History of the UFC 08.18.08: UFC XLVIII: Payback

Posted by Matt McEwen on 08.18.2008

The UFC follows up the biggest grudge match in its history with...Shamrock vs Kimo?

UFC XLVII featured probably the biggest match up that existed for the UFC in 2004 in the form of Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, and if that brought in new fans, then this would be the first event they would check out afterwards. So what’s the main event sure to lock them in as MMA fans?

Ken Shamrock vs. Kimo in a rematch from UFC VIII in 1996. Yup. That’ll make sure they come back.

Other than a mildly freak showish main event, the card is actually decently deep, as Frank Mir takes on Tim Sylvia for the vacant heavyweight title, Georges St. Pierre makes his second trip to the Octagon, Matt Hughes has his first fight since losing the 170lbs title, and Phil Baroni and Evan Tanner have a grudge match to settle, well, a grudge.

Middleweights

Trevor Prangley
(6’1, 185lbs, 8-1)

Vs

Curtis Stout
(6’, 183lbs, 7-3-1, 0-1)

The Setup: Stout is a striker who’s making his return to the Octagon after losing to Phil Baroni in 2001. He comes in on a four fight win streak and was supposed to be fighting Lee Murray here. “Visa problems” have kept Murray from making it into the US, so his replacement is the South African Prangley, who’s a wrestler by nature but has developed a good all around game.

The Fight: Prangley scores the quick takedown, but gets locked in Stout’s guard. He pushes him against the fence though, and concentrates on landing some good body shots. Not a lot of action on the ground, as Stout is able to maintain or quickly regain guard throughout. A stand up by ref Herb Dean puts them back on their feet (obviously) where Prangley looks a little tired. Stout is able to stuff a takedown attempt and land a good knee (close to illegal, but no call), but he gets too aggressive going for a second one and ends up on his back with 1 ½ minutes left. Prangley is tired and feeling that knee, so he rides out the round, which I would score 10-9 for him. In spite of losing the round, it looks like Stout is the one in best shape to take the next two rounds.

Stout opens the second round with a low leg kick, but Prangley drives through it and scores the takedown into ½ guard. He moves to side control and tries a neck crank which…works? Stout taps to a neck crank. Haven’t seen that since Severn’s hay day. Surprising finish there.

The Aftermath: This was Stout’s last trip to the UFC, though he’s fought as recently as May 2007. His record has dropped to 11-12, but he has fought the likes of Rich Franklin, Mark Weir, Zelg Gleisac and Anderson Silva. Prangley earned a few future fights in the Octagon by winning on short notice, so we’ll see him again soon.

Welterweights

Georges St. Pierre
(5’10, 169lbs, 6-0, 1-0)

Vs

Jay Heiron
(5’11, 167lbs, 4-0)

The Setup: GSP was supposed to be taking on the debuting Jason “Mayhem” Miller in this one, but Miller had some legal issues that prevented him from taking the fight, so Jay Heiron – the current and final IFL welterweight champion – stepped in. This would be a decent quality fight today (though GSP would be favored to win fairly easily), so it should be interesting to see this back in the day. You get the feeling that UFC is just starting to realize what they may have in GSP, and if he wins here the marketing machine is likely to kick into a higher gear for him.

The Fight: Both guys want to stand to start the fight, and both look good, though GSP looks crisper. A nice GSP right hand stuns Heiron, and a follow up left hand drops him. GSP goes for the kill, but Heiron is able to pop up to his feet. Impressive recovery because he was ROCKED. Oh…he’s rocked and dropped again by another big right hand, but this time he is able to grab a leg and hold on. He gets back up again, but this time a 1-2 combo drops him the final time as GSP pounds him out with elbows on the ground. Damn good showing by GSP.

The Aftermath: GSP shows that he’s on a different level here, and with his first time jitters gone, he looked dominant. Heiron finds out he has some work to do to reach that level, but the let the rise of GSP begin in earnest.

Lightweights

Matt Serra
(5’6, 155lbs, 6-3, 3-3)

Vs

Ivan Menjivar
(5’6, 154lbs, 13-3)

The Setup: Serra is the long standing 155lbs gate keeper in the true sense of that word. It gets thrown around WAY too much now, but Serra would be the definition. If you can beat Serra, you belong in title discussion in the division, but if you can’t, you need to work on a few things. Menjivar is another Montreal product, and had some good hype behind him coming in.

The Fight: Menjivar throws a kick, but Serra grabs it and takes him down into ½ guard. Menjivar quickly gains full guard tries to tie Serra up. He can’t though, and Serra mounts and takes his back, but can do no damage as Menjivar pops to his feet and shrugs him off. They clinch and Serra drops for a double leg, and gets his second takedown. Menjivar is very active on his back though, and looks for a kimura. He uses that threat to gain full guard, but eats some elbows. Serra passes to ½ guard for a second, but Menjivar avoids damage and scrambles up. Serra scores a third takedown and passes to side control, then takes his back with 10 seconds left, but Menjivar rolls for a heel hook and almost has it as the round ends. Hard to score as Serra did score 3 takedowns, but Menjivar controlled the ground game and was never in any real danger, even with his back taken. Still, I’d say 10-9 Serra.

Serra throws a front kick to start the seconds round. That’s really an underused weapon I think. If you can throw a good one, it can be highly effective. Serra sets up another takedown, but Menjivar locks in his guard once again. He tries to land some elbows from the bottom, but Serra passes and mounts, then takes his back with over/under control. He tries for a RNC, but can’t secure it. He stays on his back for over a minute, but it never looks like Menjivar is in danger. He eventually stands up and starts to grab a kimura with Serra still behind him, but Serra decides to suplex him down. When someone has your arm locked up, that’s a bad idea, and if the round was 10 seconds longer, I’d say Menjivar would have finished it off. It’s not 10 seconds longer though, so Serra is saved. Again, Serra had takedowns, and took his back, but it was Menjivar that came the closest to winning and controlled the pace on the ground, but I still have to give it to Serra 10-9.

Serra tries the front kick to start the third, but Menjivar times it and lands a nice right hand counter. They lock up again, and Serra controls the takedown, but gets tied up. Even with ½ guard, Menjivar is threatening as he tries a triangle. Serra looks aggravated as he can do almost nothing on the ground, and he starts to leave some openings. Menjivar almost secures an omnaplata in a beautiful sub attempt, but Serra pulls out and gets side control for a second before Menjivar regains guard and the round ends. 10-9 for Menjivar this time as he again controlled the ground, but this time his sub attempts outweighed anything Serra tried to do.

The Aftermath: I score it 29-28 for Serra, but all three judges see it 30-27 for Serra. The right guy wins, but it’s BS that they scored that third round for Serra. From here, with the lightweight division an afterthought, Serra will move up to 170lbs and try his luck there. Despite his good showing, injuries and inconsistency have conspired to make this Menjivar’s only UFC fight, though he stayed active until late 2006. If I’m not mistaken, he will be back in the game soon, as he has been recovering from injuries.

Middleweights

Phil Baroni
(5’9, 183lbs, 5-3, 3-3)

Vs

Evan Tanner
(6’, 185lbs, 28-4, 7-2)

The Setup: This is a rematch from UFC 45. In that fight, Baroni rocked and cut Tanner early. The ref called in the doctor to look at the cuts, giving Tanner ample time to recover. On top of that, the cut man came in to work on the cuts, which Baroni says is a no-no. After the restart, Tanner took control and ended up mounting Baroni. The ref asked Baroni if he wanted to quit, and there was some miscommunication resulting in the fight being stopped and Tanner winning. Baroni disagreed and hit the ref a couple of times. This is his first fight back from suspension.

The Fight: Baroni takes the center and looks really calm, which is surprising. They dance around for about 30 seconds or so before Tanner eats a body shot on his way inside to grab the clinch before scoring a big takedown. He pushes Baroni up against the fence and lets him up only to slam him back down. Baroni is able to get up on his second attempt, but Tanner holds on. Baroni tries a guillotine, but can’t lock it in and ends up eating a knee. They break off the cage, but Tanner grabs the clinch to land another knee again. They break, and Baroni starts stalking him. The only offense to close out the round though is Tanner avoiding punches and landing knees to the body. Good work for him and an easy 10-9 round for him.

Tanner comes out way more aggressive in the second round as he mixes punches in with his knees. Baroni looks tired, and even when he lands a good right hand, he doesn’t follow it up with a combo. Tanner’s left jab is looking good an snapping Baroni’s head back. Tanner dominates a good part of the round, and ends up taking Baroni down and mounting him. Before he can do any damage though, Baroni scales the cage to get back up, but Tanner rips him right aback down. Baroni is laying on his side, and Tanner finishes the round by pounding him with hammer fists. I’ve got to go 10-8 for Tanner. Baroni looked exhausted and did very little in that round.

The final round starts with Tanner looking very confident and opening up on his feet. Baroni still has some life though, and a nice body shot takes a lot of the starch out of Tanner. Baroni doesn’t have the energy to follow up though, and lets Tanner recover. Forget what I said about Baroni being done though, as he tees off and hurts Tanner, who has to shoot to avoid any more damage. They end up pushed against the fence, and Tanner is able to recover. They break with 1:20 left, but both guys are tired. Baroni is more aggressive, but Tanner explodes for the takedown and tries to pound away as the round ends. Despite being tired, I’d say 10-9 Baroni as he had Tanner in more danger than Tanner did him in that one, so 29-27 Tanner on my scorecard.

The Aftermath: The judges score it 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27 all for Tanner. This was Baroni’s third straight loss. His cardio was the big factor here, and he needs to make some changes if he wants to get back in contention here. Tanner is now firmly in contention for the middleweight title…as soon as they decide to crown a new champ.

Welterweights

Matt Hughes
(34-4, 8-2)

Vs

Renato Verissimo
(4-0, 1-0)

The Setup: It’s pretty basic. Hughes was the dominant welterweight champion for a couple of years, but fell to the submission game of BJ Penn his last time in the cage. Verissimo is the jiu jitsu coach of Penn, so if Penn’s jiu jitsu was better than Hughes’, then how good should Verissimo’s be? The underlying subtext has to do with Penn leaving the UFC, and them not even mentioning his name in the buildup, the match itself or the aftermath.

The Fight: Hughes, per usual, shoots immediately and tries to take the fight to the ground. He can’t get it there right away, and has to trip Verissimo off the cage to do so. He easily passes to side control and then takes his back. Verissimo shows his skills ant is able to turn that position into a triangle attempt, but Hughes lifts him up and SLAMS him to the ground. All that does is lock the triangle in tighter though, and it looks like the fight is going to be done quick as Verissimo actually turns it into a mounted triangle. He doesn’t go for the arm that Hughes leaves out all day though, and eventually Hughes is able to pull his head out the back door and end up in Verissimo’s guard. That was the tightest triangle that didn’t finish a fight that I’ve ever seen. Hughes avoids two more triangle attempts to finish out the round. I’ve got to go 10-9 Verissimo as his sub attempts were the story of the round.

Hughes opens the second round by slamming Verissimo to the ground, who is almost able to take Hughes’ back from his guard but ends up under the former champion. Hughes passes to ½ guard and pushes Verissimo up against the fence. He gains full guard back though, and ties Hughes back up. He’s looking for arm bars and triangles, but Hughes is avoiding well. Hughes does next to nothing from the top, and we spend about three minutes in this position before they’re stood up. Both guys look pretty tired on their feet, but Hughes is able to score another takedown to close out the round. It’s a hard round to score, but with two takedowns, I’ve got to give it 10-9 to Hughes, though Rogan says it’s two round to nil for Verissimo.

Hughes grabs a quick body lock to start the third round and pushes Verissimo against the fence. Hughes takes him down to ½ guard but essentially just lays on top of him. They get stood up with just 1:30 left, but Hughes takes him right back down. Verissimo is not showing the submission game that he did the first two rounds, and Hughes even tries a kimura attempt. He doesn’t get that, but lands some elbows as the round ends. I say the third is 10-9 Hughes, giving him a 29-28 victory in my book.

The Aftermath: Two judges score it 30-27, while one scores it 29-28, all for Hughes. 30-27 is a bullshit score, as there is no doubt Verissimo won at least the first round.. Career wise, Verissimo beat one former welterweight champion and nearly finished another, so he’ll be back to at least finish out his three fight contract, while Hughes lined himself up for a title shot now that Penn – who was never mentioned here at all – has essentially vacated the belt and moved on to Japan.

Heavyweight Title

Tim Sylvia
(6’8, 263lbs, 18-0, 3-0)

Vs

Frank Mir
(6’3, 253lbs, 7-1, 5-1)

The Setup: Sylvia (finally) make his return from his steroid suspension. He was supposed to last time out against Arlovski, but his bloodwork did not come back in time to allow him to fight. So, instead of Sylvia/Arlovski for the vacant title, we get Sylvia/Mir. No complaints there are both guys are deserving.

The Fight: Mir gets in close early, a good idea considering Sylvia is freakishly large, but he eats a knee in the clinch. Sylvia decides to take the fight to the ground. That seems like a bad idea to me, and Mir rolls through, locks in an armbar and, as Sylvia is about to try and slam him to the ground, ref Herb Dean stops the fight saying “Your arm is fucking broken.” Sylvia and the crowd really disagree, but replay shows the forearm popping in one of the most gruesome displays you’ll ever see. Eventually Rogan and the crowd come around, but it really came off like an early stoppage until the ringside doctor said she was 90% sure the forearm was snapped and that Sylvia was sent for X-rays

The Aftermath: Here’s a sad story if ever you wanted one – Riding on top of the world as UFC champ, Mir would crash his motorcycle in Las Vegas and suffer serious injuries, even coming close to losing his foot. He would eventually be forced to vacate the title, which Sylvia would get another shot at, this time in the fight against Arlovski which was supposed to happen months before this one. So, for those keeping score, the only division with an actual champion at this point is the light heavyweight division with Randy Couture. That’s right – no heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight or lightweight champion. That’s just bad.

Welterweights

Frank Trigg
(5’9, 169, 10-2, 0-1)

Vs

Dennis Hallman
(5’9, 170lbs, 28-8-2, 1-1)

The Setup: This is a rematch of a WFA fight from 2002 in which a low blow led to a win by Frank Trigg. That has led to bad blood between these two….wait…has there ever been a Trigg fight without bad blood?

The Fight: Trigg takes the center to start the fight, and both guys paw at each other with their fairly weak stand up games. Once they’re close, Hallman pulls guard, but can’t do much off of his back. Trigg manages to posture up and land a few shots, but Hallman rolls for a leg bar. Of course, that leaves his head exposed, and Trigg lands a few shots. Eventually Trigg lands a few more good shots that stun Hallman, and few more punches force the ref to stop the fight.

The Aftermath: Hallman would head back out of the UFC in order to rebuild his resume, but he’ll be back eventually. As for Trigg, he’s lined himself up for a #1 contender’s fight once the welterweight picture is figured out.

Heavyweights

Ken Shamrock
(6’, 218, 25-8-2, 6-3-2)

Vs

Kimo
(6’1, 244lbs, 8-3-1, 2-3)

The Setup: These two fought 8 years previous at UFC VIII, and Shamrock won by kneebar. Whoopee. Both guys are older, passed their prime and belong nowhere near a main event. So, here’s your main event.

The Fight: Kimo comes forward behind a couple of jabs, but Shamrock pushes him against the fence and grabs the clinch. He lands a pretty knee to the face, Kimo drops and two punches later the fight is over.

The Aftermath: Kimo, mercifully, is done in the UFC after this fight. I will not have to discuss him again. As for Shamrock, this was his first win since 2001 and would prove to be his last win.

The 411: Hmmm....good card overall, with a few good ground fights, a couple of good brawls, the only arm breaking I can remember and a horrible main event. At least that ended with a good KO, but Shamrock/Kimo knocks this down a notch or two.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]