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By Brian Sweet, MMATorch DVD Specialist
Hello and welcome to the first week of my "DVD World" series of articles. My name is Brian Sweet and I am an avid collector MMA memorabilia and DVDs. It is my goal to provide viewers with a collection of MMA DVD reviews of MMA events that are widely available for purchase on the net and at local retailers. Please feel free to contact me at bs2647@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding all things DVD and MMA related. I own a complete Pride and UFC DVD library so please contact me if you have a specific disc in mind that you would like me to review. This week we will be looking at "UFC 43: Meltdown." This event was historic in that it produced the first ever UFC champion in two different weight divisions. So let's get down to business.
We will look at one fight each day, and not only review the fight itself, but tell you what the ramifications of the fight were from today's perspective looking back. I hope you enjoy reading this new daily feature as much as I enjoyed writing it.
UFC 43: MELTDOWN
JUNE 6, 2003
LAS VEGAS, NEV. AT THE THOMAS & MACK CENTER
Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort vs. Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman
This fight was Vitor's first in nearly a year and he was being groomed to become a potential challenger for the winner of Liddell/Couture. Belfort suffered a decision loss at the hands of Liddell at UFC 37.5 and lost a lot of the momentum he had going for him prior to his return to the octagon. He had a decent run in Pride and seemed poised to make a triumphant return to the UFC. A showdown with Chuck Liddell on cable television during the pre Spike TV days was a great way to start off. Everyone expected fireworks, and there were some but not many. Vitor took a year off to ponder his next move. Eastman on the other hand, was making his UFC debut and would have loved nothing more than to make an example of the Phenom. Marvin had a fairly successful run in the King of the Cage promotion as well as the World Fighting Alliance leading up to the fight and was looking to expand upon that success. Eastman was desperate for a win over a big name opponent, while Belfort was desperate to make a huge impact in the UFC once again. One press of the play button and the action continues.
THE FIGHT
Round 1 – Big John gets us underway and about a minute and a half later it just doesn't seem right that Mike Goldberg doesn't proclaim, “And it is all over!” Both men come out looking in excellent shape and ready to trade blows. Marvin Eastman keeps faking left and right and finally throws an inside leg kick. Vitor follows up with one of his own but The Beastman grabs a leg. At this point, Vitor grabs a muai thai plum and delivers two massive knees to the face of Marvin and follows up with a vicious barrage of punches that cause Big John to step in and call the fight. At about 1:08 of the very first round the fight is stopped. It is worth noting that Marvin is now sporting an absolutely huge gash over his right eyebrow. This thing is monstrous and looks like it goes straight to the bone. Oddly enough Mike Goldberg is heard commentating that the “old” Vitor is back. So, I guess the “new” Vitor is more like the “old” Vitor, but who was the Vitor we saw in Pride against Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson? The “intermediate” Vitor is my guess.
THE AFTERMATH
Marvin Eastman: At this point in his career, Marvin had a huge opportunity to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in the UFC. However, he’s never really been able to win against top competition. The exception of course, is Quinton Jackson but that fight occurred a lifetime ago in the world of MMA. Eastman has lost to the best of the best in a career that includes some good wins as well. He was beaten the likes of Quinton Jackson, Alex Stiebling, Vernon White, Alan Belcher, Jason Mcdonald, Travis Wiuff, Ron Kimmons, and Terry Martin. On the other hand, he has lost to such fighters as Rich Franklin, Travis Lutter, Vitor Belfort, Jason Lambert, Denis Kang, and Drew Mcfedries. He has had a full career and his time has just come and gone in the UFC. There is not much more to say about him. He gives a good effort everytime, he just doesn’t have elite level skills.
Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort: Vitor is kind of an enigma in MMA. When he is hot he is on fire and when he’s cold he’s just downright aggravating to watch. Everyone knows he has the skills to win against anyone at middleweight and light heavyweight. Everyone thought he was, dare I say, the next big thing in MMA until he fought Randy Couture for the first time. That loss was humbling to him and proved that everyone can lose. He rebounded from the loss and went on to some success in Pride although he lost his first fight there to Sakuraba. Vitor eventually made his way back to the UFC and suffered the worst skid of his career by losing to Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, and Tito Ortiz and Alistair Overeem twice. Although he won the UFC light heavyweight title against Couture with a fluke win in 2004, the “old” Vitor didn’t really surface again until after his disappointing loss to Dan Henderson at pride 32 in late 2006. He has been on a tear since the Henderson loss and looks to be the next challenger for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight crown. If the “old” Vitor shows up to fight, we could be in for a massive upset.
Check back every day for our continued march through this DVD. Here's the schedule...
MONDAY: Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo vs. Tra "Trauma" Telligma
TUESDAY - FIGHT 2: Matt "The Law" Lindland vs. Falaniko Vitale
WEDNESDAY - FIGHT 3: Yves Edwards vs. Eddie Ruiz
TODAY - FIGHT 4: Wes "The Project" Sims vs. Frank Mir
FRIDAY - FIGHT 5: Vernon "The Tiger" White vs. Ian "The Machine" Freeman
SATURDAY - FIGHT 6: Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort vs Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman
SUNDAY - FIGHT 7: Tank Abbott vs. Kimo Leopoldo
MONDAY - FIGHT 7: Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell
And then stay tuned next Monday for the start of another full DVD review.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
