History of the UFC 03.17.08: UFC XXXV - Throwdown

Posted by Matt McEwen on 03.17.2008

BJ Penn continues his surge toward the lightweight title while Jens Pulver tries to hold him off, Dave Menne makes his first middleweight title defense, the heavyweight title picture comes into a bit more focus, and the Iceman cometh. All these fighters and more Throwdown...

The UFC and the mixed martial arts world rang in the new year of 2002 by leaving their new homestead of Las Vegas and heading back east, this time to the Mohegan Sun Casino and Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. It’s January 11th 2002, and Zuffa kicks off it’s second year of Octagon ownership with Throwdown, which will feature the debut of the Red Devil Fight Club, Dave Menne’s first middleweight title defense, BJ Penn’s first title shot along with the continuing marches to a title shot for both Chuck Liddell and Ricco Rodriguez. Not a bad show on paper, so let’s see how it goes in the cage….

First up, let me tell you my copy for this event – and the next few to come – are edited versions of the PPV broadcast that you could refer to as “all killer, no filler.” No extraneous chitchat, just the fights. Not such a bad deal really.

Before the show, there were three prelim fights, each featuring at least one fighter of some note. First up, Eugene Jackson (2-3) defeated Keith Rockel (0-0) by submission to a choke in the second round, while former middleweight championship challenger Gil Castillo (0-1) got his first win in the Octagon by taking a decision over Chris Brennan (0-0), and Kevin Randleman (3-3) made his final UFC appearance, defeating Renato “Babulu” Sobral (1-0), also by decision.

As for the televised portion of the card, we’ve got a three headed announcing crew with the usual Mike Goldberg, the short term Jeff Osbourne and, making his announcing debut but sounding just as good as he always does, current (both in the past and present tense) UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture. Like I said, not a lot of filler, so we’re on to the first fight of the night.

Middleweights (171lbs to 185lbs)

Ricardo Almeida
(1-1, 6’, 185lbs)

vs.

Andrei Semenov
(0-0, 6’, 183lbs)

Only two observations before the fight – Semenov might be a bit small for the middleweight division at this point, and Almeida makes a stupid looking red head.

OH..one other thing…Semenov is a member of the famed Red Devil Sport Club, which is, of course, the home of Fedor Emilianko among others. It would appear the UFC was striking up a relationship with them at the time, as the next fight will feature a teammate of Semenov.
Round 1

Almeida comes out aggressively with crisp, explosive striking. His kicks look particularly dangerous. Not the start you expect from a Gracie Jiu Jitsu black belt.. His plan isn’t to stand the entire fight though, as he takes Semenov to the ground in spite of some good take down defense by the Russian. Not a lot of damage done, and Semenov is able to get to his feet against the cage, only to have Almeida pull guard and take the fight to the ground again. He looks more dangerous on his back than he did on top as he lands a nice upkick and looks for an armbar. He doesn’t cinch it in, but he ends up tying the Russian up into a pretzel. Semenov does a good job of defending the various submissions being thrown at him.

They get back to their feet, where Almeida lands a nice knee, which he shoots behind. Semenov counters with a nasty judo throw though, and it looks like Almeida has busted his mouth up a bit as the round comes to an end.

10-9 for Almeida, but it was pretty close. Very entertaining opening round.

Round 2
Almeida comes out striking again, and uses that as an opening to jump into his guard and try a submission. Semenov shows his good defense again and works out of Almeida’s guard for a second before standing back up. He drops Almeida with a nice right hand and gets aggressive, but Almeida weathers the storm and throws up an armbar. Escape by Semenov. Transitions beautifully to a kneebar. Escape by Semenov. Slides to a heel hook. Another escape by Semenov, and back to his feet this time. One big right hand by Semenov later, and the fight is over.

Big KO win by Semenov in a great opening fight. That was pretty bloody fun. Nice debut by Semenov, and a good showing by Almeida as well, but this would be his last fight in the UFC until this past February. He’d have a few fights in PRIDE, then go into a 3-year retirement before his recent comeback.

Light Heavyweights (186lbs to 205lbs)

Chuck Liddell
(5-1, 6’2, 205lbs)

vs.

Amar Suloev
(0-0, 5’9, 197lbs)

Liddell comes into the fight looking in great shape – NO BEER BELLY!!! He’s a naturally much bigger guy than Suloev, with a 4 inch height advantage translating to a big reach advantage and at just 197 lbs, the Russian is giving up at least 10lbs by the time they walk into the cage.

Round 1

We get classic Counter Chuck to start the fight, with some very nice leg kicks mixed in for painful flavouring. He uses his reach advantage to tag Suloev from a distance, then move in for the kill once he’s hurt a bit. After a warm start, they settle down and Liddell’s leg kicks are the biggest weapon throughout the remainder of the round, until Suloev lands a left hand that opens up a small cut under Liddell’s right eye.
Cut or no cut, it’s a 10-9 round for Liddell.

Round 2

Liddell looks pretty comfortable with using the leg kick essentially as a jab, and that results in two things. The first is taunting by Suloev as he tries to anger Liddell into cutting the distance and making the fight a brawl, and secondly, a slow paced round when Liddell doesn’t take the bait. Liddell eventually targets in with some right hands, and lands a few, but Suloev uses very good head movement to avoid the worst of it. They close out the round each looking for the big shot, but neither finds.
Right after the end of the round, Suloev lands a front kick to the chest of Liddell, who is momentarily PISSED, before he pats the Russian on the head and goes to his corner.

10-9 Liddell again as he landed more, and used his reach to dictate the pace and place of the fight.

Round 3

Just read my round two write up again, and then add a booing crowd. Again, the leg kicks by Liddell are the only real blows landed.

10-9 for Liddell for a 30-27 victory in my book.

The Judges see it the same way, giving Liddell the unanimous decision victory. He says he is ready for a title fight, and the (sometimes painful) patience shown here might be a good way to win, but a bad way to get to a main event, even in 2002.

Middleweight Title (171lbs to 185lbs)

Dave Menne
(2-0, 5’11, 183lbs)

vs.

Murillo Bustamante
(1-1, 6’1, 182lbs)

I don’t know how many people will agree with me on this, but god damn if Menne doesn’t look Danger Ehrin’s (of Jackass fame) big brother. Go have a look for yourself and let me know.

As for the fight, Bustamante is moving down from 205 where he lost a boring decision to Liddell in his last fight, yet somehow still manages to come in 3 pound under the weight limit. We’ll see if the cut will be a big factor, or if he’s just going to be too strong for Menne.

Round 1

Bustamante wants to shoot early on, but they end up in the clinch against the cage for a while before he succeeds. He takes Menne’s back for a second, but Menne pulls a nice reversal and ends up on top. Not much work on top, but Menne is able to pull free of Bustamante and get back up. They end up in the clinch against the fence again, where Menne closes out the round with a nice forearm to the face. Now, just for the record, every time I say “Forearm”, I really mean “elbow.” You see, elbows are illegal, but forearms are ok, so everyone just calls everything short of a flying elbow drop a forearm.

10-9 Bustamante when I watched it, but it was close, and my write up makes me think it might have been Menne’s round. Oh well.

Round 2

About 40 seconds into the round, Bustamante lands a big right hand, then steps in to pound a fallen Menne until Big John steps in to stop the fight.

Bustamante is the new champ with a sweet KO win.

Post fight, Menne says he was thinking about what to do next and just go caught, while Bustamante is pretty stoked that he won by KO, let alone for a title.

Heavyweights (205lbs to 265lbs)

Ricco Rodriguez
(2-0, 6’3, 239lbs)

vs.

Jeff Monson
(1-1, 5’9, 229lbs)

Interesting match up here, as Rodriguez looks to continue his hot streak and solidify his position as a title contender, while Monson returns to heavyweight as a more muscular, tattooed competitor.

Round 1

Rodriguez comes with a flying knee, but ends up being taken down for his troubles. Monson doesn’t do much other than get a body lock, which allows Rodriguez to get back on his feet. They end up clinched before Rodriguez controls the next takedown and moves into side control before Monson scrambles up. They clinch again, this time with Rodriguez landing knees before scoring another takedown and landing elbows…..oh, I’m sorry, FOREARMS. He rolls for an armbar at the end of the round, but with his back against the fence he can’t get the extension needed for it to work

Easily a 10-9 round for Rodriguez.

Round 2

Rodriguez tries the flying knee again, but Monson avoids and clinches up against the fence. Rodriguez turns off the cage, and moves the clinch to the center and scores the takedown. He does a crazy cartwheel pass into side control, but Monson is able to get to his feet and we get a break in the action to replace Monson’s mouthpiece. With just a few seconds left in the round, Rodriguez lands a head kick as an exclamation point.

10-9 Rodriguez as Monson looks tired and kind of confused as to what to do with Rodriguez.

Round 3

Rodriguez comes out punching instead of flying this time and then scores a takedown. He lands some nice posted elb…forearms and passes to side control. He lands some knees to the body before they get back up. Clinched against the fence, and Monson starts looking for the big shot to pull out the win, which is certainly not his forte. Rodriguez lands a big knee that drops Monson, composes himself, goes in for the kill and pounds out a good stoppage.

Big TKO win for Rodriguez as he moves himself solidly into contender status for the heavyweight title along side Josh Barnett. This is the last time Monson steps into the Octagon for over 4 years, as he moves onto smaller shows to rebuild his game.

Lightweight Title (146lbs to 155lbs)

Jens Pulver
(4-0-1, 5’7, 152lbs)

vs.

BJ Penn
(3-0, 5’9, 153lbs)

Here’s the big one we’ve been building to ever since Penn debuted. He’s been thought of as the best in the division – belt or no belt – since he debuted, and that definitely has rankled Pulver, who is undefeated and has the belt that says HE is the best.

Penn is a 3-1 favourite, and I don’t remember anyone giving Pulver even that much of a chance.

Round 1

Penn scores the early takedown, and is in Pulver’s guard. Looks like his game plan is to avoid Pulver’s nasty left hook by keeping the fight grounded. Unfortunately for that game plan, Pulver’s ground defense looks good, and after some scrambling actually ends up slamming Penn to the mat and works from the top. The only striking in that position is rabbit punches from the bottom by Penn though, and we get a stand up.

On their feet again, Penn gets the better of it for a bit before pulling guar. Not much action on the ground as the round ends.

10-9 for Penn as he landed more, if not better, strikes.

Round 2

Penn come out and gets aggressive with his stand up, then comes in behind that with a takedown. Pulver lands a nice “forearm” form the bottom, and beyond that, it’s a stalemate on the ground again. Penn actually stands up to pass, but Pulver scrambles up for a second before being taken right back down. Penn mounts with over a minute and a half left, but can’t get through Pulver’s defense to do any damage until there is about 5 seconds left. He moves for an armbar, but can’t separate Pulver’s hands. He does so and lies back to pop his hips just as the round ends. Pulver actually taps, but the round was over. Dang…that was close.

10-9 for Pulver…maybe even 10-8 but I give Pulver credit for not taking much damage while stuck on the bottom that long. 20-18 Penn leads.

Round 3

Penn with the takedown to start the round, but Pulver sprawls this time and gets on top in ½ guard. Penn quickly gains full guard and nothing else of note happens and they get stood up with two minutes left. Penn with another takedown attempt, but again Pulver ends up on top. Some heel shots to Pulver’s thigh by Penn are the extent of his offense, and they stand up with 10 seconds and the round ends.

Tough round to score, but 10-9 Pulver for controlling on the ground. That’ll make it 29-28 for Penn moving into the championship rounds.

Round 4

An even exchange on their feet to start the round, then Pulver again reverses a Penn takedown attempt and lands a nice shot in Penn’s ½ guard. Nothing big after that, but Pulver does get a few shots in. On commentary, Couture points out that Penn has controlled the stand up exchanges and should stay there, as he hasn’t done much on the ground. I concur. Penn doesn’t though, and scores another takedown, only to have Pulver reverse him AGAIN. No more action to finish out the round.

10-9 for Pulver thanks to controlling on the ground again, making it all tied up at 38 heading into the final and – in my book – deciding round.

Round 5

NOW Penn decides to take Couture’s advice, and we get a stand up battle here. While no big shots are landing to start out, Penn is getting the better of it with his jab. That’s sums up the first 3 minutes of the round, but it’s the last two that decide the fight. Pulver suddenly finds the range on his vaunted left hand, and starts to make Penn pay for it. He comes up with four or five big shots and Penn just has no answer for it. One that lands hurts Penn, but Pulver takes a kick to the junk at the same time (entirely accidental), and Penn gets time to gather himself for the final 25 seconds or so. It makes no difference though, as Pulver lands a final left to close out the fight.

10-9 for Pulver to give him the fight 48-47, 3 rounds to 2, in my book.

Judges score the fight 48-45 (WTF???), 48-47, and 47-47, giving Pulver the surprising majority decision. Pulver won the fight, but how the hell do you score that 48-45??? That means he gave Pulver two 10-8 rounds out of probably the last three rounds…..and that’s just wrong. Period.

Either way, Penn is noticeably stunned/shaken that he lost. He really thought he was the best in the world and unbeatable, and while the decision was close, I’d imagine he would have been shocked even if he won it just because he didn’t destroy Pulver.

Pulver cries in his post fight interview and proclaims the cage to be “his.” Not for long though, as this would be his last fight under the UFC banner until 2006. A contract dispute with Zuffa made Pulver vacate the title and leave the promotion, as he would move on to fight in smaller shows for a few months before heading over to PRIDE with mixed results.

The 411: Not a bad show, but not a great one either. The best fight was the opener, and while there isn't an out and out bad fight on the show, nothing is overly exciting either. The main event is odd, as it maintains that "Big Fight" intensity and atmosphere even 6 years later, but by no means is an action packed fight either. Outside the fights themselves, a lot of the fighters on this show say good bye for a few years, chief among them being Jens Pulver, who's departure from the promotion sends the entire lightweight division - which was easily one of the highlights of Zuffa's first year of ownership - into a downward spiral. We'll see how they manage to come back from that next time.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]