What fights have you watched today?

UFC 27

Nothing of note happens in this tourney. Rizzo ends the comeback attempt of Severn but that was to be expected really.

However over in Pride we have the best MMA card to date with return of the warriors.

Belfort becomes better at utilising his ground game as he dominated behind a strong ground and pound attack.

Kerr makes his comeback successfully with a neck crank whilst in his opponents guard. Looking back to his best here.

Silva and Mezger has one of the best fights I've ever seen. I'd rate it above Shamrock vs Ortiz certainly. Silva shows he's learnt from the Belfort loss with much better head and feet movement preventing him being caught so easily. He ultimately walks Mezger down for a brutal victory.

Vovanchyn leaves Inoue a bloody mess after a brutal ground and pound attack sustained over about ten minutes. Shows he's lost nothing in his defeat to Coleman.

Shamrock shows an incredibly rounded game plan as he outstrikes Fujitsu and defends every takedown attempt with ease. Kicks the **** out of him tbh. Then in a clinch he asks his corner to throw the towel in. Strangest thing I've seen in MMA so far. Totally inexplicable and i need to look into this.

In the main event Sakuraba again shows he's the best WW in history by beating the incredibly talented Renzo Gracie. Like against Royce he is outstruck and out grappled in the first round, but this time he ramps it up quicker, softens Renzo with leg kicks whilst he's on his back and after they're reset Renzo takes Sakurabas back and tries a takedown, Sakuraba does the best reversal I've ever seen in my life, it was a thing of beauty. From the opponent having his back he sound round flips him over and lands the Kimura. Breathtaking stuff.

So as of September 2000 i have it

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Dan Henderson
4 Frank Shamrock
5 Ken Shamrock
6 Tito Ortiz
7 Mark Coleman
8 Igor Vovanchyn
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Renato Sobrel
11 Kevin Randlemann
12 Wanderlei Silva
13 Mark Kerr
14 Bas Rutten
15 Randy Couture
16 Kiyoshi Tamura
17 Dan Severn
18 Don Frye
19 Pat Miletich
20 Pedro Rizzo
21 Evan Tanner
22 Murilo Bustamante
23 Carlos Newton
24 Renzo Gracie
25 Chuck Lidell
26 Dave Menne
27 Jens Pulver
28 Matt Hughes

 

UFC 28 (also Pride 11 and 12)

Busy few months in MMA

Pride 11 saw Tom Erikson debut with a huge rep based on his win over Randlemann years previous. He ran into Heath Herring who kept him in his guard tiring him out and then battered him once reset. Vovanchyn continued his resurgence since losing to Coleman with a dominant victory over Takada. Sakuraba wins yet another fight continuing his stint as p4p god.

UFC 28 saw some very big performances. Jen's Pulver obliterated his opponent. Barnett and Arlovski debut with style both winning with good performances. Sobral dominates Smith for another win and he's looking one of the best HW men right about now. Couture back with an absolute bang. After leaving UFC he made a huge mistake against Inoue leaving an arm bar open. Got cheated out of victory against Ilyukhin, so he's essentially spent 3 years in the wilderness but he certainly came back with a bang today. Defended very well on the back against Randlemann who could take down anyone ever, then in the third round he secures a take down of his own and goes to town with the G&P and Randlemann has no defence on his own back as he just gets splattered.

Pride 12 saw some very big victories on an ATG scale. Carlos Newton dominates a grappling affair against Oliveira and imo he's certainly one of the top WW men around. Heath Herring wins another huge fight against the afore mentioned Inoue and suddenly he's announced himself with back to back victories and is surely due a huge fight next. Silva shows he can defend take down attempts after the Ortiz loss and absolutely smacks Henderson around handing him his first loss and putting himself right towards the top of the rankings. Vovanchyn defeats Kerr again to set himself as the best HW not named Coleman. Sakuraba beats another Gracie with his superior grappling skills and it looks like it will take something special to defeat this legend.

Almost seen enough men to consider a top 30 ATG list

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Frank Shamrock
4 Ken Shamrock
5 Tito Ortiz
6 Mark Coleman
7 Wanderlei Silva
8 Dan Henderson
9 Igor Vovanchyn
10 Randy Couture
11 Vitor Belfort
12 Kevin Randlemann
13 Mark Kerr
14 Bas Rutten
15 Renato Sobral
16 Dan Severn
17 Don Frye
18 Pat Miletich
19 Carlos Newton
20 Pedro Rizzo
21 Heath Herring
22 Jens Pulver
23 Evan Tanner
24 Murilo Bustamante
25 Kiyoshi Tamura
26 Renzo Gracie
27 Chuck Lidell
28 Dave Menne
29 Matt Hughes

 

UFC 29.

Hughes is destroyed in 20 seconds when a slam is countered into an arm bar.

Tanner wins in impressive style.

Miletich wins again but he's very inconsistent outside of UFC so i don't know how to rank him.

Lidell wins a slow paced prelim bout.

Ortiz dominates Kondo and taps him with a strange choke hold.

 

UFC 30.

Rizzo sparks out promising HW prospect Josh Barnett in a tremendous back and forth war.

Pulver wins the battle of the small men as he outpoints Uno in a terrific performance underlining his greatness.

Tito adds another top name to his resume with a KO victory over Evan Tanner.

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Frank Shamrock
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Ken Shamrock
6 Mark Coleman
7 Wanderlei Silva
8 Jens Pulver
9 Dan Henderson
10 Igor Vovanchyn
11 Randy Couture
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Kevin Randlemann
14 Mark Kerr
15 Bas Rutten
16 Renato Sobral
17 Dan Severn
18 Don Frye
19 Pat Miletich
20 Carlos Newton
21 Pedro Rizzo
22 Heath Herring
23 Evan Tanner
24 Murilo Bustamante
25 Kiyoshi Tamura
26 Renzo Gracie
27 Chuck Lidell
28 Dave Menne
29 Matt Hughes

 

Pride 13

What a ferocious card this was, absolutely mental.

Heath Herring continues his rise with a victory over Sobalev. He seems ready for a big step up now to propel himself into the top echelon.

Dan Henderson cleans the clock of Renzo Gracie and knocks the prime right out of him. Excellent comeback fight considering the way Wanderlei Silva bossed him around the ring.

Mark Coleman looks monstrous against Allan Goes. Coleman has completely reinvented himself since working on his cardio and it's fair to say that right now he's the best HW we've ever seen in MMA competition. Conditioning cost him against Smith and Williams, in the 5 minute round format he smokes them both. The Rizzo fight could have gone either way and the less said about Takada the better. But he has huge victories over Severn, Frye and Vovanchyn, no one else has a HW resume close to that. Couture has Smith, Belfort and Randlemann but i rate Coleman's as better. The man is an absolute beast and after losing 4 on the skid it looked over for him, but considering context you have to admire his greatness.

Vovanchyn loses now and his reign or terror has come to an end. He's spent arguably 5 years as one of the top 2 HW fighter on the planet having about 30 fights in that time. One of the best strikers we've seen in MMA but i have to imagine his decline is setting in now.

Speaking of end of an era. Wanderlei Silva absolutely crushes Kazushi Sakuraba. What a run he's on now with Mezger, Yvel, Henderson and Sakuraba. It's not even a year since his loss to Ortiz but he looks a complete fighter now. Sakuraba didn't even get close to a takedown and had to exchange. He did land a good shot but once Silva came back with a clinch Sakuraba looked hopelessly out of his depth.

I'm not a huge fan of the Rings format because there's no striking on the mat. But the winners of the tournaments rightly deserve huge credit so a new addition to the rankings is Big Nog who submitted his way to glory.

Some big movements in the ATG rankings today

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Frank Shamrock
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Mark Coleman
7 Ken Shamrock
8 Jens Pulver
9 Dan Henderson
10 Randy Couture
11 Igor Vovanchyn
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Kevin Randlemann
14 Mark Kerr
15 Bas Rutten
16 Pedro Rizzo
17 Renato Sobral
18 Dan Severn
19 Don Frye
20 Pat Miletich
21 Carlos Newton
22 Heath Herring
23 Rodrigo Nogueira
24 Evan Tanner
25 Murilo Bustamante
26 Chuck Lidell
27 Renzo Gracie
28 Dave Menne
29 Matt Hughes

The top 3 have been stable for a number of years now but that hold on the top is looking weaker and weaker. Ortiz and Silva are on form ATM. Coleman is looking unstoppable, Pulver is crushing his opposition and Couture is fighting huge names left right and centre.

 

UFC 31.

Matt Serra makes his debut but doesn't impress as he loses to Shonie Carter.

Chuck Liddell has an absolutely huge victory when he defies the odds to knock out Randlemann. Incredible upset here. Randlemann has gone from looking unbeatable to dropping 2 in a row now both by KO. But for Liddell this was a massive step up and he impressed here. He managed to avoid the take down attempts by Kevin which is something i thought I'd never say, and his striking accuracy was immense as he ended the fight with a left hook.

Aside from Sakuraba the best two welters in the world are Newton and Miletich and both were finally matched up here. Newton looked very poor in the first round as Miletich controlled every exchange. Newton improved round by round until he manages to take the back of Pat and lock in a choke to establish himself as the new champion.

Couture and Rizzo have a fight at HW which was very tough to score. The first round went to Couture, the second went to Rizzo. Both could have been 10-8 rounds. 3, 4 and 5 could have gone either way with Rizzo controlling the stand up exchanges and Couture controlling the rolling on the mat. Very close fight, definitely needs a rematch.

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Frank Shamrock
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Mark Coleman
7 Ken Shamrock
8 Jens Pulver
9 Dan Henderson
10 Randy Couture
11 Igor Vovanchyn
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Chuck Lidell
14 Carlos Newton
15 Kevin Randlemann
16 Mark Kerr
17 Bas Rutten
18 Pedro Rizzo
19 Renato Sobral
20 Dan Severn
21 Don Frye
22 Pat Miletich
23 Heath Herring
24 Rodrigo Nogueira
25 Evan Tanner
26 Murilo Bustamante
27 Renzo Gracie
28 Dave Menne
29 Matt Hughes

 

Pride 14 was quite uneventful in terms of ATG rankingd.

Lidell won a war with Mezger in what was a very good fight. Silva brutalised another opponent in the first round. Henderson looked impressive again on his comeback trail as he's really worked on striking since the Silva loss. Vovanchyn wins his comeback fight against Yvel and Fujita wins another fight putting his name in the mix somewhat.

Herring and Belfort fight in a very boring affair that could have gone to either man. Belfort gets the nod but i get the sense he knows HW is not his division, Herring didn't look like a loser despite not getting the decision here.

 

Gonna have a little rest from MMA now as I've watched far too many fights today! UFC 30 and 31 plus all the pride stuff inbetween.

Gonna chill for a bit and watch Doctor Strange

 

UFC 32

Uno and Penn both impress here as the LW division begins heating up. Between them 2, Pulver and Thomas we have a decent little division now.

Miletich wins against Carter with a devastating high kick on his comeback trail.

Barnett looks very impressive against Semmy and the way he held on to that arm bar was brilliant.

Ortiz steamrolled another opponent to defend his LHW belt and i am thinking now, if he has his cardio sorted which it sounds like, would Frank Shamrock ever be able to replicate his success in the first fight? I don't think he would. Ortiz is one of the best ever at this stage that cannot be denied.

Over in Pride Vovanchyn wins another comeback fight but he's not the force he once was and his days of leading the division are over now.

Herring makes a huge statement by holding guard whilst Kerr wrestles him around for 2 rounds, once the reset happens Herring gets the crown going just as he did against Erikson and he dominated the stand up exchange before pummelling him into submission. Herring, I'd never heard of him as anything other than a Lesnar opponent. Now I'm seeing him as one of the best HW fighters to date in MMA. Incredible stuff here.

Big Nog finally makes his Pride debut and he started well, then he pulled guard and Goodridge began reigning down the blows which is something he won't have experienced in rings. However he uses his legs to secure a triangle and it's game over.

Sakuraba takes another ATG here against Rampage Jackson. Completely outsized and slammed around like there's no tomorrow before taking him down, taking his back and locking in a chokehold. Quality stuff by the legend that is.

Here's the latest rankings. I feel bad for Severn and Frye as they had so much early success but are falling by the wayside as more talented fighters followed in their footsteps. This isn't a current rankings, it's an ATG standing as of June 2001

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Tito Ortiz
4 Frank Shamrock
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Mark Coleman
7 Ken Shamrock
8 Jens Pulver
9 Dan Henderson
10 Randy Couture
11 Igor Vovanchyn
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Chuck Lidell
14 Carlos Newton
15 Kevin Randlemann
16 Heath Herring
17 Mark Kerr
18 Bas Rutten
19 Renato Sobral
20 Dan Severn
21 Don Frye
22 Pedro Rizzo
23 Pat Miletich
24 Rodrigo Nogueira
25 Evan Tanner
26 Murilo Bustamante
27 Renzo Gracie
28 Dave Menne
29 Matt Hughes
30 B.J. Penn
31 Caol Uno
32 Josh Barnett

 

UFC 33

Some very big victories but all went the distance for the first time.

First off we had Liddell win a very close fight against Murilo Bustamante were he demonstrated exceptional TDD and ground out a close win.

Menne won a clearer fight against Castillo to stake his claim as the number 1 MW in the world and aside from Kazushi Sakuraba and maybe Dan Henderson that's a claim i think he's earnt.

Pulver beats Halman to continue his stint as the best LW in MMA history.

Ortiz proved his superiority once again against Wladimir Matyushenko over 5 hard fought rounds.

Over in Pride Big Nog shoots straight for the top and takes out Mark Coleman. A classic BJJ Vs Wrestler matchup but Nog's guard was a thing of beauty and he's now at the top of the tree as far as HW fighters go.

1 Kazushi Sakuraba
2 Royce Gacie
3 Tito Ortiz
4 Frank Shamrock
5 Wanderlei Silva
6 Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Mark Coleman
8 Ken Shamrock
9 Jens Pulver
10 Dan Henderson
11 Randy Couture
12 Chuck Lidell
13 Igor Vovanchyn
14 Vitor Belfort
15 Carlos Newton
16 Kevin Randlemann
17 Heath Herring
18 Mark Kerr
19 Bas Rutten
20 Renato Sobral
21 Dan Severn
22 Don Frye
23 Dave Menne
24 Pedro Rizzo
25 Pat Miletich
26 Evan Tanner
27 Murilo Bustamante
28 Renzo Gracie
29 Matt Hughes
30 B.J. Penn
31 Caol Uno
32 Josh Barnett

 

UFC 34

Ricco Rodriguez continues his impressive start to MMA life with a victory over the faded Pete Williams. Across all the banners the HW division is absolutely stacked.

Speaking of which Josh Barnett continues his march to the title with a good victory over Hoffman beating him so bad he quit.

BJ Penn solidifies his claim as the next best LW in the world absolutely destroying Uno in under half a minute.

Matt Hughes scores a huge upset to beat Carlos Newton. A bit controversial for me as i think Newton choked him out and both were unconscious when they hit the mat, however Hughes recovered first and the belt was his.

Couture avenged a controversial win by smacking Rizzo around the ring like a step child. Couture looks like he might just be one of the best in the world right now.

Over in Pride two huge victories occur. Firstly Big Nog beats Herring to take the Pride championship with a brilliant performance where he outstruck and outgrappled Herring rendering him useless.

Bigger than that though as we see Wanderlei Silva prove the first victory over Sakuraba wasn't a fluke and this man here is the best MMA we've seen so far. He suffered two bad losses where he was outpunched by Belfort and out wrestled by Tito. Since then he's improved his striking defence and his take down defence immeasurably and i don't think anyone in MMA history weighing under 200 pounds would beat this version of the axe murderer. He looks unstoppable right now.

1 Wanderlei Silva
2 Kazushi Sakuraba
3 Royce Gacie
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Frank Shamrock
6 Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Mark Coleman
8 Randy Couture
9 Ken Shamrock
10 Jens Pulver
11 Dan Henderson
12 Chuck Lidell
13 Igor Vovanchyn
14 Vitor Belfort
15 Matt Hughes
16 Carlos Newton
17 Kevin Randlemann
18 Heath Herring
19 B.J. Penn
20 Bas Rutten
21 Mark Kerr
22 Renato Sobral
23 Dan Severn
24 Don Frye
25 Dave Menne
26 Pedro Rizzo
27 Josh Barnett
28 Pat Miletich
29 Evan Tanner
30 Murilo Bustamante
31 Renzo Gracie
32 Caol Uno
33 Ricco Rodriguez

 

UFC 35

Randlemann beats Sobral to keep his name relevant after the loss to Lidell.

Lidell wins another decision fight and he's now entrenched as a top contender hunting the championship.

Rodriguez wins another fight to keep his rise going.

Bustamante dominated Menne to take the MW gold but this division is a bit lacking on depth right now so it will be interesting to see how it goes from here.

Pulver overcomes a poor start against BJ to retain his belt and stake his claim as one of the best men in MMA today.

 

UFC 36

Starts off with Mir getting his first meaningful victory over Pete Williams destroying him with a shoulder lock. The submission came from absolutely nowhere and I know I'm biased because I'm a BJJ guy but that was incredible.

Tanner has a very good victory over Elvis and puts his name towards the top of the MW/LHW division.

Lindland destroys Pat to stake his claim as one of the top MW fighters. In new divisions like this it's enough to break into the rankings for me.

Rizzo rebounds from title losses to beat Arlovski with his incredible striking ability.

Matt Hughes scores another ATG victory over Sakurai, a man i didn't know an awful lot about but after looking into him he was the real deal and the betting favourite for this fight.

Barnett overcomes Couture and ground and pounds his way to victory. Only the loss to Rizzo is a blemish on the record of Barnett, he shoots right to the top of the UFC with this victory.

Over in Pride Newton scores another great victory over Pele and I'd love a rematch between him and Hughes as these two are the top 2 WW men on the planet right now.

Herring scored an ATG victory over Igor and cements his place as the next best HW in Pride. I wouldn't put him above Couture or Barnett though but certainly above the likes of Rizzo and Rodriguez right now.

Frye wins a meaningless victory over Shamrock in a battle of two past it fighters. Meh.

Rodrigo scores another good victory over Enson Inoue and by now his guard is a thing to be feared. We haven't seen a true BJJ man in the top division since Gracie in early UFC days.

Silva underlines his ATG qualities with a big victory over Tamura.

The list is starting to shape up a bit now but it's still swamped with HW fighters, might be time to start trimming the fat a bit with these HW fighters, I'll keep them in for now though.

1 Wanderlei Silva
2 Kazushi Sakuraba
3 Royce Gacie
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Frank Shamrock
6 Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Mark Coleman
8 Josh Barnett
9 Randy Couture
10 Ken Shamrock
11 Jens Pulver
12 Matt Hughes
13 Dan Henderson
14 Carlos Newton
15 Chuck Lidell
16 Vitor Belfort
17 B.J. Penn
18 Heath Herring
19 Kevin Randlemann
20 Igor Vovanchyn
21 Bas Rutten
22 Mark Kerr
23 Dan Severn
24 Don Frye
25 Renato Sobral
26 Murilo Bustamante
27 Dave Menne
28 Pedro Rizzo
29 Ricco Rodriguez
30 Pat Miletich
31 Evan Tanner
32 Matt Lindland
33 Renzo Gracie
34 Hayato Sakurai
35 Caol Uno

 

UFC 37

Big win for Uno who keeps his name at the top end of the LW division. Dominant ground game today.

BJ Penn mows through another opponent chasing the rematch with Pulver. Looks absolutely world class right now.

Rodriguez with another big victory over TK and he's surely do a huge fight now against Barnett.

Bustamante secures his place as the best MW fighter, atleast in the UFC. Pride doesn't have a MW division yet but they do have Sakuraba who even faded would be a favourite here for me.

Over in Pride the only meaningful fight sees Arona out grapple Henderson. Not sure why it's only a split win as Arona looks well on control there for me.

1 Wanderlei Silva
2 Kazushi Sakuraba
3 Royce Gacie
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Frank Shamrock
6 Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Mark Coleman
8 Josh Barnett
9 Randy Couture
10 Ken Shamrock
11 Jens Pulver
12 Matt Hughes
13 Carlos Newton
14 Chuck Lidell
15 Vitor Belfort
16 B.J. Penn
17 Ricardo Arona
18 Dan Henderson
19 Heath Herring
20 Kevin Randlemann
21 Igor Vovanchyn
22 Bas Rutten
23 Mark Kerr
24 Dan Severn
25 Don Frye
26 Murilo Bustamante
27 Dave Menne
28 Ricco Rodriguez
29 Pedro Rizzo
30 Renato Sobral
31 Pat Miletich
32 Evan Tanner
33 Renzo Gracie
34 Hayato Sakurai
35 Caol Uno
36 Takanori Gomi
37 Matt Lindland

 

UFC 38

Freeman brings the Mir hype screeching to a halt as he pounds him into a defenceless state. Mir was working a knee bar but not protecting himself at all and just ate punch after punch. He has to defend himself better when going for a sub.

Hughes proves his victory over Newton wasn't a fluke. Hughes was the underdog again for this fight, Newton was seen as the best WW not named Sakuraba and the controversy picked up traction about Hughes being knocked out first. Great showing by Hughes who has really worked on submission defence.

Over in Pride a few fights occuring featuring future big hitters against none descript opponents. Rogerio chokes out his man in the first. Anderson Silva cuts his man to shreds in just over a minute. Overeem batters his man in just under a minute. Fedor grounds and pounds out a decision against Kickboxing legend Semmy Schilt. Neither have done enough to break into any rankings but worth keeping an eye one due to future relevance.

1 Wanderlei Silva
2 Kazushi Sakuraba
3 Royce Gacie
4 Tito Ortiz
5 Frank Shamrock
6 Rodrigo Nogueira
7 Mark Coleman
8 Josh Barnett
9 Randy Couture
10 Matt Hughes
11 Ken Shamrock
12 Jens Pulver
13 Carlos Newton
14 Chuck Lidell
15 Vitor Belfort
16 B.J. Penn
17 Ricardo Arona
18 Dan Henderson
19 Heath Herring
20 Kevin Randlemann
21 Igor Vovanchyn
22 Bas Rutten
23 Mark Kerr
24 Dan Severn
25 Don Frye
26 Murilo Bustamante
27 Dave Menne
28 Ricco Rodriguez
29 Pedro Rizzo
30 Renato Sobral
31 Pat Miletich
32 Evan Tanner
33 Renzo Gracie
34 Hayato Sakurai
35 Caol Uno
36 Takanori Gomi
37 Matt Lindland