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UFC 78

By Zach Arnold | November 17, 2007

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Recaps: Observer | Sherdog | MMA Junkie | Bloody Elbow | MMA on Tap | Fightlinker | Steve Sievert | Kevin Iole | Kevin Iole Pt. 2 | Steve Cofield | MMA Opinion | F4W Online

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

22 Responses to “UFC 78”

  1. roflcopter says:

    Ok.

  2. The actual PPV portion of the show kicks off at 10PM Eastern. Do we have any moles who will be at the show to post live?

  3. Tomer Chen says:

    The actual PPV portion of the show kicks off at 10PM Eastern. Do we have any moles who will be at the show to post live?

    I’ll be there, but I won’t be able to post here live, unfortunately.

  4. Mark Pickering says:

    For anyone looking to kill some time ahead of the PPV:

    London’s own UFC fighter Jess “the Joker” Liaudin will hit the talkSPORT radio airwaves Saturday night at 1AM (early Sunday) for a special hour-long call in on the Mike Mendoza show. Fans will be able to call in and get serious with the Joker and ask questions about his two explosive first round wins in the UFC so far, his next move in the UFC and of course fellow Brit Michael Bisping’s main event at UFC 78 VALIDATION, which gets underway just hours later.

    Plus, two of the hottest tickets in town – for UFC 80:RAPID FIRE in Newcastle January 19 – will be given away.

    Fans outside the UK will be able to listen in via the talkSPORT website at http://www2.talksport.net

  5. I just received a tip saying that Rogan fucked up extremely bad on SportsCenter tonight. When talking about Houston Alexander, Rogan stated “Houston Alexander goes after people like someone just raped his mother”. ESPN apparently cut him off and then issued an apology.

  6. Sherdog Live Results

    Fightlinker is going to liveblog and they’re doing a live to internet audio programme after the show.

  7. Brandt says:

    MMA Opinion will be doing round by round coverage as well. It won’t be as funny as Fightlinker, unfortunately. I’ll be sober the entire time. BORING, I know.

  8. Michael Bisping is a bad person who was raised by wolves.

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    I picked all 9 fights correctly for this card. I even took Top 10 on the UFC Fantasy thing. Yet, for some reason the last 3 fights didn’t register for me, so it only did it on my first 6 predictions. I wonder if everybody else had the same thing happen.

    Neither Bisping or Evans really impressed me. Bisping needs to drop to Middleweight, and Evans needs to just do something different. His last two fighters have been borderline bad. Even with the win here, he just doesn’t strike me as a future champion.

    Thiago Silva is likely the real deal. That guy just has that it factor.

    Karo Parisyan…. Besides coming in pudgy…. Just can’t finish a fight. I’m not even sure if I want to see Fitch/Parisyan at this point.

    Overall, it was a lackluster PPV. Nothing bad, just nothing exciting either.

  10. Grape Knee High says:

    Just got back from the event…

    Just a few comments, just in case the live play-by-plays are lacking description. The undercard was better than the main event.

    McCrory vs. Gono. Gono was running for his life the first 5 minutes of the fight. But McCrory punched himself out and Gono figured out McCrory’s timing and tagged him. The armbar was more of a shoulder submission. I’m pretty sure he tapped because his shoulder popped out (or at least felt like it to him) rather than because of the armbar. Gono didn’t even have his wrist secured at the right angle.

    Luke Caudillo was just outclassed by Aurelio. It wasn’t even a contest. There was a bit of a controversy because the fight was stopped even though Aurelio wasn’t hitting him with power shots — think Swick/Okami — but it seemed like a good stoppage to me.

    Lytle vs. Alves. Sherdog’s play by play was wrong. Lytle did have two cuts, but only one was above the eyebrow. The other cut was directly on his eyelid. And I’m pretty sure that’s why it was stopped. The one above the eyebrow wasn’t all that bad.

    Overall, interesting event, but I don’t know how I would have felt if I saw it on TV.

    I don’t know what they announced, but it was not even close to being sold out. There were large sections that weren’t even open. I’d estimate the crowd at ~14,000 – 15,000 (assuming full capacity is at 18,000). Joe Rogan, the ring girls (especially the one with the fake boobs), Joe Lauzon, and Houston Alexander got the biggest cheers.

  11. Grape Knee High says:

    Oh, now that I’ve seen the cage live, I understand why the judges get so many decisions wrong. (And why Rogan/Goldberg constantly call things incorrectly to the view we get on TV).

    The cage SUCKS. You can barely see through it. I found myself very often watching through the large screens over trying to decipher the action through the cage.

  12. Jonathan says:

    I thought that this show/PPV was just not that good…think UFC 33 Victory in Vegas.I think the UFC lost the battle of the PPVs with Strikeforce and Elite XC…I would say that they were comparable to this, and I am sure some would argue even better.

    Also, does anyone think that the Pride guys are starting to get more acclimated to the cage, and as a result, are fairing better?

  13. Jonathan says:

    And it just donned on me why Karo Parysian has never gotten his deserved title shot. He is a “boring” fighter who cannot finish…10 fights in the UFC, 8 wins, 2 losses, 6 wins coming by way of decision, 2 by stoppage.submission…I am not sure that I would want him as my champion. For all of his judo skill and strength, where is the finishing?

  14. Body_Shots says:

    The last thing you can call Karo is boring, tonight’s fight aside. You are right about him finishing however.

  15. CapnHulk says:

    Thiago Silva looks more and more impressive every time I watch him. His last fight with Drwal was disappointing, but this more than made up for it. Houston Alexander badly needs to work on his wrestling and jiujitsu. K.O. power isn’t enough anymore.

    I am an unabashed Karo Parisyan fan and have been for a while but I was a little surprised with his lackluster performance against Chonan. I also found it rather interesting that this was his first encounter with a Japanese fighter in MMA and also the first time he hasn’t been able to use his Judo effectively. In fact, Chonan did a very good job countering Karo’s attempts at tossing him. The only Judo-style move that Karo was able to pull off was that little foot trip in the third round that looked like some kind of modified Harai Tsurikomi Ashi. But, other than that, standard wrestling proved far more effective.

    Bisping and Evans are too green to be headlining anything other than a UFN, in my opinion, and it only showcases how shallow the 205 division is. Joe Lauzon, on the other hand, has a bright future ahead of him.

    Overall, the event was probably a 5 or 6 out of 10. Not great, but there’s been worse.

  16. Peter H. says:

    I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with friends, as we always do for UFC PPVs, and the place wasn’t as busy as it normally is, with many tables open. Most of the UFC PPVs filled the place, not this one. My group ended up leaving after Houston Alexander’s KO. We weren’t interested in seeing the main event for fear it would go all 3 Rounds and be uninteresting.

    Sad to see Chonan lose, we were hoping for him to some how pull out a win.

  17. Jamie says:

    The 205 division is shallow?? Are you being serious?

  18. D. Capitated says:

    This show sucked on wheels. Herman/Doerkson was a merely decent bout and yet it was unquestionably the fight of the night. Goldberg’s play by play was embarassing in every fight. When Parysian is boring you know there are problems.

  19. Tomer Chen says:

    For me, the two fights of the night were Herman/Doerksen and Lytle/Alves. Not the most earth shaking card, but not the worst card I’ve ever seen, either. Not enough throwing guys on their heads by Karo, which makes me sad. Gono’s submission looked like a Fujiwara Armbar. Joe Lauzon was right about Reinhardt because Reinhardt basically staggered around the ring with two left feet (similar to early Rocky Marciano) and eventually ended up on the ground and was choked out in a little over a minute. The Aurelio stoppage win was OK given that Caudillo was basically lying there eating flush shots (although most weren’t full force) to the face for about 5-7 shots (Grape Knee High) and he got up right after. Aurelio did say it may have been premature in the post-fight interview, but he was happy to win anyway. Lytle/Alves was a fun fight although the cut stoppage prevented another potentially good round. Lytle’s face looked pretty bad between rounds, but I don’t think it would have been horrible if they allowed it to continue.

  20. 45 Huddle says:

    I enjoy the technical aspects of a fight, but UFC 78 had too much “hugging”. It seemed lie every fight kind of stalled itself out.

    It happened with Karo/Chonan. It happen with Herman/Doerskon, with Doerkson just grabbing on. It happened with Evans/Bisping, with Evans going for a shot and not being able to do anything with it the majority of the time.

  21. 45 Huddle says:

    On a few interesting notes, according to MMAJunkie:

    1. UFC 78 had a $2.1 Million gate.

    2. Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson is set for the March 1st card. That is the fight everybody has been wanting, and it unifies the Pride & UFC belts (even though Filho is technically the linear champion).

    3. Alves, Lytle, Herman, & Gono all received bonuses. The bonus is now up to $55,000…. Which is starting to get into the WOW money amount. This is really a motivator for fighters to become exciting.

  22. The Gaijin says:

    I’m glad Alexander got exposed for being the bar-brawler that he really was…I don’t think I could stomach Rogan and Dana drooling about his “skills” and “looking like a guy mugging someone in a 7-11 parking lot” for one more event.

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