Issue 158

September 2017

The UFC puts on a show in Vegas that had everything.

There were bigger, more lucrative and higher-profile events in 2008, but none topped this.

From start to finish, UFC 84 delivered. It was stacked with talent, big names and icons of MMA who lived up to the hype in a big way...

GORAN, SON

Back then, 205lb was a fantastic division and Goran Reljic was one of its top prospects.

Though he didn’t win another UFC fight – injuries didn’t help – his TKO victory after a back-and-forth battle with Wilson Gouveia was the best fight of an event full of great ones.

BAD BLOOD

When BJ Penn won the lightweight belt at UFC 80, he had just four words for his first challenger:

“Sean Sherk, you’re dead.” ‘The Prodigy’ was not impressed with ‘The Muscle Shark’s’ positive drug test, which led the UFC to strip him of the title.

He had his chance to win it back at MGM Grand Garden Arena, but the Hilo kid was just too good for him. He lit him up with boxing for three rounds, before folding him with a flying knee at the end of the third.

When the horn went, Penn paid no mind to referee Mario Yamasaki’s assessment of the challenger’s condition and waved the fight off himself, rushing over to smear some of his defeated foe’s blood on his hands and lick it off as part of his traditional celebration.

The fight was officially stopped a few seconds later.

CALM BEFORE STORM

“I’m going for the knockout, to beat him so fast,” said Wanderlei Silva in a tone usually reserved for ordering groceries rather than as a precursor to an assault on Keith Jardine.

The former Pride champion dropped ‘The Dean of Mean’, then held him by the throat as he punched him unconscious in 36 seconds.

‘The Axe Murderer’ at his vicious best.

WELL BEHAVED

When Rousimar Palhares arrived in the world’s biggest promotion, he didn’t have the reputation of a dangerous grappler who risked fighters’ careers by ignoring referees and cranking submissions too long.

He was just a slick submission artist, who beat pioneer Ivan Salaverry with a beautiful armbar.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE

Tito Ortiz thought his standup was better than Lyoto Machida’s, ‘The Dragon’ didn’t hit hard enough and his jiu-jitsu was just “OK”.

But the former champ couldn’t get near the elusive Brazilian, who hit him hard enough with a knee to drop him and grappled well enough to escape a desperate round-three triangle attempt.

ALSO PUTTING ON A SHOW AT UFC 84

• Before War Machine made headlines for the wrong reasons, he was a decent fighter. But his UFC run ended here after a loss to Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
• Dong Hyun Kim looked like a killer in his UFC debut. He used judo throws and nasty elbows to smash Brit Jason Tan.
• It didn’t take long for Shane Carwin to be in and out of his Octagon debut. His mouthpiece-removing KO of Christian Wellisch took just 44 seconds.