UFC 49: Unfinished Business (no PRIDE spoilers)

[Styles 0]

Dave Meltzer's report:

 

UFC round-by-round coverage

 

 

 

by Dave Meltzer

 

[email protected]

 

Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's UFC PPV show from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. We're looking for your thoughts on the show afterwards, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

 

They announced another sellout.

 

Mike Kyle vs. Justin Eilers is the opener. The over/under on when Kyle gasses is 3:00. Eilers and Kyle were best friends in high school and college.

 

Couture is the favorite, obviously so is Liddell in the MGM Vegas odds. Lindland and Eilers are also favorites in their matches.

 

Kyle vs. Eilers is up now. Eilers knocked him out with a left hook within a minute. Kyle did two low blows and was penalized a point. Eilers wasn't too happy about this.

 

Matt Lindland vs. David Terrell is next. Terrell decked him with a left to the jaw, threw a few punches on the ground and it was over in 20 seconds.

 

Josh Thompson vs. Yves Edwards is up now. Edwards won with the greatest enzuigiri I've ever seen late in the first round. Thompson was winning the round up until the kick.

 

Chuck Liddell vs. Vernon White is up next. Liddell knocked White out late in the first round. If you didn't order this one, get the replay because this is match of the year caliber. White took tremendous punishment, made comebacks but Liddell finally put him away with a right to the jaw.

 

They've pushed Guy Mezger vs. Tito Ortiz for 10/22 in Atlantic City really well all night. Both can talk. Mezger promised match of the year.

 

Joe Riggs vs. Joe Doerkson is next. A lot of wrestling. Doerkson kept going for submissions while Riggs has good hands. Riggs won the first round. Second round saw Doerkson with a low kick causing a time out while Riggs recovered. Low blow was nasty. Riggs got the top position and opened up the top of his right eye with a nasty left elbow. That was a nasty cut. Doerkson tapped out. It would have been a blood stoppage within seconds anyway.

 

Chris Lytle vs. Ronald Juhn is next. Lytle dropped him with a punch early. Most of the round was on the ground. Lytle won the round. Lytle used a guillotine to win early in the second round by submission. Lytle was going for the guillotine most of the fight.

 

Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture for the UFC light heavyweight title is up next. Randy controlled the round, took him down, worked him over. Randy's game so far. Randy accidentally head-butted Belfort and cut him onthe side of the eye at the start of the second round. Couture dominated him the entire round. Belfort did almost get an armbar. Randy's fight easily at this point. Third round was similar to the second. Couture beat him up the entire round. Belfort was bleeding badly. You have to give Belfort credit because he hasn't mentally quit, as he again was trying submissions from the bottom. Belfort didn't come out for the fourth round. It's over. Officially ref John McCarthy stopped the fight.

 

Couture challenged Wanderlei Silva. Silva came out with the Pride belt and accepted the challenge. Both shook hands.

 

Karo Parisyan vs. Nick Diaz is up last. First round was very good. Parisyan looks to be tired. He's better on the ground, but Diaz looked good at the end of the round. They showed the first two rounds and it was really good. They just said Parisyan won the third round and the fight. They had 9 minutes left and the round was 5, so that was lame. It was a hell of a fight, particularly the early second round grappling exchanges.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

There are certain subtleties of the guard that Doerkson was working nicely plus he did really well avoiding and rolling with Riggs' strikes. I too may have to watch the fight again -my Canadian bias may be showing- but I thought he did well for himself.... until he started dying from the poundage (swwwweeeeet fake by Riggs).

[AmericanDragon 0]

[Guest Army Eye]

Yeah. From what I've heard -and I've been religiously avoiding spoilers (can I use religiously here?)- that it was an amazing show. Which is to say, Meltzer heard that...

I watched it in Japanese already (no way I'm waiting over a week) and I wouldn't call it an amazing show. Not that any MMA fan shouldn't buy it, but I'm surprised someone called it amazing. The UFC was better this time around.

[Lei Tong 0]

Quick thoughts:

 

Thompson/ Edwards:

-Thompson's goofing off style finally caught up with him. Big props to Yves on his awesome KO kick, but before that, Josh seemed to have things well in hand. The constant pimping of these guys as the best LW's in the world got on my nerves a little bit, and I jsut wish Yves would've added "...I'm just glad most American fans didn't see me get totally worked by Kawajiri in Shooto 9 months ago."

 

Eilers/ Kyle:

-Didn't much care about either guy much before, nor do I now. But since someone had to win, I'm glad it wasn't Kyle.

 

Terrell/ Lindland:

- David's the real deal. Lindland leaves his chin up like he's a Gracie circa- 1993, but the Power of the Bobble Head usually let's him work through trouble. Not this time. Assuming the KO's of Sasaki & Lindland weren't abberations, David could very well rule 185.

 

Doerkson/Riggs:

- I was quite suprised at how this one turned out. Joe's biggest problem last night was, IMO, Riggs' power. Riggs seems extremely strong at 185 (though I hadn't seen him since he dropped down from LHW), and if Doerkson gets a stronger opponent's will imposed on him (I'm thinking of his match with Egan Inoue), he becomes pretty defensive. Oh, and Riggs just qualified himself for the UFC "Shut the Hell Up!" award, along with the likes of Phil Baroni.

 

Liddell/White:

-Cardio is your friend, Charles. Liddell totally trounced White, yet was still tagged a few times and puffing wind at 3 minutes in. Yeah, he foguht a very active fight, but so do guys like Silva, Arlovski, etc., and at least they can keep it up for a bit.

 

Parisyan/Diaz:

-OMMFG!!!11111 JUDO IS BEST!!!!1111 BJJ IS OBSOLETE IN MODERN MMA!!!!1111... ahem. Anyways, awesome, AWESOME fight, marred only by these guys being unable to keep up with the frantic pace they set for themselves. Also, as I was a little busy during this fight, did they show all 3 rounds?

 

Lytle/ Jhun:

- Ronald turned in a pretty dissapointing performance, though Lytle looked very good in making the Machine Gun look very bad. I don't know how he fits into the WW picture right now, but lytle is definitely at least a very dangerous spoiler at this point.

 

Randy/Vitor:

- The headbutt was a bit of a shame, but it's difficult to say how much the cut affected how well Vitor did(n't) fight. Randy still showed some weaknesses that look like they'll never go away, but in the UFC, he's undoubtedly the Man.

 

Overall, a very entertaining show, though most of the fights were a bit too quick and/or one sided for my liking (then again, the same happend at UFC 40, but I'll keep my double standards, thank you very much).

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

*starts clapping like a retard at AmericanDragons post*

[Brush with Greatness 0]

Who would be the tougher opponent for Randy in the cage?

 

1) Rampage

 

2) Vanderlei

 

 

The thing with Silva is that Couture could still muscle him around, whereas Rampage would be one of the few LH that the Natural couldn't toss around.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Did anybody catch Lindland pulling a "Tiki"?

 

I respect him as a fighter, but he was most definitely on dream street when the ref stopped it.

[Lei Tong 0]

- Quinton would undoubtedly be a tough fight in the cage for Randy. The cage (and UFC rules, if applied) are total hinderances to Wanderlei's game and only strengths to Randy's.

 

- I don't really blame Lindland for being a bit shocked and upset over his KO loss (which wasn't really the extent of Tiki's tirade). When you get nailed as badly as he did, you're a bit out of your wits, and it isn't until a bit later until you realized just how bad you got fucked up. Perfect example (black-jack @ Sherdog brough this up earlier) is Renzo Gracie's KO of Oleg Taktarov in MARS. Oleg was up quickly, protesting the stoppage after getting absolutely hammered by an upkick and right hand from Renzo. Later however, after viewing the replay and seeing what happened, Oleg realized the stoppage was fair and he apologized to Renzo for his actions.

[Styles 0]

Here's reader reactions from wrestlingobserver.com on the show (I think I recognize our very own John "RRR" MacKinnon

 

UFC PPV feedback

 

 

 

best fight: Chuck Liddell vs. Vernon White. White just would not quit. Really could have gone either way as Liddell just always seems beatable.

worst fight: Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture. It just didn't live up to the hype. Couture fought his fight which can be boring but then again it works. I think Silva vs. Couture is going to be a war.

smackdown of the night: Yves Edwards with the Fighter Hayabusa back brain kick outta nowhere.

 

lastly some great chain wrestling in Karo Parisyan vs. Nick Diaz. If they weren't prelims it could have been a contender for match of the night.

 

Andrew Scherbarth

 

BIG thumbs up for the show tonight. I was drained after the Liddell/White fight, from all the KO's and crazy action. Physically drained. That's satisfaction. Overall, a top 10 UFC show (that phrase is becoming more and more common since UFC 40 - great work by Joe Silva and Zuffa -along with the fighters- for making such exciting shows... even if they goof on occasion) and certainly one to watch again.

 

Best Fight: Diaz/Parisyan. It was like watching Sakuraba in his prime, but this time it was Sakuraba/Sakuraba. Great mat work, active standing, constant action. I wanted to see the last round, but they cut out up here in Canada at 12:50 so I can see why they did it. Liddell/White was almost a surefire bet, because that was non-stop, balls out, this-is-why-I-watch-MMA action. They need to have White on more. White vs. Ortiz. Continue the Lions Den tradition Zuffa. Liddell looked like a huge star tonight. From the crowd response, to the announcers' pimping, to the way he fought. It's amazing to see that happen in MMA with a more casual audience.

 

Worst Fight: Belfort/Couture. Couture was fighting smart, but it ultimately made for a boring fight. He is the smartest fighter in the UFC right now and is playing on a different level in terms of strategy - for fighters out there, they need to think 3 steps ahead of him, because he's thinking 2 steps ahead of them. The blood made this fight - which wasn't bad at all - and the small things like blood on the camera, or Goldie talking about blood on his notes, gave it a more epic feel than it really had. Couture having blood on his shorts and body was a particularly great image.

 

It's amazing what credibility can do for announcers. Rogan/Goldberg have evolved into a really good team who I -at one time- didn't see as very good. But then something happened around UFC 42 when Rogan came into his own as an announcer (having to take the PBP position and stepped it up) and it blew up from there. When he and Goldberg were talking about Kyle and Eiler being friends and such, they actually got me interested in it. I didn't care about the match at all before they started talking about it, and by the time it began I was like "I can't wait!". Ditto with White/Liddell. Good job.

 

John MacKinnon

 

This show made up for the last snooze fest back in June. I thought Chuck was going to be exhausted from pounding on Vernon and would wind up getting knocked out. I was exhausted seeing Chuck swinging and Vernon constantly getting back up to his feet. It was a headbutt that busted Belfort open, if I was Belfort and wanted another rematch, id call for a rematch due to the severe cut from the BUTT, but I dont think Vitor wants anymore of Randy.

 

This was a great show for the UFC and abit dissapointed they didnt show highlights of Silva so those who have no idea would know that this is huge.

 

Best Fight: Liddell vs White

Worst Fight: none, every fight was better then the last show

 

I wish they could get a huge HBO/Showtime network deal so they could put money in graphics and presentation.

Chuck Richmond- Cincinnati Ohio

 

Dave,

 

Awesome show. I haven't seen too many MMA shows, but this, without a doubt, has to be from top to bottom, the most exciting as far as spectacular k.o.'s.

 

Best Match- Chuck Liddell v Vernon White

Worst Match- Joe Riggs v Joe Doerksen(not that it was the worst, but if I am forced to pick one this was the least exciting of the bunch, but still a great contest).

 

Incredible show. I wanted to see more and was bummed when it was over. From Justin Eilers lightning fast k.o. of Mike Kyle, David Terrell's brutal left hand and ground and pound sending Matt Lindland to La-La land (even more brutal watching the slo-mo on it), to Edwards enzuigiri kick on Josh Thompson, to Chuck Liddell's awesome right hand on Vernon White, Joe Riggs destroying Doerksen with that forearm shot busting him open big time. Couture and Vitor would have been best match were it not for The Iceman. I was praying for Randy when he had him down and up against the fence that Vitor wouldn't sneak away with a win (which he almost did 2 or 3 times with an armbar). Couture was the easy face and Belfort the heel as they were introduced.

 

Nice promo for UFC 50 in October with Guy Metzger and Tito Ortiz. As good as any WWE-produced stuff.

 

I'll be watching Pride tomorrow. I know my cable bill will be a bit more than usual, but since I'll be skipping the next 2 WWE PPV's, it will even out.

 

 

Kurt Nicolai

 

I'll give UFC 49 a thumbs up. Best match was

Diaz-Parisyan (why the hell did they not show rd.

3?!?!), but Couture-Belfort and Liddell-White were

amazing as well. Worst fight was Eilers-Kyle. Vernon

White and Vitor Belfort both displayed amazing stamina

and courage to keep fighting despite the beatings they

both took. I can't believe all that blood coming from

Vitor's eye, and he was in such a bad position most of

the fight, but he kept working for that armbar. I'm

glad they showed all the fights, I just wish they had

shown the Diaz-Parisyan fight in it's entirity.

Production is horrible and the promos and videos are

so horrible compared to Pride, but for a UFC show, it

was very good.

 

- Chase Frye

[Guest Brian]

RRR - Sakuraba vs. Sakuraba? It was that good. I'm buying the replay then.

[Guest Brian]

For anyone with the two Comcast HD channels, they're showing this at 7:30 pacific tonight, in of course, High Def.

[Styles 0]

For anyone with the two Comcast HD channels, they're showing this at 7:30 pacific tonight, in of course, High Def.

That's awesome, thanks for the heads up. They showed UFC 48 last month.