UFC 50 - The War Of 04

[Minty]

Right, theres a reason Ive posted a new thread. This is going to feature a lot of photo content, and will take a long time to load. Ill start from the top, with the weigh ins, and then try to explain exactly whats happened with regards to the worst injury crisis the UFC has ever seen.


Main Event - Light Heavyweight - Tito Ortiz vs Patrick Cote

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/ortiz.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/cote.jpg

Patrick Cote weighed in at 204 lbs
Tito Ortiz weighed in at 205 lbs

Patrick Cote looked to be pumped, and looking forward to the challenge. Ortiz doesnt look to be in the best shape Ive ever seen him. I hope he didnt take this fight lightly as he will get knocked out if he does. Cote has dangerous hands. In the stare down, Cote looked as if he wanted to get it on there and then. Ortiz responded by faking a lunge forwards. Cote didnt move, and Ortiz walked away. They exhanced glances of what I can only describe as hatred as Ortiz walked past Cote.




Co-Main Event - Welterweight - Welterweight Title - Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/hughes.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/stpierre.jpg

Matt Hughes weighed in at 170 lbs
Georges St. Pierre weighed in at 169 lbs

Both men looked to be in the best shape of their lives. Even Hughes, who is normally just one big mass of muscle, looked to be ripped. Both fighters were in good spirits, even in the stare down and exchanged jokes. Nice to see. This match will be fantastic!



Middleweight - Rich Franklin vs Jorge Rivera

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/franklin.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/rivera.jpg

Rich Franklin weighed in at 185 lbs
Jorge Rivera weighed in at 184 lbs

Both men seemed very subdued and laid back. The stare down was short, and not very sweet. Both of them just looked like they wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Franklin looked to be in the best shape of his life.


Welterweight - Frank Trigg vs Renato Verissimo

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/trigg.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/verissimo.jpg

Frank Trigg weighed in at 169 lbs
Renato Verissimo weighed in at 169 lbs

This match has been given a bit of extra spice, after Dana White (The UFC President) stated that the winner of this match will be in line for a Welterweight title shot. Both men looked to be in superb shape. Trigg exhibited his trademark "couldnt care less" attitude all the way through the weight ins, and didnt even raise his hands for the stare down, although a handshake was exchanged.


Middleweight - Evan Tanner vs Robbie Lawler

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/tanner.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/lawler.jpg

Evan Tanner weighed in at 184 lbs
Robbie Lawler weighed in at 185 lbs

This is the largest weight Robbie Lawler has ever fought at. Although he never removed his shirt, he looked huge. Lawlers punches are going to feel like sledgehammers. Tanner looked his usual professional self.



Preliminary - Middleweight - Tony Fryklund vs Ivan Salaverry

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/fryklund.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/salaverry.jpg

Tony Fryklung weighed in at 180 lbs
Ivan Salaverry weighed in at 184 lbs

Not much to say about this. Both men seemed to see the weigh in as nothing more than a formality and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.Fryklund, although a tad on the light side, looked as though he had next to no body fat.



Preliminary - Light Heavyweight - Marvin Eastman vs Travis Lutter

http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/eastman.jpg http://www.ukmma.com/pictures/lutter.jpg

Marvin Eastman weighed in at 204 lbs
Travis Lutter weighed in at 199 lbs

Contrasting personalities ahoy! Lutter spent the whole weigh in process smirking to himself, whilst Eastman frowned constantly. Lutter seemed to be retaining a fair amount of body fat, even at the comparitively low weight. Eastman on the other hand looked HUGE for a light heavyweight, and looked to be in the best shape Ive ever seen ANYONE in.





This UFC has had one of the worst injury crises ever. Tito Ortiz was due to face Guy Mezger in a "rubber match" (Theyve both won 1 match against each other), however Mezger had to withdraw after collapsing during training. A CAT scan showed some kind of problem with Mezgers brain, but the doctors (at the time of writing) are not sure what is wrong with him. However, they did ban him from fighting. Ortiz, in a touch of "class", put a press release out saying that Mezgers brain was telling him not to fight Tito and thats why hes had to withdraw. This match was changed to Tito Ortiz vs Patrick Cote as a result. Cote is a relative unknown, and is making his debut in the UFC. Word is, that Cote (5 matches, 5 wins in MMA) has some of the most lethal hands ever seen in MMA. Ortizs record against good strikers isnt brilliant, but he remains a heavy favourite.

Phil Baroni was originally lined up to fight Trevor Prangley, but had to withdraw following a cruciate ligament injury. Ivan Salaverry was lined up as Baronis replacement. All seemed to be going well, but last week, Prangley fell victim to a rib injury and had to withdraw. Due to the time scale, and the fact that very few people wanted to fight Salaverry on a weeks notice. However, one fighter stepped up to the challenge, and that is Tony Fryklund. Fryklund had been put on the sidelines due to his involvement in the Ortiz and Murray altercation waaaaaaaay back at UFC 38. However desperate times meant that the UFC re-instated him without thinking twice about it.

One match completely disappeared from the fight card, and that is John Marsh vs Tra Telligman. Marsh had to pull from the event due to a hamstring injury, and this prompted Telligman, to effectively commit career suicide. Mike Whitehead was named as Marsh's replacement, however Telligman stated that he wasnt going to fight "just any old fighter" and withdrew from the card. The UFC are likely to ask him to come back for any future events.

Patrick Cote was originally scheduled to fight Marvin Eastman. However, with Mezger injured, Cote was the only fighter big enough to step up and take the challenge. As a result, Travis Lutter was brought in to face Eastman.



Ill do a full review of all the matches shown on TV after the event. Which is tonight by the way!

[Laz]

I'll have a tenna with anyone that Verissimo wins his bout. Give me 2-1 and ill have a tenna on him winning on the ground too :)

[Minty]

Alright heres how Im betting:

Ortiz vs Cote - Cote (KO)

Hughes vs St. Pierre - St. Pierre (Decision)

Franklin vs Rivera - Franklin (KO)

Trigg vs Verissimo - Trigg (Decision)

Tanner vs Lawler - Lawler (KO)

Fryklund vs Salaverry (Submission)

Eastman vs Lutter - Eastman (KO)

Thos are my final predictions, and may differe from the predictions in the "other" thread.

[Laz]

what price did you get for a cote ko?

[Minty]

OK didnt get time to do a full review tonight, but I will post the results below:

[spoiler:fea7f12f2e]Marvin Eastman vs Travis Lutter - Lutter (2nd round KO)

Tony Fryklund vs Ivan Salaverry - Salaverry (1st round submission - Triangle Body Lock)

Evan Tanner vs Robbie Lawler - Tanner (1st round submission - Head Triangle)

Frank Trigg vs Renato Verissimo - Trigg (2nd round referees stoppage due to strikes)

Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre - Hughes (1st round submission - Armbar)

Rich Franklin vs Jorge Rivera - Franklin (3rd round submission - Armbar)

Tito Ortiz vs Patrick Cote - Ortiz (Judges Decision)[/spoiler:fea7f12f2e]

Will post a full review with all the action tomorrow night. I (almost) promise! :D

[Minty]

Cant remember what I got for it now Laz. Had to go down my local bookies for it, because its hard to find UK based betting sites that support the UFC. I went into my local bookies a while back and told him he'd make a fortune off me if he started doing UFC betting.

[Minty]

Right then, I promised a big review, and here it is:

Prelimary bout - Marvin Eastman vs Travis Lutter

[spoiler:73a90772cc]This fight went to the second round. Unfortunately, the UFC did not show the first round of this fight on the live broadcast. Only the 2nd round was shown. However, what we did see, was a very mobile Eastman, getting knocked out by Travis Lutter. It wasnt the cleanest of punches, but it caught him on the chin, and Eastman went down like a sack of spuds.

The first thing asked of Lutter in the post fight interview was "What is a jiu-jitsu fighter doing, knocking out a kickboxer???" To be fair, it was a cracking overhand punch. Very similar to the kind that Chuck Liddell likes to throw.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Prelimary bout - Tony Fryklund vs Ivan Salaverry

[spoiler:73a90772cc]This started out as Fryklund wanted it. Slugging on the feet. However, Fryklund was caught with a good shot that sent him to the floor. Salaverry noticed the opening, and immediately pounced on Fryklund, taking a back mounted position. Fryklund struggled for a short while, and ate several punches for his trouble, but then Salaverry sunk in a submission that I have never seen pulled off before. The official term was a "Triangle Body Lock". I couldnt see exactly how this was supposed to submit a fighter, but it put Fryklund in a massive amount of pain. The referee did a terrible job here, as Fryklunds arms were stuck underneath him, he could not tap out. The referee was not there protecting the fighters, and missed 3 verbal tapouts by Fryklund before ending the fight. Fryklund eventually needed carrying out of the octagon.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Evan Tanner vs Robbie Lawler

[spoiler:73a90772cc] A superb, if a little short, fight. Boith fighters enjoyed a stand up battle for about 1 and a half minutes, before Lawler went for the clinch. He pushed Tanner up against the fence, and started to lift him, before executing a Matt Hughes esque body slam! Unfortunately, the way both fighters landed meant that it was all too easy for Tanner to lock in a Triangle Choke. Lawler didnt last long after that.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Frank Trigg vs Renato Verissimo

[spoiler:73a90772cc]Ive always been a big fan of Frank Trigg. Not only is he a superb fighter, but hes also a bit of a deadpan comedian! Howevere, I didnt think he had a chance against Verissimo. He proved me, and all his other critics completely wrong!
From the start, both fighters looked as if they wanted to go to the ground, as is to be expected from a Wrestler and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Charuto went for all the early take downs, but Triggs superior wrestling skills not only kept him on the feet, but also helped him to take control from within the clinch. Trigg eventually took the fight to the floor, and ended up in Charutos guard. From here, Verissimo fired off a few submission attempts, including a triangle choke, armbar and a kneebar, but Trigg powered out of all of them. Finally, Verissimo locked a Triangle Choke in, and got it in deep. You could see that Trigg was in trouble, and his head started to go very red as the blood was cut off. Everyone in the arena thought that it was fight over..... but Trigg powered upwards, lifting Charuto up, and dropped him back down on his head. Charuto released the choke, and the round ended shortly after.
Round 2 started on the feet. Charuto didnt even look in the same league as Trigg by this point as conditioning came into play. Charuto had to go for the takedown, but Trigg blocked in, and went for his own takedown, which was successful. From here, Trigg executed a superb ground and pound game, using fists and elbows. The referee stopped the fight as Verissimo could not intelligently defend himself any further.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Rich Franklin vs Jorge Rivera

[spoiler:73a90772cc]This started with both fighters immediately going for the clinch and throwing knees, but a stray knee caught Franklin in the (as the commentator put it) "vulnerable area". Franklin took about 30 seconds to recover, and came back out of the corner to respond with an almost immediate takedown. Franklin fought for the mount position, but could not achieve it, so slowly allowed Rivera back to his feet. A short stand up battle ensued, before Franklin backed Rivera up to the fence, and engaged the clinch. From here, Franklin opened with a superb jumping knee, which unfortunately did not connect. Franklin followed this up with some dirty boxing, before Rivera managed to push him away, and follow up with some decent shots that put Franklin on the back foot. Franklin looked stunned but replied with a superb counter punch which floored Rivera, but he was given time to return to the feet. Franklin pounced immediately, throwing punches that backed Rivera up to the fence. Rivera looked like he was going to be KO'd but somehow managed to escape, and the roung ended seconds afterwards.

The 2nd round was very similar. A lot of clinch work, with Franklin doing most of the controlling. After about 2 minutes of clinch work, Rovera managed to push away, and throw some strikes at Franklin. Franklin looked stunned, but managed to duck under a very heavy looking punch, and escaped to continue the fight. The fight immediately returned to clinch work, but went to the ground with 45 seconds of the round left.Franklin tried to rain punches down from the top, but Rivera did a good job of blocking them, and again, the round ended.

Round 3 was more of the same, lots of clinch work, and again down to the ground. Franklin controlled from the top, but got caught with a nasty punch that opened a cut over the eye. Franklin, now raining down blood as well as punches on Rivera, continued to try for the mount position until there was only about 30 seconds left. At this point, he noticed an opening, and went for an armbar. It was lightning fast, and the tapout came quickly.

All in all a very good fight.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Matt Hughes vs George St. Pierre

[spoiler:73a90772cc]This fight started out with St. Pierre being booed for being a "dirty canadian" which was a shocking state of affairs in a multinational sport.

The suprises started early, and kept on coming. St. Pierre was the first fighter to go for the takedown, which many thought as strange, as his striking skills were VASTLY superior to Matt Hughes, whilst his wrestling skills were nowehere near Matt Hughes level. Matt Hughes went for the guillotine choke immediately, but St. Pierre was able to dodge that with ease. St. Pierre seemed to be allowing the fight to return to its feet, and started letting up Hughes very slowly, who promptly replied by shooting for the double leg, which St. Pierre nimbly avoided. From here St. Pierre looked to throw some high kicks, and punches, but Hughes managed to avoid most of them, before returning a few punches of his own, which did miss, but put St. Pierre on the backfoot, allowing Hughes to go into the clinch against the fence. You could see Hughes again going for the double leg takedown, but St. Pierre again blocked it. Those of you that have seen Hughes fight before will know that you cant stop Hughes from taking you down. Hughes picked St. Pierre up in the air, and slammed him down on his side. St. Pierre squirmed and wriggled underneath Hughes, and actually managed to flip out from underneath Hughes to return to the feet, albeit in a clinch, which St. Pierre managed to back out of. Both fighters squared off again, and St. Pierre threw a spinning back kick which caught Hughes square in the stomach. Hughes was in visible pain, and went for the double lerg immediately, which again, St. Pierre avoided. Hughes again started throwing punches, and even went for a high kick (albeit a very half arsed one)! St. Pierre threw some punches again, but Hughes ducked under and got the takedown, right up against the fence, with Hughes in a side mount position, which St. Pierre managed to pull back a guard. It was at this point that Hughes showed his class. Hughes went from a full guard, to a stepover, and into an armbar submission in a little over a second. Probably the slickest armbar Ive ever seen! Oh and to top it off.... this was at 4:59 seconds of the first round! (5 minute rounds)

Georges St. Pierre, not only put the belt onto Matt Hughes for him, but also hoisted him to the shoulders and paraded him round the ring. Yet was still booed in the post fight interviews. American audiences are disgusting.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

Tito Ortiz vs Patrick Cote

[spoiler:73a90772cc]Not much to say about this one. Cote looked very overhyped. He had been described as having one of the best right hands in the business. In actuality his punches looked very slow and ineffective. Although he did catch Ortiz with a good shot to the side of the head that dropped Ortiz to his knees, but he recovered very quickly. From here, the rest of rounds 1, 2 and 3 were virtually identical. Cote lying on the floor, with an almost useless guard, with Ortiz implementing a ground and pound tactic. Both fighters looked slow, inneffective, and didnt seem to want to finish. This "mian event" let down an otherwise superb night of MMA combat. Ortiz won by unanimous judges decision.[/spoiler:73a90772cc]

[Scouseknight]

Excellent report there Minty - I must admit to forgetting all about this one!!

[Minty]

Its in meh sig! :P

[Minty]

BTW, in addition to the Trigg vs Verissimo fight:

[spoiler:c04b9c6f67]Trigg had an interview recently, to explain exactly how he got out of the triangle Choke. His answer "I have no idea. When he released the choke, my hearing, eyesight and sense of awareness was gone, so I dont actually know what I did to get out of it! I just knew I wasnt going to tap out, even if that meant putting my health on the line"[/spoiler:c04b9c6f67]

Hardcore! :)