UFC 37.5: Liddell puts Belfort on Ice, Young Guns produce Again

UFC 37.5: Liddell puts Belfort on Ice, Young Guns produce Again
Las Vegas, NV - June 22, 2002 -The fact that so many people questioned whether or not the scheduled Belfort vs. Liddell fight would ever take place might have lit a fire in the burners of both fighters. For three rounds at the Bellagio in Las Vegas these two let it all hang out. In this fight the fans saw a little bit of everything. We saw Chuck Liddell throwing spinning back kicks and punches while Vitor Belfort was throwing surprising high kicks to the head, and also showing us some of that Vitor of old. These are two of the best light-heavyweights in the world, and this fight could be what most fans would consider one for the ages.

The first round started with the fighters circling each other until Vitor shot in, and succeeded in getting a double leg takedown on Liddell. The rumors of Liddell being hard to takedown, and keep down are true because no less than a couple of seconds later Vitor found himself standing in a clinch with Liddell against the fence. The clinch lasted for only a brief moment before the fighters separated and started circling each other looking to land that one big bomb. After a brief exchange of mostly missed punches from both fighters they found themselves standing in the clinch again. Vitor then achieved a leg sweep takedown of Liddell that landed him in Liddell’s half guard. Vitor again found it difficult to keep Chuck down, and not shortly after they were standing in the clinch against the fence. Both fighters threw knees to each other’s thighs for a while before separating, and circling each other around the octagon to close out the round.

The second round started and Chuck landed a solid right to the head of Belfort, which had Vitor go for the clinch. From the clinch Liddell landed a solid right forearm that separated both fighters. After briefly circling each other Liddell landed a spinning back kick to Belfort’s right upper rib cage. Belfort, who took the shot well, landed a solid left hand followed shortly after by a high kick to Liddell’s head to close out the round.

It was clear to most people in attendance that by the start of the third round this fight was too close to call, and most likely whoever took control in the final round would be the declared winner if it went to a decision. At the start of this round they both came out very aggressively towards each other with Belfort landing a high head kick followed by a left punch to the head. By now in the fight it most people could sense that Belfort was not worried about Chuck going for any kind of takedown. This enabled Belfort to throw and land a couple more high kicks to Chuck’s head. As the crowd was getting louder the fighters then engaged in a huge toe-to-toe exchange that saw both fighters land solid punches to each other’s heads. As they were both throwing punches Chuck landed a solid right that put Vitor down right on his butt. Vitor almost had a look of disbelief that he had been planted on the octagon floor. Chuck took this opportunity to jump on Vitor with more punches before landing in Vitor’s guard. For the last 45 seconds of the fight we saw Liddell work from inside Vitor’s guard until the final bell sounded. Even as the final bell had ended the fight both were still throwing punches at each other. The judge’s scorecards were 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28, all three scoring the fight unanimously for Liddell. I do not necessarily disagree with the outcome of the fight, but I do partially disagree with the huge disparity in scoring. Nevertheless it was a great fight, and definitely something that all of you fans out there should pay to see.

As a precursor to the main event the UFC once again gave us a five-fight line-up of the exciting young guns. All but one of these fights gave the crowd what they came to see.

The fifth fight of the night had Benji Radach and his powerful hands against Matt Serra’s brother Nick Serra. The tone of this fight was set early as Serra would shoot for the takedown on Radach and almost immediately jump to guard. It was clear from the start that Serra wanted no part of Radach’s standup. Serra to his credit did almost successfully sink a triangle-choke attempt on Radach in the first round, but Radach fought his way out, and finally made his way back up to his feet. For the first two rounds this is pretty much how the fight went.

The third round started with both fighters looking a little winded, but with Serra possibly looking a little worse for wear. Benji finally landed a solid right that put Serra down, and then briefly fought from the half-guard position landing a few solid punches to Serra’s head before standing back up. The fight ended with both fighters looking pretty tired, but the unanimous decision going to Benji Radach. This was the only somewhat lackluster fight on the card. The rest of the fights provided plenty of action for the fans in attendance.

Pete Spratt against Team Punishment’s Zach Light was to be the fourth fight of the night. The going word on these two fighters was that Spratt had great standup, and Light was a great wrestler. The bell rang to start the first, and it didn’t take long for people to realize that Spratt’s standup was very good. He landed a kick to the head of Light followed by a kick to the body that had Light attempting and successfully getting the takedown of Spratt landing him in Spratt’s guard. After a few punches from inside the guard by Light, Spratt pushed off of the fence with his right foot and swung it over Light’s head for a surprising armbar attempt that Light eventually tapped out to at 2:25 of the 1st Round. This fight amounted to be a very impressive performance from Pete Spratt in his first UFC appearance.

The third fight of the night pitted the hard punching Robbie Lawler against the veteran Steve Berger. This fight was chosen by the UFC to be the first shown on free TV in lieu of the deal between FOX and the UFC. With that in mind there were high expectations placed on both fighters to have an exciting fight, which would represent our sport well to the general public. These two did not disappoint at all, and in my opinion this fight will go over well with the mainstream TV viewing public. Lawler, a 20 year old who is already on the fastrack to UFC stardom is known for his hard hands, and it didn’t take long for him to test them out. The first round started with the two exchanging punches while standing, and Lawler getting the better shots in of the two. Berger decided that he had better clinch with Lawler or it could be an early exit for him. From the clinch Lawler used a double underhook throw to take Berger down where he connected with good lefts and rights until the round ended.

The second round started with the two circling each other looking to land good shots, and then out of nowhere Lawler threw a solid right hand to Berger’s head that put him down on his back. From there Lawler jumped on topped of him and proceeded to land more rights and lefts until a right hand basically left Berger out cold. "Big" John McCarthy stepped in and saved Berger at :29 of the 2nd Round.

Tony Fryklund and Rodrigo Ruas gave the fans about as much action as they could hope for. Making his first appearance since UFC 14, Fryklund was back to show his already known strong hands, and his new skills that he has learned while training with Pat Militech. Rodrigo Ruas came into the octagon with the already well-known last name, and to show that he belonged in the octagon also. The first round started off quick with both fighters landing solid punches to each other’s heads that at one point actually had Fryklund wobbled. Fryklund with his forehead already bleeding landed a huge right that sent Ruas to the canvas. Fryklund then proceeded to land a few more huge right hands from the side mount position until the round ended.

The second round started just as quickly as the first with Fryklund landing some good punches that eventually had Ruas fighting from his back. The general consensus among the media was that it looked like Fryklund was just too powerful for Ruas. Fryklund then proceeded to badly beat and bloody Ruas with right and left hands while Ruas was laying on his back until the referee stepped in and called a halt to the fight at 3:34 of the 2nd Round. After the fight Ruas walked over to his corner and collapsed down to the canvas from what appeared to be complete exhaustion, but was able to get up and walk out of the octagon. This was definitely a good return to the octagon for Tony Fryklund. My guess is that we will probably be seeing him back in the UFC sometime soon. It is also noted that Fryklund’s nose was possibly broken in the first round from a Ruas punch.

The first fight of the night pitted returning UFC veteran Yves Edwards against first timer Joao Pierini. This was a very important fight for Edwards who was in the last fight of his three fight contract with the UFC, and needed a win to better his chances of returning to the UFC. This might have been enough motivation for Yves as he came out aggressively with some strikes that eventually had him landing a high right kick to the head of Pierini. Joao immediately went down from the kick, and after he stood back up started motioning to the ref pointing towards his arm. They walked Pierini over to his corner, and had the doctor’s take a look at him. The doctors decided to stop the fight at 1:19 of the 1st Round. It was later learned that Pierini received what most people would refer to as a stinger down his right arm that left it motionless, and he was unable to continue.

Once again the powers that be at the UFC put together a stellar card that left the fans leaving the ballroom at the Bellagio Hotel feeling like they had seen an afternoon of great fights. The young guns of the UFC provided just as much excitement as they did at UFC 37, and the fight between Vitor Belfort and Chuck Liddell will go down as a classic. Be sure to watch the replayed fight between Robbie Lawler and Steve Berger on the Best Damn Sports Show Period, which will air June 25th. You also do not want to miss the pay-per-view replay of this event in August.