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UFC 74
By Zach Arnold | August 25, 2007
Live show reports: The Fight Network | Sherdog | MMA Weekly | UFC Junkie | F4W Online | UFC Mania | MMA on Tap | Irish Whip Fighting | Steve Sievert | The Observer | Yahoo Sports | Alex Marvez
Non-UFC note: The Fernando Vargas/Ricardo Mayorga fight has been postponed.
Kevin Iole – Renato Babalu disgraces the sport, Dave Meltzer – Josh Barnett marks out. Update: Kevin Iole reports that the NSAC is withholding 50% of Babalu’s $50,000 USD fight purse.
For our faithful Fight Opinion Radio listeners, you know that there was only one site member who picked Patrick Cote to beat Kendall Grove and that would be me. You could have made some money by picking that upset, too.
Kevin Iole raises an interesting question (unwittingly) about Roger Huerta’s victory at UFC 74 — is it fair for a fighter (in his own fight!) to be able to watch himself on a TV screen or does it give that fighter an unfair competitive advantage (even if the other fighter has access to the same technology)?
Media reaction to the fallout from UFC 74 can be seen in full-page mode.
- UFC HP: Naturally disastrous – Couture stops Gonzaga in three to retain crown
- AOL Fanhouse: Randy Couture beats Gabriel Gonzaga to keep heavyweight title
- Bloody Elbow: The bad-ass Greco-Roman kingpin who comes in with the gameplan showed up at UFC 74
- Associated Press: The ultimate champion – Couture TKOs Gonzaga to retain heavyweight crown
- The Canadian Press: Couture retains heavyweight title, GSP looks strong at UFC 74
- The Orange County Register: Babalu hangs on against David Heath
- CBS Sportsline: Couture dominates Gonzaga, retains UFC heavyweight title
- The Houston Chronicle: Couture retains his crown and St. Pierre rediscovers his winning formula
- MMA California: Couture defeats younger, larger Gonzaga to remain champion
- Fight Report: 44 year-old Couture batters Gonzaga to a bloody pulp!
- Jeff Hamlin: UFC 74 radio wrap-up show (this was a GREAT show for train-wreck technical-difficulty radio, Jeff deserves a gold star for putting up with this chicanery)
- The Boston Herald: A bloodied Gonzaga is TKO’d by Couture
- Yahoo Sports (Kevin Iole): Anything possible with ageless Couture
- The Los Angeles Daily News: UFC heavyweight champion Couture pounds Gonzaga
- Yahoo Sports (Dave Doyle): UFC 74 notes – GSP back on track
- The Los Angeles Times: Couture relies on experience to retain title
- The Los Angeles Times: Kyle Maynard – a fighter’s ultimate challenge
- The Republican (MA): Gabriel Gonzaga knocked out
- The Calgary Sun: GSP lays down the law
- The Washington Post: GSP, Couture register statement wins in UFC 74
- Sam caplan: Fire Renato Babalu
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 58 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Couldn’t agree more. I watched on one-day tape delay with friends (avoiding spoilers was easier than I had expected), and inserted the prelims from UFC on-demand before the main card. Fast-forwarding past the chatter and locker room scenes made it much more enjoyable, and watching the extra fights was great. As soon as I saw it, I knew the Babalu choke would have been written about extensively in between the time the fight occurred and the time I saw it. One suggestion though: avoid the Aurelio/Guida fight. I watched it first, and it wasn’t a strong start to the night. I think we almost lost some of the first-time UFC viewers with that, followed by the David Heath Muta-worthy blood geyser. Thankfully, Cote/Grove got things going for us, and we were on our way.
Also, who approved the marketing for a film called Death Sentence during a fight sport? Poor choice there, especially seeing it printed on the Octagon and sponsoring the clock. Not the image you want to be conveying, folks.
01. Herb Dean did not make a bad call. He made the ONLY good call he could make.
Dean could have stopped the fight when Gabe asked for the blood-wipe, resulting in a VERY tainted win for Couture, and a shitty way to end a PPV. Instead, he let Gonzaga know the deal (quit or re-start in the same position) and the fight went on. Great call, great fight, excellent outcome.
02. GSP is more badass than Megatron on a caffeine high.
03. Roger Huerta is legit. Very athletic, very entertaining. Maybe not top 10 in his division (yet) but give him time.
04. Saw the Sobral/Heath bloodbath. Horror movie blood spatters with each elbow from Babalu. The extra 2.5 seconds he held the choke? Bad sportsmanship, no doubt. But for all the drama queens: get over it. It wasn’t the worst thing ever in MMA (or any sport) by a LONGSHOT.
And $25k fine?!!? Wow…a little harsh. I think $5k would suffice.
05. Saying “MMA blew it” is like saying “Football blew it” because Michael Vick was arrested for dog fighting. With Great sportsmanship after 99% of the fights, I don’t think it’s fair to say that Sobral’s 2.5 second choke tainted the entire sport on a global scale.
Again, Drama Queens: take a Valium.
UFC Fanboy (45 Huddle): “And Josh “I Got Busted For Roids” Barnett was playing it up to the crowd. Even more pathetic”
One of the best heavyweight fighters in the world showing up at a UFC Event? Wow…what an asshole. How dare he?
Nicklovesmma: “The only way someone can overtake Fedor before ‘08 is over is to beat him. If he continues to remain inactive, then that is a whole different ball of wax.”
Exactly.
Thanks Jeremy…I just can’t imagine that fight being a year end main event.
That’s not the final fine for the bad sportsmanship. It’s just the commission policy to withhold a significant portion as collateral for any hearing/appeals process and to take out the ultimate fine that is levied and is finalized after appeals. Doesnt mean $25,000 will be the ultimate fine, though.
Zack, you have to remember that this is also the wrapup event from Ultimate Fighter 6, and those two guys are “coaching” TUF6, so it’s a double event because you have this superfight between the two TUF coaches AND it’s a belt match.
It doesn’t mean a whole lot to me (I only watch the TUF finales), and maybe not to you, but it’s not a shaky headliner by a long shot.
Back that up with a solid card with Silva and others and you could definitely do worse.
Ahh…that makes sense.
I still think $5k is fair for a fine in this case. For a repeat offence, $10 – $15k or more is justified, but anything beyond 10% of a fighters pay for something like that seems excessive.
Hopefully the card will be headlined by Silva/Liddell. The real question is what fight will headline the Nov UFC in NJ?
It was supposed to be Sherk vs Penn.
I suppose it theoretically still could be. I don’t think Dana would want to get to October 31st without having an actual definite fight to promote though. The extension of that appeal really screwed things up.