History of the UFC 03.24.08: UFC XXXVI - Worlds Collide

Posted by Matt McEwen on 03.24.2008

"The Natural" puts his undefeated record and the heavyweight title on the line against the "Baby Faced Assassin", Frank Mir makes a statement, Matt Hughes steps up, Arlovski takes a nice nap and Pat Militech says goodbye. That's a full dance card....

It’s March 22, 2002, we’ve got over 7,500 people crammed into the MGM Grand Arena, and we’ve got two title fights on tap for the night. Looks promising, but as always, we’ll have to see how it plays out inside the Octagon.

I made mention of how many people were on hand for a reason. That much paid attendance equaled out to a nearly $900,000 gate, which, considering the amount of money that Zuffa was hemorrhaging at this point is nothing to sniff at. But, with the bigger gates, they were putting a lot back into the production side of the company, not to mention advertising, and were definitely not seeing the financial payoff to that investment yet.

Inside the cage, however, we have more or less modern MMA by this point in 2002 (the only real exception being the very vague elbow rules, but they’re still a pain today…) and the level of competition had risen to a very high standard.

At this point, the lightweight title was vacant as champion Jens Pulver had left over a contract dispute (remember what I said about hemorrhaging money?), but BJ Penn, Caol Uno and Din Thomas were still around to head up a strong division. The welterweight title was in the hands of Matt Hughes, who makes his first defense on this show against the always entertaining Hyato “Mach” Sakurai, and has a potential rematch against former champion Carlos Newton on the horizon should he win. The newly formed middleweight division was already on it’s second champ in Murilo Bustamante, but featured a strong crew of challengers headlined by Matt Lindland. The light heavyweight division was still in the grip of Tito Ortiz, but a certain “Iceman” was hot – or should I say cold – on his trail.

And finally, we have the heavyweights. Undefeated, two-time champion Randy Couture had turned away all the top heavyweights of the “middle era” of the UFC – Kevin Randleman, Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort, Maurice Smith – but now he’d have to fight a new breed. On this show, he defends against the 240+lbs, submission based but KO-powered Josh Barnett.

There’s your state of the business, state of the sport, and hype all rolled up in one. Now, on with the show….
Actually, just before we get to the show, there were two prelims not aired here. First, Sean Sherk (0-0)debuted as a welterweight and defeated Jutaro Nakao (0-0), while Matt Serra (1-1) choked out Kelly Dullanty (0-0) in a lightweight tilt.
For some reason, they open up with this over dramatic light show and voice over about the “world famous Octagon” before going to the now usual video opening. I’ll be glad if this is the only time they do that one.

Now, this is another one of those two hour edited versions, so all killer no filler again, and straight to the fights we go…

Light Heavyweights (186lbs to 205lbs)

Elvis Sinosic
(1-1, 6’3, 203lbs)
vs.
Evan Tanner
(4-1,6’, 198lbs)

Nate Quarry is in Tanner’s corner for this one as he has joined up with Team Quest to take his career to the next level.

They try to hype this up as being a close fight, but other than the reach and size advantage that Sinosec has, I see absolutely no advantage for him here.

Side note… the announce team for the night are the usual Mike Goldberg and Jeff Osbourne (can’t wait for Rogan to show up) and the special guest for the night is…Ricco Rodriguez. Skilled fighter, SHITTY color man. That’s all that I’ll say because if I pointed out every time he annoyed me here, I’d still be writing next Tuesday.

Round 1

Tanner’s game plan here is to close the distance and , in the fine tradition of his new mates in Team Quest, clinch and dirty box. Sinosec wants it on the ground, so he gives up the takedown to guard where he can work submissions. Unfortunately for him, Tanner can also work the ground and pound from there, and he opens up a huge cute on the Aussie’s forehead that ends the fight at about the two minute mark.

Quick win by Tanner that ended way too quickly to really show all that much. My only observation is that at 198lbs, Tanner REALLY needs to drop down to middleweight soon.

Middleweights

Pat Militech
(8-1, 5’10, 183lbs)
vs.
Matt Lindland
(3-0, 6’, 184lbs)

Militech moves up a weight class here, so we’ll see if he’s able to use all the skills he could at 170. He draws a hard card for this one though, as Lindland cuts a fair bit to get to 185 so you know the strength advantage goes to him. That being said, this could be a great fight.

Round 1

Lindland’s obvious plan is to get the fight on the ground, and he does that almost immediately. He even ends up in what looks like an attempted Boston Crab for a second before getting on top in ½ guard. He starts to ground and pound and mounts Militech rather easily. The former champ is covering up well and blocking most of the punches, but that’s all he is doing and the referees has to step in and stop the fight.

Surprisingly easy TKO victory for Lindland and a disappointing loss for Militech. He says as much after the fight, saying that he felt forced by management into moving up a weight class. Some discontent there? Oh yes.

This would end up being Militech’s last step inside the Octagon as a competitor, and ends one of the all time best Octagon careers. Nearly 2 ½ years as the welterweight champion, recognition as both the best all around fighter and trainer in MMA and the best record this side of Royce Gracie. Not bad, all in all. There’s only one other fight in the legend’s career than this one, as he fought Renzo Gracie in an IFL match up in 2006.
Before the welterweight title fight, a quick look at the welterweight top 5. We’ve got Hughes as the champion obviously, with Carlos Newton as the top contender, tonight’s challenger Sakurai in the two spot, Pat Militech is ranked third even though he just fought at 185, and last, but not least, we have Anderson Silva. Yes, THAT Anderson Silva.

Welterweight Title (156lbs to 170lbs)

Matt Hughes
(3-1, 5’9, 169lbs)
vs.
Hyato Sakurai
(0-0, 5’8, 170lbs)

This should be fun. Hughes is the archetype of the wrestling based MMA fighter at this point, while Sakurai is as exciting on his feet as anyone in the sport.

Round 1

Sakurai wants to be explosive and swing, but Hughes wants nothing to do with that, He spend the entire round either clinching Sakurai up against the fence, or ripping his feet out from under him. He doesn’t do much on top, and even gets restarted twice, but Hughes looks way too strong for Sakurai.

Hughes wins the round 10-9 and would have had it 10-8 if he did any damage on top.

Round 2

Straight to the ground again and Hughes has side control. He spends three minutes on top hitting elbows here and there with Sakurai pinned against the fence before ref Big John gets bored watching them and stands them up.
Sakurai lands a right that staggers Hughes, then follows up with a flying knee that lands but also allows him to hold on for the takedown and time to survive the round.

10-9 Hughes despite the knockdown, but it looks like Sakurai has some life left.

Round 3

Ok….here’s the round in a nutshell.

HUGE slam by Hughes. 3 minutes on top.

Stand up.

Takedown by Hughes. 90 seconds on top.

Stand up.

Takedown by Hughes. End of round.

10-9 for Hughes as he physically dominated Sakurai here.

Round 4

Hughes opens up a big Superman punch that shocks Sakurai as much as hurts them, then follows in for the takedown and ends up mounted with three minutes to go. With two minutes to go, the fight is over as Sakurai has no answer for Hughes.

Huge TKO win for Hughes as he steps up and stakes his claim as the best welterweight in the world.

Post fight, Carlos Newton is on hand to challenge Hughes, but let me just say this – Never let Newton near a mic. EVER.

Heavyweights

Andrei Arlovski
(1-1, 6’4, 242lbs)
vs.
Pedro Rizzo
(6-3,6’1, 237lbs)

Both guys come in off of big losses here, but this has the potential to be super fun. Then again, both guys are known for their counter punching and patience/reticence, so this may be really slow too.

Round 1

Straight MMA stand up to start. Actually, it’s mostly like Thai boxing as neither guy is looking for the takedown at all. Rizzo is getting the best of the round though as his leg kicks are as nasty as ever. Huge welts start to form on Arlovski’s thigh pretty quickly. They end the round mostly just staring and circling.

10-9 round for Rizzo off of those nasty leg kicks.

Round 2

They do nothing for the opening minute and the crowd starts to boo. That’s the highlight of the round.

Tough round to score when two counter punchers don’t punch, but Rizzo landed a few leg kicks, which I’ll give precedence over Arlovski controlling the pace. 10-9 Rizzo.

Round 3

This round is even slower than the last one until there’s 1:45 left in the round, when Rizzo lands a left right combo that results in the cleanest, highlight reelingest knock out I’ve ever seen.

Rizzo gets another non title KO and might get himself in line for a fourth title shot with KO’s like that.

A quick look at the top five heavyweights, headed up by champ Couture. After that, we’ve got current interim champ Nogueria, tonight’s challenger Barnett, former UFC champ Mark Coleman and Rizzo. Nice little discussion about PRIDE heavyweights ensues.

Heavyweight Title)

Randy Couture
(7-0, 6’1, 226lbs)
vs.
Josh Barnett
(3-1, 6’3, 243lbs)

Barnett is legitimately big heavyweight, so that might negate a bit of Couture’s strength in the clinch, and his ground skills might be a good match for the ground and pound. Let’s see…

Round 1
Couture wants it on the ground ASAP, but Barnett is able to use his size to stay up for a minute. He’s not that big though, so Couture does secure the takedown eventually. Couture postures up and lands a few punches, but Barnett is very active in trying to position himself for submission attempts. After some nice exchanges on the ground, Couture ends up in side control before Barnett scrambles up, only to be caught in a guillotine attempt. Barnett pulls free and Couture finishes off the round in the clinch with some dirty boxing.

God Damn…THAT is how you start off a title fight! 10=9 couture, but Barnett really put a lot into the sub attempts.

Round 2
It worked in the first, so Couture goes straight back to the clinch. He drops for a double and gets the takedown and mounts. He doesn’t do a lot of damage and Barnett works his way back to full guard and then reverses to taking Couture’s back. That’s a hell of a transition. Couture rolls to his back but Barnett stays on top and pounds away. He punishes Couture with elbows and punches in a way I’ve never seen Couture beaten before, until McCarthy steps in to stop the fight.

Barnett wins the fight and the title in a hell of a showing. Couture, classy as always, straps the belt around the new champs waist.

Now, for the problem with Barnett winning. They always mention how Barnett has been remaking his body, and in the post fight drug test, they find out why. After testing positive for steroids, Barnett disputed the results of the test and left the promotion.

A bit of time to kill now, so back to the prelims for…
Heavyweights (205lbs to 265lbs)

Frank Mir
(1-0)
vs.
Pete Williams
(3-4)

Jeesh…they even edited out the tale of the tape on this one. OH well….Mir is big and young, Williams is skinnier and brokener…

Round 1

Mir’s stand up looks great to start as he lands a high kick and a few punches before he jumps up and pulls guard. On the ground, Mir isolates Williams right arm and locks in a shoulder crank that finishes the fight in 40 seconds.

Mir wastes no time in winning, launching him into title contention and sending Williams into retirement.

The 411: Well, it's a pretty good show, and pretty historically significant, but if Zuffa was happy when this show was over, I'd be shocked. For the second straight show, the winner of the main event leaves the promotion and vacates their title. That's not good. ON top of that, and all time legend gets disgruntled and splits, Rizzo remains the challenger that just won't go away and Elvis Sinosec gets wiped out of any semblance of relevance. If wasn't for Matt Hughes proving he's top of the food chain at 170lbs, this would be a total loss for them. As it is, I guess you'd say "Artistic triumph, business debacle."

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]