BDFW
10-27-2007, 03:03 PM
BDFW’s Review of UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/UFC_75.jpg/200px-UFC_75.jpg
UFC 75 was one of the biggest events in MMA history because the main event was a title unification match between UFC Light Heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson and PRIDE’s Middleweight and Welterweight champion, Dan Henderson. That wasn’t the only attraction to the event, also at this event was rivals on The Ultimate Fighter 3, Micheal “The Count” Bisping taking on Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. Many believed that Hamill would of one TUF if he didn’t have to leave because of injury.
Even the other fights are worth a mention. Houston Alexander fresh of his victory over Kieth Jardine, was fighting Alessio Sakara. In a heavyweight bout the PRIDE sensation Mirko Cro Cop was facing Chieck Kongo in a must win fight for both competitors.
Light heavyweight bout: Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara
Some people believed that Houston Alexander’s win over Kieth Jardine was a fluke and the only reason he won is that Kieth underestimated him in the fight. So with that being said this looked like it would be a close fight. It was anything but that as Houston Alexander replayed what he did to Kieth Jardine and done it to Alessio Sakara. In opening 20 seconds of the fight Sakara looks for a take down and gets it but within seconds Alexander is able to get straight back onto his feet. Alexander loves to throw high knees and when in the clinch in this fight he threw a high knee and dropped Sakara after that he just ground and pounded him and the fight was over in 1:01 in the very first round.
Houston Alexander is a real contender in the stacked Light Heavyweight divisions. He has stopped two great fighters and I wouldn’t be surprised if he faces 1-2 more fighters and if he wins he should get a title shot.
Welterweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Paul Taylor
Not big names in the UFC but this fight really delivered. Paul Taylor defiantly had the crowd behind him as he is from England. The crowd certainly went wild when Taylor hit a nice head kick on Davis but Davis was able to keep his composure. Marcus Davis was able to reverse the situation and have full mount on Taylor and stun the crowd when he finished Davis via arm bar. Davis showed great heart in this fight and everybody (except the English supporters) was impressed with Marcus Davis and he improved his record to 5-1 in the octagon.
Heavyweight bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs Chieck Kongo
Mirko Cro Cop was definatly looking to get back on the winning streak after Gabriel Gonzaga embarrassed him at UFC 70. Mirko Cro Cop was defiantly explosive in PRIDE but we hadn’t seen any of that in the UFC. Kongo is a big man, he is 6’4 and looked much bigger than Cro Cop when they stepped into the octagon. Cro Cop looked good in the first round, he was stalking Kongo, he didn’t hit anything major but looked dangerous. The second round was totally different as Kongo was the one stalking Cro Cop and Kongo took Cro Cop down and Kongo looked to have improved his ground game dramasticly.
Kongo hit Cro Cop with a knee to the groin a few times which looked like it hurt very badly and Kongo could of got penolised for them but he didn’t. This match went to the judges and Kongo picked up his biggest win ever and the future of Mirko Cro Cop looks shady as he has lost two matches in a row in the UFC and when you lose three most fighters are given the push to retire/leave.
Light heavyweight bout: Micheal Bisping vs. Matt Hamill
One of the most controversal fights in the UFC. Micheal Bisping got a great reaction when he walked out to the octagon. Surprising that Matt Hamill decided to stand up and fight Bisping instead of taking him down. Hamill was great in the stand up and I believe that Hamill should of won this fight 29-28. Instead two judges scored it 29-28 29-28 Bisping and Hamill 30-27. I don’t really like Bisping as much after this fight because after the fight he said to Hamill “Go back to wrestling” even though Hamill is death WTF. I hope someone knocks out Bisping at his next event because he didn’t deserve to win this match and then after he won he was rubbing it in.
Light heavyweight bout: Quinton “Ramapage” Jackson vs. Dan Henderson
The biggest fight in MMA history, both fighters are coming of huge wins, Henderson knocked out Wanderlie Silva and Rampage knocked out Chuck Liddell. Henderson looked good in the opening round when he got Rampage in the clinch which Henderson is so good at and then managed to take down Ramapge. Around the end of the second round you could tell that Dan Henderson’s conditioning wasn’t the best as he was breathing heavily and looked very tired in the closing round. Great work by Rampage both in the stand up and in the ground game and you can tell how much he has improved since he got a new coach. Rampage was close to knocking Dan Henderson out in the closing seconds of the final round but the bell went. Rampage won by decision with judges giving it 49-46, 48-47, 49-46
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s future looks very bright as he is on top of his game and he has beaten two of the best light heavyweights in Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson. With the coach he has at the moment, I think he will be champion for while. Dan Henderson put in a good effort but it wasn’t enough to over come Rampage, Henderson will come back from this fight stronger than ever and his next fight should be very good.
Overall
Overall this was a good event, it had a lot of good fighters on the card and most of the fights were great to watch. Henderson/Rampage is definatly a must watch fight just because of the significance of the fight. Crappy decision in the Hamill/Bisping fight and Houston Alexander is dominant once again. I would give this event ****/***** stars and if you haven’t watched it, I advise you do.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/UFC_75.jpg/200px-UFC_75.jpg
UFC 75 was one of the biggest events in MMA history because the main event was a title unification match between UFC Light Heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson and PRIDE’s Middleweight and Welterweight champion, Dan Henderson. That wasn’t the only attraction to the event, also at this event was rivals on The Ultimate Fighter 3, Micheal “The Count” Bisping taking on Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. Many believed that Hamill would of one TUF if he didn’t have to leave because of injury.
Even the other fights are worth a mention. Houston Alexander fresh of his victory over Kieth Jardine, was fighting Alessio Sakara. In a heavyweight bout the PRIDE sensation Mirko Cro Cop was facing Chieck Kongo in a must win fight for both competitors.
Light heavyweight bout: Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara
Some people believed that Houston Alexander’s win over Kieth Jardine was a fluke and the only reason he won is that Kieth underestimated him in the fight. So with that being said this looked like it would be a close fight. It was anything but that as Houston Alexander replayed what he did to Kieth Jardine and done it to Alessio Sakara. In opening 20 seconds of the fight Sakara looks for a take down and gets it but within seconds Alexander is able to get straight back onto his feet. Alexander loves to throw high knees and when in the clinch in this fight he threw a high knee and dropped Sakara after that he just ground and pounded him and the fight was over in 1:01 in the very first round.
Houston Alexander is a real contender in the stacked Light Heavyweight divisions. He has stopped two great fighters and I wouldn’t be surprised if he faces 1-2 more fighters and if he wins he should get a title shot.
Welterweight bout: Marcus Davis vs. Paul Taylor
Not big names in the UFC but this fight really delivered. Paul Taylor defiantly had the crowd behind him as he is from England. The crowd certainly went wild when Taylor hit a nice head kick on Davis but Davis was able to keep his composure. Marcus Davis was able to reverse the situation and have full mount on Taylor and stun the crowd when he finished Davis via arm bar. Davis showed great heart in this fight and everybody (except the English supporters) was impressed with Marcus Davis and he improved his record to 5-1 in the octagon.
Heavyweight bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs Chieck Kongo
Mirko Cro Cop was definatly looking to get back on the winning streak after Gabriel Gonzaga embarrassed him at UFC 70. Mirko Cro Cop was defiantly explosive in PRIDE but we hadn’t seen any of that in the UFC. Kongo is a big man, he is 6’4 and looked much bigger than Cro Cop when they stepped into the octagon. Cro Cop looked good in the first round, he was stalking Kongo, he didn’t hit anything major but looked dangerous. The second round was totally different as Kongo was the one stalking Cro Cop and Kongo took Cro Cop down and Kongo looked to have improved his ground game dramasticly.
Kongo hit Cro Cop with a knee to the groin a few times which looked like it hurt very badly and Kongo could of got penolised for them but he didn’t. This match went to the judges and Kongo picked up his biggest win ever and the future of Mirko Cro Cop looks shady as he has lost two matches in a row in the UFC and when you lose three most fighters are given the push to retire/leave.
Light heavyweight bout: Micheal Bisping vs. Matt Hamill
One of the most controversal fights in the UFC. Micheal Bisping got a great reaction when he walked out to the octagon. Surprising that Matt Hamill decided to stand up and fight Bisping instead of taking him down. Hamill was great in the stand up and I believe that Hamill should of won this fight 29-28. Instead two judges scored it 29-28 29-28 Bisping and Hamill 30-27. I don’t really like Bisping as much after this fight because after the fight he said to Hamill “Go back to wrestling” even though Hamill is death WTF. I hope someone knocks out Bisping at his next event because he didn’t deserve to win this match and then after he won he was rubbing it in.
Light heavyweight bout: Quinton “Ramapage” Jackson vs. Dan Henderson
The biggest fight in MMA history, both fighters are coming of huge wins, Henderson knocked out Wanderlie Silva and Rampage knocked out Chuck Liddell. Henderson looked good in the opening round when he got Rampage in the clinch which Henderson is so good at and then managed to take down Ramapge. Around the end of the second round you could tell that Dan Henderson’s conditioning wasn’t the best as he was breathing heavily and looked very tired in the closing round. Great work by Rampage both in the stand up and in the ground game and you can tell how much he has improved since he got a new coach. Rampage was close to knocking Dan Henderson out in the closing seconds of the final round but the bell went. Rampage won by decision with judges giving it 49-46, 48-47, 49-46
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s future looks very bright as he is on top of his game and he has beaten two of the best light heavyweights in Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson. With the coach he has at the moment, I think he will be champion for while. Dan Henderson put in a good effort but it wasn’t enough to over come Rampage, Henderson will come back from this fight stronger than ever and his next fight should be very good.
Overall
Overall this was a good event, it had a lot of good fighters on the card and most of the fights were great to watch. Henderson/Rampage is definatly a must watch fight just because of the significance of the fight. Crappy decision in the Hamill/Bisping fight and Houston Alexander is dominant once again. I would give this event ****/***** stars and if you haven’t watched it, I advise you do.