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UFC 40 Vendetta Review
Friday November 22, 2002
The UFC is back. Like many of us, maybe you thought that the UFC was falling behind with their events. Pride, King of the Cage, and Gladiators seemed to be leaving the UFC to it's past glory. But UFC 40 just catapulted them back to being in a position of recapturing their past glory in the future if they can keep up the events like they did UFC Vendetta. For all of you who didn't get a chance to see it, you missed one of the best...No, the best UFC to date. With more events like this one, I can't see MMA not becoming as popular as other main stream sports. A point the announcers just kept reiterating which we at thefightgame.tv have been saying for the past 10 years!
Here's a recap of what happened:
Fight
1 They both came out to the center of the cage - Arlovski comes out swinging, nailing Freeman with a straight right. That wobbles Freeman but Arlovski doesn't let up! He continues his punishment with another right sending Freeman down. The referee steps in - stopping the fight. It was a very good stoppage. The winner is Arlovski by referee stoppage in 1min 25 sec. of the 1st round.
Fight 2 Phillip Miller vs. Mark Weir Both men came out swinging. They go down and Miller lands on top. Weir goes for a triangle - Miller lifts him and slams him to release the triangle. Miller stays on top controlling the position while Weir worked from the bottom to the end of the first round. The second round saw Weir deliver a high kick to the head knocking Miller down. Miller composes himself and controls the fight a bit (and as I think that), Weir turns him over and starts delivering punches straight down. Unable to finish him, Weir stands up to get away from the ground game. As they stand up and come at each other again, Weir lands a shin kick to Millers head that sends him down. Weir goes in for the kill. They go to the ground and battle it out. Weir makes a crucial mistake by turning away and ends up giving Miller his back. Miller takes advantage of the mistake and chokes with a (mata leon) rear naked choke. Phillip Miller wins by mata leon.
Fight 3 Robbie Lawler vs. Tiki Ghosin They both came out standing. Tiki delivering low thai kicks causing some bruising to Lawlers right leg. Tiki went in with some punches when all of a sudden Lawler catches him with a looping right hook to the side of the head - knocking Tiki out. At the end of the fight they asked Tiki if he thought Lawler was still overrated. His answer - "yes, they stopped the fight because of a cut to my eye." I guess he needs to see the replay to realize that he was knocked out. Robbie Lawler won in 1min and 29 sec. of the 1st round by a knock out.
Fight 4 Carlos Newton vs. Pete Spratt Newton takes Spratt down, working from the top position, north and south position. Newton throws his knee right on Spratts left arm and goes for a kimura and gets it. Carlos Newton wins in 1min and 45 sec. of the 1st round by a kimura.
Fight 5 Gill Castillo vs. Matt Hughes They came out to the center of the octagon. Hughes slams Castillo down and drags him to the gate. Hughes delivers a right punch straight to the face. Hughes was dominating with short very hard punches. At the end of the round, Castillo complains that a head butt opened a cut above his left eye. The doctor stopped the fight which was a surprise to everyone. Castillo then was complaining that he was o.k. Castillo's cut wasn't that bad so unless Castillo's eye was damaged more than we could see, the doctor shouldn't have stopped the fight. Matt Hughes won by referee stoppage.
Fight 6 Chuck Liddell vs. Renato "Babalu" Sebral They both deliver punches to each other. Liddel was measuring up "Babalu." As "Babalu" goes for a shoot, Chuck delivers a left shin to "Babalu's" head and knocks him out. Chuck Liddell wins by knock out in 2 min and 59 sec of the 1st round.
Fight 7 Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz Toe to toe they go. Ortiz catches Shamrock with some punches that seem to stun him. But then Shamrock catches Ortiz with a short right that stops and stuns him. They go to the ground and Ortiz lands on top. Ortiz is able to deliver a few punches until the end of the first round. In round two, Ortiz tries to stand up with Shamrock but gets the worst of that exchange so Ortiz takes him down. Shamrock puts him in a full guard. Ortiz delivers some great elbows to Shamrocks face. Ortiz pulled away and went into the side mount position. Ortiz delivers some more elbows straight down to Shamrocks forehead. All of a sudden, Shamrock rolls back and stands up. The round finishes. In round three, they both decided to stand and fight. Ortiz was just picking apart Shamrock with rights and lefts. Ortiz goes for a double leg and brings Shamrock down back to the same game - Ortiz on top and throwing short but powerful strikes. Shamrock rolls away and stands up again - he is exhausted! Ortiz looks fresh. The round finishes. The ref.- "Big" John McCarthy goes to Shamrocks corner and stops the fight. Shamrock is beaten up and looks bad. Good stoppage. Do I hear a rematch with Shamrock?..... Frank that is.
Talk to you after the fights, AL
(11/23/02) |
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