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Ultimate Fight Night 01/25/2007
By Erin | January 25, 2007
Welcoming us to the show, Mike Goldberg says that The Ultimate Fighter was designed to make us more aware of the courage and commitment that it takes to make it in the UFC. I’d argue that the point was to get more exposure and ass loads of cash for the UFC. Though it’s done both, so I won’t quibble.
I pay much more attention to Prodigy playing in the background than the rest of what Rogan and Goldberg talk about. Though at some point Rogan makes the very obvious statement of “The heavyweight division does need more depthâ€. Ya think?
Spencer Fisher vs. Hermes Franca
Bruce Buffer and his Mafia Suit introduce us to the first fight. Hermes is sporting electric grape colored hair tonight while Fisher is wearing the Neopolitan colored Tapout shorts.
Round 1. Fisher is a bundle of energy as the fight starts while Hermes seems much more laid back. Fisher is big with the stand up for the first minute and half before Hermes takes him down. Fisher gets guard on Franca who goes for a leg. Fisher wiggles out and goes back to standing. Both guys seem happy to stay in stand up for a minute before Hermes gets a trip and lands in half guard. Hermes gets some stand up punches in as the round ends.
Round 2. Hermes goes into the clinch to work for a takedown but Fisher lands a knee and Hermes ends up on his back. When Fisher attempts an ax kick Hermes grabs his foot and takes Fisher down. After a few minutes the ref returns them to standing and both guys seem much more tired. Hermes gets a good shot in and follows with a hard knee. Fisher starts reeling and Hermes keeps on punching until the ref calls the fight.
Winner: Hermes Franca via TKO
Oh, good grief. Hulk Hogan is seen in the crowd and is as day-glow orange as ever. (Brother!)
Hermes pulls a GSP and gets on his knees to beg a title shot. Dana has the “why, yes I am God here†smirk on his face.
Heath Herring vs. Jake O’Brien
I love how UFC is totally promoting the Kiss. Don’t do that in California, UFC. They’ll suspend you for simply showing the footage, I’m sure.
I’m not so much on Herring’s music but I’m very tempted to mug him for his coat. Gotta love the whack-tastic hair as well.
A lot of circling for the first few minutes before Herring gets a decent hit on O’Brien. O’Brien goes down but manages to get the dominant position when the fight hits the ground. They go back to standing before O’Brien gets another takedown. Herring rolls and O’Brien takes his back. Herring moves to his back and O’Brien ends up in half guard as the round ends. Kinda less than impressive round for Herring.
Round 2. O’ Brien gets a takedown and gets full mount. Herring gets back to standing for a few punches before O’Brien gets another takedown. Herring has a small cut on his head and finally gets to standing again only for O’Brien to take him down. Rogan seems to be getting really frustrated with Herring’s apparent lack of anything resembling ground defense.
Round 3. O’Brien gets the fight to ground right away again. Big John gets them standing only for O’Brien to get another takedown. Herring once again tries to keep the fight standing to no avail. O’Brien gets side control before getting Herring’s back and then moving to full mount. Herring finally blocks a takedown but that only works for a few seconds before O’Brien takes over. Herring finally starts showing some life with a few punches as the round ends.
Gee, I wonder how this will be decided.
Winner: Jake O’Brien wins via unanimous decision
Herring says that he doesn’t want to be out here laying on the ground and judging by the ending of the fight, a big “no duh†on that. He says that they aren’t out here for a wrestling match; I have to argue that they aren’t out for a pure boxing match either.
Randy interview. He’s very emphatic about winning the heavyweight belt again.
Chris Price vs. Ed Herman
The fight quickly goes into a clinch against the fence. Herman gets a takedown into half guard. Price starts working an arm for a kimura but Herman fights it off. Herman is very big on the elbows from the guard and manages to work around to Price’s back. Herman flips to a fast arm bar and Price taps.
Winner via armbar submission: Ed Herman
Commercial for “Bull Run†featuring Bill Goldberg. Dear God is that man in any way, shape or form still a celebrity? (Ed. — Tell that to Elite XC. He’s their commentator!)
Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon
Now, why would you wear headphones down to the ring? I would think you’d want to pick entrance music that you like and would want to listen to. Therefore, wouldn’t the headphones be a bit redundant? (Ed. — He’s listening to Fight Opinion Radio.)
Not so impressed with the borrowing of Sugar Ray Leonard’s nickname by Rashad.
Roommate Jen observes the Rashad’s boobs seem to be on the verge of taping out to gravity.
Round 1. Both guys seems content with standing for a bit before getting into the clinch and Salmon gets a takedown into side control. They go back to standing and exchange again before Salmon gets a takedown against the fence. Back in the middle of the ring and they remain standing for the rest of the round.
Round 2. Rashad gets a big knee in the beginning and goes in to finish. Salmon manages to fend Rashad off as the circle for a bit more. Rashad nails a high kick right to Salmon’s jaw and he is out cold.
Winner: Rashad Evans via knockout.
A disappointing debut by Herring, but good performances by pretty much everyone else. Pretty decent show for an Ultimate Fight Night that didn’t have any big matchups.
Topics: All Topics, Erin Bucknell, MMA, UFC | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I hope Salmon isn’t dead.
Anybody got an update on Salmon?
Erin, I’m with you. Can we please have a moratorium on people using the name “Sugar”? He’s no Ray Robinson or Ray Leonard. It’s a shame enough that Shane took that name. Leave it be, boys.
That’s not even mentioning the fact that it doesn’t flow. Doesn’t work with a three syllable name.
Just as with the brutal knockouts of Tra Telligman and Terry Martin where they were both unconscious for an extended period of time, there was no on-air acknowledgment by the UFC or updates on their conditions. Name any other sport where someone has a potentially serious injury and the response is to not acknowledge or update the viewers on the injury.
1. O’Brien made me a hater tonight. His performance of lay and pray was pathetic. I am typically a fan of the wrestlers, but that was beyond bad.
2. The Marquardt fight not being shown was frustrating. He is the legit #1 contender now.
3. Rashad Evans got beat in the first round. At least on my scorecard. Looked more like a slow start.
4. Ivan is correct. Very weird. They act like it doesn’t exist. While my first reaction is to be mad at Rashad for still punching him, it isn’t his fault. They are taught to continue until the ref stops it. And it is hard to turn the switch “off”. Plus, Evans showed legit concern during his interview. Obviously he is a good guy.
5. From reports, it sounded like Thomas/Guida was another good fight. I almost want another 2 hours program so we can see the rest of the fights. And since I own a Mac, I can’t watch the UFC OnDemand videos even if I wanted to.
To add to what I said about UFC’s handling of the Salmon knockout, you don’t have to say, “He’s okay!†You don’t have to put the camera on him non-stop and “play up the spectacle†of it. That’s not what I was suggesting at all. What I was suggesting is that they acknowledge the fact that someone is unconscious and that the fighters’ safety is the most important thing, and that whether Sean Salmon ends up being okay or not is ultimately more important than the fact that Rashad Evans just scored a highlight reel KO. It would take maybe two sentences.
It would be the equivalent of an NFL player going down from a big hit and not moving for several minutes, and the camera cuts to a crowd shot or a commercial break and the injured NFL player is never acknowledged again during the broadcast. That’s exactly what happened in the UFC when Tra Telligman and Terry Martin suffered brutal knockouts (and in that case they had hours to offer any kind of update or acknowledgement to the viewers), and that’s exactly what happened tonight. It was classless and it’s not something that you’re going to see in other sports.
Just announced during post fight, Franca/ Sherk is ON! WAR FRANCA1!!!
I was there live when Terry Martin got blasted. We thought he was gone for real. It was never aknowledged to the crowd…and it was weird just wondering about him like that. The Tra KO was the same night, but I ran off to grab a beer before the main event. I didn’t even know that he got stretchered until I read about it later.
I agree something should be said. The thing is the UFC always touts how MMA is safer because no one has died. The thing is, eventually someone is going to. They need to use the study results that there are less concussions, although there are more minor injuries than boxing. Hanging onto the “never been a death” story is going to backfire in the end.
Apparently the lister/marquardt fight was pretty tepid. I’m dying for the Guida/THomas fight!
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