Smark Rant: UFC 35 Throwdown

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 35:  Throwdown!

– Live from the Mohegan Sun Arena.

– Your hosts are Mike Goldberg & Jeff Osborne.

Middleweights:  Ricardo Almedia v. Andrei Semenov

We don’t even get ring intros on the version I have!  Almeida throws a pair of good high kicks and shoots for the takedown, but Semenov blocks it.  Almeida completes the takedown, but Semenov stays busy and fights to his feet again.  He tries his own takedown, but Almeida counters with a choke attempt and then nearly gets a hanging armbar.  I’m thinking that going to the ground isn’t a real smart move for the Russian.  Almeida keeps wrapping him up and trying crazy submissions, so Semenov finally backs off.  They fighting standing again and Almeida wants that takedown, but Semenov holds him off until the end of the round, when he gets a big judo throw to impress the judges.  That’s a close one to call, but Almeida had the takedowns and general control, so 10-9 for him.

Second round and now Semenov is throwing down, but Almeida pulls guard and nearly gets a flying armbar on the way down.  Semenov doesn’t want to be down there, so they stand it up and Semenov nearly knocks him out.  He goes in for the kill and Almeida POUNCES on him with an armbar, then switches to a kneebar and then a heel hook, all of which Semenov escapes.  And then, as they stand it up, Semenov KNOCKS HIM THE FUCK OUT at 2:07.  Wow, what a great fight that turned into!  Not sure what happened to Semenov that we didn’t hear from him again, but this was a killer debut.

Light Heavyweights:  Chuck Liddell v. Amar Suloev

You’d think Liddell would be getting title shots at Tito by now, but they’re such good friends that would never happen.  They trade punches to start and Suloev tries a high kick without success.  That’s all Chuck wants to take, and he starts pounding on Suloev’s face and mixing in leg kicks.  To his credit, Suloev doesn’t go down, but he doesn’t really want to engage either.  Chuck gets lazy and Amar nearly hits him with a high kick, and that’s the round.  10-9 Liddell but he nearly got knocked out a couple of times.

Round two and Chuck is still going low with the kicks, and Suloev backs off and tries to bait Liddell into a knockout punch.  And it almost works.  Chuck can’t finish him and Suloev keeps hitting hard to counter, really getting Chuck’s timing down.  Things slow down a lot as Suloev avoids Liddell and neither can gain any traction.  10-9 Suloev, but you could go either way and he wasn’t gonna win the fight that way anyway.

Round three and Liddell is throwing the leg kicks, but can’t get Suloev to stay still long enough to knock him out.  And the crowd boos the inaction.  There’s just nothing going on, but Liddell is landing more shots, so 10-9 Liddell, for a 29-28 win on my scorecard.  Judges say:  Liddell 30-27 all around.  No big argument from me.

Middleweight title:  Dave Menne v. Murilo Bustamante

Menne stops a takedown attempt and they clinch on the fence, but Bustamante gets it to the ground.  They stand it up again and Murilo gets a solid takedown, then quickly gets the back and both hooks in.  Menne calmly reverses out of what would have been a bad place to be.  Back to their feet and Bustamante runs him into the fence off the clinch, and that’s round one.  10-9 Bustamante.

Second round and Bustamante catches Menne with a hard overhand shot to put him down, and then hammers on the downed Menne until Big John stops it at 0:43, to give Bustamante the Middleweight title!  I’m really liking Bustamante the more I see of him, so good for him.

Heavyweights:  Ricco Rodriguez v. Jeff Monson

Monson runs right into a knee coming in, but manages to get a takedown out of it instead.   They fight on the fence before Ricco takes it to the ground and nearly gets an armbar.  Back up, but Ricco gets an effective leg trip to get control on top.  We get some lay and pray non-action until the end of the round, when Ricco tries an armbar too late to matter.  10-9 Ricco.

Second round and Ricco is throwing knees, but they end up against the fence again.  Hugging follows until Ricco gets a weak shot and they wind up on the ground.  That goes nowhere until Ricco finally shows something by doing a Sakuraba-style passing of the guard.  They stand up and Ricco gets a nice high kick as the round ends.  10-9 Ricco.

Third round and Ricco gets another takedown to hold Monson down, and then lets him up for some standup.  Monson nearly gets a great shot in, but Ricco hammers him down and finishes by TKO at 3:00.  I don’t like where this is going any more than you do.

Lightweight title:  Jens Pulver v. BJ Penn

So I’m wondering which version of Pulver shows up here — the explosive knockout artist or the dull grinder?  They take it to the ground immediately and Penn hooks in a guillotine, but Pulver powers up with BJ still hanging on, and slams him hard to the mat.  Heck of a counter there.  Pulver controls against the fence while the announcers wonder about Penn’s ability to go 5 rounds.  Well, I think we learned the answer there.  Jens decides to stand it up, and BJ tees off on him with combos as a result.  Penn pulls guard to prevent Pulver from going into the clinch, and they work from there until the round expires.  I’m torn on scoring.  10-9 Pulver, we’ll say.

Round two and Penn takes him down into the fence for some low-grade stuff on the ground.  Penn actually gets full mount, but Pulver counters with a wrestling move (a sunset flip, basically), which I’ve never seen used in that context before.  Penn stays in control and nearly hooks an armbar, but time expires.  Clearly 10-9 Penn there, as Pulver was in major trouble and ready to tap.  You could even argue 10-8 Penn for being saved by the bell.

Round three and Penn gets the single-leg takedown, but Pulver blocks it on the ground and ends up on top.  Penn works towards the rubber guard from the bottom, but Big John sees that as inaction and stands them up.  He was trying for an omoplata in 2001, man!  You have to give him the round for that alone.  10-9 Penn there, as Pulver is having trouble figuring this one out.

Round four and Pulver gets a bit more aggressive with a takedown and tries firing away from the top.  Penn fights up and then gets a double-leg takedown, forcing Pulver to reverse himself on top again.  There’s some pretty high-level grappling going on here by the standards of the day.  Big John stands them up again.  Not much going on to end, 10-9 Pulver for his control on top.

Round five and it’s anyone’s fight.  They do some boxing and Penn is a bit tentative, allowing Pulver to get some leg kicks in.  Pulver looks stronger and more confident, scoring with better shots as they’re apparently going to finish this thing standing up.  And Pulver just keeps coming, nearly knocking Penn down a couple of times before BJ accidentally kicks him low.  That allows Jens to recover, and he comes out swinging until the end of the round.  And that’s 10-9 Pulver, which should be enough to retain the title.  That one really lived up to the expectations no matter which way the judges go.  Winner by split decision and still champion:  Jens Pulver.  Really close, too.

Great main event to close out a solid show, Ricco Rodriguez’ continued existence and rise up the heavyweight ranks aside.  Can you tell I’m really dreading the heavyweight division that’s upcoming?