UFC 82 Pride of a Champion 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 82 Pride of a Champion, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

The main event of the evening features a middleweight championship collision between defendant Anderson "The Spider" Silva and the only man to hold two different belts for the Pride! organization, Dan "Hendo" Henderson. Now Pride! is a part of the UFC, thus yet another title unification bout is about to be held, as Henderson could not claim the heavyweight belt in UFC 75, though he certainly delivered an impressive debut to go for the distance against reigning heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Henderson fought a long series of top level mma fighters in the Pride! days, and emerged victorious versus such illustrious representatives of the sport as Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva, Vitor Belfort or Renato Sobral, just to name a few.

Now he transitions down to compete in the middleweight rankings, main reason being that Anderson Silva smashed the warrior palette in question already, thus finding an opponent for him is a massive concern for the UFC. Or for Planet Earth, as of the day this event takes place by. Dan Henderson is a massively technical grinder and a survivor, who has never been knocked out before. He has a background of Greco-Roman Wrestling - been there at the Olympics both in '92 and in '96 - thus possesses very stable ground skills, and he fears not to bang it out in the standup, either. Stylewise, UFC commentator Joe Rogan claims, Dan Henderson is the warrior a computer would come up with if to type in the focal traits of Anderson Silva and asked for the most unpleasant opponent against the reigning champion.

The Brazilian sensation Silva came into the UFC as a hurricane rampant, and pretty much maintained the extraordinary fluidness, precision, versatility and stopping power which earned him a successful title claim against Rich "Ace" Franklin back in UFC 64 Unstoppable. As it turned out quite hastily, the name of the night was most appropriate. A very good fighter The Spider have smashed in a very brief though rather intense method, demonstrating a supertight Muay Thai clinch Franklin ended up being helpless against. Following two successful title defenses, the new champion gave a vengeance opportunity for the Ace, yet that particular bout to take place in UFC 77 Hostile Territory could not reach the third round, either - Silva emerged victorious once more, and, by the time Pride of a Champion is about to take place, one can say safely that Anderson does indeed operate by a different kind of vibration that is yet to be approached by the division. Since he is in the UFC The Spider never entered into a third round, stopped all opposition prior to reaching that point instead.

Henderson considers Silva a very good fighter, yet also states that he finds Anderson's list of defeated opponents to be excellent, somewhat comfy match-ups for The Spider - he informs us via quite an impressive conviction that he is ready and about to kick Anderson's ass. A match to pose the two legit questions that can be asked by the day, namely: is there a middleweight on the Planet's surface now to stop Anderson Silva, and, could that be the extremely tenacious Hendo who never been knocked out or easily disposed of before? These questions are rather interesting, let us hope that the night will deliver similarly fruity answers for them.

The co-main event of the evening offers you a heavyweight face-off between Cheick Kongo and Heath Herring. This colossal possessor of a comic book superhero-anatomy Kongo exhibited evident weaknesses in the ground area during his debut days, yet made a tremendous statement in UFC 75 Champion vs Champion, the day he delivered a convincing victory over mma legend CroCop by. Unfortunately, CroCop seems to have blew his chance in the UFC for the time being, let us hope though that we will see him again soon either elsewhere or in the cage.

Despite his young age, Heath Herring is a hardened veteran of the sport, also an illustrious face from the Pride! days. He defeated such great warriors as Mark Kerr or Igor Vovchanchyn, while at the latest occasion we seen him perform in UFC 73 Stacked he was absolutely superclose to defeat Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira - though the Texan made a mistake he now admits of not unleashing ruthless aggression on a caught opponent, giving the rival time and chance instead to recover. A battle of titans we anticipate, and a battle of quite determined titans is arranged, indeed.

Chris Wilson vs Jon Fitch

A highly successful climber of the UFC welterweight rankings, Fitch hopes to offered by the chance to compete against the Elite of the division, mind you, a rather top notch level Elite that is, as, naturally, all line-up composed of Elite warriors should be. George ST. Peierre, reigining UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra, UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes, just to name a few of the top dogs. Fitch therefore is yet to prove himself prior to confront these individuals by facing Chris "The Professor" Wilson, a debutant intent to smash Fitch's aspirations.

Unfortunately, not too much to say here expect for the highly even match they do deliver, characterized by a relative scarceness of peek moments and a rather keen willingness to molest each other on the ground via but mild efficiency. Definitely not your most memorable piece of mma entertainment due to the great similarity of styles and punishment approaches, with a deservedly though not quite memorably won decision going for Jon Fitch. He is a highly talented fighter nevertheless, yet question remains if he is ready to face top dog competition - a nice way to offer an answer would be to put him against tremendous opposition in the near future, as he claims he is most ready and eager to face such a challenge.

Dustin Hazelett vs Josh Koscheck

A very nice match, this one is. Hazelett is one of the youngest competitors in the UFC these days, a fighter of quite promising qualities trained and forged by such significant forces as Rich Franklin. Koscheck is a face from the The Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show, solidifying himself though as a better and better warrior each time he steps on the proving ground. His rivalry and victory with and over David "The Nightmare" Sanchez is of note where he emerged triumphant via a rigorous, smart gameplay, smashing The Nightmare's conviction of a flawless record composed of nothing but wins he will leave the sport behind with one day.

Hazelett and Koscheck are not afraid to bang it out massively: intense, swift exchanges with mutual connections do occur to establish the mood and appeal you probably came to see. Hazelett manages to catch Josh in the early portion of the first round, yet Koscheck regains his composure quickly and thoroughly enough to pose even more danger when countering back to deliver an answer. A first period of fluent, clever, brave aggressivity it is, an evident appeal being shown and maintained for to greet and entertain you in the consecutive round, as well.

Koscheck here throws a maaassive head kick from out of nowhere, Hazelett goes down and finds himself immensely overwhelmed by Josh prior he could come back from the kick's aftereffect. A rather nice, eventful game between two warriors whom both prefer ruthless aggression over a safety game, and, frankly, warriors with these kind of octagon approach are the primal fuelers and appeals of the sport. A nice performance from both warriors, we must even account on Koscheck's increasing precision and versatility.

Yushin Okami vs Evan Tanner

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Evan Tanner is coming off of a rather lengthy period he spent journeying the country, and hopes to start a new, fresh chapter in his mma career. Yushin Okami is a rather well rounded fighter with a tendency to impose his will on the opposition on the ground, the place he feels most comfortable at to this day. Okami claims it's a rather big mistake to remain absent from the octagon for more than a year just to come back to it abruptly, and intends to make it evident for Evan Tanner.

They deliver a stable starting period with Yushin placing a massive left hand on the former champion, Tanner though is able to recover and escape from a ground and pound attempt swiftly executed by the Japanese. A brief, relatively eventless fencegrinding follows, prior to wrapping the round up via a cautious standup period. This willingness to decide the outcome on feet remains intact in the second round, once again they end up at the fence where Okami delivers a knee blatant enough to send Tanner to a temporal deep sleep. Both fighters looked good, the former champion certainly should get another chance, while Yushin seems most ready to get thrown against top dog competition.

Cheick Kongo vs Heath Herring

This is as good as you hoped for, though, interestingly enough, Kongo clearly prefers to wage this war on the ground. This is not too surprising, as The Texas Crazy Horse exhibits top level aggression when on their feet, with a keen willingness to unleash furious standup attacks on the French native. Kongo is an immensely strong individual though, and demonstrates both a highly developed ground skill set and an ability to take the opposition down. Heath is very well prepared to grapple it out if needed, mind you - and, fortunately enough, with Kongo's increased readyness to pose as a considerable, now even a dangerous ground threat, they deliver a quite stable floorfight characterized by back and forth succession and the strict collision of individual skill sets.

Herring proves to be very cunning on the ground though, the vicious knees he places on Kongo's body is an element you will remember this match by immensely, also a method that Heath fond relying on it is when in Cheick's ground clinch. By the third and final round The Texas Crazy Horse manages to control the ground game convincingly, placing valuable punishment on the colossus's body, earning Herring a split decision. Heath states how surprised he was by Kongo's relentless intention to play this match on the ground, even informs us that he did not prepare at all for a confrontation to unfold absent from a standup character. Both Checik and Herring looked highly improved compared to the forms we seen them prior to this day in, a quite fine match between two quite fine representatives of the heavyweight division.

Alessio Sakara vs Chris Leben

You hardly seen Chris Leben in a boring fight, a welcomed tradition thoroughly and intently cared for by this fervent warrior. Alessio Sakara is a UFC fighter who gets opportunities quite frequently, you did not yet have the chance to forget how his tattoos looked like in UFC 80 Rapid Fire when he emerges again to claim victory. That he does, at least no problem for the emergence part - but he does not exactly look prepared for the furious pace Leben decides to dictate in the match. Sakara exhibits stable and strict of a defensive game nevertheless to prepare himself for a war to be waged by the maximal efficiency it seems to claim for itself, yet Chris places two massive left strikes at the fence to rock the Legionarius and bang out a TKO victory in the first round. Alessio seemed unsatisfied by the referee stoppage, frankly, one more hit JUST MIGHT be allowed as Sakara indeed seemed to regain his composure by the time great referee Herb Dean decided to interfere. A nice, convincing performance from an ever-entertaining Chris Leben nevertheless, also I hope to see Sakara in UFC 83.

Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson

A cautious, suspenseful feeling out process unfolds to characterize the beginning portion of this great event. At the halftime of the round, Henderson manages to grab good grip of the champion and takes him down to maintain stable control for the remaining period to unleash definite, though mild punishment from. I nice occasion to see how very good Silva is at defending himself even from such a strait position. A nice standup debate remains to unfold in the consecutive round, with both Henderson and Silva to have their moments, respectively. Surely we have seen Anderson getting hit before, though we have seen that rather rarely, and we are yet to witness a caught Anderson. He seemingly eats in the massive right hand and the knee Hendo connects with as they would be little more than attacks utilized in training sessions. When Anderson delivers his own attack foam to counter Hendo's statement, effects are more considerable. Dan gets caught by some rather funky "semi-roundhouse-knee" so to say, accompanied by the precision striking Silva is trademarked of. Though Henderson does a masterful job of evading the execution punishment hastily unleashed by The Spider, the champion utilizes a ground clinch he can unleash a highly effective rear naked choke from in a short while - Henderson is forced to tap out before the period could come to it's scheduled end.

Silva therefore reigns further on, and frankly, we are in the most curious position to see what opposition the UFC will be able to line up against it's extremely potent middleweight champion. The Spider does indeed seem to reign on a vibration level that the division is yet to touch upon, so anyone getting a chance to confront this warrior should prepare for one hell of a fight.

Of the remaining 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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