Taking a page out of Leo Chiang’s book, I wanted to make a post regarding UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion, which aired last night on Spike channel for free; gotta love the free “pay-per-views”. The main event pitted Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, against PRIDE Middleweight and Welterweight Champion Dan Henderson. There were also a few other high profile fights, including Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping and Mirco Cro Cop vs. Cheick Kongo.
I didn’t get back from the football game until nearly 9 p.m. so I missed the majority of the undercard and only saw the final three fights. First up was Mirko Cro Cop vs. Cheick Kongo. Prior to his entrance in the UFC, Cro Cop was billed as one of the baddest guys on the planet. His debut UFC bout didn’t go quite as planned; he was knocked out cold by a single high kick to the head from Gabriel Gonzaga.
Cro Cop was hoping to revenge his defeat against Kongo, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Cro Cop didn’t look very impressive at all, and as a result, lost a unanimous decision. I personally don’t think Cro Cop will get many more chances in the UFC to showcase his skills. Talk about a huge letdown.
The next fight was Matt Hamill vs. Michael Bisping. Everyone expected Hamill to take the fight to the ground and dominate with his wrestling skills, but this was not the case. He stood up, toe to toe with Bisping and really held his own. Hamill clearly dominated the first round, with things evening out a bit more in the second, although I still gave the nod to Hamill. Bisping put on his best performance in the final round. In the end, Bisping pulled out the split decision in front of his home crowd. I totally disagree with this win and think Hamill should have been awarded the victory.
I had been looking forward to this main event for a while now. Rampage is by far my favorite UFC fighter and this was his first title defense since beating Chuck Liddell a few months ago. I was hoping for a quick knockout but it didn’t go that way. The first round went to Henderson, with Rampage coming back strong the rest of the fight. Rampage’s ground game was really good; better than most expected it to be. In the end, Rampage took the unanimous decision after five rounds.
Perhaps even better than the fight itself was his post fight interview with Joe Rogan. This guy is a total comedian! When Rogan asked about how he prepared for the fight, Rampage made a few comments about how he knew it would be a tough fight, and he trained hard, etc. then threw in a line like “I didn’t know he was going to make his head beat up my fists”. lol classic!
Overall, this was one of the better UFC fights IMO, even though I missed the majority of the bouts. Below is the total fight recap.
