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KELLER'S UFC PPV REPORT 10/20: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV event
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
Oct 21, 2007, 00:24
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UFC 77 PPV
OCTOBER 20, 2007
CINCINNATI, OHIO
-Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan introduced the show with hype immediately for the Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin main event. Fans are voting for Silva by a 53-47 margin in the UFC online poll. Goldberg said the Tim Silvia vs. Brandon Vera winner will put himself in position to get a Heavyweight Title shot, but no mention of Randy Couture vacating the title. They plugged Stephan Bonner's return, also.
1 -- KALIB STARNES (32, 6-3, 186, 10-2-1; Surrey, B.C.) vs. ALAN BELCHER (23, 6-2, 186 10-3; Biloxi, Mis.) - Middlweight Fight
PRE-FIGHT: Belcher said Starnes "kind of fights like a girl." Oh, he prefaced: "With all due respect..." so that makes it less insulting. Gotta love those uninhibited pre-fight soundbites... Belcher has a three inch reach advantage... Belcher was playing the role of the obnoxious heel during ring intros... They showed Nick Lachey at ringside, "Cincinnati-own." They booed him when he was shown on camera...
ROUND ONE: Starnes bled from above his left eye early while they were clinching in the opening minute-plus. Belcher came out of the clinch with a jump knee and an elbow, both of which landed. Starnes fired back with punches that landed. Belcher hit a roundhouse kick. Starnes teed off with several punches that landed. Good battle. Belcher took the punches and stayed aggressive himself. Belcher scored with two big knees three minutes in. Close round. Rogan said Belcher may have underestimated Starn's defense. A bloody Starnes went for a takedown, but Belcher kept to his feet and scored with more punches to the face and body, then more legkicks. Starns had a bloody face as he covered to block Belcher elbows. Belcher fired away with two more kicks as the rounded ended. Belcher held his arms in the air as if he just won three striaght rounds. He likes himself.
ROUND TWO: Before the round, Rogan and the crowd "ohhed" when the camera showed a close-up of a nasty, nasty wide gash more than an inch long over Starnes's left eye. Both came out aggressively with swings mid-ring. At 1:00 Starnes landed a series of punches. Belcher lowered his hands, smiled, and took them, as if to say his punches couldn't hurt him. Goldberg said, "There's a huge difference between confident and cocky, and sometimes cocky gets you knocked out." Starns is setting himself up as a great heel draw against Silva or Franklin. Fans may respect his fighting, but they'll want to see his ass get kicked, too. Starnes went for a takedown half-heartedly, but Belcher brushed it off and threw more punches methodically. Starnes stood in there with him. At 1:30 the ref stepped in to have the cut checked. When asked, he said blood was getting in his eye. The doc shook his head with concern, then called off the fight. Starnes blew his top and yelled at his own corner, "Why did you f---in' do that to me? I told him I wanted to fight. He told me he could see my skull. F--- you! Don't do that to me!" Goldberg said his corner was upset at the stoppage because someone in his corner thought he gave up. Rogan said Belcher looked very good, but he sounded like he didn't enjoy saying it.
DECISION: Belcher via TKO at 1:39 of second round.
STAR RATING (**+): Really good battle for a round plus.
POST-FIGHT: Belcher said he'd prefer to win by knockout or submission. The crowd booed him. He said he loves Cincinnati and is having a great time. A few suckers cheered him, but most still booed. He gave a cocky, obnoxious play-by-play of fight highlights. Then he thanked his sponsors and his fiance. Someone agreed to marry him?
-They showed Matt Hughes sitting at ringside.
-The text voting had Franklin the pick over Silva bya 54-46 margin. Who are these people picking Franklin?
-They hyped the UFC 78 line-up for Nov. 17.
2 -- STEPHAN BONNAR (30, 6-4, 204; 13-4; Las Vegas, Nev.) vs. ERIC SCHAFER (30, 6-3, 203.5, 9-2-2; Fond Du Lac, Wisc.)
PRE-FIGHT: They played up that both are friends, but they must set that aside for this fight. Schafer said once the cage door closes, who cares about friendships? Bonnar said they're locked in a case, so they have to try to tear each other apart. The story told on Schafer was he is back from being slowed by injuries and ready to put together a complete fight after showing glimpses of his talen in the past. They played up Bonnar training with Forrest Griffin in Las Vegas lately.
ROUND ONE: Not much in the early minutes. Goldberg said Bonner told him he used to own Schafer in the gym in stand-up. The locked up and just shoved each other to the fence and then to the ground. Bonnar was on top first, but had no openings. Schafer shifted to Bonner's back and went for a rear naked choke. Boonar looked to be in slight trouble, but Bonnar turned sideways and slipped out, ending up with a bearhug of sorts on the mat as the round ended. Really flat round other than slight drama with Bonnar looking at risk for a rear choke.
ROUND TWO: Schafer pulled guard right away. Bonnar scored some points with some punches. At first, they didn't land, but eventually he landed a few, but nothing knock out worthy. Once on the ground, Bonnar drove his elbow into Schafer's neck and then threw some punches. At 2:20 Schafer just covered up as Bonnar punched away until the ref stopped the fight.
DECISION: Bonnar via TKO.
STAR RATING (*): Blah fight. Not bad enough to get a negative grade, but nothing much to it. The crowd was just silent afterward.
INTERVIEW: Bonnar said he liked the way he finished the fight. He said he wanted it to be a good stoppage, because he hates bad stoppages. He thanked Extreme Couture. Then he plugged his party, but forgot the club for a few seconds, then remembered it was at Head First.
-They showed Wanderlei Silva was shown sitting in the front row.
3 -- JORGE GURGEL (30, 5-9, 155, 14-2, Cincinnati, Ohio) vs. ALVIN ROBINSON (25, 5-8, 155.5, 9-2, Denver, Col.) - Lightweight Division
PRE-FIGHT: Good facts on Robinson - 11 fights, 9 wins, all by subsmission, not one of the 11 went to the judges... Gurgel, meanwhile, stands and trades punches with anyone. Gurgel said he plans to pressure Robinson from the start and not let up... UFC does such a nice job setting up "style points" and "things to look for" that orient viewers quickly and get them invested in the fight even if they don't know or remember much about the fighters going into the PPV. It's so simple, but so effective (and it's amazing after 12 years pro wrestling promoters haven't figured out how to translate it to mid-card and undercard match hype)... Rogan said Gurgel wants to not just win, but please the crowd, and that can get him in trouble... They shwoed Minotauro Nogueira right before the fight began. Goldberg said he'd be watching the heavyweight fight closely later....
ROUND ONE: More action in the opening three seconds of this fight than the first three minutes of Bonnarr vs. Schafer. Gurgel ended up on top 15 seconds into the fight in full guard. He wasn't getting much past Robinson's guard. Gurgel passed his guard at 1:30. Lots of scrambling, but not much happening. The crowd got restless at 3:45, as did the ref. Robinson couldn't get out from underneath Gurgel. Eventually Guurgel got a full mount, but the horn sounded to end the round two seconds later. Gurgel dominated the round without actually punishing Robinson, other than may winding him. His corner said, "You've tired him out, now you've got to finish him."
ROUND TWO: Robinson looked very fresh at the start of the second round, though. Robinson ended up on top at 0:30, but Gurgel scrambled like mad to escape. Robinson ended up getting his back. He went for a kimura. Rogan said Gurgel might suffer a broken arm before he'd tap. Gurgel maneuvered back on top at 1:30. But soon Robinson ended up on top and he scored a lot more with punches and elbows, bloodying Gurgel's face. Gurgel tried to slip into a submission, but didn't get close as Robinson just kept pounding on him. Robinson passed guard and got a full mount and Gurgel may have been saved by the bell. It was a role-reversal from the finish of round one.
ROUND THREE: Robinson ended up on top of Gurgel within 10 seconds and it was right back to where they were the final two minutes of the previous round. Robinson was relentless with a steady stream of punches and elbows. Gurgel turned his back at 4:00 just to change things, but it was more of the same and that's how it ended.
DECISION: Robinson (unanimous: 29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
STAR RATING (*+): Not bad, but very one dimensional and void of much drama since neither fighter ever seemed on the verge of a KO or submission despite dominating the round. It's tough to argue with the 10-8 round the judges gave to either round two or three.
-They showed Houston Alexander at ringside.
-Rogan interviewed Brock Lesnar at ringside, whom he called "one of the most exciting acquisitions for UFC." He mispronounced his name at first, confused with Brock Larson, another MMA fighter. Lesnar said, "I finally made the big-time, baby." Lesnar said with his amateur roots, he always loved this sport and he's so excited. He said he's on the big battleship, USS UFC and he's ready for a fight. He said after 18 years as an amateur wrestler, he's trained two years in MMA exclusively. A pretty uninformative interview. Just very basic stuff.
4 -- TIM "THE MANIAC" SYLVIA (31, 6-8, 260.5, 25-3, Davenport, Iowa) vs. BRANDON VERA (30, 6-3, 225.5, 8-0; San Diego, Calif.)
PRE-FIGHT: Rogan said Sylvia knows he's had boring fights that have hurt his marketability and popularity. He noted he got booed at weigh-ins. Rogan said Sylvia had back surgery and is better now and is blaming his boring fights on being tentative due to his back. Rogan called Vera a big threat in the heavyweight division. Vera, in pre-fight interviews, said he's not underestimating Sylvia because he's mad over losing his title, but then he said "those twigs you call legs." Sylvia said you need to accomplish more before you talk like that. He said he wants to win in spectacular fashion. Rogan said Vera could easily cut to 205 and he's a small heavyweight against a gigantic heavyweight. He said he eats what he wants and plans to be casual about training until someone beats his ass. Sylvia again didn't get much of any crowd reaction. Rogan said Sylvia swears the back surgery will change the way he fights.
ROUND ONE: They locked up mid-ring at the start with a clinch. Sylvia controlled him against the fence. The crowd booed a minute in, having zero tolerance for anything boring with Sylvia. When they separated at 2:00 Vera went for a quick punch and just missed, then they clinched again against the fence. Rogan said, "This is the night of the clinch against the cage, it seems." In other words, not a classic event. The boos got louder by 3:00. Vera landed a few lefts over the course of 15 seconds, but Sylvia didn't seem scared afterward at all. With 30 seconds left thhey had a brief flurry of exchanges that qualified as exciting based on the standards of this round. Lots of boos as the round ended.
ROUND TWO: More of the same until Vera swept Sylvia to the ground. He got in a few elbows, but not much for a couple minutes. As Sylvia scrambled to his feet, Vera kneed him, but Sylvia was still on one knee, making it an illegal blow. The ref issued him a warning. Sylvia took nearly a minute to rest and recover. With just second left in the round, Vera went on the attack with roundhouse kicks to the ribs and punches to try to get a win on points in that round. The crowd popped.
ROUND THREE: More of the same for two minutes with a nothing-happening clinch. Then Sylvia got some distance and used his reach advantage to land a lot of blows. With 9 seconds left, the ref paused because Vera had loose tape. Sylvia opened up Vera's forehead shortly thereafter. Rogan said if Vera was waiting for someone bigger than him to kick his ass before he moves to the 205 division, he might have had that ass kicking tonight. Sylvia finished the fight with a barrage of blows. Vera threw an elbow, but that was about it. Sylvia felt good afterward because he knee he likely won, but also showed frustration that he didn't get a knockout. Another minute and he might have. It ended in exciting fashion, but that first round was bland.
POST-FIGHT: Vera said he broke his hand in the right and was in agony afterward as they were cutting his tape.
DECISION: Sylvia via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, and 29-28)
STAR RATING (**): It improved half way into the second round, but not a must-see fight by any means.
INTERVIEW: Rogan asked Silvia about his back problems. The crowd was booing him. He thanked God and the troops fighting in Saudi Arabia and Iraq (I assume he meant Afghanistan, not Saudi Arabia). He said he wants to fight Chech Congo. He said they don't know what's going on with Randy Couture right now. He said he's in limbo right now. That's the first reference I've heard to the Couture issue on this PPV. Vera said he broke his left hand in the first round. He apologized to his coach for not implementing the gameplan. He said Sylvia is a good guy if you get to know him, trying to get the fans to not boo him. Rogan asked if he's considering moving down to 205. Vera asked the crowd if Sylvia kicked his ass. When they didn't say yes, he said he's still a heavyweight.
5 -- ANDERSON SILVA (32, 6-2, 184.5, 19-4, Curitiba, Brazil) vs. RICH FRANKLIN (33, 6-1, 184, 24-2, Cincinnati, Ohio) -- Middleweight Title Fight
PRE-FIGHT: In voting, UFC.com voters picked Franklin 53-47. For his ring intro, Franklin did not look like he had been told by the mob to take a fall or his entire family would be killed like he did last time. He got a huge pop from the hometown crowd as he came out to "Welcome to the Jungle." Rogan acknowledged that the look in Franklin's eyes was more clear, calm, and focused. I'd say more confident and less defeated before the fight. The look on his face before his first fight against Silva remains one of the stranger things I've seen in sports this year. I'd compare his look last time to Saddam Hussein before he was hanged. Silva came out and as usual looked supremely confident, dancing to the ring and slapping hands. Rogan said Silva's timing is exquisite, and most people don't realize how intelligent and creative he is as a striker.
FIRST ROUND: Great first round. Pretty even, almost all stand-up. Franklin clearly had prepared to prevent Silva from clasping his hands behind his neck. He succeeded at it and even took Silva to the mat at 1:45, which popped the crowd. Franklin had to avoid up-kicks and tried to move in, but Silva got to his feet. Franklin held onto Silva's left leg, but Silva had great balance and managed to get back to his feet. The crowd loudly chanted, "Let's go Franklin." Franklin took a knee, then a spinning sidekick to his gut. Franlin landed some punches, but Silva seemed unphased. Silva surgically moved in and landed several punches and knees. Franklin began looking up at the clock at 3:30. The clinched against the fence briefly. Silva went for a sweep. Franklin avoided it, but Silva kneed him, then backed off. Silva avoided Franklin's kicks. Silva literally began dancing, Matrix style, as he avoided a flurry of Franklin kicks and punches. It was amazing. Then he slightly landed a spinning backfirst. Franklin took a right to the cheek with three seconds left in the round. Franklin dropped and was absolutely saved by the horn. Franklin needed help to get to his corner. In his corner, Franklin didn't seem to be absorbing any advice his trainer was giving him.
SECOND ROUND: Franklin stood on his own to start the second round, but Silva looked supremely confident and exccited to start the round. Goldberg said it might just feel like a matter of time at this point for Silva to finish Franklin. Franklin had life and took some big swings, but Silva was able to avoid then and then take Franklin down to his knees at 1:00. He battered Franklin against the fence: right, right, knee, right, right to body, low left kick, right to face, right to face, left knee to face, right knee to face, and Franklin fell into a heap and the ref stepped in. Rogan said Silva is such a sniper. That he is. Goldberg said he dominated Franklin again.
OUTCOME: Silva in round two via TKO.
STAR RATING (***+): Very good fight. Because Silva was never in trouble, I didn't go to ****-, but it was a performance for the ages by Silva against a very ready Franklin. Franklin sought out a hug from Silva and sincerely congratulated him afterward. Where does Franklin go from here? It's not as if Silva is going to age out before him. They're contemporaries, but he's met someone who is a full notch better than him, and Franklin is as good as anyone in his division other than Silva.
INTERVIEW: Franklin was interviewed after Silva. He said it was just 30 seconds ago he realized he was in Cincinnati. He said he handled him tonight and asked the crowd not to boo him. "He's a great guy," he said, then added, "I don't even remember what happened; I'm going to have to go back and look at tape." Rogan asked him what's next. Franklin said his head is still a little scrambled and he needs to go back to confer with his team. He thanked God for keeping him safe. He apologized to the crowd for not putting on a better show for them. Very classy post-fight interview. The way Franklin and Silva embraced several times after the fight did, as Goldberg said, epitomized what the sport is about.
A -- RYAN JENSEN (30, 6-1, 185.5, 11-2; Omaha, Neb.) vs. DEMIAN MAIA (29, 6-0, 185; 6-0; Sao Paulo, Brazil) - Middleweight Division
PRE-FIGHT: Maia was touted for his high-level black belt Brazilian Jiu Jitsu...
FIRST ROUND: Jensen applied a choke early, but Maia relaxed and was probably never in jeopardy. Instead, he maneuvered into side control and shortly thereafter finished Jensen with a rear naked choke.
DECISION: Maia at 2:40 via tapout.
STAR RATING (*+): A plus for the technique Maia used to get that early tapout.
INTERVIEW: Maia was very respectful and spoke English well. He said it's his dream to be in UFC after watching it way back at the first one with Royce Gracie and Big John McCarthy as referee. He said it was emotional for him.
-Goldberg and Rogan wrapped up the event as footage aired of Silvia winding down backstage and Silva and Franklin talking to reporters.
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