History of the UFC 04.28.08: UFC XXXVIII - The Brawl at the Hall
Posted by Matt McEwen on 04.28.2008
The Octagon heads to the mother country for the first time and is headlined by a rematch of one of the most disputed title fights of all time.
Less than a month after the hastily put together UFC XXXVII.V (big thanks to Sergio once again), the Octagon headed to the United Kingdom for the first time on July 13th 2002 at the historic Royal Albert Hall – which looks FANTASTIC as a UFC venue – in London as we get UFC XXXVIII: The Brawl at the Hall.
The business plan here is obvious, if perhaps a bit simple-minded. MMA was in a bit of a stand still popularity wise in North America, so where better to look for new fans than boxing mad England? (Extra points to you if you said “Mexico” or “Canada”.) So, they packed up the Octagon, found a bunch of British fighters, and off we go to jolly olde England.
The card is headlined by the long awaited welterweight title rematch with champion Matt Hughes looking to prove his title victory over Carlos Newton was no fluke. A heavily Brit-flavoured undercard is also featured, while most of the bigger names on the card were in untelevised prelims.
In those fights, Chris Haseman (19-12 MMA, 0-0 UFC) – an Australian fighter who had faced off against the likes of Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Matt Hughes, Fedor Emelianenko, Jeremy Horn and others – lost to Evan Tanner (25-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) by unanimous decision. Haseman filled in on short notice, as Vladimir Matyushenko dropped out a week before the fight due to a cut above his eye, which required 9 stitches. Elvis Sinosec (4-5-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) also lost by unanimous decision to a slimmed down Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral (16-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC). A third fight was supposed to take place between Tony DeSouza and Gil Castillo, but Castillo pulled out the day of the fight due to illness.
In case you’re wondering why I’m adjusting the fighter’s records to show it in both terms of MMA as a whole and the UFC in specific is that by 2002, there were actually plenty of spots out there for a fighter to build a legitimate record. So now you’ll have an idea how experienced each fighter is as they step into the cage.
Now. for the televised show…
As I said before, the Royal Albert Hall looks spectacular on camera, but it doesn’t help spruce up Jeff Osbourne, who is still on hand with Mike Goldberg on commentary. No third man yet…..JOE ROGAN WHY WON’T YOU START FULL TIME YET?!?!?! Light Heavyweights
James Zikic
(16-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC, 6’2, 202lbs )
vs.
Philip Miller
(13-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC, 6’, 199lbs)
Zikic is a former pro boxer, who is tall and lean, but hasn’t faced too much top-level talent in building his record throughout Europe. Miller hasn’t face much notable competition himself, but when it comes to a wrestler vs. boxer contest, I take the wrestler every time.
Round 1
Miller’s game plan is obvious as he wants nothing to do with Zikic’s stand up and shoots immediately. He takes nearly a minute and a half to actually get the takedown, but once he does he uses some solid if methodical ground and pound. Zikic is able to get to his feet for a second, but is taken back down and pounded to finish off the round.
Easily a 10-9 round for Miller as Zikic showed little ground game other than some basic defense. Between rounds, you can see future TUF winner Joe Stevenson in Miller’s corner.
Round 2
Miller shoots to start again, but Zikic anticipates and is able to sprawl and land a few good shots before Miller finally secures the takedown. Zikic takes advantage of a mistake by Miller and takes his back for a second before they get up into the clinch, where Zikic’s stand up advantage is obvious as he lands a knee and a few punches. Desperation double leg by Miller takes the fight back down. Zikic gives up his back this time, but stands up only to be taken right back down. Just like the first round, he pounds away to finish off the round.
10-9 for Miller again for the takedowns, but as he tires, Zikic looks better and better.
Round 3
Miller wants to keep it on the ground, but he’s tired and his shots are getting less and less effective. Zikic actually manages to get in a dangerous looking guillotine for a second before Miller slips an arm in, but still manages to take the American down to the mat for the first time. He lands some shots, and bloodies Miller up a bit. He takes Miller’s back for a second, but he escapes and Zikic ends up on the bottom. They end up back on their feet with 40 seconds left, and Zikic is able to land one good punch before Miller closes in and clinches out the rest of the time.
10-9 round for Zikic, but too little too late.
Final scores are all 29-28 for Miller. An ok fight because both guys were scrappy, but neither had a fully developed skill set and would be eaten alive in today’s light heavyweight division. This was Zikic’s one and only trip to the Octagon, but he has fought as recently as this past September when he lost to Vitor Belfort at a Cage Rage event.
Sudo has a, shall we say….UNIQUE ring entrance. The “Neo-Samurai” has an entrance that would be strange by pro wrestling standards. As for the fight itself, both guys are said to be well rounded, but Sudo has faced a higher quality of opponents. Remedios looks like he’s all of 16 years old, so we’ll see if he gets beaten like a child or not.
Round 1
Sudo comes out clowning around, pretty much dancing and teasing. He’s very unorthodox, but when he gets serious he clinches and takes Remedios down. Sudo gets bored after a while though and lets Remedios up where he pops him a couple and then breaks out a flying triangle. It looks nice, but doesn’t get the job done. He tries another one from his guard, but not go again. They get to their feet as the round ends
10-9 for Sudo in a entertaining and fast moving round.
Round 2
Sudo opens up with a beautiful judo throw into side control. He rides him for a while, takes his back and finishes the fight off with the good old rear naked choke. Nice submission win for Sudo in his UFC debut. Remedios was outclassed in his only trip to the Octagon. He retired in 2005.
Middleweights
Mark Weir
(8-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC, 6’2, 182lbs)
vs.
Eugene Jackson
(12-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC, 5’8, 185lbs)
I know Jackson has a lot of power in his punches, but when that is your best weapon going up against a kickboxer who is 6 inches taller, you could be in trouble.
Round 1
Yup…length beats power. Weir throws a kick that misses and a right that doesn’t.
10 second KO win by Weir as he shows the other Brits how to make a debut. Jackson is still groggy 5 minutes later. This would be his 7th and final UFC fight, though he is still an active competitor.
Heavyweights
Ian Freeman
(12-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC, 5’11, 219lbs)
vs.
Frank Mir
(4-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC, 6’2, 237lbs)
Mir comes in slimmed down by about 15 pounds or so over his previous appearance, but is still 20 pounds bigger than Freeman. He’s the hot shot who’s quickly moving up the UFC ranks, while Freeman hadn’t fought in a year and wouldn’t have been back in the UFC except for the event taking place in England.
Heavyweight champ Josh Barnett is in Freeman’s corner, and is acknowledged on air as the champ. He was in the process of fighting his positive steroid test, with a hearing scheduled two weeks after this show.
Round 1
At the start, it looks like Mir has been working on his stand up a lot and wants to test it out against Freeman. Bad idea. After he eats a couple of good shots he shoots but Freeman ends up on top and lands some more punches. They get up into the clinch where Freeman continues the beating with three nasty knees and then a big right hand off the break that rocks Mir. He shoots in response, only this time he gets it and easily mounts the Brit. He’s not fully recovered though, and Freeman flips him over and lands some nice rights. Mir tries an knee bar, but Freeman avoids and punches away. He lets Mir up where he shoots, but Freeman comes out on top and pounds away again. Ends up in side control and posts some nasty elbows that open Mir up, then follows with hammer fists. McCarthy wants to have a look at the cut, but Mir can barely stand up and when Big John asks him if he wants to continue he can’t answer, prompting McCarthy to call the fight.
Huge TKO win for Freeman who realistically was brought in to lose here. Exciting round too, as even on autopilot as he was after getting cracked early on, Mir was dangerous with his submissions.
Main event time… Welterweight title
Matt Hughes
(30-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC, 5’9, 170lbs)
vs.
Carlos Newton
(11-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC, 5’9, 169lbs)
After the Triangle Choke/Power Bomb finish of their first fight, there was plenty of interest in this rematch. Adding more interest is that between the two Hughes fights, Newton hopped over to PRIDE and tapped out Jose Landi-Johns, who just happens to be the last man to have beaten Hughes at this point. Intriguing…
Though, to be honest, Newton got lucky with the choke he caught on Militech after getting hammered for the entire fight, and the same could be said about the first Hughes fight, even though he didn’t win. That being said, I’m not looking for him to win this, but he’s got the “Submitter’s Chance.”
Round 1
Newton surprisingly tries the first takedown, but Hughes controls it and ends up on top. Newton locks in a TIGHT armbar from the bottom, but Hughes shows that his jiu jitsu is improving as he pulls off a great escape. This is all in the first minute, and from there the rest of the round is Hughes on top in control and landing some good posted elbows to Newton’s face.
10-9 for Hughes as Newton looked outclassed here.
Round 2
The first 4:30 of the round is Hughes wrestling and dominating. The last 30 seconds is Hughes deciding to mash Newton’s face in with nasty elbows.
10-8 round for Hughes as he kicked his ass right there. 20-17.
Round 3
Hughes comes out with an ill advised head kick, which Newton avoids and answers with some nice punches before getting taken down. Some ground and pound for the next 3 minutes or so until Hughes mounts and tries an armbar, which Newton easily escapes. He takes Hughes’ back with 17 seconds left and tries to go for the choke, but time runs out on his best chance at a win.
10-9 for Hughes, and would have been another 10-8 round except for that ending.
Round 4
Hughes shoots again and gets another takedown into side control. He ties up both of Newton’s arms then starts pounding away with punches and elbows until McCarthy has no choice but to call the fight. Big, dominating TKO win for Hughes as he leaves no doubt about who the champ is here.
The 411: All things considered, this isn't a bad show at all. Big names were sacrificed in the name of having British fighters on the card, but they paid off in the most competitive fight of the night, a near record KO, a huge upset and an entertaining submission. Add in Matt Hughes putting an exclamation point on his title reign, and you can't complain about the in cage action. And for once, the champion who wins the main event doesn't leave the company right afterwards. Business wise, Zuffa nearly lost their shirts on this one as going all the way across the Atlantic proved to be fairly expensive and didn't open much in the way of new revenue streams. They wouldn't try it again until 2007. Back to the US next time out
