BloodyKnux
05-28-2007, 02:25 AM
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Mixed Martial Arts Chaos (otherwise known as MMAos) has reared it's ugly head yet again. In a year already infamous for its upsets and shocking victories, Zuffa's UFC 71 adds two more names to an ever expanding list of brutally defeated favorites. In the main event of the night, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson shocked a packed audience when he unseated the then current champ Chuck Liddell knocking him out a mere 1 minute and 53 seconds into the first round. While Jackson winning wasn't in and of itself that shocking as he did hold a win over 'The Iceman' from 2003, the manner in which he won certainly raised a few eyebrows (as well as several bodies from seats when a collective 'oh shit' went through the room I was watching the fight with several friends in). Liddell had been on a path of destruction through the light heavyweight division for some time now, dispatching almost all of his opponents with vicious knockouts which are, ironically, the same way his title reign of terror came to an end. I guess the old adage of 'live by the sword; die by the sword? still rings true. Whether Chuck didn't come properly prepared (rumors have abounded for some time that Chuck has been living the rock star life and partying hard and this may have finally caught up with him), he just got caught, or Rampage quite simply has his number, the fact remains that there's a new king atop the 205lb division and he looks ready to chew through anybody that tries and take his belt.
In the second upset of the night heavily favoured Keith Jardine was completely decimated by newcomer Houston Alexander in one of the quickest fights of the night. Jardine thought that he had hurt Alexander and pounced for the kill only to get bombarded with punches till he was finally knocked out. From the looks of it Jardine was out on his feet for about a good 30 seconds before a final hook to the jaw knocked out his mouthpiece and he went crashing face first to the floor. Jardine was coming off a fresh win to fellow TUF alumni Forrest Griffin and was so heavily favored to win that he had expressed displeasure at having to fight an unknown like Alexander. This fight just goes to prove that there is no such thing as a ?gimme? fight in MMA these days. Alexander looked very impressive in this fight and his combination of athleticism, strength, and pure aggression makes him someone to keep an eye on in the LHW division.
In what was undoubtedly the most exciting fight of the night Karo Parisyan showed Josh Burkman exactly why he is nicknamed 'The Heat'. This fight was truly a 3 round war with Karo constantly pouring on the pressure in what was mostly a standup battle. Burkman's ?swinging for the fences' style of fighting was having little effect on Parisyan as he either deftly avoided or blocked the majority of Burkman's offense while countering with his own. By the third round Josh was clearly running low on energy while Karo continued to push at him in an effort to finish the fight. While I think domination would be too strong of a word to describe Karo's win, it was quite obvious that he won every round. When Eddie Bravo remarked that he had given the third round to Burkman it made me wonder how much he had to smoke by that point, and when one of the judge?s scores showed the same I wondered if he had been sharing. This was a solid win for Karo and expect to see him in the title picture, especially since he is the last person to have defeated the current WW champ Matt Serra.
The under card also saw TUF 1 star and perennial red-headed stepchild Chris Leben face off against Kalib Starnes. This fight was a make or break fight as both fighters came into this match off of a loss, Leben having been choked out by Jason MacDonald while Starnes had just recently been pounded into paste by Japan's Yushin Okami. Due to the contrast of styles and attitudes this fight probably held the most amount of interest for me. Starnes is a vastly well-rounded and talented fighter but seems to fade quickly when presented with too much opposition while on the other end of the spectrum Chris Leben is a, for lack of a better word, ugly fighter whose chin, power and never-say-die attitude have more than made up for his lack of refinement and technique. Leben is the type of fighter that could be strapped to a gurney and still throwing haymakers. In this case skill trumped toughness, but not by a very large margin. Starnes fought defensively almost the entire fight and seemed to spend the last half of the second round just avoiding Leben?s gorilla punches. After a hard fought battle Starnes managed to squeak out a decision in a fight that really could've been scored as a draw as neither fighter really accomplished a lot.
Overall the card was very solid and enjoyable with really the only sour moment coming from Ivan Salaverry?s defeat at the hands of Terry Martin. In an interview before the fight Salaverry had gone on record that he was not really enthused to fight and felt that the UFC was not paying him for what he was worth. I've been a long time Ivan fan and still believe he's one of the most talented fighters at 185, but after his dismal performance against Martin I can't help but feel that whatever they were paying him was too much. Ivan started off well enough, using his mobility and quickness to frustrate Martin and pick away at him very reminiscent to the manner in which he defeated Art Santore at WFA?s King of the Streets event. However, this didn't last long as a clinch against the fence ended in Salaverry getting tossed onto his head and then hit with several hammerstrikes causing referee Mario Yamasaki to stop the fight. Upon watching the replay it appears that Salaverry did not strike his head very hard, and simply sat there waiting for the ref to stop the fight so he could get up, leave, and cash his paycheck. Salaverry's interview before the fight made it quite clear that he really had no interest in fighting in Zuffa's octagon and, after that fight, I can honestly say I have no desire to see him in there anymore either.
Not to be forgotten a very shocking and intriguing announcement was made by UFC President Dana White. Dan Henderson, the holder of Japan?s PrideFC?s LHW and MW world titles was ushered into the cage at the end of the night and declared as Rampage Jackson?s first title defense. This match up is highly compelling for one simple reason; how can a fighter say he is the #1 fighter in the world in his weight class when there?s another fighter on the other side of the ocean claiming the exact same thing? This question has long plagued fight fans and led to furious discussions on forums and message boards as to who is truly the best fighter, because in the end that?s the whole point of being the champ, to prove you are the undisputed best. For the most part those discussions were pure speculation but it appears now that we the fans may now start to actually see these ?dream matches? that we?ve long been drooling over.
All in all UFC 71 had everything you could ask for from a PPV event; a newly crowned champion, battles of attrition between modern day warriors, potential future stars getting their first day in the sun and an announcement that well might be the beginning of another milestone in the history of MMA.
- Tim "Gabriel" Miller (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=412)
Discuss UFC 71 here! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26882)
UFC 71 PBP here! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26878)
Mixed Martial Arts Chaos (otherwise known as MMAos) has reared it's ugly head yet again. In a year already infamous for its upsets and shocking victories, Zuffa's UFC 71 adds two more names to an ever expanding list of brutally defeated favorites. In the main event of the night, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson shocked a packed audience when he unseated the then current champ Chuck Liddell knocking him out a mere 1 minute and 53 seconds into the first round. While Jackson winning wasn't in and of itself that shocking as he did hold a win over 'The Iceman' from 2003, the manner in which he won certainly raised a few eyebrows (as well as several bodies from seats when a collective 'oh shit' went through the room I was watching the fight with several friends in). Liddell had been on a path of destruction through the light heavyweight division for some time now, dispatching almost all of his opponents with vicious knockouts which are, ironically, the same way his title reign of terror came to an end. I guess the old adage of 'live by the sword; die by the sword? still rings true. Whether Chuck didn't come properly prepared (rumors have abounded for some time that Chuck has been living the rock star life and partying hard and this may have finally caught up with him), he just got caught, or Rampage quite simply has his number, the fact remains that there's a new king atop the 205lb division and he looks ready to chew through anybody that tries and take his belt.
In the second upset of the night heavily favoured Keith Jardine was completely decimated by newcomer Houston Alexander in one of the quickest fights of the night. Jardine thought that he had hurt Alexander and pounced for the kill only to get bombarded with punches till he was finally knocked out. From the looks of it Jardine was out on his feet for about a good 30 seconds before a final hook to the jaw knocked out his mouthpiece and he went crashing face first to the floor. Jardine was coming off a fresh win to fellow TUF alumni Forrest Griffin and was so heavily favored to win that he had expressed displeasure at having to fight an unknown like Alexander. This fight just goes to prove that there is no such thing as a ?gimme? fight in MMA these days. Alexander looked very impressive in this fight and his combination of athleticism, strength, and pure aggression makes him someone to keep an eye on in the LHW division.
In what was undoubtedly the most exciting fight of the night Karo Parisyan showed Josh Burkman exactly why he is nicknamed 'The Heat'. This fight was truly a 3 round war with Karo constantly pouring on the pressure in what was mostly a standup battle. Burkman's ?swinging for the fences' style of fighting was having little effect on Parisyan as he either deftly avoided or blocked the majority of Burkman's offense while countering with his own. By the third round Josh was clearly running low on energy while Karo continued to push at him in an effort to finish the fight. While I think domination would be too strong of a word to describe Karo's win, it was quite obvious that he won every round. When Eddie Bravo remarked that he had given the third round to Burkman it made me wonder how much he had to smoke by that point, and when one of the judge?s scores showed the same I wondered if he had been sharing. This was a solid win for Karo and expect to see him in the title picture, especially since he is the last person to have defeated the current WW champ Matt Serra.
The under card also saw TUF 1 star and perennial red-headed stepchild Chris Leben face off against Kalib Starnes. This fight was a make or break fight as both fighters came into this match off of a loss, Leben having been choked out by Jason MacDonald while Starnes had just recently been pounded into paste by Japan's Yushin Okami. Due to the contrast of styles and attitudes this fight probably held the most amount of interest for me. Starnes is a vastly well-rounded and talented fighter but seems to fade quickly when presented with too much opposition while on the other end of the spectrum Chris Leben is a, for lack of a better word, ugly fighter whose chin, power and never-say-die attitude have more than made up for his lack of refinement and technique. Leben is the type of fighter that could be strapped to a gurney and still throwing haymakers. In this case skill trumped toughness, but not by a very large margin. Starnes fought defensively almost the entire fight and seemed to spend the last half of the second round just avoiding Leben?s gorilla punches. After a hard fought battle Starnes managed to squeak out a decision in a fight that really could've been scored as a draw as neither fighter really accomplished a lot.
Overall the card was very solid and enjoyable with really the only sour moment coming from Ivan Salaverry?s defeat at the hands of Terry Martin. In an interview before the fight Salaverry had gone on record that he was not really enthused to fight and felt that the UFC was not paying him for what he was worth. I've been a long time Ivan fan and still believe he's one of the most talented fighters at 185, but after his dismal performance against Martin I can't help but feel that whatever they were paying him was too much. Ivan started off well enough, using his mobility and quickness to frustrate Martin and pick away at him very reminiscent to the manner in which he defeated Art Santore at WFA?s King of the Streets event. However, this didn't last long as a clinch against the fence ended in Salaverry getting tossed onto his head and then hit with several hammerstrikes causing referee Mario Yamasaki to stop the fight. Upon watching the replay it appears that Salaverry did not strike his head very hard, and simply sat there waiting for the ref to stop the fight so he could get up, leave, and cash his paycheck. Salaverry's interview before the fight made it quite clear that he really had no interest in fighting in Zuffa's octagon and, after that fight, I can honestly say I have no desire to see him in there anymore either.
Not to be forgotten a very shocking and intriguing announcement was made by UFC President Dana White. Dan Henderson, the holder of Japan?s PrideFC?s LHW and MW world titles was ushered into the cage at the end of the night and declared as Rampage Jackson?s first title defense. This match up is highly compelling for one simple reason; how can a fighter say he is the #1 fighter in the world in his weight class when there?s another fighter on the other side of the ocean claiming the exact same thing? This question has long plagued fight fans and led to furious discussions on forums and message boards as to who is truly the best fighter, because in the end that?s the whole point of being the champ, to prove you are the undisputed best. For the most part those discussions were pure speculation but it appears now that we the fans may now start to actually see these ?dream matches? that we?ve long been drooling over.
All in all UFC 71 had everything you could ask for from a PPV event; a newly crowned champion, battles of attrition between modern day warriors, potential future stars getting their first day in the sun and an announcement that well might be the beginning of another milestone in the history of MMA.
- Tim "Gabriel" Miller (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/member.php?u=412)
Discuss UFC 71 here! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26882)
UFC 71 PBP here! (http://www.bloodyknux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26878)