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UFC 66 or UFC 71
Rewatch Recommend good UFC events from approximately 2002-2007
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Thanks for the detailed post. I'll check some of this stuff out soon, and with your notes maybe I'll even seek out certain specific fights.These are the types of threads that I live for.
As an old school fan, I'm just going to stick to UFCs 35-39 because I doubt that many other people here are either old school enough or hardcore enough to be able to offer any thoughts on these older events. And this is because you said that you'd already seen UFC 34, so I'm assuming that means that you've also already rewatched UFCs 30-34. In which case...
UFC 35: Excellent event from the era when they'd have a fighter sit in the booth as guest commentator. For this event, Randy Couture put the headphones on for the first time. The main event is one of the GOAT LW title matches, Jens Pulver showing for the first time that the way to beat BJ Penn was to survive the initial burst and then beat him down mentally and physically. It's also always a treat to watch Randleman's wrestling - arguably the best double in the history of the sport - although this is the infamous fight where Randleman said that he shit his shorts during the fight. Bustamante versus Dave Menne is a forgotten gem of a title match. And then Ricco Rodriguez continues his ascent up the HW ladder by putting it on Jeff Monson. Chuck Liddell also beats up Amar Suloev in a tactical striking match that has a great between-rounds moment where Chuck gets pissed at what looked like a late shot but cools immediately when he realizes it was an accident. Great card top to bottom.
UFC 36: One of my favorite events from this early Zuffa era. Sean Sherk puts on a wrestling clinic against the always game Jutaro Nakao (who boasted a submission victory over Pat Miletich back when Miletich was king of the hill) and then Matt Serra and Frank Mir show what top level submission skills look like with slick quick finishes. Matt Hughes mauls the Shooto king Hayato Sakurai (and even lands a monster Superman punch just because he could), who was a replacement opponent. Who was Hughes originally supposed to fight, you ask? Oh, nobody, just future MW champ Anderson Silva. But Silva signed with PRIDE where his Chute Boxe boys were fighting instead of with the UFC. At that time, Hughes would've destroyed Silva, and for the history books, it would've been amazing. But Sakurai was also a dominant Shooto force...just not as dominant as prime Hughes. Pedro Rizzo shows that he's still a dangerous striker by taking out the young up-and-coming Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett shocks the world by taking the HW title from Randy Couture in a grueling match where Barnett used great elbows from the bottom and knees in the clinch, constantly making Randy work until he was finally able to turn the tables. It's also cool having Ricco Rodriguez in the booth commentating, because he knew that he'd likely be fighting the winner for the belt soon enough. More on that later...
UFC 37: Not as much of a banger as the previous two events, but still a great card full of A-listers. The first fight of the night is future champ Robbie Lawler throwing down with Aaron Riley for all three rounds. Then there's the overlooked early LW crew, with Caol Uno taking a decision over Yves Edwards. Then there's Phil Baroni and BJ Penn putting the hurting on their opponents. My favorite of all, there's Ricco Rodriguez solidifying his status as the #1 contender at HW with a thorough trouncing of the tough and durable Tsuyoshi Kosaka. And then the main event is the infamous - and awesome - MW title fight with Bustamante defending against Matt Lindland in the fight where Big John makes a rare mistake at a key moment.
UFC 37.5: Lame card, but it's fun as historically (1) it was the first UFC event broadcast on a major sports network, with Robbie Lawler's victory over Steve Berger being broadcast on Fox Sports, and (2) the Fear Factor guy Joe Rogan sits in and does commentary. Lame card or not, it's all about the main event here, as Chuck Liddell solidifies his status as the #1 contender for Tito Ortiz' belt with a decision victory over Vitor Belfort. The end slugfest with Chuck sitting Vitor on his ass will always be an insane, adrenaline-pumping moment.
UFC 38: Not the best card, as the UFC made its way to the UK and the Royal Albert Hall - in fact, the highest-profile fighting wasn't even done in the cage, as old school fans will remember- but it's headlined by possibly my favorite Matt Hughes performance. Having defeated Carlos Newton to become the WW champ by powerbombing his way out of a triangle choke just in the nick of time, for their rematch, Hughes wanted to dominate Newton to where nobody could say anything, nobody could cry "Fluke," they'd just have to respect Hughes as the king of the division. And by this point, Hughes' grappling had been getting better and better, and he absolutely crushes Newton. One of the most impressive displays of top control and positional dominance capped off by a brutal display of GNP courtesy of the most impressive use of the crucifix position yet seen in MMA.
UFC 39: Another one of my all-time favorite events. Sean Sherk gets the night started with his persistent wrestling attack and his nasty elbows inside the guard, splitting the super game Benji Radach open and getting the TKO. Then Matt Lindland beats Ivan Salaverry in a less-than-exciting bout. But Phil Baroni gets the crowd back into it with his iconic KO of former champ Dave Menne, whose head he uses as a speed bag before proclaiming himself the best eva. This card also features two big HW bouts. Pedro Rizzo loses for the first time ever in a non-title fight, as Gan "The Giant" McGee times a perfect straight right with his tremendous reach and busts Rizzo's nose to force the stoppage. And then Tim Sylvia makes his UFC debut in his all-timer against Cabbage, who he uses as his human punching bag in a dominant display of power punching. Plus, there's also the mini LW tournament between Caol Uno and Din Thomas on one side and BJ Penn and Matt Serra on the other to determine who would compete for the LW championship at a later event. Uno/Thomas is an interesting fight, while Penn/Serra is a bit slow, but props to Serra for aggressively going at Penn. It's a real tough fight to score, and I would've loved it if Serra had gotten the nod, but Penn used his great TDD to shut down Serra's game. Most importantly, though, in one of the GOAT fights, Ricco Rodriguez finally got his shot at the HW title...but not against Barnett. Having been stripped of the HW title for pissing hot, Randy Couture was given the chance to get his belt back. But Ricco was too much for him. In an absolutely extraordinary battle, Randy starts off strong and takes the greener Ricco out of his comfort zone, but eventually, thanks to his coach and cornerman Tito Ortiz, Ricco settles into his game, starts to initiate the wrestling and starts beating Randy to the TD, and unleashes ferocious GNP that eventually leads to an orbital bone-breaking elbow in the final frame and allows Ricco to put the HW strap around his waist, capping off one of the most impressive runs through a division in the history of the sport.
To start with a joke: Definitely don't watch their fight
Seriously, though, I said it above and I meant it: Ricco's run through the UFC HW division is one of the most impressive runs in MMA history, and the Ricco Rodriguez that beat Randy Couture at UFC 39 is the only fighter next to the Cro Cop who annihilated Wand and Barnett in the OWGP finals who I might actually favor in a fight with Fedor. Ricco was big, he was strong, he developed phenomenal wrestling training with Mark Kerr and Tito Ortiz, he put together a decent striking game and had a wicked flying knee, and his submission skills were unsurpassed in the HW division. Much like BJ Penn, his problem was always mental. He was a party animal and lacked discipline, which led to lots of drinking and poor weight management. But when he was training with Tito at Team Punishment, he had the discipline and the structure that he needed, he looked (physically and technically) better each and every fight, and by UFC 39, he was in his top form. Then immediately thereafter he took his foot off the gas, got cocky, and started celebrating instead of training, and Tim Sylvia took the belt right from him. But Ricco back then was just an animal.
And Rizzo was always a disappointment since he'd so often shut down and fight passively, but when he was throwing, he was an unholy striking terror. Low kicks that were the stuff of nightmare and underrated boxing paired with a powerful sprawl. Don't sleep on his fights with Barnett and TK, and then both of his slugfests with Tra Telligman are a blast to watch.
I learned to love and appreciate Sean Sherk. While his fights were a bit predictable in his prime, the man had dominant wrestling and his elbows from half guard or side control were pretty vicious.
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He's been one of my favorite fighters for a long time. He was always too small at WW but even so was so fucking strong that he was always a force to be reckoned with who only ever lost to Hughes (a decision where he stole a round if not two during Hughes' first invincible reign) and GSP. When he dropped to LW, though, I honestly didn't think that anybody would ever be able to beat him. The only reason he lost to BJ was because he let the haters' complaints about him being boring get in his head and he decided to stand with BJ like a moron. But his wrestling was so ferocious and his top game was so fluid. His mauling of Ryuki Ueyama in PRIDE was so amazing that even Bas was almost rendered speechless as he watched Sherk in awe, while his UFC 73 masterclass against Hermes Franca is up there with GSP's wrestling clinic on Alves at UFC 100 as one of my favorite grappling displays in MMA history. I'll never forget watching UFC 73 live with my friends after we'd started doing BJJ. Watching what Sherk did to the super slick Franca was awe inspiring.
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UFC 35
Randleman on Prelim
Liddell
Ricco
Murillo Bustamante
Jens vs BJ Part 1
Also, since you want to learn more about Ricco, The Smashing Machine shows a bit about Ricco and probably why he couldn't maintain success.
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Such a great documentary. Used to be mandatory viewing for MMA fans, nowadays most fans probably haven't even heard of it. I actually teach film classes, and if I ever have occasion to do a unit on documentary, I often assign The Smashing Machine to students. It's fun hearing from today's UFC fans talking about how wild it is to see that era of the sport, but the best is how dark and intense even the non-fans find that story. Just a well-made documentary. And yeah, doesn't show Ricco in the best light, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an accurate light.
Bonus: Bas Rutten rules
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Amazing post. To be honest, I largely ignored UFC while Pride was around. But this alone makes me want to watch some of this stuff, especially Ricco fights, to whom I have never given his due attention.These are the types of threads that I live for.
As an old school fan, I'm just going to stick to UFCs 35-39 because I doubt that many other people here are either old school enough or hardcore enough to be able to offer any thoughts on these older events. And this is because you said that you'd already seen UFC 34, so I'm assuming that means that you've also already rewatched UFCs 30-34. In which case...
UFC 35: Excellent event from the era when they'd have a fighter sit in the booth as guest commentator. For this event, Randy Couture put the headphones on for the first time. The main event is one of the GOAT LW title matches, Jens Pulver showing for the first time that the way to beat BJ Penn was to survive the initial burst and then beat him down mentally and physically. It's also always a treat to watch Randleman's wrestling - arguably the best double in the history of the sport - although this is the infamous fight where Randleman said that he shit his shorts during the fight. Bustamante versus Dave Menne is a forgotten gem of a title match. And then Ricco Rodriguez continues his ascent up the HW ladder by putting it on Jeff Monson. Chuck Liddell also beats up Amar Suloev in a tactical striking match that has a great between-rounds moment where Chuck gets pissed at what looked like a late shot but cools immediately when he realizes it was an accident. Great card top to bottom.
UFC 36: One of my favorite events from this early Zuffa era. Sean Sherk puts on a wrestling clinic against the always game Jutaro Nakao (who boasted a submission victory over Pat Miletich back when Miletich was king of the hill) and then Matt Serra and Frank Mir show what top level submission skills look like with slick quick finishes. Matt Hughes mauls the Shooto king Hayato Sakurai (and even lands a monster Superman punch just because he could), who was a replacement opponent. Who was Hughes originally supposed to fight, you ask? Oh, nobody, just future MW champ Anderson Silva. But Silva signed with PRIDE where his Chute Boxe boys were fighting instead of with the UFC. At that time, Hughes would've destroyed Silva, and for the history books, it would've been amazing. But Sakurai was also a dominant Shooto force...just not as dominant as prime Hughes. Pedro Rizzo shows that he's still a dangerous striker by taking out the young up-and-coming Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett shocks the world by taking the HW title from Randy Couture in a grueling match where Barnett used great elbows from the bottom and knees in the clinch, constantly making Randy work until he was finally able to turn the tables. It's also cool having Ricco Rodriguez in the booth commentating, because he knew that he'd likely be fighting the winner for the belt soon enough. More on that later...
UFC 37: Not as much of a banger as the previous two events, but still a great card full of A-listers. The first fight of the night is future champ Robbie Lawler throwing down with Aaron Riley for all three rounds. Then there's the overlooked early LW crew, with Caol Uno taking a decision over Yves Edwards. Then there's Phil Baroni and BJ Penn putting the hurting on their opponents. My favorite of all, there's Ricco Rodriguez solidifying his status as the #1 contender at HW with a thorough trouncing of the tough and durable Tsuyoshi Kosaka. And then the main event is the infamous - and awesome - MW title fight with Bustamante defending against Matt Lindland in the fight where Big John makes a rare mistake at a key moment.
UFC 37.5: Lame card, but it's fun as historically (1) it was the first UFC event broadcast on a major sports network, with Robbie Lawler's victory over Steve Berger being broadcast on Fox Sports, and (2) the Fear Factor guy Joe Rogan sits in and does commentary. Lame card or not, it's all about the main event here, as Chuck Liddell solidifies his status as the #1 contender for Tito Ortiz' belt with a decision victory over Vitor Belfort. The end slugfest with Chuck sitting Vitor on his ass will always be an insane, adrenaline-pumping moment.
UFC 38: Not the best card, as the UFC made its way to the UK and the Royal Albert Hall - in fact, the highest-profile fighting wasn't even done in the cage, as old school fans will remember
UFC 39: Another one of my all-time favorite events. Sean Sherk gets the night started with his persistent wrestling attack and his nasty elbows inside the guard, splitting the super game Benji Radach open and getting the TKO. Then Matt Lindland beats Ivan Salaverry in a less-than-exciting bout. But Phil Baroni gets the crowd back into it with his iconic KO of former champ Dave Menne, whose head he uses as a speed bag before proclaiming himself the best eva. This card also features two big HW bouts. Pedro Rizzo loses for the first time ever in a non-title fight, as Gan "The Giant" McGee times a perfect straight right with his tremendous reach and busts Rizzo's nose to force the stoppage. And then Tim Sylvia makes his UFC debut in his all-timer against Cabbage, who he uses as his human punching bag in a dominant display of power punching. Plus, there's also the mini LW tournament between Caol Uno and Din Thomas on one side and BJ Penn and Matt Serra on the other to determine who would compete for the LW championship at a later event. Uno/Thomas is an interesting fight, while Penn/Serra is a bit slow, but props to Serra for aggressively going at Penn. It's a real tough fight to score, and I would've loved it if Serra had gotten the nod, but Penn used his great TDD to shut down Serra's game. Most importantly, though, in one of the GOAT fights, Ricco Rodriguez finally got his shot at the HW title...but not against Barnett. Having been stripped of the HW title for pissing hot, Randy Couture was given the chance to get his belt back. But Ricco was too much for him. In an absolutely extraordinary battle, Randy starts off strong and takes the greener Ricco out of his comfort zone, but eventually, thanks to his coach and cornerman Tito Ortiz, Ricco settles into his game, starts to initiate the wrestling and starts beating Randy to the TD, and unleashes ferocious GNP that eventually leads to an orbital bone-breaking elbow in the final frame and allows Ricco to put the HW strap around his waist, capping off one of the most impressive runs through a division in the history of the sport.
To start with a joke: Definitely don't watch their fight
Seriously, though, I said it above and I meant it: Ricco's run through the UFC HW division is one of the most impressive runs in MMA history, and the Ricco Rodriguez that beat Randy Couture at UFC 39 is the only fighter next to the Cro Cop who annihilated Wand and Barnett in the OWGP finals who I might actually favor in a fight with Fedor. Ricco was big, he was strong, he developed phenomenal wrestling training with Mark Kerr and Tito Ortiz, he put together a decent striking game and had a wicked flying knee, and his submission skills were unsurpassed in the HW division. Much like BJ Penn, his problem was always mental. He was a party animal and lacked discipline, which led to lots of drinking and poor weight management. But when he was training with Tito at Team Punishment, he had the discipline and the structure that he needed, he looked (physically and technically) better each and every fight, and by UFC 39, he was in his top form. Then immediately thereafter he took his foot off the gas, got cocky, and started celebrating instead of training, and Tim Sylvia took the belt right from him. But Ricco back then was just an animal.
And Rizzo was always a disappointment since he'd so often shut down and fight passively, but when he was throwing, he was an unholy striking terror. Low kicks that were the stuff of nightmare and underrated boxing paired with a powerful sprawl. Don't sleep on his fights with Barnett and TK, and then both of his slugfests with Tra Telligman are a blast to watch.
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Frank Mir vs Ian Freeman.
Good luck with the injury Jeff.
Good luck with the injury Jeff.
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This DVD has almost everything your looking for. All the good fights before UFC 100 or so.
https://www.amazon.com/UFC-Ultimate-100-Greatest-Fights/dp/B002GU65M4
https://www.amazon.com/UFC-Ultimate-100-Greatest-Fights/dp/B002GU65M4
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His fight against Pete Williams at UFC 34 is really the sit-up-and-take-notice moment in his career. All the Lion's Den guys were excellent on the ground, and they all combined strong wrestling with slick submissions. And Williams had a decent guard and was better off of his back than, say, Mezger or Bohlander. But against Ricco, he literally had nothing to offer. Ricco dominated him so thoroughly that he even nearly got a kneebar on him, which, while a Ricco specialty - the kneebar is what he tapped Nogueira with in their ADCC match - was also a Lion's Den specialty, and for a Lion's Den fighter to almost lose to a leglock? That's the fight where Ricco showed the world that he was coming for the belt and that he was one of the best in the world. I also loved the behind-the-scenes footage that showed how respectful he was to Ken Shamrock despite Ricco training with Tito. Class and sportsmanship all around, but in the cage, Ricco savagely destroyed Williams and sent a message to everyone in the HW division that he was the guy to watch out for.
And I'm just a sucker for the early days. My fandom started in late 2004, so I missed the first decade of the sport, but the first decade is easily my favorite decade. There's a historical bias at work there, as I love watching iconic things become those iconic things; I love watching the sport evolve, I love watching the early standouts, I love the old (at this point all but lost) warrior mentality. It was a different world, but it was a fascinating and exciting world, and I never tire of going back and experiencing the history of this great sport.
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Ha, UFC 52 was the first PPV that my friends and I bought. By UFC 56, I had my routine down: Friends come over, $5 per person for the PPV and pizza, and I fire up my VCR and tape the event off of DirecTV
UFC 56 is a solid card, but at the time, the event was a little depressing considering (a) Hughes was supposed to defend his belt against Karo Parisyan and (b) his replacement opponent Riggs failed to make weight and so Hughes didn't even get credit for a title defense. On the other hand, I was stoked at the return of Sean Sherk. I remember showing my friends footage of him to hype up the GSP match. Little did we know just how fucking dominant GSP was becoming. That night, he proved that the mauling of Trigg at UFC 54 wasn't a fluke and that he would likely maul everyone who stepped into the cage with him en route to that inevitable Hughes rematch.
And then, of course, Nate Quarry's ill-fated attempt to become the first TUF alum to wear a UFC belt. I can still hear Goldie's replacement Matt Vasgersian's voice on the broadcast, "Big left and down goes Quarry," with Rogan adding, "Out...cold." Training with Randy Couture got Quarry into the TUF house, but it shouldn't have gotten him into the cage with the champ, and Franklin showed back then before we had the term: There are levels to this game
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I loved UFC 40, that was such a great event, it really stands out. I have the DVD of it.
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Watched that fight today, what a fucking mauling by Ian Freeman.
Frank was hurt so badly... that stoppage was rough, the way he collapsed, that was brutal.
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this, pride was FAR superior in this era
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He's been one of my favorite fighters for a long time. He was always too small at WW but even so was so fucking strong that he was always a force to be reckoned with who only ever lost to Hughes (a decision where he stole a round if not two during Hughes' first invincible reign) and GSP. When he dropped to LW, though, I honestly didn't think that anybody would ever be able to beat him. The only reason he lost to BJ was because he let the haters' complaints about him being boring get in his head and he decided to stand with BJ like a moron. But his wrestling was so ferocious and his top game was so fluid. His mauling of Ryuki Ueyama in PRIDE was so amazing that even Bas was almost rendered speechless as he watched Sherk in awe, while his UFC 73 masterclass against Hermes Franca is up there with GSP's wrestling clinic on Alves at UFC 100 as one of my favorite grappling displays in MMA history. I'll never forget watching UFC 73 live with my friends after we'd started doing BJJ. Watching what Sherk did to the super slick Franca was awe inspiring.
Just rewatched Sherk vs Hughes at UFC 42, that was a MUCH more competitive fight than I remembered it.
I gave Sherk round 3 and round 5, pretty damn impressive to be able to put prime Matt Hughes on his back. Sherk was a beast.
As I recall there was no 155 in the UFC at that point. I'm glad Sherk was able to get that 155 strap and defend it, he deserved it.
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UFC 40 was my first card. It’s all finishes, bunch of huge names, Phillip Millers last fight also
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Yup. Before Jones was king of the hill and allegedly not even bothering to train for people like Gus, Hughes was king of the hill and allegedly didn't even bother to train for Sherk. But he got a big wake-up call in the form of The Muscle Shark, who wasn't prepared to be a GNP punching bag for Hughes and instead was there to take his belt from him.
Most people score that 3-2 for Hughes, and while it was a clear victory in the sense that nobody thought that Sherk deserved the nod, the fact that it was so competitive was a huge feather in Sherk's cap. Still, even though I respect Sherk's performance and even though he's one of my favorite fighters, Hughes' dominance back then was so impressive. Imagine how helpless Sherk must've felt when Hughes would pin his wrist to the mat with one hand and then use his other arm to drive his elbow into Sherk's face. There are two GNP moments that never fail to shock me. The first is Big Daddy flatlining Bas Rutten's old training partner Amir Rahnavardi. Goodridge was a former arm wrestling champ, so it makes sense that he'd be strong enough to keep Rahnavardi's arm pinned underneath him. But still, to see him do it, it's a terrifying display of pure strength.
The second is Lesnar/Mir II. The way that Brock was isolating Mir's arm and nullifying it as a defensive shield in the first round, thereby opening a side of Mir's face to free GNP, that was crazy enough, but then in the second round, he busted out the Big Daddy Playbook for Freakishly Strong Fighters and pinned Mir's arm behind his back and demolished him in much the same way.
It takes a special kind of strength to be able to do shit like that. You can't train for that, that can't just become a part of anybody's offensive arsenal. And it's one thing if you're a giant gorilla like Brock, or a former arm wrestling champ like Big Daddy. But to see Hughes just grab Sherk's wrist, pin his arm to the mat, and start elbowing him in the face...
...Hughes had that freak strength where, in the words of Jeff Osborne, he was like the ultimate big brother: When he grabs hold of you, there's nothing you can do. All he needed to do was ask Sherk "Why are you hitting yourself?" after hitting him with his own hand
But speaking of UFC 42, how about Baroni on the mic? That's the famous event where Rogan was in the Goldie role of running the broadcast while Baroni was in Joe's role calling the fights. But Baroni was fantastic on the mic. He was great here and he was great when he called fights at PRIDE Total Elimination 2005. Especially in the clip that I timestamped above, while Rogan is looking at things through his BJJ blinders just automatically assuming that anything Hughes does on the ground is to the end of securing a submission, Baroni the pro fighter is there to correct him and say that what he's actually doing is looking to open up GNP. Sharp eye, good at calling the action, and can offer the valuable perspective of being a pro fighter.
Yeah, the LW division went through absolute hell back then. After Pulver beat Penn at UFC 35, he vacated his belt (contract dispute BS). With no LW champ, the UFC staged a mini 4-man tournament at UFC 39 between the top LW talent: Din Thomas, Caol Uno, Matt Serra, and Penn. Penn and Uno emerged victorious and they fought - a rematch with Penn having already blasted Uno into outer space in 11 seconds at UFC 34 - for the vacant LW belt at UFC 41...and that fight was declared a draw. So we still had no LW champ. Penn then goes to Hawaii and chokes out Gomi in a different org, then he comes back to the UFC as a WW and takes the title from Hughes, and then he disappears leaving WW without a champion. Fucking chaos back then. By the time that Yves Edwards came into his own, the UFC just couldn't give less of a shit about straightening out the LW division, and then eventually they'd shutter the division entirely. By the time they brought it back, Sherk had already returned to the UFC and was still fighting at 170, losing to GSP but beating Nick Diaz. Once the division was brought back and the UFC was ready to crown a new champion, it was fitting that Sherk got to get first crack at it and it was just going to be too bad for whoever was going to be on the other side of the cage
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...
But speaking of UFC 42, how about Baroni on the mic?
Baroni was surprisingly solid on the mic.
A little rough around the edges, but very informative and able to articulate wrestling and clinch positions and technque well. Not afraid to hold his ground with Rogan.
