I watched the show at Hooters tonight, and by 8:30pm ET the place was packed and there was literally 150 people waiting in line to get in to see the show. I suspect most of them went home disappointed because they sure didn’t get in to the restaraunt. Judging by history, I’d say this show will probably do over a million buys just because of the local reaction; there’s usually a huge crowd to watch the UFC shows at the local Hooters, but I’ve never seen that many people waiting outside.
Ed Schafer vs. Michael Bisping: Bisping won the fight in the first round after the ref stopped it when Bisping was raining down punches directly in Schafer’s face. The crowd reacted huge to this fight, giving them a standing ovation. Bisping looked like a superstar and I’d be shocked if he’s not given a title shot in the next six months.
They aired a commercial hyping Quentin “Rampage” Jackson and Mirko Cro Cop on the February 4th show. Hooters went nuts for the Cro Cop announcement, which surprised me because he’s still unknown to UFC fans who only watch UFC and really never follow PRIDE. Joe Rogan did a masterful job of hyping Cro Cop, calling him the most dangerous mixed martial arts fighter in the world. Well, that’s not true as long as Fedor is still fighting, but he’s probably second.
Andrei Arlovsky vs. Marcio Cruz: Arlovsky decided not to shave again and looks like the Russian version of Teen Wolf, if Michael J. Fox were even remotely scary. I can never get over the fact that Arlovsky has FANGS. Yes, fangs. I guess they’re implants or something, because for the longest time I thought it was just a mouth guard or something, but nope, they’re real. Or perhaps he really is Teen Wolf, or at least Mid-Twenties Wolf. Arlovsky murdered this poor man. Cruz never had a shot, and Arlovsky got on top and hit him at least ten times in the face before Herb Dean stopped the fight. I am now officially excited to see Arlovsky vs. Cro Cop, whenever that happens.
They showed Ortiz and Liddell backstage. Hooters is split on allegiances to these fighters.
Chris Leben vs. Jason MacDonald: Leben has a dyed red mohawk, and I want MacDonald to pound this cocky kid into the ground. Sure enough, MacDonald gets the upset. He got a choke on Leben on the ground and Leben refused to tap out, which meant that he was completely unconscious when the fight ended. No joke, his arm even twitched a few times. MacDonald called himself the “TUF killer” after beating both Ed Herman and Leben. MacDonald says he’s nobody’s stepping stone. The fans booed Leben during his interview and he tore them a new one. Way to go, kid.
Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine: Griffin was in unreal shape and the fans at Hooters were completely behind them, which left them (and me) in a state of shock after Jardine DESTROYED him. Griffin was on his back on the ground and Jardine not only hit him so hard that his head BOUNCED off the mat, but he did it about ten times. This was a mauling and a huge upset win for Jardine. Griffin pouted after the fight and then ran away. He might still be running.
Thiago Alves vs. Tony DeSouza: Thiago killed this poor man. The first round was incredibly boring, but in the second round Alves got him with a crushing knee to the face and then hit him with a hammer punch, and it was over. DeSouza looked like he had been hit by a truck directly in the face.
Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz: My god, the atmosphere is electric! Both guys got huge ovations coming out, but Chuck Liddell got a true superstar reaction. Somehow Tito survived the first round after getting murdered by a left jab from Chuck near the end. For about 1.5 seconds, Tito was out on his feet and was getting pummeled on the ground, but the ref let it go. Probably should have been stopped there, but whatever. Tito is completely covered in blood at the end of the first. I’d probably score that one 10-8. Tito came back in the second round and had a much better showing. He rocked Liddell with a few punches and kept going for takedowns, but Chuck doesn’t go down. At all. Ortiz finally got a takedown and got his back, but Chuck somehow got back on his feet. Chuck got him with a hard shot right before the round ended. Tito won this round. Third round was electric, with Liddell letting Tito back up after taking him down, and then finally ending it with ground and pound. You could see in Tito’s eyes that he knew he was finished before the last exchange even started. This fight lived up to all the hype, and if Tito is able to win a few more fights, they could do absolute monster business in a year with another fight. Tito looked absolutely great.
Ortiz said after the fight that Chuck was the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Again, not true so long as Fedor is fighting. Ortiz said he thinks he broke his foot on an inside kick, but that he brought his A game and Chuck was just better. Tito looked to be on the verge of crying, which means that my thoughts about him actually wanting to win this fight were true. Tito said he’s only 31 and that he’s in it for 5-6 more years. They showed Rampage in the crowd, planting the seeds for the Liddell/Jackson fight which will happen just as soon as Rampage beats Eastman in February.
This show was incredible and lived up to all the hype. UFC was on a grand stage tonight and delivered in spades.
