The Big Day Came and Went

Alot of people complained about the UFC 75 card, and I never understood why. I thought that, while the undercard was mediocre, the main card fights like Bisping vs. Hamill and Kongo vs. CroCop were interesting, and I expected the title fight between Henderson and Rampage Jackson to be exciting.

The undercard met its expectations. Marcus Davis put on the most exciting show of the night, and the only submission, when he caught Paul Taylor in an armbar just past the 4 minutes mark in the first round. Taylor made it a war and proved that he is definitely a deserving fighter with solid standup, though his groundgame still needs work.

Houston Alexander, the rising star of the UFC's ever-improving lightheavyweight division, stopped Italian Alessio Sakara with strikes at 1:01 in the first round. While there are still doubts about Alexander's gas tank, there are none about his power and will. Alexander will be an exciting opponent, whoever he fights next.

Brit Terry Etim dropped a decision and though the rest of the undercard finished their fights, it was nothing to write home about.

Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill was much closer than anticipated, with Hamill displaying powerful wrestling and heavy striking, but losing a controversial split decision. While many of my fellow Americans are upset that Hamill's power and ability to take top position didn't win the fight, I was happy that his lay-and-pray tactics weren't rewarded by the judges.

In the biggest upset of the night, Cheick Kongo won a decision over Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, breaking Filipovic's ribs with a body kick at the beginning of the fight. Despite the debilitating injury and painful slowness on the part of CroCop, the bigger, stronger Kongo was unable to finish the veteran and had to resort to winning on the judges scorecards.

Despite a passable performance standing up from Kongo, the night wasn't a bad showing for him. He displayed some groundnpound, an aspect of his game that we haven't ever seen before, probably because it was the focus of his training with Jaunito Ibarra. (it was a weakness that has been exploited in past bouts) Kongo is a standup phenomenon, and his ability to beat CroCop on his feet puts him in my list of top 5 strikers in the heavyweight division, running close with CroCop, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia. He's in good company and good standing in the UFC heavyweight division and I think he's poised to get the winner of the upcoming matchup between Brandon Vera and former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia at UFC 77, which, if he wins, will put him in title contention.

The biggest fight of the night was a matchup between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and "Dangerous" Dan Henderson, the UFC and Pride 205 pound champions, respectively. While Henderson dominated the fight early on, he didn't overwhelm Jackson with his Roman Greco ability and Rampage eventually recovered to win unanimous on the judges scorecards.

Quinton is the first fighter to unify a UFC and Pride belt. His next matchup is unknown, but it could very well be against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who beat Jackson badly when they met in Pride. If it is, Jackson will, once again be the underdog, as Shogun is considered by many the #1 lightheavyweight in the world.

The event was an interesting segueway and, despite a mediocre undercard and some main card contreversy, it was a history making night, as the UFC unified the 205 pound title.

Now, I'm looking forward to upcoming events like the next Ultimate Fight Night, taking place on September 19, and UFC 76, which will follow that Saturday. Both of those events look promising.