MMA on DVD: UFC 54: Boiling Point

Results

UFC 54: Boiling Point

The Backstory: Having regained his light heavyweight title from Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell was looking to avenge his only other previous loss in the UFC—to jack-of-all-trades fighter Jeremy Horn. Georges St. Pierre, on the other hand, was looking to line himself up for another shot at Matt Hughes’ title, but he’d have to go through Frank Trigg to get it. Meanwhile, Diego Sanchez, the winner of the UFC’s new reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, was getting ready for his UFC pay-per-view debut.

–Live on March 4, 2005 from the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

–Your hosts tonight are Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.

Terry Martin vs. James Irvin: Looking a little thick at 205 pounds, Martin is making his UFC debut, while Irvin is coming off a knockout loss to Mike Kyle in his UFC debut.

1st Round: Irvin starts the first nicely with a right hand lead and a leg kick, but Martin picks him up for a big takedown and works right into Irvin’s guard. Irvin tries a guillotine from his back, but no dice; for his part, Martin tries a few punches but can’t land anything.

Irvin powers up to his feet, but Martin knees him in the ribs. Irvin staves off a takedown, but Martin eventually gets him back down to the mat. Martin tries to pass into side control, but ends up stuck in a weird place between that and half-guard. He tries and fails to drop a few elbows on Irvin’s head, but does manage to land a nasty right hand.

Martin then jumps into half-guard, and the round ends as he tries to squeeze off a few more punches. Here was a very methodical first round, with Martin working close and keeping Irvin off his feet; even so, outside of the takedowns, Martin didn’t really get much offense in.

2nd Round: Both fighters circle to start, and then, completely out of nowhere, Irvin knocks Martin into the middle of next week with a flying knee! Martin is still flat on his back as Bruce Buffer makes the announcement and Maz (sans porn moustache) raises Irvin’s hand.

The Verdict: Wow. Seriously, wow.

Everything was going according to plan: Martin was chugging right along, grinding down Irvin in workmanlike fashion, and then BANG, he’s on his back, counting the lights. Losing your debut on the business end of a highlight-reel knockout is not exactly the best way to kick off your UFC career.

As for Irvin, what can you say? Finally given a little room to operate, he ended the fight with everyone’s favorite finisher. I mean, seriously: is there anyone (who isn’t a Communist) that doesn’t love the flying knee?

Trevor Prangley vs. Travis Lutter: Mike and Joe mention that both fighters used to train together in the Lion’s Den stable, and that they’re fairly familiar with each other’s fighting style and technique.

1st Round: Lutter shoots in right away for a takedown, but Prangley sprawls and ends up on top. Lutter tries to kick from the bottom, but Prangley lands a big right hand through Lutter’s guard. Lutter climbs back up to his feet, and both fighters clinch and trade knees to the gut. Prangley takes Lutter down, switches to side control, and actually gets Lutter’s back as Lutter starts to get to his feet. Prangley holds on with a rear waistlock, which Lutter drops down to escape, so Prangley calmly pops him with a couple of rights as he gets back to his feet.

They clinch against the cage, and Lutter tries an armbar but ends up flat on his back in guard. Prangley tags him with another right and steps back to let him stand up; Lutter obliges and they trade punches in Lutter’s first actual offense of the night. Both men tie each other up on the cage and Prangley breaks with a left uppercut square into Lutter’s balls.

Herb Dean separates the fighters while Mike and Joe reiterate that Prangley’s not a dirty fighter and then bring up Hughes-Trigg II as an example of how a missed low blow can almost cost a fighter the match.

On the restart, both fighters clinch, then Prangley immediately goes south of the border again with a knee to the junk. Herb takes a point away from Prangley while the announcers speculate whether his two mistakes will make him less aggressive. Prangley quickly puts paid to that notion by emphatically taking Lutter down as the round ends.

Even with the point deduction, Prangley dominated the first round, as Lutter’s offense was almost exclusively limited to failed takedown attempts.

2nd Round: Lutter comes out throwing hands (!) but quickly goes to the clinch. Prangley breaks free and nails Lutter with a right hook, after which they clinch again. Prangley pulls Lutter’s upper body forward and blasts him with a knee to the head, then follows up with a sharp knee to the gut. They clinch along the fence, then Prangley trips Lutter and climbs into his guard.

Prangley grinds Lutter against the cage and lands some short elbows in succession, opening up his face. Both men get back to their feet as Herb Dean checks Lutter’s cut and restarts the fight. Lutter shoots in, but Prangley grabs him, knees him in the head again, and then grabs a front facelock. Prangley is literally wiping the mat with Lutter’s face, leaving some impressive bloodstains. Lutter rolls into guard, ties Prangley up, and that’s the round.

More of the same: Prangley getting his shots in at will, while Lutter struggles to manage even a takedown. Watching this, it’s hard to imagine that the guy was scheduled to fight in a title match just last weekend.

3rd Round: Prangley lands a crisp kick to Lutter’s ribs and takes him down to start, as Joe starts audibly pleading with Lutter to try something. Lutter’s been all defense tonight; of course, just as I write that down, Lutter tries a kneebar, but Prangley spins out, climbs back into Lutter’s guard, and starts dropping elbows. The lesson here is that sometimes you can’t win for trying, kids.

Herb stands both fighters up, Lutter shoots in for a takedown, and Prangley ends up on top. Lutter ties Prangley up, and they stay in that position, or minimal variations of that position, until the end of the fight. Herb raises Prangley’s hand as the welt below Lutter’s right eye reaches the size of a golf ball.

The Verdict: Here’s Exhibit A as to why people hate watching fights with Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialists. Note that I didn’t mention fights with well-rounded BJJ masters, like BJ Penn, or strikers with strong BJJ backgrounds, like Anderson Silva. I don’t want to watch Lutter spend fifteen minutes in the guard, and I think it’s safe to say that no one else did either. Joe actually made a salient point about how only the very best fighters can expect to win fights exclusively on their backs, and I have to agree.

For his part, Prangley looked terrific, with strong takedowns, good strikes, and good takedown defense. When Lutter left him the initiative, he pressed it, and looked impressive in doing so. At least the first two rounds of this fight weren’t boring, and for that, we have only Trevor Prangley to thank.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the UFC couldn’t do something with this guy, particularly in the thin 185-pound division. Funny how it all works out: Lutter ends up with a title shot, and Prangley has to go to Bodog Fights to make a main event.

Matt Lindland vs. Joe Doerksen: Lindland, MMA’s best-kept secret, had choked out Lutter in his last fight, while Doerksen had come from behind to get a tough submission win over Patrick Cote.

1st Round: Lindland takes Doerksen to the mat as Joe teases Mike about juxtaposing Lindland and Doerksen’s names. Doerksen ties Lindland’s arms up as “The Law” looks to land some shots, and Mario Yamasaki stands both fighters up. Doerksen takes Lindland down and looks to have his back for a moment, but Lindland squirts out, gets back to his feet, and knees Doerksen hard in the ribs.

Lindland shoves Doerksen up against the cage, pops him in the side of the head, and then takes him down. He lands some elbows through Doerksen’s guard; Doerksen sweeps his legs out, but Lindland recovers, and both fighters get back to their feet.

Doerksen takes Lindland down, immediately takes his back, and looks to finish with a rear naked choke. Lindland reverses and rolls Doerksen over into guard, so Doerksen promptly snatches an armbar. He looks to have it locked in, but Lindland squirms free and drops a couple of elbows.

Now Doerksen looks to be in trouble, but he uses his legs to literally launch Lindland off him and get back to his feet, landing an elbow strike to end the round.

Now that was an interesting round full of non-stop action: as an added bonus, we get the subplot of Doerksen being forced to use his technical skills and counters to hold off the ultra-aggressive Lindland.

2nd Round: Doerksen takes Lindland down to start, but Lindland pulls out a counter of his own and locks in a guillotine on the way down. Both fighters roll around as Lindland cranks on the guillotine, but Doerksen finally steers himself out of trouble and steers Lindland into his guard. Lindland looks to fight through Doerksen’s guard, but Doerksen kicks him hard in the face from the bottom, and Lindland settles into his familiar position between Doerksen’s legs.

Still trying to get through his opponent’s guard, Lindland slides into side position and starts landing shots to Doerksen’s body and head. Seeing what this is leading to, Doerksen tries to escape, but Lindland maneuvers him into a front facelock. Doerksen falls back into his guard, and Lindland is left trying to get through Doerksen’s guard yet again.

Mario Yamasaki stands both fighters up: Doerksen shoots in for another takedown, and Lindland grabs another guillotine. Doerksen spends about twenty seconds trying to free himself from that, but ends up stuck with Lindland in side control. Transitioning to guard, Doerksen finds himself on his back and on defense; Lindland eventually switches back to side control and lands several knees to the body to end the round.

Another good round of textbook wrestling and submissions, full of cool maneuvers and countermoves. At this point, though, Lindland is definitely becoming the dominant fighter; Doerksen looks like he’s just trying to keep him at bay, where in the first round he was actually able to get some offense in.

3rd Round: Both fighters trade to start—Doerksen gets a takedown again, from which Lindland gets a guillotine again. Doerksen wriggles free, sticks Lindland in his guard, and it’s déjà vu all over again. Doerksen locks Lindland into half-guard, then slides him back into full guard.

Yamasaki stands both fighters up, and Lindland knees Doerksen in the gut and takes him back down. Lindland can’t get through Doerksen’s guard and Yamasaki stands them up again; Doerksen fires off a couple of kicks, but Lindland uses the second one to take him back down. Doerksen manages to sweep out of the bottom and tries a guillotine, but Lindland escapes and ends up in side control. Lindland drops elbows and Doerksen tries an armbar to counter, so Lindland sneaks out and they stalemate against the cage.

Lindland squeezes in a couple of quick shots before the horn sounds, and the fight’s over. Lindland gets the majority decision, and this is how his UFC career ends: not with a title shot, but with a dark match.

The Verdict: If you’ve been reading this review closely, you’ll realize that Joe Doerksen spent a lot of time holding off Lindland in guard. So why am I giving him a pass when I was so hard on Lutter? Because Doerksen wasn’t actively trying to spend half the fight in guard, and even while stuck down there, he still managed to make it an interesting fight.

Mike and Joe spent the early part of the fight talking about Lindland’s stamina and his ability to wear down his opponents, and never was that more apparent than here. Doerksen, for all of his technical aptitude, was completely worn out in the third, as Lindland never gave him more than a second to breathe. The first round, though, was a great display of poise and skill, and definitely made me want to follow both fighters a little more closely going forward.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Frank Trigg: Trigg’s coming off his last loss to Matt Hughes, the most dominant champion in UFC history, while St. Pierre, who also lost by submission to Hughes, is looking to re-establish himself as a true contender. The announcers stress that Trigg has to get through St. Pierre if he ever expects to get another title shot.

1st Round: Trigg throws a low kick and a left jab; St. Pierre throws a high kick, which Trigg blocks. Both fighters trade and Trigg rushes in to throw a knee, but St. Pierre tattoos him with a straight left. Trigg switches to Plan B and tries to take St. Pierre down, but the French Canadian sprawls and locks on a front facelock. He rolls Trigg into side control, then easily passes guard into full mount.

St. Pierre breaks free of Trigg’s grip, then pops up and blasts him with an elbow and a couple of punches. Trying to escape, Trigg rolls over, so St. Pierre just calmly takes his back instead. He hooks his legs over and inside of Trigg’s hips, keeping him from standing up, so Trigg rolls over again and puts St. Pierre back into full mount, where he rains down a couple of punches. Trigg tries to slide away again, but St. Pierre grabs the front facelock again, so Trigg tries to roll out of the hold, which just results in St. Pierre taking his back again and flattening him out face down on the mat.

From there, St. Pierre locks on an arm triangle, then releases it, slides effortlessly back into full mount, and just plasters Trigg with a couple of nasty elbows. He follows up with alternating punches to the head and body; Trigg, getting desperate, tries to push St. Pierre into his guard, but St. Pierre easily passes guard again back into full mount, then side control. Trigg tries to roll free, but St. Pierre just takes his back again and starts angling for a rear naked choke. Trigg spins again, but St. Pierre slides back into full mount, then places his elbow on top of Trigg’s head and drives it into the mat a couple of times.

Trigg, trying to find any sanctuary, keeps rolling and twisting, but only succeeds in getting St. Pierre into half-guard. Can you guess how long it takes St. Pierre to pass back into full mount? Yeah, I knew you could.

Trigg rolls over again, so St. Pierre takes his back again, sinking his legs over Trigg’s hips again and flattening him out again, as this match has officially turned into something from Trigg’s worst nightmare. From there, St. Pierre throws a few punches, then finally locks in the rear naked choke and rolls Trigg over, where he quickly taps. St. Pierre then pulls out his trademark victory celebration at the time, a standing backflip. With all of his knee problems over the past year or so, something tells me that we’re not going to see that again anytime soon.

The Verdict: This is the match that turned St. Pierre from interesting contender into heir apparent. In fact, we wouldn’t see another such one-sided match between two fighters of this caliber until GSP got his rematch with Hughes.

What more can you say about it? It was entertaining, non-stop action from start to finish, as St. Pierre had an answer for every counter that Trigg could come up with and completely dominated a very tough veteran.

Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Trigg hasn’t competed in the UFC since this match. Even so, he definitely deserves praise for being able to last that long against one of the best fighters in the world on a day when he was completely on top of his game.

Diego Sanchez vs. Brian Gassaway: As I mentioned earlier, this is Diego’s official UFC debut after winning the middleweight division on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Similarly, Gassaway’s also making his UFC debut, but surprisingly enough, no one’s really excited about that.

1st Round: Sanchez immediately shoots in for a takedown, but Gassaway stuffs it. Sanchez clips Gassaway with a right hook, and then shoots in for another takedown attempt; Gassaway stuffs it at first, but Diego’s persistent and gets him to the ground. Sanchez locks in a guillotine, which the crowd goes absolutely apeshit for, then transitions to side control. He tries a little ground-and-pound, but Gassaway keeps rolling; Sanchez finally gets full mount, but Gassaway won’t sit still, so Sanchez puts him in side control against the fence and drops an elbow on him. Maintaining side control, Sanchez fires off a few more short elbows, then slides into full mount and starts throwing. Gassaway rolls over, so Diego takes his back.

Gassaway rolls onto his side, trying to neutralize Diego’s left hand, so Diego sneaks about five sharp rights in under Gassaway’s right arm and right into his face. Gassaway spins into full mount, then out of full mount, then back into full mount, where Sanchez just starts firing away with punches. Gassaway looks to be in serious trouble, but he somehow manages to escape and get back to his feet and narrowly avoids another takedown.

With 30 seconds left in the round, Gassaway is desperate, and rightfully so, because Sanchez takes him down, mounts him, and just unloads punches on to Gassaway’s face. Finally, the horn sounds to end the round, possibly saving Gassaway’s life. Hey, the fans wanted Sanchez to hand the other new guy his ass, and that’s exactly what they’re getting here.

2nd Round: Gassaway pops Sanchez with a jab and then follows up with a solid combination. Having seen enough of that, Sanchez dives at Gassaway, snagging an ankle and bringing him down. Sanchez drops a couple of hammer fists through Gassaway’s guard, then passes guard into full mount and starts throwing elbows. Gassaway’s stuck flat on his back in the center of the octagon while pinned under a 23-year-old desperate to make a big impression in his first UFC pay-per-view. Needless to say, it doesn’t look good for him.

Sanchez hits him with about 15 unanswered shots before he finally gives up and taps. To say that the fans are excited is an understatement, and Sanchez has his first bona fide UFC win.

The Verdict: Now, I’m not saying that Gassaway’s a tomato can—because he could probably kick my ass blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back—but it’s hard to imagine that the UFC could have picked a more appropriate victim for Sanchez’s first fight. Other than in the first 15 seconds of the fight, Gassaway had no answer for anything that Sanchez came after him with; not surprisingly, he hasn’t been seen since.

Sanchez’s ground-and-pound makes this fight entertaining, if not particularly suspenseful. The kid’s paid his dues and gone through everyone above him in the pecking order. If he can get through Koscheck in a couple of months, he’ll finally get his title shot, and remember, it all started here.

Randy Couture vs. Mike Van Arsdale: Mike Goldberg immediately takes this fight to ludicrous speed by calling it the biggest fight of Randy’s career; he decides to justify that by saying that “The Natural” doesn’t want to fall any farther down the ladder with another loss. I know that Mike has to work with what the company gives him, but I’d say that all of those title fights might have been a wee bit more important.

Anyway, the combined age of the two fighters here is 82, and that’s really all you need to know.

1st Round: Randy looks all kinds of cut at 205, and Herb Dean gets things moving. Both fighters trade punches to start, which ends when Randy grabs a front facelock and starts twisting and wrenching. Van Arsdale gets to his feet, but Randy tries to take his back and throws a nasty punch to his kidneys. Still, Van Arsdale gets away and reverses, now trying to take Randy’s back. They clinch on the fence: Randy throws a couple of knees and Van Arsdale lands a left and right hook to break.

They clinch again: Randy lands another couple of knees, but this time Van Arsdale takes him down and tries again to get his back. They grapple, but Randy reverses and gets Van Arsdale’s back. Both men are back on their feet, but Randy pulls out a takedown and transitions to another front facelock, where he starts bashing Van Arsdale’s shoulders with knees. He rolls Van Arsdale into a guillotine submission, but Van Arsdale rolls out.

Both fighters clinch on their feet, exchange punches, go back to the clinch, and that’s the round. Mike and Joe mention that, with the exception of Kevin Randleman, Randy’s never had an opponent who’s been his equal at wrestling until tonight, and they’re absolutely right. Still, while it’s neat to see someone match Randy move-for-move, watching guys fight for position for the better part of three minutes doesn’t always make for the most exciting round.

2nd Round: Van Arsdale jabs away to start, but Randy walks through his jab and pastes him with a left hook, then hooks another front facelock, driving knees into his shoulders. Randy grabs the guillotine again, but Van Arsdale won’t tap, so Randy drives more knees into his shoulders. Van Arsdale, now busted open, gets to his feet, but Randy drags him back to the ground. Getting back to his feet, Van Arsdale tries to take Randy down, but Couture uses the fence to defend.

They trade punches both in and out of the clinch; Van Arsdale pops Randy with a solid right and ties him up along the fence. Randy keeps trying for a takedown, but Van Arsdale’s defense is solid. He gets a rear waistlock, but Van Arsdale manages to get away. The two fighters circle warily, and that ends the round.

More of the same: unlike his previous three fights, Randy is much more methodical, wearing Van Arsdale out. For a guy with only three MMA fights under his belt, Van Arsdale’s holding up pretty well.

3rd Round: Both fighters come out throwing, but Randy drives Van Arsdale into the cage and snatches the front facelock, which he turns into that guillotine-like submission. Van Arsdale, completely exhausted, taps and Randy gets a rare submission win. After the fight, His Eminence, Dana White, enters the ring to personally congratulate the former champ.

The Verdict: A by-the-numbers win for Randy, who was speeding towards retirement (and subsequent unretirement) at this point. He needed the win for that one last main event—the rubber match against Chuck—and he got it. Not a particularly exciting match, but hey, Randy wore his opponent down and won the fight.

Van Arsdale didn’t do poorly, but the rest of his UFC career ended up consisting of a first-round submission loss to Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral.

Tim Sylvia vs. Tra Telligman: Sylvia, fresh off his loss to Andrei Arlovski, gets Telligman here. Not to take anything away from Tra, but I always found it interesting that you could put the members of the Lion’s Den team into one of three categories: legends (the Shamrock brothers), guys who were talented but who couldn’t quite reach the next level (Guy Mezger, Pete Williams, Jerry Bohlander), or genuinely tough guys who were largely in over their heads (Vernon White, Telligman).

1st Round: Both fighters circle, and Sylvia snaps off a leg kick, which Tra follows with a good left hook and a combination that just misses. Tra’s clearly the aggressor in the early going, which backfires when he charges right into a sharp Sylvia uppercut. Both fighters clinch and then trade elbows and leg kicks. Sylvia hits two hooks and clinches, but Tra manages to pull away before anything results.

Like any Sylvia fight, he’s using that yardstick jab to literally keep his opponent at arm’s length. I’ll say this for the guy: he throws the cleanest, straightest punches in the UFC, and I hope he pays his boxing coach pretty well. Sylvia backs up Tra with a crisp jab/cross combo, and follows that with a strong front kick to the ribs. They circle and jab, and circle and jab as time winds down in the round.

Then, with one second left in the round, Sylvia blasts Tra into retirement with the Mother of All Head Kicks, which will show up on UFC highlight films from now until Gabriel blows his horn. Sylvia creeps just close enough to Tra and then unleashes a massive head kick just before the horn, which catches Tra perfectly on the side of the head and had to be the last thing that anyone in the arena expected. Tra was out before he hit the ground, and Sylvia’s cornermen, including Rich Franklin, rush the ring to celebrate.

The Verdict: A completely awe-inspiring ending to a completely uninspiring fight. Seriously, if you haven’t seen this yet, find it on YouTube or something. Of course, Sylvia would go on to bigger and better things, avenging his loss to Arlovski by knocking him out at UFC 59.

This was probably the last time that we’ll see Tra Telligman in the octagon, but if you’ve got to go, this was quite a way to go out. Besides, living on as the answer to a particular trivia question isn’t that bad, is it?

Chuck Liddell vs. Jeremy Horn: This is Chuck’s first defense since regaining the light heavyweight title, and we get the obligatory video package showing Horn choking Chuck out in their first fight. Chuck’s explanation of how he lost is pretty funny: “I ended up getting caught in an arm triangle. I thought, ‘I’ll just sit here and rest a little until the overtime round.’ It ended up not being a good idea.”

Chuck swears vengeance (“I’m going to try and punch my hand through the back of his head”), while Horn maintains that he’s a completely different fighter than he was six years ago, while Chuck’s just a better version of the same guy. Mike and Joe pimp Horn as a wily, multi-talented veteran, and Mike even claims that Horn had never been knocked down in his 100-fight career. Not to take anything away from Horn, who’s a legitimately tough fighter, but I’m going to have to call shenanigans on that one, Mike.

We get pre-fight predictions from such luminaries as Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Clarke Duncan, Stephan Bonnar, Forest Griffin, and Mario Lopez. Everyone seems to be picking Chuck, but what do they know?

1st Round: Big John goes through the pre-fight checklist, and we’re off. Both fighters circle and trade jabs to start; Horn throws a nice straight jab, but Chuck responds with a left and a sharp right. Horn tries to counter with a low kick, but Chuck steps out of the way. Chuck snaps off a left jab and follows with an uppercut to Horn’s body, but Horn backs him off with a straight right hand.

Both fighters return to circling and trading jabs: Horn fakes a jab and catches Chuck with a nice leg kick, and Chuck returns fire with a leg kick of his own as the crowd starts chanting his name. Chuck starts to move in, and sneaks a strong overhand right in behind his left jab, knocking Horn down.

Horn is in serious trouble as Chuck goes into his trademark berserker rage over a downed opponent, firing punches from all angles at Horn’s head. To his credit, Horn manages to dodge and block a few, and manages to swing his legs between Chuck and himself. Chuck wants no part of a ground war, so he lets Horn up. Horn immediately shoots for a takedown, but Chuck executes a picture-perfect sprawl to block. Back on their feet, Chuck lands a couple of hooks; Horn tries to shoot, but Chuck stuffs it and ends up on top pounding away at Horn with a minute left in the round. Again, Horn gets his legs up to defend, so Chuck lets him up.

Horn comes up firing jabs and just barely misses a high kick. He tries a takedown, but Chuck sprawls again to negate it. Back in standup, Chuck almost nails a spinkick, but Horn manages to defend himself to end the round. While Horn didn’t look awful, Chuck wins the round easily, and looks like he’s going to finish this fight early at this rate.

2nd Round: Second verse, same as the first: both fighters trade jabs to start and Horn shoots in, but Chuck stuffs it and both men reach their feet. Horn moves to the center of the octagon as both fighters trade some more jabs—you know, Horn’s actually giving better than he’s getting this round, jabbing effectively and snapping off a nice leg kick.

Of course, as soon as I write that, Chuck throws a left jab and follows up with another huge overhand right, knocking Horn down. Chuck fires away for a second, and then, after seeing that Horn still has some fight left in him, lets him up. Chuck sticks another jab into Horn, who tries another takedown with the same kind of success of his previous attempts. Amazingly, Horn somehow finds the strength to jab away at Chuck while he catches his breath. Horn tries and misses another takedown as the round ends.

Again, Horn’s game here, but Chuck’s just picking him apart at will, like he does to most of his opponents. The cameras switch between corners, and Horn’s face looks like someone went to town on him with a brick.

3rd Round: Chuck comes out jabbing as Horn takes the center of the ring. Horn swings in a nice low kick/leg kick combination to start, then both fighters go back to circling and trading jabs. Horn pulls out three leg kicks in a row, and the last one causes Chuck to limp a little. Just when I think that Horn’s starting to win the round, Chuck surges forward with a solid combination, and Horn responds with another leg kick and a kick to Chuck’s ribs.

Chuck fires a volley of wide punches that Horn catches on his arms, and Horn responds with another strong leg kick. Chuck, in turn, nails a heavy right hook and a sharp front kick. Horn cracks a right hand upside of Chuck’s head, and the round’s over.

It took Horn two knockdowns and a serious beating to realize that trading leather with Chuck may not have been such a bright idea. Once he did, however, he adapted nicely and managed to win his first round.

4th Round: Horn starts off with an inside leg kick, but Chuck makes him pay the toll with a right cross. Chuck misses a couple of combinations, and Horn pops him square on the button with a jab. Chuck responds with another sharp combination, and both fighters circle. Chuck fires off a leg kick and just misses with a right uppercut; Horn, on the other hand, follows a right-hand lead with a head kick that just misses. Chuck comes back, jabbing away: he zips a left jab right through Horn’s hands, then follows that with a straight right, knocking him down again.

Horn’s eye is injured so badly that he can’t see through it, and Big John stops the fight. Chuck launches into his famous maniacal celebration, then shushes Joe in the post-fight interview while he thanks his sponsors. Finally getting to ask a question, Joe asks about the chances for a rematch with “Rampage” Jackson, and Chuck coolly responds that he’d welcome another shot at Jackson. Well, they always say to be careful what you wish for, after all.

The Verdict: Sometimes Chuck’s fights aren’t works of art, but he always makes his opponents fight his kind of fight, and that’s the mark of a great champion. He just dismantled Horn here, punishing him every time that he came within reach and completely neutralizing his takedowns.

Personally, I’d like to see Chuck take on a striker as skilled as he is. Not to take anything away from Randy, Tito, Babalu, Randleman, Horn, or anyone else who’s locked horns with Chuck, but those men are primarily wrestlers who depend on ground-and-pound or submissions for their wins, so they played right into Chuck’s hands. I’d love to see someone test his chin a little, just to add a little more drama to his fights.

Horn can walk away from the fight with his head held high: while he lost decisively, he held his own with one of the best, and managed to earn everyone’s respect in doing so. While this wasn’t a classic, it was certainly an enjoyable fight.

The Final Verdict: When I originally got this tape, I was really only looking forward to the St. Pierre-Trigg match, but I ended up very pleasantly surprised. UFC 54 turned out to be a fun mix of the sublime (GSP’s textbook domination of Trigg, the Lindland-Doerksen mat wrestling clinic) and the ridiculous (Irvin and Sylvia’s flash knockouts). We got a chance to see plenty of new blood (Sanchez and St. Pierre), future champions (St. Pierre and Sylvia), and octagon legends (Liddell and Couture).

While several of the fights went to decision, the action was brisk and exciting, and well worth anyone’s hard-earned money for at least a rental.

Please feel free to share your opinions or comments with me at fight_reviews@yahoo.com; otherwise, keep an eye for my upcoming review of UFC 58: U.S.A. vs. Canada.