History of the UFC 07.07.08: UFC XLV - Revolution
Posted by Matt McEwen on 07.07.2008
What do you do when a champ pretty much runs through a division. Today, the in thing to do is to jump weight classes, but back in the day they just went out and found new challengers....
In November 1993, 8 men walked into a strange octagon shaped cage and fought it out until just one man in a gi stood tall.
Now, it's 10 years later - November 23rd 2003 in Uncasville, Conneticut, to be exact - and just about the only thing that remains the same is the Octagon. Gone are the days of the freak show mismatches, puncher who couldn't spell "guard" let alone know how to deal with one and federal authorities trying to outlaw the sport. Now, stepping into the cage on a bimonthly basis are former Olympians, Golden Gloves boxers and jiu jitsu black belts from all over. Weight classes upped the competitive balance, and notoriety brought a different, better class of athlete into the UFC and MMA as a whole. In essence, in 10 years, we've gone from glorified tough men competitions to what is today the fastest growing sport in the world. Not too shabby.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the UFC, two fighters were inducted into the newly formed UFC Hall of Fame. Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock were the original faces of the UFC, and as such were the inaugural members of the club. 8 other faces from the past were also honored with "Viewer's Choice" awards.
More importantly than any of that, there are some fights to deal with here. Nothing with the level of intrigue built into Couture/Ortiz, but some good fights none the less. In the main event, 5-time defending welterweight champion Matt Hughes will defend against the debuting and chatty Frank Trigg, the 170lb champion of the now defunct WFA. Tank Abbott and Cabbage Correira are on tap for what should be submission exhibition, Ricco Rodriguez and Pedro Rizzo fight it out in a loser leaves town fight, and Robbie Lawler returns from his dislocated hip to take on Chris Lytle. Looks like a good dance card, if a little short on the sizzle.
Lightweights
Yves Edwards (5'10, 154lbs, 22-8-1, 3-2)
vs.
Nick Agallar (5'8, 155lbs, 11-2)
The Set Up: This was originally supposed to be Edwards taking on Din Thomas in what would have been a hell of a fight, but Thomas broke his wrist I believe, which left an opening on the card that Agallar stepped up into. Agallar was just 20 at the time, and had a decent record, but this is a BIG step up in competition.
The Fight: They dance around each other for a bit to start, and the non-Vegas crowd is quick to start booing. Rogan makes the astute point that Edwards was prepared for Thomas, and therefore is taking his time feeling out Agallar as he knows very little about him. Edwards slips a little, and Agallar is quick to rush for the takedown. They end up clinched against the fence for a minute, but once they push off Edwards lands some nice inside leg kicks. Those are the better strikes of the round, though Agallar throws up a nice but not too hard front kick near the end of the round. It's a 10-9 round for Edwards, though it wasn't exciting at all.
The second starts with Edwards slipping again, though Agallar still can't do much with it. Edwards lands a nice head kick as Agallar is paying close attention to the leg kicks now. And with good reason - the leg kicks have his left thigh turning colors. Edwards knows he has him thinking about the leg, and feints another kick, but instead throws a big left hand that drops Agallar. Edwards pounces and finishes him quickly.
The Breakdown: Edwards continues his march towards the top of the 155lb division, though what the plans are for that division remain a bit muddled at this point. Either way, he's found his footing and is definitely on a hot streak at this point. As for Agallar, it's one and done in the UFC for him, though he continues to fight now, sporting a decent 21-5 record. His highest profile fights have been for BodogFight.
Middleweights
Keith Rockel (5'10, 185lbs, 10-2-1, 0-1)
vs.
Chris Ligouri (5'9, 183lbs, 1-1)
The Set Up: Rockel is 16 years older than his opponent, has previous Octagon experience in a loss to Eugene Jackson at UFC XXXV, and more than 5 times the MMA experience. I dare say things don't look so good for Ligouri...
The Fight: Ligouri opens up with a nice inside leg kick, but Rockel eats it and takes him down to 1/2 guard. Ligouri is able to get back to full guard, but he's bleeding now. A little up and down scramble and Rockel ends up on top. He's still pretty stymied though, and Ligouri is able to hop back up. Rockel locks in a guillotine on the way up though and it's all over.
The Breakdown: The end of the UFC road for both guys here. Rockel retired in 2006, while Ligouri is still active, and actually fought on the undercard of EXC's prime time show.
Heavyweights
Ricco Rodriguez (6'3, 246lbs, 14-3, 5-1)
vs.
Pedro Rizzo (6'2, 243lbs, 13-5, 8-5)
The Set Up: Loser leaves town. This is the last fight on the contracts of both men, and if they don't win, they can be pretty well assured that they're out of a job. Rizzo is the highly skilled but aggravatingly passive striker who has lost four of his last six fights. As for Rodriguez, he started of his UFC career on a 5-0 tear and won the title. Then, in his first title defense, he looked a bit out of shape, and got schooled by Tim Sylvia. A quick trip over to PRIDE and a competitive loss to current UFC heavyweight champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuria, and now he's fight for his job. With a 5-1 record, I'd imagine his "win or go home" situation is owing to his "enjoyment" of his fame and fortune.
The Fight: Rodriguez shoots early on, but can't pull Rizzo down, and ends up laying on his back eating the occasional leg kick from Rizzo. This takes up a minute or two before Rizzo lets him up. Repeat, only this time Rizzo comes down into his guard to try and throw some punches. Rizzo stands up out of guard, and eventually lets Rizzo up. That's the round folks. Rizzo wins it 10-9, but the real winner is my beauty sleep, as that was not so fun to watch.
The second starts out on a better note as Rizzo lands one of his NASTY leg kicks. Those hurt, and after watching Jackson/Griffin Saturday night, you know they can decide a fight. So, of course, Rizzo stops throwing them. The rest of the round is Rodriguez flopping on his back and hoping Rizzo comes down to join him. He does the second time, but Rodriguez's jiu jitsu looks sloppy, to say the least. It's another 10-9 round for Rizzo, but yet again, my beauty sleep wins.
Rodriguez opens up the third with a knee to the body, and now it looks like he's going to try and strike with Rizzo since laying down in front of him proved slightly ineffective. Rizzo lands a nice right hand, but then also thumbs Rodriguez. We get a break as the doctor looks at it, and I'm praying he stops it, but he doesn't. On the restart, Rogan actually YELLS at Rizzo to throw a leg kick. That about sums up the fight. Rizzo does eventually throw another leg kick, but Rodriguez decides to lay on his back to close out the fight. Rizzo wins 10-9, giving him a 30-27 win in my book and I can't believe I watched that damn fight. AWFUL.
The Breakdown: The judges give it unanimously to Rizzo, and then they both get their pink slips. A fight that bad can be hazardous to your career. Rodriguez has gone on to get really fat, show up on Celebrity Rehab, and lose to Antonio Silva. Oh...and he showed up on that awful YAMMA show. As for Rizzo, he lost his two PRIDE fights, won in the smaller Art of War promotion, and now has an upcoming rematch with Josh Barnett for Affliction. Let me just say that I don't have high hopes for Rizzo's chances in that one.
Welterweights
Robbie Lawler (5'11, 169lbs, 7-1, 3-1)
vs.
Chris Lytle (5'11, 169lbs, 14-9-5, 0-1)
The Set Up: Lawler was the set to be THE MAN in the UFC with his heavy hands and aggressive style, but then he dislocated his hip in his fight against Pete Spratt and lost some of his shine. This is his first fight back, so the question is how will a loss effect the psyche of a guy who was being pumped up as the next big thing? Lytle is making his second trip into the Octagon, and much like today, he's a tough, fairly skilled fighter with good boxing skills and hard head. His plan is to box the brawler and see if technique can win out over brawn.
The Fight: Lawler shoots and takes Lytle down right away. Well, that's not how I expected that to start. Lytle manages to control his head and avoid any damage....that is until Lawler goes all Matt Hughes on him and lifts him up and slams him down hard. Nice. Lawler works out of Lytle's guard with some good punches, but Lytle is able to roll for what looks like a tight heel hook. Lawler has the perfect defense for that though - hard left hand to the face. Nice. They end up back in Lytle's 1/2 guard, where Lawler is able to land a few punches near the end of the round. Easily a 10-9 round for Lawler as Lytle looked over matched but tough. Hey.....have I said that about him lately?
The second round is just plain weird. After dominating the first, Lawler decides that, except for a few exchanges, he's just going to walk away from Lytle. He eats a few punches here and there, and lands a couple, but neither guy does much damage as Lytle wins a 10-9 round for walking forward the whole time. Really weird strategy by Lawler.
Lytle grabs an early guillotine, but eats a right and a left for his troubles. Instead of continuing to throw though, Lawler decides the backing away approach is the best way to go again. Eventually they start slugging, and both land good shots. Then they scream at each other. This fight is weird. They keep slugging, and it looks like Lytle is getting the better of it until Lawler lands one shot and drops him. Instead of pouncing though, Lawler lets him back up. So what does he do on their feet again? Decides to start backing up once again. Eventually Lawler goes for the clinch and grabs double under hooks, only Lytle is able to spin behind him and suplex him with 15 seconds left. He tries a choke, but Lawler escapes and lands a punch as the fight ends. That suplex locks it in 10-9 for Lytle in my book.
The Breakdown: All three judges give it 29-28 to Lawler, and I call shenanigans on that one. Whatever his game plan was, Lawler just looked weird in this fight as he spent the last two round moving backwards. Lackluster though it may be, it was a win for Lawler and puts him back on the right track. Lytle did enough here to get another shot in the Octagon, but he's already in that "gatekeeper" mode that he's still in now.
Middleweights
Phil Baroni (5'9, 185lbs, 5-2, 3-1)
vs.
Evan Tanner (6', 185lbs, 28-4, 6-2)
The Set Up: This is Tanner's debut at middleweight, and by all rights he should have moved down a long time ago. He's always been too small for 205, but he did well in spite of that, so Tanner at 185 should be really good. Baroni is hard punching, loud talking hothead who hasn't had a bad fight in the UFC yet. The winner here moves himself in line for a middleweight title shot against someone, since there's no champion in this division right now either.
The Fight: Baroni lands a big right hand about 2 seconds in that rocks Tanner. He pounces and goes for he kill, but Tanner recovers enough to tie him up against the fence. Baroni lands a body shot in tight that drops Tanner, only to get tied up one more time. Baroni creates enough separation to land another shot, this time opening up a nasty cut over Tanner's eye. They stop to fight to check it, and that's a big boost to Tanner, as he was rocked. This gives him plenty of time to catch his breath and recover. The doctor lets the fight go, and when they restart it's a totally different deal. Tanner grabs the clinch and lands some hard knees. He pushes Baroni up against the fence and drops for a double and takes him down and works out of 1/2 guard. He lands a few shots to the head, then moves to some body shots that opens up Baroni's guard for the mount with 30 seconds left. Tanner lands some elbows and it looks bad for Baroni, but then it gets weird. Ref Larry Landless stops it, and says that Baroni verbally submitted. Baroni disagrees, and punches Landless in the face 3 times. Not hard, but still. It gest to the point where Dan Henderson - working Tanner's corner - has to hold Baroni back at one point.
The Breakdown: Can you say immediate rematch? Well, not entirely immediate, as Baroni got a four month suspension for hitting Landless. Either way, the controversial fight - the pause for the doctor, the stoppage - put both these guys in a holding pattern until it could be cleared up.
Heavyweights
Tank Abbott (6', 253lbs, 8-9)
vs.
Cabbage Correira (6'2, 265lbs, 12-4, 1-1)
The Set Up: Come on...do you need a set up here? These two like to throw punches and fight. Period.
OK, beyond that, this is the third and final fight of Tank's comeback contract. They used him great in the first fight, as Frank Mir jumped a couple of popularity levels by tapping Tank out. The second fight was kind of a "legends" fight as Kimo tapped him out in the first, but now we get the coup de gras. I mean, really, it might not be a technical masterpiece, but you know it'll be exciting.
The Fight: Tank gets off first, but it's Cabbage that lands the first big shot as he drops Tank for a second. Cabbage grabs a thai clinch against the fence and starts landing some nice knees. One splits Tank's eyebrow open and ends the fight early.
The Breakdown: Post fight, someone in Tank's corner responds to Cabbage's "Cabbage Patch" dance and all hell nearly breaks loose. It stops short of an all out brawl, but just barely. In between rounds of the next fight, they have interviews with both guys. They both mention wanting a rematch, but since this is Tank's last fight in the UFC, it won't be in the Octagon. They do get it on 18 months later at a Rumble on the Rock show though, where Tank scored what currently stands as the last win in his career as he KO'd Cabbage in the first. With this win for now though, Cabbage takes a step towards a title shot and a rematch with Tim Sylvia.
Middleweights
Matt Lindland (6', 185lbs, 9-2, 6-2)
vs.
Falaniko Vitale (5'10, 185lbs, 15-2, 1-0)
The Set Up: These two fought at UFC XLIII. Lindland had a hard time scoring the takedown on Vitale, but when he tried a belly to belly, he landed on his own head and knocked himself out. Vitale has said he adjusted his weight and caused Lindland to land on his head, so he's insulted when people say it was a fluke. Okely dokely.
The Fight: They box a little bit before Vitale slips and Lindland rushes, grabs and slams him down HARD. He lands some nice elbows out of the guard while Vitale looks for submissions from the bottom. They finish out the round with a fair bit of scrambling, but Lindland controls and wins the round 10-9 easily.
Not a whole lot here. Mostly just Lindland initiating the clinch and landing some shots there. He gets the 2nd 10-9 easily, but in less than exciting fashion.
Lindland slips throwing a head kick to start the third, and gets on his back. Vitale tries to come down on him, but Lindland almost catches him in a triangle. It goes nowhere, but that would have been funny. Vitale ends up in 1/2 guard, but gets lazy and Lindland uses double under hooks to sweep and then mount. He gets two punches in and forces Vitale to tap out.
The Breakdown: Lindland gets some vindication and moves back into the title picture, though again, there is no champion. Either way, he's one of the top 185lbers in the UFC at this point. This is Vitale's swan song though, as that quick tap and less than stellar showing ensured him a pink slip. Hmmm...lots of those on this show. Vitale still fights and has a record of 26-8, though he tends to lose to top level opponents.
Welterweight Title
Matt Hughes (5'9, 170lbs, 33-3, 7-1)
vs.
Frank Trigg (5'9, 169lbs, 10-1)
The Set Up: Matt Hughes has pretty much decimated the 170lb division, so they've had to look outside of the Octagon for challengers. Frank Trigg was the WFA welterweight champion, though when the WFA went out of business, he needed a new home. He also has a big mouth, which he has used to talk this up into a grudge match. You know you can play a pretty good arse hole when you make Matt Hughes look not like a prick.
The Fight: Trigg shoots immediately and scores the takedown. Surprising. They scramble and Hughes almost comes out on top, but Trigg ties him up. Hughes decides to just pick him up over his shoulder, walk to his corner, and SLAM him to the ground. Ouch. Trigg tries a kimura, but Hughes pulls free. They do a little up and down, but Trigg is able to sweep and come out on top. He postures up, but that allows Hughes to sweep and take his back as they stand up. Hughes jumps both hooks in, secures a rear naked choke and Trigg has to tap out while standing up, just before falling back and nearly passing out.
The Breakdown: Hughes secures his place as a dominant champ, while Trigg will have to build himself back up before getting another shot. He looked pretty good though, but the mistake he made cost him the fight. Up next for Hughes appears to be BJ Penn, who has been making rumbles about moving up from 155lbs.
The 411: Not too shabby here, but not really great either. A couple of the fights - Lindland/Vitale, Rizzo/Rodriguez - were lackluster, but a few fights deliverd the action. Pretty much middle of the road, but when you don't deliver in the cage, and don't have a big time fight to make it feel important, that's not going to really cut it.
