Assigned to UFC 72: Victory, in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, this was actually my first live experience of MMA, and as anyone who saw the PPV portion last night can testify, it was a fine initiation. Though I can hardly call myself a UFC novice, having over time witnessed a lot of fights, and having been following proceedings for some time now, neither can I call myself an expert. However, I may soon seek to change that, following last night…. But bear in mind, that this report is from a wrestling fan’s perspective.
Heading into last night, I wasn’t excited in the sense that I expected a blow-away show. It looked solid, but not spectacular. There wasn’t a single match that under other circumstances I would have had down as a must see, nor was there a title on the line at any point. I could see why some may have had it figured as a take it or leave it card. But in my book, these criticisms left it wide open for a few surprises, and for stars to be made.
Arriving at around half 5, I found the arena to be bustling, as a large percentage of the population were aware that Preliminary bouts were scheduled to take place at around six. Knowing that they would in fact, not begin until 6.40, I had a wanders around. The place was already about 65% full, and there was a genuine buzz, with a lot of fans while not new to the product, probably new to the live experience, like myself. Prior to the show beginning, once the arena was mostly filled, they showed a bunch of video clips. These were really good, mainly the packages that highlighted the Griffin and Franklin fights. Both guys got big pops when they appeared on the screens the UFC had positioned well the entire way around the building. I also hear a bit of a buzz around Stevie Lynch, the local guy who’s making his debut. They definitely sound extremely interested to see what this boy, thus far undefeated, will come up with tonight.
Both Dana White and Michael Bisping seem like genuinely nice guys, and they stop at ringside, posing with fans for photos, and signing whatever is thrust in front of the. Bisping in particular is extremely popular and the demand for him from the Belfast fan base is insane, plus he works both the media and fans well. If he continues as he’s going, he’s certain to become a huge star.
Video presentation for this one, which surprises me, as I thought only the main card bouts would feature build up. However it’s a really good idea, and generally the UFC’s promotion of all fights, with some sort of lead-in, is greatly beneficial. The crowd in attendance go absolutely nuts when Lynch appears on screen, and are insanely hot for his entrance. Hazelett gets a good reception too, but I hope Lynch wins this, as it will really pump the crowd up even more.
Round One: Match starts tentatively, both guys looking to gain an advantage from stand-up, Lynch is the heavier by a couple of pounds, and has an intimidating look about him.. After about a minute or so, Lynch is cut open, and it looks pretty bad. He responds with a sound kick, but ends up eating several punches to the head, before slipping on a kick attempt. His cut’s bleeding all over his opponent now, as the crowd rally behind him, but Hazelett’s not making any mistakes. Barrage of punches from Hazelett, before Lynch works his way out of the guard, and on top, but in the process succumbs to a choke.
This was fine for the brief duration. Hazelett fought smartly, and Lynch was unlucky to be cut so badly at that stage, as I believe that’s what caused him to make mistakes, but he hardly disgraced himself.
Robinson’s another local guy, hailing from Ballymena, who has a bit of a Randy Couture look about him. Despite the previous fight not going in the home crowd’s favour, they’re really amped as Robinson makes his way to the ring. The arena’s now at least 85% full.
Round One: Robinson repeatedly shoots for takedowns in the early going, eventually succeeding, taking him down against the cage. From here, the Ballymena man really dominates, throwing elbows and punches from the mount, before trying to roll into an arm-bar. Sanchez however, works his way out of trouble, and manages to get on top. From there, Robinson is pummelled for a brief period, but knowing the end of the round is coming, he covers up and takes it.
Round Two: Sanchez looks re-invigorated as the round commences, and almost immediately lands a big punch that nearly takes down the crowd-favourite. Robinson is shaky as Sanchez smothers him to the mat, and finishes him off with a series of shots.
Another good fight, and although again the crowd are disappointed to see their man lose, the atmosphere is still fantastic. I feel Robinson will have taken the first round on points (which I find out he did), but he didn’t seem to have much of an answer to his refreshed foe second time out the gate. Afterwards, Sanchez is interviewed and puts over how tough the Irish are but then slights us a little by saying that the Irish think they’ve caught up in terms of fighting, when in fact they haven’t. Fair point I guess.
Prior to the next slice of action, we’re treated to a Quinton Jackson interview from ringside, where he confirms his upcoming fight with Dan Henderson (at UFC 75 in London). He claims he’s looking forward to the bout, and absolutely exudes charisma and confidence. Good promo.
This is the final Prelim match of the night, as the fourth has been added to the main card. The video clips beforehand put over Davis’ extreme confidence, perhaps brashness. Tan, from Liverpool, is booed by a portion of the crowd. Davis is energetic, and the crowd like him.
Round One: Tan is patient and bides his time. Davis throws some kicks, a few of which connect. He takes his prey down after a minute, with a thunderous punch to the face, and mounts him, throwing a series of elbow’s to the head. The ref stops the match, and Tan attempts to grab Davis’ leg, but he’s just completely out of it.
That was exciting while it lasted. Davis looked really impressive, and the punch he threw was pretty devastating.
Main Show
Before it begins, we witness a colossal video package that showcases some of UFC’s most memorable moments and knockouts. A lot of Forrest Griffin is shown here, and he gets a big pop each time he appears. So does Anderson Silva incidentally. This is a superb series of clips.
The background focuses on the clash of styles between the two fighters. Herman comes across as very confident and cocky. Quinton Jackson is in Smith’s corner. Herman comes out to Phil Collin’s “in the air tonight”, which is a distinctive entrance.
Round One: In the early going, Herman gets the advantage, and takes Smith down, pounding on his ribs and midsection, before Smith escapes, settles into holding on to him. Herman presses him, and holds him against the steel. Herman attempts some knees, but Smith manages to smother the impact. Instead, Herman throws a nice slam, but on the mat, Smith attempts a choke. A massive elbow allows Herman to escape, and Smith is busted open really badly. At about the three-and-a-half minute mark, the ref stops the action to get Smith’s wound checked. He continues, but has to do so underneath Herman. Then we see some fine grappling as they use a mixture of choke attempts and leg submissions, punctuated with elbow shots. Excellent round.
Round Two: Herman makes an early mistake, and ends up down, with a guillotine applied. He works his way out eventually, perhaps helped by Smith’s blood loss, which worsens when Herman connects with the elbow again. Smith then gets to his feet, but is surprised by a Rear Naked choke and submits.
Winner at 2:25 of R2 via Rear Naked Choke: Ed Herman
This was another really enthralling clash. The first round was clearly the better, but the way in which it progressed meant it was continually dramatic. While Herman did look very impressive, Smith did look somewhat unlucky. The live crowd really enjoyed this one.
The video history seemed to suggest both guys (neither of whom I’ve actually seen before in a fight) were on the brink of a breakout performance, with Griffin being keen to win via KO. Griffin enters to “Eye of the Tiger”, which gets a pop, followed by a sigh from the unimpressed crowd.
Round One: They circle for a bit, and feel each other out, with Griffin looking for strikes, and Guida seeking the leg takedown. Guillotine by Griffin, and the crowd think Clay is done for sure. But amazingly, he hangs on, but his own attempt at one isn’t as successful. Slapped against the Octagon cage, they battle for position and it’s really entertaining stuff. They both end up in a standing position again, and here, Griffin is the favourite, looking far more comfortable, whilst Guida keeps going for takedowns. Griffin has also got to be scoring well for his excellent defence. Really fine first round, a great variety of stuff.
Round Two: This starts with some striking between the two, as Griffin surprises Guida with some kicks, that are just avoided. Both guys do a superb job of countering each others submission attempts. They both hit some really fine strikes to. The crowd are dazzled by the combination of traditional grappling, and kickboxing styles. After a couple of minutes, Griffin throws a big German suplex, but Guida sandbags it, and lands ass first on Griffin’s face. Nice. On the mat, Guida applies a leglock, but rolls on his front, and Griffin retaliates with some stiff blows to the side that derail Guida. Again, excellent awareness from Griffin, but he gets trapped in a sleeper as he stands, with Clay on his back. He can’t break it, so instead seems to shimmy himself into position, and I think I know what’s coming. Guida is dropped face first over Griffin’s shoulder, in an impressive manoeuvre. The crowd wince as the round comes to an end. Bloody fantastic.
Round Three: This round is definitely one of two halves. The early stages see Griffin look impressive with some risky strikes. This is how it goes until about the three minute mark, then Guida takes him down, and remains on top for the duration. However, Griffin’s defence is so good, that Guida can’t put him away. But he is completely dominant in final minute. The feeling in the Odyssey is that both men were superb, but Guida’s dominance in the third is sure to land him the win. However the judges announce that this isn’t the case.
Awesome match-up, and the best I’ve seen in a long while, certainly this year. The crowd were super hot, but outraged by the decision. I think you could argue that Griffin’s dominance in the first, combined with his varied defence in the final two, gives him a case to be the winner, but I still would have given it to Guida. Takes nothing away from the quality of this fight however.
Build up for this suggests that MacDonald’s wins over other Ultimate Fighter contestants gives him the edge. I just wonder how people will react to anything less than the last fight! MacDonald comes out to the song “Turn The Page”, which I think is a fantastic piece of entrance music.
Round One: Even and unspectacular in the first couple of minutes, as Singer looks the better with his strikes. The fans are impatient, with a vocal section singing “Old MacDonald”, which is irritating, because there’s no way that isn’t a distraction. Some of the UFC staff beside me are shocked by the inventiveness of the Belfast spectators, one of whom loudly shouts “Sixty-Nine”. Singer is still using some solid strikes, while MacDonald looks likely to score a takedown, but isn’t successful. Singer actually is getting the better of the grappling , and Macdonald resorts to some striking that sees him fall into a triangle choke, but the round ends. This wasn’t spectacular, and the crowd response is definitely in part due to the last match, but it’s still a decent fight.
Round Two: First portion of this round sees MacDonald getting the takedown, but Singer actually works his way on top. This changes after a couple of minutes, with MacDonald mounting his opponent, and pummelling him in the head. Singer seems completely sapped by this, and having no retaliation, the referee stops the match,
This was a good, competitive match-up, but it was unfortunate that it followed the fight that it did. MacDonald was the more impressive overall.
The taped footage shows Griffin in confident, cocky form, and he’s positioned as the clear favourite. Suggestion indicates that he’ll be the one who dictates the pace of the fight, depending on what approach he takes. Griffin enters to the same Dropkick Murphy’s song that was used recently in the movie, “The Departed”. Awesome song. Thunderous, ground-shaking reaction for Griffin, who plays to it well.
Round One: Early Ramirez takedown that surprises Griffin, but Griffin isn’t affected, and is to his feet without any damage being done. A formula begins to emerge of Ramirez keeping enough space to throw solid-looking punches, while Griffin presses for more distance, but slots in with big kicks. He hit’s a nice one at 1:20. Both men are trying to be smart, with some of Griffin’s kicks looking dangerous. Ramirez has some nice punches, but few of them are connecting as much as he’d like. Griffin on the other hand, hit’s a couple of nice, brief kick/uppercut combos, before backing off. Griffin definitely takes this one, because although he did nothing devastating, he controlled the pace and despite receiving a slight cut under the eye, looked comfortable.
Round two: More of the same, with Ramirez starting to show frustration. Griffin is slowly becoming more adventurous as he hits more punches and knees, in addition to his kicks. Ramirez retaliates and sticks with it, without being ambitious. Griffin becomes more aggressive, and actually enters a somewhat sustained period of offence, before accidentally hitting a low-blow. There’s a brief break to allow for recovery. This comes as a relief to Ramirez I imagine, who now looks very sluggish.
Round Three: Ramirez looks to be explosive, but Griffin isn’t going to be drawn into anything, and I figure this will go the distance. He tries to take Griffin down by the leg, for the first time, but isn’t successful. As the round goes on, Griffin, while adopting the same strategy, gradually lands more and more shots, while Ramirez looks knackered. Griffin continually looks at the clock. He knows he has it, unless he is somehow knocked out, which frankly, isn’t going to happen unless he does something ridiculous. The clock runs down, and everyone knows what way this will go.
This was a great match. Not from an explosive point of view, but in terms of strategy. Griffin was fascinating to watch. Afterwards he admitted he still hasn’t recovered from the last KO he suffered, and it affected his performance, but at the end of the day, it was obviously the right approach. He needs to build on that, but it will surely make for a better all-rounder at the end of the day. The Belfast fans were fantastically supportive throughout this, and I imagine it’s making for a great fight on TV.
The pre-match footage is good stuff, and suggests that Franklin will put on a big show for us, and positions him as the “baby face”, if that’s possible. He gets a big reception, though obviously not as vocal as that for Griffin.
Round One: Very little happens in the first two minutes or so. The crowd boo this loudly, but still stay with the fight. Despite what both guys said beforehand about this being potentially great, it isn’t. The round ends with little contact having been made. Disappointing start.
Round Two: Again, the first couple of minutes see nothing happen aside form the odd kick, that doesn’t connect. Past the half-way mark, and Okami attempts a take-down. Franklin doesn’t go down though, and they tumble into the cage, where they do absolutely nothing, and are brought back into the middle by the referee. At this point, Franklin is the better, if only because he’s showing a little initiative here and there. He hit’s a hard left before the end of the round. Again, the crowd are booing, but more viciously at this point.
Round Three: Knowing he has to do something to shift the balance, Okami comes out of the blocks with a wild jumping knee. This is little better, with Franklin throwing some good body blows, and a shot to the face. A minute and a half in, and Okami takes his opponent down with a trip, and on the mat they battle to gain the advantage. Okami looks for the mount, but doesn’t get it, and instead locks a guillotine on. This is the best action of the entire fight, as Franklin frees and arm and rolls free. Stunning defence, but Okami traps the arm, and as he synch’s it in, Franklin looks in big trouble. He struggles free however, and the crowd pop insanely for his escape. He really was in peril though. At one point, it looked like Okami was definitely on the verge of snapping his arm, as Franklin is determined not to lose. But that was tight, and extremely dramatic. Okami looks absolutely vanquished by his failure to put Griffin away, and Griffin ends up on top, but the round comes to a close, going to the judges.
Crowd boo loudly at the finish of the bout, and some actually left while the fighters were awaiting the result. But in actual fact, Franklin probably did deserve the victory, and Okami’s exciting work in the last minute merely distracted from that. Overall Franklin had a better fight, but it certainly wasn’t a good one. Okami dominated the third round, but was easily the less impressive in the first two. Franklin for sure also scored points for his breathtaking reversals towards the end of the tussle. Like I said, not a good fight, but the end was memorable, and while the crowd had every right to boo the action, they didn’t call the finish right by booing the decision.
This wasn’t the best UFC show I’ve ever seen by a long stretch, but it was a damn solid one. Most of the contests were at least good, with several being highly entertaining, and one being a classic. Only the main event was a disappointment, and even that did have one great sequence occur to brag about. White has done a fine job in bringing this show here, and as he’s already stated that they will return to Ireland (to Dublin, though I suspect a 2nd Belfast show will happen too, eventually) . I for one look forward to that, and imagine it will be an even bigger card. The UFC know that Belfast is a market that they can use again. It would be interesting to see what people would make of a UFC show being presented here though, in closer proximity to a WWE show. How many would venture to both?
What was great about this, was that a great deal of effort was made to keep the spectators entertained between matches. This is something that the WWE often are criticised for not doing, during TV tapings (although I haven’t experienced this myself). The last WWE show I attended in the Odyssey was very poor. Rushed, and lazily booked, It pleased the kiddies in attendance, but in no way could be recommended to older fans. In that regard it has to worrying that I, a long-time wrestling fan, found this to be a much more entertaining evening than any of the McMahon’s visits to us. I urge anyone who’s still on the fence about MMA, to get yourself out there. This proved that it certainly can be as entertaining as a wrestling show, in a different way, but it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Whichever side you’re on… give both a shot.
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