Smark Rant: UFC 25 Ultimate Japan 3!

(Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz battle at UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3)

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 25: Ultimate Japan 3!

– Live from Tokyo, Japan again. They must have been getting some good money from UFC Japan at this point.

– Your hosts are Mike Goldberg & Jeff Blatnick, standing in front of a green screen. We don’t even have Bruce Buffer this time.

Lightweights: Laverne Clark v. Koji Oishi

Oishi is a wrestling specialist who took this on short notice. He supposedly weights 156, but that seems overly generous. They exchange takedown attempts with no success and clinch on the fence. They do some tentative standup and then Clark realizes his advantage and unloads on Oishi, but it goes back to the clinch on the fence again. Clark gets some weak shots there and the round expires. I dunno, 10-9 Clark. You could go either way, really.

Second round and Oishi gets a good takedown this time, allowing Clark to try out a butterfly guard. Oishi tries to pass and Clark fights him off, and we’re standing again. Oishi takes a tired Clark down again, with a standing throw this time, and gets full mount this time. Clark must be really gassed, but Oishi has nothing for striking. Clark elevates and gets top control now, but Oishi’s guard is tight and the round expires. Oishi had more control, so we’ll go 10-9 for him.

Third round and Oishi takes him down cleanly, but Clark elevates again and gets the top. Oishi won’t give him anything from the guard, tying Clark’s arms up with double underhooks, but Laverne manages to keep busy anyway. I think that’s enough to give Clark the fight, and we go to the judges to decide. Should be a unanimous decision for Clark, and it is. Nothing particularly impressive for Clark here.

Middleweights: Joe Slick v. Ikuhisa Minowa

Minowa shoots in for the takedown, but it’s blocked by Slick and countered with a guillotine choke attempt. Minowa powers out of it and pulls Slick into his guard, but they stand up pretty quickly. Minowa throws Slick down again with a really nice leg trip and gets the top, and that’s where we stay until the end of the round. 10-9 Minowa for all the takedowns.

Round two and Minowa comes out swinging with no contact, and gets himself caught in another choke attempt on the ground. He gets out again and puts Slick down with another throw and we’re back to the guard. Slick powers up, so Minowa throws him with a backdrop suplex (which, unlike in pro wrestling, is more visually impressive than actually damaging) and gets back into Slick’s guard. And that’s the round. Interesting one to call, so we’ll go 10-9 Minowa again for takedowns.

Round three and Minowa is punching again, but Slick manages the takedown this time and Minowa has half-guard. Slick passes and gets full mount, but then switches to side mount instead. He throws a knee from there and they stand up again, and Minowa busts him open with a hard head kick. Minowa presses with a takedown and gets the top, but Big John stops things to check the cut. And the doctors stop the fight. Replay shows that the finishing kick was Cro Cop-like in its effectiveness.

Heavyweights: Ron Waterman v. Satoshi Honma

Waterman shoots in for the takedown and gets side mount right away, but can’t get a choke from there. He opts for straight ground and pound instead, and Honma gives up the back. Waterman pounds away from the back, then switches to knees as Honma isn’t defending at all. Big John won’t stop it, and Honma manages to stand it up against the fence as Waterman is clearly out of gas now. Round expires and it’s clearly Waterman 10-9, but his total lack of finish keeps it from being any more lopsided.

Round two and Waterman’s shoot attempt is blocked by a kick to the face. Waterman pounds away against the fence, but moves in on a grounded Honma and almost gets armbarred. Waterman works from the top and kinda sorta almost gets a choke, but he still can’t finish. Probably enough to win the round, though. 10-9 for Waterman.

Round three and they’re dancing to start, as Waterman would be well-advised to not do anything stupid and wait out the decision. Waterman gets another takedown and controls on the top for the rest of the round. Unanimous decision for Waterman. Looked good at the start, but it got really boring. Waterman would not return to the UFC, instead trying for a pro wrestling career that went nowhere.

Middleweights: Sanae Kikuta v. Eugene Jackson

They test the waters with a standup fight and then Kikuta surprises Jackson with a takedown. Jackson hooks in a guillotine, but Kikuta powers out and actually gets on top with full mount. Uh oh, Jackson’s in trouble now. Kikuta presses with an arm triangle attempt, then throws punches instead and they actually get into a slugfest. Kudos to Jackson for fighting back. Kikuta hooks in the arm triangle again and then switches to an armbar, and Jackson has nowhere left to go and taps at 4:30. This was a CLINIC by Kikuta, as he easily handled Jackson and schooled him on the ground.

Middleweights: Yoji Anjo v. Murilo Bustamante

Anjo lost to Tank Abbott at the first Ultimate Japan, and I don’t see him doing much better here. Bustamante shoots in and gets the takedown, but Anjo powers out and back to the fence. Bustamante gets another takedown and passes the guard easily, but he doesn’t really have much striking and Anjo escapes without much trouble. Bustamante takes him down again and pounds away as the round ends. 10-8 for Bustamante, as he had total dominance.

Second round and Bustamante uses a go-behind and takes him down with a waistlock this time, then hooks in an arm triangle and submits him at 0:30. Great debut from Bustamante.

UFC Middleweight championship: Wanderlei Silva v. Tito Ortiz

The title was of course vacated by Frank Shamrock after he decided that being rich and undefeated just wasn’t challenging enough for him. I bet the diamonds in the soles of his shoes were giving him blisters too. Tito gets the first takedown and works from the top, as he would be wise not to get into a standing battle with Silva. Tito works some good ground and pound, but nothing’s going on until the round expires. 10-9 for Tito.

Second round and Silva tries the takedown this time, and Tito NAILS him with a right on the way in and then gets top control again. Tito gets a good try at passing the guard, but Silva hangs on and Tito keeps up the ground and pound until the round expires. Another 10-9 for Tito.

Third round and now we’re getting somewhere, as Silva unleashes a flurry of punches and stuns Tito. This gives us a classic Tito moment where he runs away from Silva in terror, but a takedown gets it to the ground again where Ortiz wants it. He basically holds Silva on the ground for the remainder of the round. 10-9 for Silva this time.

Fourth round and Silva is just stalking Tito now, but Ortiz doesn’t look like he wants to engage. Can’t say I blame him. Sure enough, Tito makes the first move with a takedown and Jeff Blatnick notes “their styles have become very conservative”. That’s a very diplomatic way to put it. More hugging on the ground and you have to give it to Tito 10-9 by default more than anything else.

Final round and Silva needs a finish now. Nope, Tito catches him with another takedown and this time gets side mount and hangs on for all he’s worth. He has to know he’s winning at this point. And after controlling the round, it’s 10-9 for Tito and he wins the Middleweight title in rather un-Tito-like fashion. The t-shirt reads “I Killed the Axe Murderer”. Killed him with boredom judging by this fight.

Conclusion

So a few fun fights and a God-awful dull main event leave this show squarely in the middle of the road. Thankfully the “US v. Japan” experiment would end here, as this was the end of the Ultimate Japan shows and nearly the end of SEG as well.