Thursday
Sep132007
UFC 75 - Champion v's Champion
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 10:32PM
Well this weekend was the card I had been waiting for - UFC 75 in London at the O2 arena.
This card had a lot going for it. Not only was their the title unification match between Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson but there was also there return of Cro Cop following his defeat at the hands of Gabriel Gonzaga. On paper this looked to be an amazing card.
Jackson v's Henderson
Jackson had defeated Chuck Liddell in under 5 minutes to win his belt. This just blew people away, Liddell had been undefeated for so long no one thought that he could loose. This was, after all, the man that had managed to beat Randy Couture time and time again with seeming eeze. We all knew that Jackson was strong but his knock out of Liddell had caught everyone out.
Henderson was the Pride Joint champion and had managed to knock out the The Axe Murderer in his last fight. This fight meant that Henderson was now the only man to hold both the middleweight and welterweight titles in the organization. Whats more is that he won these title in exciting matches where he knocked out his opponents. It seemed that although he had once upon a time earned the moniker of Decision Dan (something that seemed to really upset him, somewhat understandably) he was back fighting in a way that entertained the crowds
It is not clear whether a lot of the fans new just who Dan Henderson was and what he had achieved in Pride. The UFC seemed to have decided to not market Henderson, which was a mistake. A lot of the new UFC fans tend to be biased towards what they have learnt from TUF and Dan Henderson has never been metioned there. In fact if you have not seen anything from Pride then you will not know a lot, if anything, about Henderson. This being the case how will the fans be hyped for the match - they could only base it on what they had seen in the teasers for the fight.
While Rampage made him self the new golden boy of the UFC with his knock out of Liddell and his outgoing larger than lifer personality, Henderson had no opportunity to do this. If you look at the first time the Henderson was introduced to the Fans then the one thing you will see is that it is the Rampage show all over again. This is not because Rampage was trying to steel the lime light, it is jsut the way he is.
Both Rampage and Henderson can be explosive fighters and there was a lot of excitement around the match. As fighters they share a lot of the same strengths and there were high hopes for a corking stand up match. There were questions about who had the strongest chin and would the UFC crowd see one of the fames Rampage Slams. Unfortunately by the end of the 5 rounds some fans were left disappointed.
The match started out well with Jackson throwing a lot of big punches at Henderson, managing to rock him a couple of times. The fight them went to the ground and people got a chance to see Jacksons Ju Jitsu. Unfortunately the ground game was a little slow and as there were two really strong fighters. These guys were not going to transition continually from submission to submission. A lot fo the crowd spent the duration of the fight calling on the ref to stand the fighters up, but they fairly quickly ended up back on the ground.
Looking over the fight it was a close run thing with both Jackson and Henderson trying to submit or knock out the oponent, but the crowd just did not seem to be in to it. Rampage was awarded the decision by the judges, and I think it was the right decision for them to make, but the fight left the crowd wanting more, which was a shame as this was the last fight of the night and for a lot of people that will be the one thing that they will take away.
Cro Cop v's Congo
People were also kind of excited about the return of Cro Cop. He was down to fight Chieck Congo, a guy with good stand up - another stand and brawl match which fans just love.
In every fight Congo has shown fairly solid stand up and a weaker ground game. Cro Cop is the big I am, the guy that people want to beat. It was widely reported that Cro cop is having an outstanding contract anf d the hype that followed him had everyone waiting to see what would happen in this second fight
The answer it turned out was that no a lot would happen in the course of the match. Cro cop just did not look like the man we expected to see. He seemed tentative at best throughout the fight and when Congo managed to take him down he just could not answer.
Congo again won the decision and there was a lot of debate about whether or not this was it for Cro cop - was the man done. I guess time will tell but he is not going to draw in the crowds based on his last two performances, and do we believe that he could beat Couture - well just now - not so much
Bisping v's Hamill
Billed as the TUF final that you did not see (due to Hamill being injured) this was the fight that a lot of people were most excited about. The general consensus was that this would be a short and dramatic match with Bisping dominating the whole thing.
There was a really pleasant surprise for the fans where a much improved Hamill really pushed Bisping. I do not know if Bisping had not filly prepared for the match, or thought that Hamill would be a walk over, but he did not look like he was ready for the fight.
Hamill has improved on his stand up and as usual his wrestling skills were top class. It really was a close run thing with Bisping getting the judges decision (although there was some strange scoring from 1 judge). I think that the home crowd were not that impressed with Bispings performance but it was still a tiop fight.
Alexander v's Sakara
This was a match where I was not sure what would happen I mean we had seen Sakara knock people out but would this be the case this time. I will be honest and say that this was not a fight I was excited about, but it really should have been. Alexander showed that he could take a blow as Sakara connected with a few good shots. The back and forth did not last all that long as Alexander ended the match with a great knee to the head which ended the fight by KO.
Davis v's Taylor
When Marcus Davis left the TUF series you would have been forgiven for thinking that would have been it for him. Turns out that we would all have been wrong as Davis has been working his way through his fights, winning them all successfully.
This match had people on their feet from the bell ringing. The fight moved from stand up to the ground and back again keeping everyone going. Taylor was the home boy favorite but he was eventually overcome by Davis who managed to submit the home boy by arm bar. A cracking fast paced fight which warmed everyone up
Jess Liaudin v's Anthony Torres
Liaudin was down as the home favorite (despite being French) and he did not disappoint the fans. Again this was another fast paced match where there was cracking stand up which resulted in a Torres being knocked out. It was a shame that this one was not televised as it was a great fight
Also on the card Dennis Siver defeated Naoyuki Kotani via KO and Thiago Silva defeated Tomasz Drwal via TKO.
All in all this was a great card with a lot of the under card fights being a lot more exciting than some of the title bouts and the fans were on top form (despite the a lot of booing from when they did not like the speed of the fight
This card had a lot going for it. Not only was their the title unification match between Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson but there was also there return of Cro Cop following his defeat at the hands of Gabriel Gonzaga. On paper this looked to be an amazing card.
Jackson v's Henderson
Jackson had defeated Chuck Liddell in under 5 minutes to win his belt. This just blew people away, Liddell had been undefeated for so long no one thought that he could loose. This was, after all, the man that had managed to beat Randy Couture time and time again with seeming eeze. We all knew that Jackson was strong but his knock out of Liddell had caught everyone out.
Henderson was the Pride Joint champion and had managed to knock out the The Axe Murderer in his last fight. This fight meant that Henderson was now the only man to hold both the middleweight and welterweight titles in the organization. Whats more is that he won these title in exciting matches where he knocked out his opponents. It seemed that although he had once upon a time earned the moniker of Decision Dan (something that seemed to really upset him, somewhat understandably) he was back fighting in a way that entertained the crowds
It is not clear whether a lot of the fans new just who Dan Henderson was and what he had achieved in Pride. The UFC seemed to have decided to not market Henderson, which was a mistake. A lot of the new UFC fans tend to be biased towards what they have learnt from TUF and Dan Henderson has never been metioned there. In fact if you have not seen anything from Pride then you will not know a lot, if anything, about Henderson. This being the case how will the fans be hyped for the match - they could only base it on what they had seen in the teasers for the fight.
While Rampage made him self the new golden boy of the UFC with his knock out of Liddell and his outgoing larger than lifer personality, Henderson had no opportunity to do this. If you look at the first time the Henderson was introduced to the Fans then the one thing you will see is that it is the Rampage show all over again. This is not because Rampage was trying to steel the lime light, it is jsut the way he is.
Both Rampage and Henderson can be explosive fighters and there was a lot of excitement around the match. As fighters they share a lot of the same strengths and there were high hopes for a corking stand up match. There were questions about who had the strongest chin and would the UFC crowd see one of the fames Rampage Slams. Unfortunately by the end of the 5 rounds some fans were left disappointed.
The match started out well with Jackson throwing a lot of big punches at Henderson, managing to rock him a couple of times. The fight them went to the ground and people got a chance to see Jacksons Ju Jitsu. Unfortunately the ground game was a little slow and as there were two really strong fighters. These guys were not going to transition continually from submission to submission. A lot fo the crowd spent the duration of the fight calling on the ref to stand the fighters up, but they fairly quickly ended up back on the ground.
Looking over the fight it was a close run thing with both Jackson and Henderson trying to submit or knock out the oponent, but the crowd just did not seem to be in to it. Rampage was awarded the decision by the judges, and I think it was the right decision for them to make, but the fight left the crowd wanting more, which was a shame as this was the last fight of the night and for a lot of people that will be the one thing that they will take away.
Cro Cop v's Congo
People were also kind of excited about the return of Cro Cop. He was down to fight Chieck Congo, a guy with good stand up - another stand and brawl match which fans just love.
In every fight Congo has shown fairly solid stand up and a weaker ground game. Cro Cop is the big I am, the guy that people want to beat. It was widely reported that Cro cop is having an outstanding contract anf d the hype that followed him had everyone waiting to see what would happen in this second fight
The answer it turned out was that no a lot would happen in the course of the match. Cro cop just did not look like the man we expected to see. He seemed tentative at best throughout the fight and when Congo managed to take him down he just could not answer.
Congo again won the decision and there was a lot of debate about whether or not this was it for Cro cop - was the man done. I guess time will tell but he is not going to draw in the crowds based on his last two performances, and do we believe that he could beat Couture - well just now - not so much
Bisping v's Hamill
Billed as the TUF final that you did not see (due to Hamill being injured) this was the fight that a lot of people were most excited about. The general consensus was that this would be a short and dramatic match with Bisping dominating the whole thing.
There was a really pleasant surprise for the fans where a much improved Hamill really pushed Bisping. I do not know if Bisping had not filly prepared for the match, or thought that Hamill would be a walk over, but he did not look like he was ready for the fight.
Hamill has improved on his stand up and as usual his wrestling skills were top class. It really was a close run thing with Bisping getting the judges decision (although there was some strange scoring from 1 judge). I think that the home crowd were not that impressed with Bispings performance but it was still a tiop fight.
Alexander v's Sakara
This was a match where I was not sure what would happen I mean we had seen Sakara knock people out but would this be the case this time. I will be honest and say that this was not a fight I was excited about, but it really should have been. Alexander showed that he could take a blow as Sakara connected with a few good shots. The back and forth did not last all that long as Alexander ended the match with a great knee to the head which ended the fight by KO.
Davis v's Taylor
When Marcus Davis left the TUF series you would have been forgiven for thinking that would have been it for him. Turns out that we would all have been wrong as Davis has been working his way through his fights, winning them all successfully.
This match had people on their feet from the bell ringing. The fight moved from stand up to the ground and back again keeping everyone going. Taylor was the home boy favorite but he was eventually overcome by Davis who managed to submit the home boy by arm bar. A cracking fast paced fight which warmed everyone up
Jess Liaudin v's Anthony Torres
Liaudin was down as the home favorite (despite being French) and he did not disappoint the fans. Again this was another fast paced match where there was cracking stand up which resulted in a Torres being knocked out. It was a shame that this one was not televised as it was a great fight
Also on the card Dennis Siver defeated Naoyuki Kotani via KO and Thiago Silva defeated Tomasz Drwal via TKO.
All in all this was a great card with a lot of the under card fights being a lot more exciting than some of the title bouts and the fans were on top form (despite the a lot of booing from when they did not like the speed of the fight
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