one of two that had no ties to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ series. Drew Fickett made his return to the ring after losing to Nick Diaz in his UFC debut. His opponent, Josh Neer, stepped up to the big show for the first time after a long amateur career and a solid start as a professional.
Fickett looked a lot more comfortable than he had against Diaz and it showed in his performance in the fight. Neer, on the other hand, looked like the rookie that he was. Fickett immediately took the fight to the ground and landed in Neer’s guard. As Neer worked his way back up to standing, Fickett took his back and slapped on a rear naked choke. The choke seemed to be more around his jaw for the longest time, but after a few moments Neer fell to the ground with Fickett still attached. After a few seconds of Neer lying limp with his opponent’s arm around his neck, referee Steve Mazzagatti finally stepped in to end the bout.
Overall, Ultimate Fight Night was one of building experience for many of the fighters from the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. In this aspect it was definitely a successful night, as every competitor from the reality series that stepped in against UFC veterans won their fights, though most weren’t matched against the cream of the crop. Now it will be time for those fighters, like Forrest Griffin against Ian Freeman, to step up and face the more established contenders of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Full Results
Nathan Marquardt def Ivan Salaverry by Unanimous Decision
Chris Leben def Patrick Cote by Split Decision
Stephan Bonnar def Sam Hoger by Unanimous Decision
Nate Quarry def Pete Sell by TKO at 0:14 of R1
Josh Koscheck def Pete Spratt by Rear Naked Choke at 1:53 of R1
Mike Swick def Gideon Ray by KO at 0:22 of R1
Kenny Florian def Alex Karalexis by TKO at 2:52 of R2
Drew Fickett def Josh Neer by Rear Naked Choke at 1:35 of R1
