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What: UFC VICTORY IN VEGAS
When: September 29, 2001
Where: Las Vegas, Nev., Mandalay Bay
By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor
DARK MATCHES
(1) Light-Heavyweight Contenders: Din "The Dominator" Thomas (155 lbs., 0-1 UFC, 14-2 MMA) beat Fabiano Iha (153 lbs., 3-3 UFC, 11-4 MMA) via decision after three rounds. The crowd was hot for this dark opening match, and it was probably the best match of the night. Din was a clear winner, but it wasn't by any means a one-sided match.
(2) Middleweight Contenders: Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida (184 lbs.) beat Eugene "The Wolf" Jackson (183 lbs.) via submission in the first round. Almeida managed to put away Jackson by locking him in a headlock and bending his head forward with so much torque that Jackson had to tap out.
(3) Welterweight Contenders: Jutaro Nakao (168 lbs., UFC debut, 10-7-2 MMA) beat Tony DeSouza (170 lbs., 2-0 UFC, 4-0 MMA) via knockout in round two.
PAY-PER-VIEW MATCHES
(1) Middleweight Championship: Dave Menne (182 lbs., 1-0 UFC, 34-3-1 MMA) beat Gil Castillo (182 lbs., UFC debut, 16-0 MMA) via unanimous decision after five rounds to capture the vacant Middleweight Title. The match was almost stopped due to blood.
(2) Welterweight Contenders: Matt "The Terror" Serra (164 lbs, 0-1 UFC, 8-1 MMA) beat Yves Edwards (164 lbs., UFC debut, 7-3-1 MMA) via decision after three rounds. This was the closest of the PPV fights, and was a split decision (2-1) by the judges. The decision could have easily gone either way, and both fighters seemed to react to the decision as if they realized that. During the match Serra applied what looked exactly like a Gagne Sleeper.
(3) Light-Heavyweight Contenders: Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (203 lbs., 4-1 UFC, 7-1 MMA) beat Murilo Bustamante (199 lbs., 1-0 UFC, 9-0-1 MMA) via unanimous decision after three rounds. Bustamante wanted the fight on the ground, and kept dropping to the ground, but Liddell kept it a standing fight and was more aggressive.
(4) Lightweight Championship: Jens "Little Evil" Pulver (152 lbs., 4-0-1 UFC, 19-2-1 MMA) beat Dennis "Superman" Hallman (155 lbs., 1-0 UFC, 37-4 MMA) via decision after five rounds to retain the title. This was the biggest disappointment of the night since it looked, on paper, to have the potential to be the best of the night. Pulver and Hallman cut promos on each other on the previous PPV. The backstory is that both went to the same high school and didn't get along then, and they both happened to be among the best in their weight division in MMA. Pulver has ended up being the crowd favorite due to his eager, underdog personality. Hallman comes across more arrogant and dismissive. Hallman scored a few submission opportunities early, but otherwise dictated the pacing of the fight which was a boring ground struggle. The crowd grew restless the longer the fight lasted, including chanting "boring" like a pro wrestling crowd at the end of the fourth round. They booed very loudly at the end of the final round. Both fighters seemed to be disappointed with their match, especially Pulver who shrugged his shoulders at the end and mouthed to the crowd, "I'm sorry." He told the crowd in his post-match speech that he was sorry about how the match went, and he wanted to kick ass. He promised the fans that he would do better next time if they would have him back.
(5) Light Heavyweight Championship: Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz (205 lbs., 7-2 UFC, 9-2 MMA) beat Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko (205 lbs, 1-0 UFC, 11-1 MMA) via unanimous decision to retain the title. The crowd began leaving in the final round. Ortiz dominated, but in a steady, lackluster fashion.
Fallout from Friday Problems: UFC president Dana White, five days after the Friday event, told the Torch that he is in better spirits already and working hard on putting together the complete line-up for the Nov. 2 PPV.
Friday's event going off the air eight minutes early may not be the disaster that it appeared to be last week. "The fans have been great," he said regarding the main event running over. He said he didn't know how extensive the refund requests would be, but indicated that it didn't look like it would be a financial disaster.
White said that there aren't any reliable cable estimates yet that would give indications of whether they are going to reach their goal of 100,000 buys, but he did say that DirecTV buys were up 41 percent from last time. He attributed the increase to the exponentially larger advertising budget that went into Friday's event.
One bright spot coming out of last Friday's debut in Las Vegas is the live crowd. "We are happy and proud we sold out Mandalay Bay," White said at the post-event press conference, looking for something positive coming out of the event. Everyone was also pleased there were no serious injuries coming out of the event, although Gil Castillo joked he didn't want the media to take pictures of him because his face looked so battered after his loss earlier against Dave Menne.
UFC 34 Line-Up: The main event for UFC34 which takes place Nov. 2 in Las Vegas, Nev. at MGM Grand, as mentioned in this week's cover story, is set at Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo in a Heavyweight Title rematch from earlier this year. Carlos Newton (pictured above) will defend his Welterweight Title against an opponent to be named. Newton told the Torch last Friday that his opponent would be Anderson Silva, but Silva has since pulled out, so they are looking for a new opponent. The charismatic Newton is getting second billing on all posters for the Nov. 2 event. On the undercard, Caol Uno will face B.J. Penn, while six other matches have yet to be finalized.
UFC Notebook: Overheard: "I did my job. I threw punches," Jens "Little Evil" Pulver told other fighters before the press conference began... Security guards backstage at Mandalay Bay were trying to post themselves in position to watch the fights on the monitors or through the curtain... Robert Smith, all-time leading rusher of the Minnesota Vikings who retired earlier this year, was present at UFC. He didn't make his presence known to UFC officials ahead of time. He sat about 15 rows deep on the floor... Carmen Electra was at the event sitting front row... Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro was also in attendance... UFC crew members were overheard saying that singer Jay-Z was at the show, but he was never officially spotted... UFC Champion Randy Couture and Shoney Carter were among the non-scheduled fighters who appeared at the show. Carter told the TORCH that he has resumed training following an injury. He blamed himself for the injury he suffered, saying that he didn't stretch out properly before beginning a workout... Vitor Belfort did not appear at the show as originally planned. UFC president Dana White told the TORCH that Belfort's doctors originally advised him not to travel due to the arm injury he had suffered. White said Belfort contacted him the day before the show to say that he was willing to appear after all, but organizers passed, citing last minute travel expenses would be around $12,000. No one doubts the legitimacy of his injury... Chuck Zito of HBO's "Oz" fame was in Tito Ortiz's corner during the main event... Tickets went on sale for the Nov. 2 MGM PPV last Saturday, Sept. 29, and about 4,500 tickets were sold. The arena is set up for about 12,000. The arena capacity is 16,000, but the elaborate entrance staging cuts off a large segment of the arena... The paid attendance for Mandalay Bay was 9,000, with tickets priced at $30, $60, $100, $200, and $300...
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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