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5.25.2008

UFC Recap: Goodbye Tito

A solid night of fights is what UFC 84 will be remembered for. Some high profile names, a couple of surprising finishes and lots of stand up and striking.

If this was in fact Tito Ortiz’s last night in the UFC, the fans made it very clear they would miss him. Clearly the loudest pop of the night. Before, during and after his fight, the crowd chanted “TITO – TITO”.

What really bothered me about last night’s fight between Ortiz and Lyoto Machida wasn’t the outcome – a unanimous decision for Machida – it was the complete and total disrespect for the former champion by UFC lead announcer, Mike Goldberg.

Goldberg did everything but call Tito a broken-down has been. He highlighted all of his strengths and marveled and every pedestrian accomplishment of Machida. The much more balanced Joe Rogan refused to be pulled into the Tito haters club and maintained a more unbiased position. Rogan highlighted the strengths of both men, while Goldberg LITERALLY cheered for the Brazilian.

Correct me if I’m wrong Mike, but when Vince McMahon tried signing you to a contract to host “Raw”, didn’t you sign a rock solid multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with the UFC? So why are you suckin Dana’s balls SO hard?

The fight, buried by UFC as the second one on the card, did go the distance. Machida did a great job in the closing moments to escape a VERY deep triangle choke. Yes, a triangle from Ortiz, a man who in 11 years in the octagon has never shown us his submission game. Ortiz made a tactical error though, and went for the arm bar while the triangle was still locked in. That change in pressure allowed Machida to slip his head out” (at Tito’s use of the hold) and “I’m going to die, but I’m not going to tap”.

Ortiz boasted at the end of the fight that he has many years left in him, and that greener pastures are ahead. He said he hasn’t made up his mind as to where he’ll be, but like Goldberg said during the fight, “Dana White is out of the Tito Ortiz business”.

“The Dean Of Mean” Keith Jardine shocked the world last year when he knocked Chuck Liddell the fuck out. Liddell responded by hammering “The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva in the 07 closer.

Dana White has been telling anyone who listens that Jardine is a contender to the Light Heavyweight Championship. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have been in this fight. He beat Liddell, Liddell beat Silva. He should be advanced to a shot or face someone else. This was UFC’s temperature check. How REAL is Jardine? Was the win over the “Iceman” a fluke. It only took 37 seconds for Silva to answer that question and knock Jardine into next month.

Sean Sherk has done a lot of talking about how BJ Penn is a paper champion and doesn’t deserve to be Lightweight Champion. He talks about how he was stripped for something he didn’t do. Did his urine test kayfabe him? Does he not know his body is loaded with gear?

Sherk had his chance on Saturday night to back up his mouth. For all his talk he managed to do one thing. Survive 3 out of a possible 5 rounds before having the fight stopped.

Penn destroyed Sherk in every facet of the fight before catching him with a huge pendulum like uppercut, and a killer knee. Sherk hit the deck and Penn jumped on him and clobbered his face with hammer fists. Sherk was saved by the horn to end the round, but the referee determined, he was DONE.

Also of note – my prediction on this week’s episode of Tha O Show Radio Program did not come true. “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou did manage to pick up his first UFC win and he did it in impressive fashion. After the fight though, he lost his mind entirely and called out Shogun! Huh?

Results:

Match One: Light Heavyweights
Thiago Silva defeated Antonio Mendes by TKO at 2:24 of Round One

Match Two: Light Heavyweights
Lyoto Machida defeated Tito Ortiz by Unanimous Decision

Match Three: Light Heavyweights
Goran Reljic defeated Wilson Gouveia by TKO at 3:15 of Round Two

Match Four: Heavyweights
Shane Carwin defeated Christian Wellisch (9-2) by KO at 0:44 of Round One

Match Five: Light Heavyweights
Wanderlei Silva destroyed Keith Jardine by KO at 0:36 of Round One

Match Six: Middleweights
Rousimar Palhares defeated Ivan Salaverry by submission (armbar) at 2:36 of Round One

Match Seven: UFC Lightweight Championship
BJ Penn (c) defeated Sean Sherk by TKO at 5:00 of Round Three

Match Eight: Welterweights
Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeated Jon Koppenhaver by anaconda choke at 0:56 of Round One

Match Nine: Light Heavyweights
Sokoudjou defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura by TKO at 5:00 of Round One


5 comments: on "UFC Recap: Goodbye Tito"

Anonymous said...

Just an FYI, jardine didnt knock chuck the fuck out. He beat him in a decision.

Big Daddy Donnie said...

Correct...
I should have said he "knocked chuck the fuck around" ... which is what I was gettin at....

And he clearly earned that win.

Anonymous said...

hey donnie...chuck fucking stinks and takes it in the pink

Brian G said...

I think Machita is only mildly more entertaining than Tim Sylvia or Kalib Starnes. He doesn't fight to win, he fights not to lose, which is boring as hell to watch.

BJ Penn was awesome, but then he lost HIS mind when he challenged George St. Pierre to a fight.

It's weird that a night which had as many solid KO's, and good submissions still felt really flat, and I don't know why.

Anonymous said...

machida doesn't fight not to lose. he tried to finish ortiz twice in that fight, but ortiz is tough to finish. and bj has a better chance than anyone in the welterweight division to beat gsp. I love gsp, but penn wooped his ass in the first round of their only fight, and the only reason he lost the fight is cause he gassed.Penn has the advantage both standing on the ground.