Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2004 No doubt Cote took some good punishment, but had Tito been able to mount Cote or at least pass Cote's guard more consistently, he could've landed better shots more often. Very rarely will you see a G&P'er (even the most devstating of them) be able to finish another guy from within the victim's guard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Styles 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2004 My live thoughts a day later: Seats weren't bad. Top messinine, but first row, so no one in front, had clear view of the octagon. There were large TV screens on either side which was helpful when they went to the ground and camera men crowded around them and you couldn't see shit! Ok, so ticket says first fight at 8, so we're there at 7 when doors open. Keep in mind I'm with my dad who's not a fan, and is basically there for me. We get to watch the countdown show preview video, and again...and again...and so on. After the 5th time, I was expecting a quiz on the thing. We also got to see Matt Hughes sparring on the ground with some people, they were putting him in all sorts of positions and he was countering. Then he leaves, and GEORGES~! comes out with his guys and waves to the crowd and gets applause from the sparce crowd there early. Also every time Georges St. Pierre was shown in the video package he was the only fighter I noticed who got applause from the crowd (including myself). I was expecting him to be a huge favorite for his fight...boy was I wrong about that. There was also someone who resembled Sylvestor Stalone in the front row that all the fighters would greet as they walked by and the camera kept showing him, but from my vantage I couldn't tell who it was. Anyone want to clue me in? About 8:30 Bruce Buffer greets us and lets us know to be in our seats in 15 minutes so we can watch the first fight! Finally, it's tough to wait around for an hour and 45 minutes watching the same video over and over, but once Lutter walked out everyone got excited (well, I think more for the first fight, not really for Lutter). Travis Lutter def. Marvin Eastman, KO (2nd): Eastman got a big pop from the crowd (still filtering in). I know they didn't show the first round, so here's what you missed: FIVE MINUTES OF STANDING IN PLACE STARING AT EACH OTHER. This was not a good start to the night. Nearly 2 hours of sitting around, and these 2 get out here and I don't think they touched each other once. My screams at Eastman to "throw a high kick" are ignored. The place erupts with boos as round one comes to a RIVETING~! close. Pretty quickly in the 2nd round they start going at it, which gets some mock (or maybe genuine) applause from the crowd, and then Lutter hits him with a shot, and Eastman falls dead. It looked like a really weak hit, like he barely grazed him, which definitely made for some suspicion amongst the crowd. My dad even asks me if I'm sure this is really for real (which makes my stomach churn, because I want him to be in to it). Eastman stays down a long time, which is even stranger. When they replayed this later on the PPV, on the big screen we of course got to hear the mics in the octagon, and unless they dubbed it (doubtful), it sounded like a pretty solid hit. To bring us down from the excitement, we get to sit around for another 30 minutes while various loud rap music blares from the speakers. Bruce Buffer finally alerts us that the second prelim fight is about to begin. I think this is how those people at the WCW world wide tapings in the early 90s must have felt! Ivan Salaverry def. Tony Fryklund, via bodylock (1st). This is a quick fight, but obviously a lot more action packed. Salaverry pounced on Fryklund and appeared to try for a choke, but just hung on, and then wrapped his legs in a figure four position, around Fryklund's body, forcing him to verbally tap out. Frylund was slow to get up and looked to be in a lot of pain. Salaverry was playing to the crowd a lot before and after and got a nice pop. Ok, about 30 minutes more of waiting around, and enduring loud rap music. And we are LIVE~! as the camera goes around the crowd panning around the fans...and it's...more waiting. See, while all of you got to see the long introduction with the announcers, oddsmaker, etc., we get to....listen to more loud rap music. I guess because of feedback, we couldn't hear the TV feed, but we couldn't even SEE it either, as the whole time, the screens just had "The War of 04" graphic up. This is getting to be a lot of down time. I would have liked to have at least SEEN the odds. I noticed Joe Rogan was not there, and there's a new girl doing the interviewes. I take it from this thread that Frank Mir was filling in. What's the story with Rogan? Is he gone for good? Evan Tanner def. Robbie Lawler, triangle choke (1st). Tanner is a big crowd favorite, getting a big pop. What's up with the dreads though? Does he have anew hairstyle every show? My dad's opinion: Lawler will win because he's 12 years younger than the other guy. I counter with the well roundedness and experience of Tanner, and am of course right. Lawler's big SLAM~! takedown get's the crowd to erupt, but as soon as he's taken down, Tanner starts going for the triangle, as the smart fans in the crowd start buzzing, and before you know it, it's locked on perfectly! My dad has no idea what has just happened, as I try to explain to him how a triangle works. Fun action, but again really short fight! Frank Trigg def. Venato Charuto Varrisimo, TKO (2nd). Excellent fight! Charuto is very popular with the crowd getting the star pop. Good back and forth action in the first round, very exciting as Charuto would try various submissions and Trigg would pound him and escape. Charuto got Trigg in a perfect triangle, and Trigg somehow escaped which got a big reaction from the crowd. 2nd round, Charuto just looked tired, and Trigg's power took advantage of that. Trigg threw some hard forearms that had Charuto staggered, and he looked out of it and I thought the fight should have been stopped, but Trigg was allowed a few more shots on the crowd before the ref finally stopped it. As the graphic came up for Hughes/St. Pierre, I became anxious, since this is the fight myself and most of the crowd wanted to see. Unlike before the show, as St. Pierrer entered he got....BOOED?! I was one of the only people in the place (there were a few sporadic others also) standing and applauding the guy (which made me a heel with a lot of the intoxicated people around me). Hughes came out to a MAMOTH reaction, flashbolts and easily the pop of the night. Before the fight, a big USA chant breaks out. Oooh, this is going to be an uphill battle. Matt Hughes def. Georges St. Pierre, armbar (1st-4.59...). FUCKKKKKKK.......one fucking second. Just one second, if he could have just held on....man. Well, the fight intself, although far shorter than I wanted to go was very good, as both traded, and everytime Hughes would try to ground him, Georges would fight it off and get back up. Various fans around me yell "shut this guy's mouth, up, Matt" and "beat his Canadian ass" as more USA chants break out. I didn't know we were at war with Canada outside of WWE. As the clock winded down, I expressed my thoughts at how well I thought the round went, and anticipated the 2nd round, as George had top control, and all of a sudden Matt flips him...3...2....ARMBAR!?......1....FANS ERUPT. Wait did the round end?!? AH SHIT! That is really tough to swallow. It was a beauty by Hughes, but not a second too soon. Georges looks absolutely dejected, like he was going to lose it and cry any moment. His team members are consoling him, rubbing his head, patting his back, etc. Hughes shows a lot of class though by coming over to him, saying something encouraging, shaking his hand and giving him a hug. He also puts him over in his post fight interview as someone who has all the tools to be a champion some day. Rich Franklyn def. Jorge Rivera, armbar (3rd). Jorge and his team come out dressed in Red Sox gear, and several rows of fans behind me, also dressed in Sox gear, go nuts cheering for him. The whole fight was "Come on George-ie! (that's how they pronounced it), and chanting for him." Overall a mixed reaction from the New Jersey crowd though. This was an exciting fight that went back and forth, and I thought would go the distance. A lot from the clinch, and struggling for position. Rivera hit some shots on Franklyn too who had some blood and a huge mouse under his eye. Franklyn scored a fairly sudden armbar for the quick win in the 3rd. Tito Ortiz def. Patrick Cote, unanimous decision. Cote got the St. Pierre treatement, but not quite as bad. I was telling everyone around about how this should be really quick-either way. Tito's pop was second only to Hughes'. He gets a loud TITO chant to start. As they trade, Cote pops him one, as I jump out of my seat, and think "no way...?" And then Tito takes him to the ground and just keeps him there. The kid had NOTHING on the ground. I think he might have tried for an armbar once or twice, but nothing serious. As the round comes to an end, I'm shocked it's still going on. Another Tito chant starts up but when he takes him down again, this time fairly quickly, the fans start to turn as they just become bored. They wanted to see Tito just dominate this guy and take him out quick. In fact a small "COTE" chant breaks out on the floor which I happily join in with. Tito does hit some NASTY looking forearms to Cote's face, as the close ups just look brutal with Cote's head bouncing off the mat with each shot. The crowd goes "oooh" with each shot. I'm shocked he wasn't knocked out. The kid's tougher than we thought. It's going to a 3rd round, as my dad theorizes that Tito was told to dog it, and stretch it out since they were running early on PPV time. I can't really dispute that. Cote's only chance is to keep it standing, and I get really excited as he starts to take the offense to Tito and offers a few punches, momentarily putting Tito on the defensive, but once he gets him back down on the ground, that's it, it's obvious he's finished. Tito just lays there with him as the crowd chants "Stand them up". Doesn't happen, and the fight ends with a chorus of BOOOS. Even Tito announced as the winner gets Boos. He says he's sorry in his interview that it wasn't more exciting and said his cardio wasn't where it should be and he has a bulging disc. Fans leave pretty unhappy overall. The fight was probably more exciting live, since the forearm shots were pretty sick, and the brief moments where Cote would tag him got really exciting, creating the hope for the upset, but otherwise it was lot of laying around. I snag someone's $5 program they left behind on the way out. Back in the elavator of the hotel, there's a couple guys with some sponsored shirts on, and one of them is really upset, talking about how "we trained so hard for this, I don't know how we're going to come back from this" and another guy telling him "its alright, one loss doesn't mean much, it's not like boxing". It was an hispanic guy with a Yankees hat. I doubt he was with Rivera with the Bosox motif, and I doubt he was Canadian...maybe he was a teammate of Charutos? Overall, I share my dad's thoughts, in that the fights themselves were fun, but at nearly 6 hours (from 7 to almost 1), there was maybe 30 minutes of fight versus the rest just sitting around and waiting. It def. drains a lot out of you. Especially since we can't see what's going on the TV and are just subjected to loud rap music to listen to. But hey, the price was right (FREE~!) so, I can't complain. Overall, it was fun to see the UFC live, and about what I expect in terms of a collection of good but not great fights, but it'd be nice if the in the future they used time management a little better, or at least tell us honestly when the show will start so we're not left sitting around. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can see how it came out on TV and re-watch the fights. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Styles 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2004 Dave Meltzer is dead on here: Last night's UFC crowd in Atlantic City was very different from Las Vegas. It was like a WWE crowd, except they had understanding of ground work. But they reacted to babyfaces and heels, in particular they hated the Canadians. It wasn't evident on TV, but Matt Hughes got over huge to the live crowd because of his promos about how a Canadian champion means nothing to an American. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the pinjockey 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2004 I will point out that people in South Jersey are not big fans of Candians (French canadians in particular), because they swarm the area in the summer and bother the fuck out of everyone. So there is an inate hatred of most things Canadian in this area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 Awesome report Slapnuts. That is something the UFC should really consider - not making the arena experience shitty. Try to shoot them an email or post on mma.tv where Dana occasionally posts. That is unacceptible, man. It was Chuck Zito that they kept slapping hands with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 In the post-event press conference (which can be DL'd at Sherdog), Hughes said he became a Christian this past summer (born again?) and came to the ring with Mark 12:29 on his shirt (what's the deal with Born Agains and Shirts?) It's amazing to watch and listen to Frank Trigg talk, because he's so far ahead of everyone else when it comes to talking that it's not even funny. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Styles 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 So, what was the story with Rogan? Is he gone for good or just this show? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 Just the show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slickster 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 So, what does this mean for Cote? Will his career get a huge boost for going the distance with Tito? Will he go back down to prelims? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 24, 2004 Dana put him over pretty big in the press conference, but basically said that Cote would be used at a lighter weight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 Looks like I was right on both my predictions: Hughes beating Georges and Trigg beating Charuto. Trigg beats the shit out of BJJ guys, end of story. I'll have your av picked out in a day or two RRR, hahahahaha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 Nevermind, I have it now: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 That's uncreative. And hurtful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 Sorry, dude. I'll be lenient and say two weeks is the limit. You're still cool, though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 Then why couldn't you have picked "I'm Cool"?? Double or Nothing for the PRIDE show! The bet made the show sooo much more interesting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 I think the Pride show is a pretty easy one to pick. Predictions: SILVA vs. Jackson CRO COP vs. Barnett HENDO vs. Nakamura Yokoi vs. HERRING HUNT vs. Bobish ARONA vs. Ignatev Kanehara vs. OVEREEM ALEKSANDER vs. Thompson Last fight I don't really know either one, so I can't call it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 I am SOOOOOOOOOO picking Nakamura!!! He's the Japanese George St. Pierre! Cept he'll win this time!!!! RRR: Getting addicted to betting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 I am SOOOOOOOOOO picking Nakamura!!! He's the Japanese George St. Pierre! Cept he'll win this time!!!! RRR: Getting addicted to betting Wow, this is getting easier by the day If Hendo wins, you have to change your member title OR your sig picture, up to you. If Nakamura wins ( ), nothing happens to me, but you get to remove the "I suck" avatar. Is this what you meant by double or nothing? Anyway, Hendo will win because: (A) He is just plain better than Naka, (B) He completely dismantled Oyama when they fought, with Oyama having a similar, although more reckless, style than Nakamura, and © Nakamura can't finish and Hendo can't be finished, so I expect Hendo to win by JD or TKO from punches. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 The Nak will obliterate Hendo. O B L I T E R A T E. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 The Nak will obliterate Hendo. O B L I T E R A T E. Wat teh fuk u are goin against Hendoz INSANE~!!!!!!!!! How dare you speak ill of "Hollywood". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 25, 2004 Hendo got nothin on this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest CurryMan Report post Posted October 26, 2004 It was a decent ppv, I really liked Mir on commentating but then again I can´t stand Rogan. My favourite pic of the night is clearly I still have big problems with the gnp still with push your opponent close to the cage and use it like what Tito tried to do I find out extremly boring. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Hendo got nothin on this. Here's a taste of what Naka's in store for: Henderson bringin' the country boy skills! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 I would have used that back kick pic, but, you know.... Package... Hendo has never faced someone as good as Nakamura. *digs hole deeper* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 I would have used that back kick pic, but, you know.... Package... Hendo has never faced someone as good as Nakamura. *digs hole deeper* I know you're being sarcastic, but just in case you're not: Allan Goes Carlos Newton Gilbert Yvel Nogueira Babalu Silva Renzo Gracie Ninja Ricardo Arona Busta Nakamura: Uhhh, Busta, Lil' Nog, and uhhh, that's about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Allan Goes Carlos Newton - Newton, at the time, didn't have the takedowns or standup skills that Nakamura does, plus Newton should have won that fight. Gilbert Yvel Nogueira (L) Babalu - stylistically different. Silva (L) Renzo Gracie - stylistically different. Ninja - stylistically different Ricardo Arona (L) - the most similar to Nakamura (esp. in size) and Hendo had problems moving him around. Busta - Nak beat him too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AboveAverage484 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Well, Arona is on roids and Nak isn't. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Nakamura's size is deceptive. The guy is a heavyweight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lei Tong 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Nog: No need to even go there. Newton: Didn't have the stand-up Nakamura does? I bet Hendo would disagree, as neither Nak nor Newton have great stand-up aside from looking for a big right. Also, Newton has the betetr power in his punches, as Carlos cracked Hendo on several occasions (leading to the baby giraffe dance), and messed his jaw up IIRC. Babalu: Stylistically different or not, he's flat out better than Nakamura. I mean come on, you're going to compare Nakamura with a guy who beat Trevor Prangley, Mauricio Rua & Jeremy Horn in a single night? Babalu's wrestling is very comparable to Nakamura's Judo takedowns, plus his stand-up & submission skills are far and away better. Arona: A bit like Nak stylistically, but once again, better. Unlike Nakamura, his size is pretty much pure muscle, so the similarity in that area isn't as close as you might think. Arona has good takedowns as well, but his ground control and positioning skills are much better than Nakamura's, and his stand-up is better than many people give him credit for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RavishingRickRudo 0 Report post Posted October 26, 2004 Nakamura has better hands than Newton. Technically - in terms of form and throwing his shots - he is a better boxer and has better kicks too. You're not going to knock Hendo out, but standing is very important in this when it comes to controlling Hendos wild punches. If Nakamura keeps form (which he will), he could rock Hendo when Dan rushes in and then throw him and control him. If Nakamura gets on top of Henderson, he _will_ control him. He's bigger, and as shown against Arona and Silva, Dan has a hard time - especially when the fight gets long (and Dan won't finish Nakamura) - getting the bigger guy off of him. And Nakamura trains with Yoshida, he has a grip unlike any Dan has met. Training with Lindland and Couture will help him, but it's not the same. Bringing up Babalus accomplishments in 2003 doesn't reflect on him as a fighter in 2000. His biggest accomplishments to that point was a win over Tamura. Nakamura dominated Bustamante for 3 straight rounds and still doesn't get any respect. That will change. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
