UFC 81 Breaking Point review

Introduction

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This here is a review of the UFC event UFC 81 Breaking Point, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

The night is set to feature an Interim Heavyweight Championship bout between two top contenders, former two time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia and Antonio Nogueira. Randy "The Natural" Couture still owns the division's belt, which he claimed by outplaying Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia in every aspect back in UFC 68 Uprising, and he even rendered a successful title defense against Gabriel Gonzaga in UFC 74 Respect. All this prior of him deciding to leave the UFC AND his belt, too.

Couture has probably zero intention to retire (again) though, as he has already retired before, just to come back and dominate Tim Sylvia for five rounds of combat, so, as The Natural puts it when asked about his future plans, not many would likely believe him anymore about his withdrawal from pro level mma competition, so he is open to negotiations with a key agenda in his vision that we shall account on later.

Randy's reasons to leave the UFC organization seemed to be mixed, and modestly - sanely elaborated on by Sergeant Couture in his interviews and press briefings. The focal facts are though these: there is a Heavyweight Warrior ranked Top 1 of the world by the name Fedor Emelianenko with 27 wins and but 1 loss to establish a record of stunning success. As of today, some claim Fedor to be extremely protected and not keenly put to a fight by his organization, so he could remain untouchable, making his record a serious drive factor to negotiate about his future contracts.

According to UFC President Dana White, the UFC offered a contract of improbable figures for Emelianenko, but they turned it down. Radical speculations arose too, some even claiming Fedor not to be that great anymore, yet in his latest fight against Hong Man Choi Emelianenko showed a top notch skill set and composure, quickly submitting the Korean Giant by an armbar, though Fedor looked smaller than even the very arms of this humongous opponent.

Randy Couture seemed disappointed of the UFC's inability to pull a fight between Fedor and him off, and he states that the current key priority of his career is to battle against Emelianenko, no matter where and when. This determination to compete and establish himself as an even more recognized fighter than he already is probably was a massive driving force to leave his UFC belt vacant, and seek out means to battle the Russian Colossus.

A side note here: I am aware that many fans hold an extremely high dislike factor towards UFC President Dana White, though I think it has more to do with the improbable policies the organization sometimes exhibits than with Dana as a human. What? You say the two things are virtually identical? Well, I can speak just for myself, of course. What struck me as utter nonsense was how the UFC handled Couture after particular peek fights, like the one against Tim Sylvia or Gonzaga. After such a successful showcase, fighters get a nice envelope with extra thanks in them - Randy, though being the Victor on both occasions, did NOT get such an envelope. This is clearly ridiculous and unacceptable, well, what can WE do. Couture can walk away though, and that, he did. Of course I am not aware if the UFC had sane (?) reasons to commit this act of unspoken humiliation against Randy, I doubt they could or can come up with any though. Treating a very great human being and also a Warrior Legend like Couture this way doesn't make but the tyniest of sense, and the organization suffer considerably as the entertainment factor it can deliver with Randy Couture absent.

Now, back to the Interim Heavyweight Championship match between Tim and Minotauro. They will battle for the right to compete against a belt which possession is in doubt, though the UFC still registers Randy as the organization's Heavyweight Champion. It will be interesting to see how things will turn out in terms whom the winner of this match will do battle with.

Tim Sylvia is a subject to an almost consensual dislike exhibited towards him by the fans, criticizing The Maine-iac's goofy physical build, his seeming intention to play a game of relative safety, and this, and that and these and those, too. Most fans seem to hate him considerably, never missing the chance to deliver intense BOO-ing to the former two times Heavyweight Champion, and Sylvia handles this with mature octagon presence when interviewed, but one can clearly see that this uncalled stance towards him saddens him, and saddens him understandibly.

As for me, I am absolutely OK with Tim, my impression of this fighter is of a peaceful, calm, younger little kid who happened to grow 2 meters tall and later found himself enjoying the fact that he could take tiny bits of moments away from people's life whom think they are prepared to put up a fight against him. He wished to battle against Nogueira quite some time for now, this dream-match between the two was the hottest thing one could conceive when Sylvia reigned as UFC Heavyweight Champion and Minotauro held the Pride Heavyweight Champion belt.

Nogueira is not just an excellent stand up battler but one of the most dangerous submission specialists of the world, also he is a tremendous comebacker who was never been knocked out before. Tim Sylvia delivers the quite correct notion in the pre-fight interview of how Nogueira's ass is usually kicked around in his matches, then he comes back and grinds the opposition down with his versatility and the extreme punishment resistance he possesses. His UFC debut against Heath Herring in UFC 73 Stacked was a perfect reflection of this: he got offered a seat in the octagon by the Texan's leg, but managed to win a decision after three rounds of stand up driven fight. Both Sylvia and Nogueira arrive with special aspirations, as Tim could be a fighter to hold the belt on three different occasions via this win, and Minotauro could walk away as a title unificator, with a history of belts held both for the Pride organization and the UFC.

The co-main event of the evening features former Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir to do battle against former WWE Superstar, Brock Lesnar. Wow! And then again: wow! If you ever thought that The Incredible Hulk is a fictional character, you should reconsider: Hulk is among us, with the secret identity not of Bruce Banner but of Brock Lesnar, a National Wrestling Champion who ended up on the extreme side of entertainment business for a while, only to realize - as he puts it - that everything he was doing was fake, even the money he made with it seemed to be fake. He is looking for top level, real deal competition now and seems quite ready to fulfill his expressed agenda of climbing the UFC's Heavyweight ladder and become Champion.

Frank Mir is a recognized and quite significant veteran of the sport, unusually quick and fluent for a heavyweight, with top notch ground skills featuring unorthodox elements that are quite hard to deal with. Mir suffered a near lethal motorbike accident a while back that almost put an end to his career, since then he came back, had a brief though intense period of ups and downs, now looking for establish himself as evident factor by taking out a man of such improbably muscular, comic book physical proportions as the Brock Beast. Both fighters are looking good and composed, a co-main event to pose as interesting and significant questions as the Main Event, the most essential one though, is being asked by the Beast himself:

Can Brock Lesnar FIGHT at all?

We shall see this, and we shall see this very soon.

Gleison Tibau vs Tyson Griffin

Tyson Griffin is a fighter of widening versatility, prefers to come forward relentlessly and usually dictates a furious pace that grinds the opposition down by it's sheer intensity. With notable matches against such significant factors as Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida behind his back, Griffin is ready to account on his current approach to competitive punishment.

Gleison Tibau is a relatively fresh addition to the UFC who is yet to measured for the top dogs of the fray. Griffin is an ideal candidate to find out if Tibau is a warrior who is ready to move forward. The answer quickly boils down to a no with emphasis on it, though. No, as of today, Tibau is not yet the fighter who is ready to move forward, not with Tyson standing in his way. Though Griffin throws considerate punches on Gleison, the relative newcomer's punishment resistance proves to be quite respectable, waging a war in position of assaulted for pretty much all the duration of the bout. A decision goes to Tyson Griffin for a fight of relatively slow pace and but tints of semi-impressive moments. Griffin seems unsatisfied by his performance, stating he planned on coming away with a knock out. Next time, Griffin - next time. A match with somewhat awkward, cautious appeals and leaky, inconsistent action to start off UFC 81 Breaking Point.

Rob Yundt vs Ricardo Almeida

The night featured maybe three, but at least two substitute fighters to do battle because of individual injuries of the original lineuppers. Rob Yundt is one of these substitutes, taking the fight on short notice against a warrior whom we had chance to see first perform back in 2001, later deciding to withdraw from top level competition around 2003, having a win in the previous year. All in all, Ricardo Almeida is a comebacker who steps on the proving ground after being absent of it for more than 5 years. Though Rob Yundt seems to be very confident he could pull this off and jump into the mix, Almeida drives him into a guillotine choke prior to the first minute of the bout could pass by. Though Yundt attempts to release himself via a quite impressive slam, Almeida soaks the arm in deep enough to force his opponent to tap. A brief, impressive submission.

Jeremy Horn vs Nate Marquardt

Not many have an mma record of 88 professional level fights fought by the age of 32, in fact, not many have this much fights during an entire career. Jeremy Horn is in the possession of such a rich, quire rare mma history. Despite his youngness it is safe to regard him as an ancient face of the UFC as well, having battles fought against Frank Shamrock or Chuck Liddell even back in the late '90s. The last appearance of Nate Marquardt was a controversial situation concerning his championship bout against reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva, where Marquardt failed to fulfill the weight requirements to make it a title defense - therefore a confrontation without the belt's sake in question it ended up as, Silva pounding out a victory over The Great. Let us remember though that there was a moment where Silva seemed to be caught, eating in massive bombs on his back, though he survived and emerged triumphant shortly after. Anyway, it was the first time I have seen Silva in a dangerous situation, so Marquardt is a definite factor to count with.

Especially after his match against Horn: they put up a rather technical ground fight after The Great lands an elbow on Jeremy, then the veteran almost succeeds in executing a funky, unorthodox submission on Marquardt. The second round puts an end to the contest when Nate soaks in a nasty, standing guillotine at the fence, forcing Horn to tap out of the bout. The Great looked quite appropriately great in this fight, same we could tell of Jeremy, the question emerges whom Marquardt should and will face against to move even further up on the rankings. Anderson Silva's next title defense is scheduled for UFC 82 against former Pride Champion Dan "Hollywood" Henderson, therefore everyone coming their way should deliver lineups of massive anticipation.

Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar

Mark Goldberg quite appropriately asks at the very first moment of the bout that how long will it take for Brock Lesnar to take Frank Mir down. By finishing this very question, the former WWE Superstar has taken Mir down already, releasing bombs of megatons on Frank, who is though extremely well prepared to wage wars on his back. The referee steps in because Brock was hitting the back of the head, and punishes The Beast by taking away a point from him, then resets the fight to standing position. Some hazy, swift exchange occurs, and it is hard to tell whether from a slip or from the soft punch - by Brock's therms - that Lesnar delivers, but Mir goes down again.

The Beast immediately looks for means to punish the former Champion, but those legs and arms are very dangerous and cunning, they quickly find a way to force Lesnar into an ankle lock, and demand a tapout off the humongous debutee by 1:30 of the first round. I guess we should regard this match as a showcase of experience and top notch ground skills vs raw, though probably: well cared for strength and skills that did not have a chance to reveal themselves this night.

Lesnar was looking very good throwing those vicious bombs on the opposition, and while one might argue that this act demands no skills but a physical buildup similar to Brock's, I tend to regard this as an effective tool in his possession, and thus the question emerges: why not use a tool if and when you can? And most importantly: a tool that you have. All respect for Frank Mir for facing and defeating a man of this improbable composure, and I remain most inpatient to see Lesnar getting a second chance to prove himself in the UFC, as what he have shown here: has definite potential. Potential both to destruct and to improve.

Chris Lytle vs Kyle Bradley

Though Chris "Lights Out" Lytle, father and fireman only recently had the chance to devote as much time to training as the highest levels of the sport demand, usually performed quite good in the octagon while had an unfortunate tendency to end up on the sourer side of the business, as if having some bad luck to battle with as well. He is a very talented fighter who did not yet manage
to win key victories via events of extreme importance.

He was a lineupper in The Ultimate Fighter Season 4, and even made it to the finals to battle against the currently reigning UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra. Personally I am a fan of Matt Serra, I really like the dude, but I think his victory against Lytle was not decisive. I had the impression that both fighters performed very well, rendering an even match with repetitive periods of backs and forths.

Nothing against Serra here, I emphasize I find him one of the most charismatic and entertaining personalities in the UFC, yet I tend to reckon Serra's victory in The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale as the result of the phenomenas we just accounted on. Yes, Serra being at least the equivalent to Lytle as a fighter, but he is a much more effective marketing factor for the UFC with his authentic, honest MOB personality. Lytle simply is a calm, friendly dude who is not too keen to exhibit funny personality extremities that Serra is natural and masterful at. So the UFC preferred Serra in my opinion, except of course if Lytle could deliver power to destroy The Terror. That though never happened, yet I mind you: Serra did not deliver a convincing victory over Lytle, either. This I tend to regard as more factual than fluent matter, everyone who have seen that match would probably agree.

Of what a great and talented fighter Lytle is, his match against Kyle Bradley thoroughly tells us: not much to describe here except for the quick, complete, factual destruction of the opponent. Chris softens Bradley up with a series of punches to contact nice and firmly, then assaults his adversary whom can't help but going down via the softening process. The result is more of a beatdown than a competition, Lytle outclassing a fresh UFC addition, making clear he is after the top of the division, and has no intention whatsoever to solidify himself as Gatekeeper of the organization. Impressive showcase, let us hope to see Lytle again soon.

Tim Sylvia vs Antonio Nogueira

The Main Event of the evening quickly arrives to territories to solidify Nogueira's character as a brilliant comebacker, eating in two brutal punches in a rapid fashion that prove to be enough for him to take a temporal nap in the octagon. One won't likely want to soak into calm ponderings when Tim Sylvia is standing next to one, seeking means to shatter his grounded opponent. After a brief period of relative desperation, Antonio regains his composure and seems as ready to go on as he was when he stepped on the proving ground. A relatively uneventful, evenly paced second round follows up with cautious awareness on Minotauro's part towards the significant reach advantage Tim possesses, thus an attack similar to the first round combo that sent Nogueira to sitting position is nowhere to be found.

These warriors have a great deal of respect toward each other, so they can't help but render a cautious, strategic kick boxing battle in the second round, a period which develops in a constant, slow, sane fashion. Once someone gets an upper hand via sheer skills and/or exposition of holes in the opponent's gameplay, then these matches have a tendency to be quite memorable ones - though if neither one manages to overcome the other in a convincing fashion, then matches of this character usually deliver but a slight excitement factor, at best. Prior to this could have happened though, Nogueira executes a funky takedown on Tim in the third round, and showcases high end Jiu-Jitsu skills to drive Sylvia into a guillotine choke the Maine-iac is forced to tap out of. Impressive concluding moments by Minotauro, who now holds the Interim UFC Heavyweight title, a historic addition to the Pride belt he already have held.

David Heath vs Tim Boetsch

Heath is a fervent individual both as a fighter and an entertainer, he likes to put up a show, making funny faces or gestures, and also he is a fighter of promising qualities, having lost just to top level opposition like Lyoto Machida or Renato Sobral.

Tim Boetsch is the second substitute for the night, taking the fight on extremely short notice, still claiming though that there are no possible ways Heath could win over him. Now, is there? Amazingly: there isn't, indeed. In one of the most memorable fights of this night, Boetsch does "nothing" but simply convince the audience and Heath that he happens to be here to rip someone in two.

Heath looks somewhat cocky, slappy in the fight, but by the time he would realize that Boetsch came here to play a completely different game, those cunning front kicks and nasty punches The Barbarian delivered are asking for their ransom, and they ask for it eagerly. Boetsch then grabs a hold of David Heath and throws him to the base of the fence like a ragdoll, - a quite correct notion of John Rogan - finishing the fight up with consecutive bombs to shatter Heath's remaining resistance. Well. Looks like we have a brand new force in the UFC, as one couldn't possibly ask for more impressive of a UFC debut than Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch have delivered this night. A warrior to throw against considerate competition, no doubt.

A night of rather brief, though memorable peek moments with a Main Event to deliver an average excitement factor, save Antonio Nogueira's very impressive submission over Tim Sylvia. Frank Mir did what he had to do and did it masterfully, boy, I still can't help but wish they would had roll way longer than that. This is certainly not against the will of Frank Mir once Brock Lesnar is prepared to go longer, if and when they meet again.

Of the remaining two bouts I had not bear much interest, therefore I wrap this up, having the definite focal points of the night accounted on. Hope you had a fine evening and found the review useful - thank you for reading it, and see you next time.

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