Black Tiger MMA Review: UFC Hits Vol. 2

Posted by Mike Campbell on 02.22.2010

Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock!



UFC HITS VOLUME 2

This DVD is a compilation that was released when SEG still ran the UFC. It doesn’t seem to have any sort of running theme a la Ultimate Knockouts, Ultimate Comebacks, Best of Fight Night Live, etc. it looks like it’s just your run of the mill ‘best bouts’ sort of collection. Sadly, not all of the fights are shown in complete form.

TANK ABBOTT vs. HUGO DUARTE (UFC 17)
As expected, Tank goes right for the KO with the heavy leather. Duarte tries to surprise Tank with a choke and then an armbar, but Tanks slips out and winds up having Duarte in a back mount. Tank starts hammering Duarte and it’s over just like that.

MARK COLEMAN vs. PETE WILLIAMS (UFC 17)
We jump ahead to the end of regulation time and into the beginning of OT. Williams literally marches right across the Octagon and tries to corner Coleman, Williams throws a couple of leg kicks and jabs and smartly sprawls when Coleman shoots in for the takedown. As Coleman gets up Williams hits a knee to the face, and then hits a brutal high kick to the face and KO’s the first UFC Heavyweight Champion.

VITOR BELFORT vs. WANDERLEI SILVA (Ultimate Brazil)
They dance to start off, both of them throwing cautious jabs at one another. Silva throws a jab and leaves himself open for a shot, and Belfort takes advantage and pelts Silva with punches to the face and Big John stops the fight. All things considered, I’d say Silva rebounded just fine from this loss.

TANK ABBOTT vs. PEDRO RIZZO (Ultimate Brazil)
Tank comes rushing out like a bull throwing his heavy leather, but Rizzo isn’t deterred at all and actually fires back and knocks Tank down and tries to finish him off quickly. Tank recovers and gets to his feet, Tank is already breathing heavy as they dance a bit with both of them swinging, and Rizzo hitting a lot more than Tank (although Tank does open Rizzo’s eye up a bit). Then we jump ahead toward the end of the fight with Rizzo stunning Tank with a leg kick and then winning by KO with a single punch.

TITO ORTIZ vs. JEREMY BOHLANDER (UFC 18)
We start off towards the end, after they’d been apparently stood up or the fight restarted, Ortiz and Bohlander go to the ground and Tito gets him in a half guard. Jeremy tries to escape with punches, but Tito keeps the gap closed so Bohlander can’t maneuver too much, and he throws his own shots at Bohlander. The regulation time ends and they go into OT, once again, Tito takes him down and they go into half guard, they go back to the striking, and Tito winds up opening up Bohlander’s eye with a forearm shot. They stop the fight to have Bohlander’s cut looked at and the fight is stopped. This is a somewhat notable fight for being the beginning of the Ortiz/Shamrock feud (Bohlander was a Lion’s Den fighter) but, despite Tito’s t-shirt, he gives Bohlander respect.

BAS RUTTEN vs. TSUYOSHI KOSAKA (UFC 18)
This is joined in progress with them dancing around, Rutten hits a big kick to the inside leg. It might have even been a bit low, since he appears to apologize to TK. Not really a whole lot else goes on during regulation, TK tries to shoot in and take Rutten down, but he’s able to block the takedown. Regulation ends and they go into OT and it’s more of the same for a bit, with them dancing and looking for the right opening, Rutten gets the opening first and stuns TK with a knee to the head, Rutten pounds away on TK until Big John calls it off.

TITO ORTIZ vs. GUY MEZGER (UFC 19)
This is rather famous fight, more for the aftermath than the fight itself. We’re once again joined in progress with Ortiz in Mezger’s guard fighting off a keylock. Ortiz breaks the hold, and frees himself from the guard. Ortiz tries to take down Mezger, but can’t get him all the way down, and he throws a few knees into his body. Ortiz continues to throw punches and elbows, and Big John finally steps in and ends the fight. Ken Shamrock argues with him, claiming that Ortiz’s strikes weren’t hard enough to warrant the stoppage, and Big John explains that Guy wasn’t intelligently defending himself (which is true, he wasn’t even trying to stop Ortiz). Ortiz puts on a shirt saying “Gay Mezger Is My Bitch” and flips off the Lion’s Den. During the replay you can hear Shamrock yelling at Tito about the shirt, and when they come back to live action, Ortiz is right in his face until McCarthy separates them. And the rest, as they say, is history.

PEDRO RIZZO vs. TRA TELLIGMAN (UFC 20)
They come out dancing a bit, and Rizzo hits a leg kick. Telligman tries to charge in with strikes, and, like the Abbott fight, Rizzo is undaunted and he hands the fists right back. Back to their feet and they go back to dancing and trying for punches and leg kicks, Telligman goes down at one point, and Rizzo steps back and lets him get up. They size each other up again, and the Rizzo hits a big right to the jaw that takes down Telligman and Big John stops it.

EUGENE JACKSON vs. ROYCE ALGER (UFC 21)
They start with Alger trying to take Jackson down, but Jackson showing some good takedown defense and staying on his feet. Alger backs Jackson into the fence and hits a few punches to stun him and then manages to take Jackson to the mat and into the full mount. Alger first tries for a keylock, but can’t correctly apply it, so he switches to straight up ground and pound. Jackson lands a few shots as well, but nothing very effective. Jackson manages to avoid a punch and get Alger off of him. Back on their feet, Alger shoots in again and Jackson blocks it and then stuns him with a knee (almost a kick) to the head. The round ends with clearly looking tired out.

The second round is more of the same, with Alger determined to fall back on his wrestling skills and Jackson’s own skills and superior conditioning keeping Alger from having much success. Alger gets a sloppy takedown, which Jackson easily recovers from, and Jackson unloads a big shot for the KO.

BRAD KOHLER vs. STEVE JUDSON (UFC 22)
They come out with dancing around a bit, Kohler gets a double leg takedown and gets a front headlock. Kohler lets Judson out and hits a big punch square on the jaw and Judson is out like a light.

TITO ORTIZ vs. FRANK SHAMROCK (UFC 22)
Shamrock tries to go to the ground, but Tito tries to keep them standing, Frank does get them to the ground, but Tito manages to get in some shots anyway. Frank tries for an armbar, but Tito escapes it and winds up in the top position and tries to ground and pound. Shamrock tries to slip away, and Tito presses him, and Shamrock winds up pressed against the fence. Tito keeps trying to unload on him, but Frank does a good job of defending himself and the round ends. It started off looking hot and heavy, but then cooled down a bit, still pretty good though.

Shamrock hits a low kick and then a high kick, and Ortiz takes him to the ground. Shamrock gets a half guard and then a full guard, which stops Tito’s ground and pound. Tito tries several times to pass the guard and unleash the strikes, but Shamrock keeps him at bay. Toward the end, Shamrock catches Tito in a front neck lock and then goes for the guillotine choke, but the round ends before he can sink it in. The round itself doesn’t read very interesting, but it was a blast to watch.

The third round starts with them going back to the ground, with Tito trying for a headlock, but not having it applied all the way, his corner yells for him to drop his shoulder and close the gap more. Tito lands a few hard shots to Frank’s head, and Frank wiggles free and catches Tito in his guard. Tito tries for the ground and pound again, and Shamrock avoids the blows and gets to his feet. They trade a few crazy shots and Tito takes Frank back to the ground and Frank gets Tito in his guard again and makes sure to keep very little space so Tito can’t unload. Frank also tries to keep Tito’s arm trapped and hits some punches to the side of the head.

Round four (the first a UFC fight had gone to a fourth round) is almost completely fought on their feet. Ortiz tries for a jab, and Shamrock connects with leg kicks and it’s clear that Tito is running out of gas fast. Shamrock lands a right and Ortiz shoots in and takes him down. Shamrock gets him in a guard and lands some more punches to the head, Oritz breaks the guard and starts to throw 12-6 elbows, but they all miss. Shamrock reverses and they get to their feet where Shamrock unloads with punches. Tito tries to shoot in, but Shamrock blocks and gets a front choke, Tito escapes the choke and Shamrock unloads with hammer fists and Ortiz taps out. Mike Goldberg’s voice over said that this has been praised as the best fight in the history of the UFC. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s definitely up there, I can’t believe this didn’t make the Ultimate 100 countdown.

EUGENE JACKSON vs. KEIICHIRO YAMAMIYA
There isn’t a whole lot that happens during the first round, it’s a lot of them sizing each other up and throwing cautious jabs at one another. But, by no means is it boring, because both fighters keep moving and stay active, and it’s clear that they’re both looking for the right time to strike. Mike Goldberg explains that Yamamiya is a southpaw, which explains Jackson’s caution in going right at him. Jackson seems slip on a kick attempt and Yamamiya hits a punch that sends Jackson down, they get into a clinch for a bit and then separate. They go back to their sizing up of each other. They both land a few shots, but nothing that does any real damage.

The second rounds starts off looking like the first round for the first minute or so, and then both fighters turn up the heat and throw some heavy leather. Neither especially does any damage, and they even acknowledge it by smiling and touching gloves. Jackson stuns Yamamiya with a leg kick followed by a right punch. They clinch up and Jackson lands some shots to the ribs as time runs out.

The third round isn’t all that different from the previous rounds. Both fighter are more aggressive, but still show some caution. Yamamiya is clearly tired, and Jackson gets the better of most of their exchanges. Then, out of nowhere, Jackson lands a short left out of nowhere (I actually had to rewind twice to see it) that knocks Yamamiya out.

The 411: It's a bit of a buzzkill that there's really only three fights of any real length shown in full. This isn't bad in a cliff notes of UFC history sort of way, but almost every single fight is available, shown in full, on the home video release of the corresponding event.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]