Liddell vs. Couture 3-Pack

Since it's literally impossible to find the UFC 57 DVD of Couture vs. Liddell III, I now hesitantly suggest that you pick up the three pack. Yes, I know it's frustrating to have the other two singles and have to rebuy them just to view the end of the trilogy, but there's something in the history of their feud that is worth owning, no matter how questionable the distribution may be.

Since you're buying all three discs, I'll quickly go through them and highlight the ups and downs of the three cards.

UFC 43: It was nothing spectacular, other than the main event, but did feature a bizarre bout between Frank Mir and Wes Sims in which Sims is disqualified for stomping on Mir's face. Vitor ("the old Vitor," to be exact) absolutely dropped bombs on Marvin Eastman, which is always fun to see. The swing fight between Tank and Kimo was nothing special, but it was a nice letdown before the main event. My favorite of the three Couture-Liddell bouts, Couture checked all of the younger Liddell's strengths en route to a what I'd like to call a "really fun" three round fight. It of course ends with Liddell being knocked out.

UFC 52: This is widely considered by many (and myself) to be the best UFC card of all time. At the time, it was the highest-grossing UFC event of all time, and rightfully so. St. Pierre and Mayhem Miller had an excellent (and bloody fight), which was followed by the incredibly technical bout between Travis Lutter and Matt Lindland, which was THEN followed by Hughes-Trigg II, my unanimous pick for best UFC fight of all time. Finally, the main event rolled around, and we were greeted by a newly confident Liddell who wasted no time knocking Randy Couture out in the first round.

UFC 57: Other than the main event, there were actually zero fights of consequence. It's one of the reasons why some buyers may be better off just buying this three-pack: getting all the excellent fights of UFC 52 to counterbalance all the crap on this card. Couture managed to put up a much better fight, but the result was the same: a Liddell KO. It is at this event that Randy announces his retirement.

UFC 56: Full Force

UFC 56: Full Force featured the most exciting card we've had since UFC 52. The main card exemplified the full range of mixed martial arts. Some were fast-paced, others were slow; some ended by KO and some by decision. The event was perfect sample of what MMA has to offer.

Jeremy Horn beat Trevor Prangley in a very interesting chess match of a fight. Horn is one of the most skilled trainers and submission artists in the UFC, and he put this to use against Prangley. Horn and Prangley battled for 15 straight minutes, leading to a decision for Horn.

In one of the most anticipated bouts of the evening, Georges St. Pierre met Sean Sherk. Rush was able to take down the take down expert at will, pounding him into the fence for the two rounds during which the fight lasted. George also exhibited superior stand up skills and an excellent sprawl, making the current Lightweight champion look completely overmatched. St. Pierre had lost his previous fight (to Matt Hughes) and he certainly looked like he had something to prove during this bout. St. Pierre bloodied Sherk and got the fight called at 2:51 in the 2nd.

This was followed by another display of stand up and ground as the Welterweight champion Matt Hughes took on 23-year-old Joe Riggs. Diesel, although 9 years younger, was overwhelmed by Hughes' consistent stamina and work rate. Matt worked Joe to the ground a number of times, eventually finishing him off with a perfect kimura. This submission was later named the "submission of the night."

In the swing bout, Gabriel Gonzaga took on Kevin Jordan. For the majority of three rounds, neither man wanted to engage...and so they didn't, circling around and drawing boos from the fans. Chants of "you suck" and "go home" were so loud, they could easily be heard on the television broadcast. However, the boring majority served as a fitting build up to a shocking end. With just a minute left in the final round, Gonzaga faked a body kick and landed a Superman punch, immediately knocking Jordan out. The punch hit a blood vessel, causing blood to literally pour out of Jordan's head. Despite the extremely entertaining finish, most fans refused to clap at the end of the fight.

In the main event, Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin met Nate Quarry in a fight which Ace dominated. Franklin picked Quarry apart, and knocked him down once before the final KO, almost prompting Big John to stop the fight well before he actually did. During this process of sniping, Franklin was able to break Quarry's nose with a nasty knee. Eventually, Franklin landed just the right counterpunch at just the right time, sending Quarry flying through the air, unconcious well before he hit the mat.

All in all, UFC 56 features an exciting night of UFC stars, knockouts, and submissions. The only fight that I would call boring happened to have the most exciting finish of all while the other bouts were stellar throughout. This is definitely one to add to the collection!

Top 10 PRIDE DVDs

Here is just a general list of the Top 10 PRIDE FC DVDs that I think are a MUST OWN for any MMA fan.

The format is simple, the event/DVD title with two of the best fights in my opinion listed in parentheses. :)

10. Critical Countdown 2005
Wanderlei Silva v. Kazuhiro Nakamura; Antonio Rogerio Nogueira v. Mauricio Rua

9. Pride 23: Championship Chaos II
Fedor Emelianenko v. Heath Herring; Wanderlei Silva v. Hiromitsu Kanehara

8. Final Conflict 2004
Cro Cop vs. Aleksander Emelianenko; Wanderlei Silva v. Yuki Kondo

7. Pride 25: Body Blow
Fedor Emelianenko v. Antonio Rogerio Noguiera; Quinton Jackson v. Kevin Randleman

6. Shockwave 2004
Fedor Emelianenko v. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; Ryo Chonan v. Anderson Silva

5. Pride 10: Return of the Warriors
Kazuyuki Fujita v. Ken Shamrock; Wanderlei Silva v. Guy Mezger

4. Pride 28: High Octane
Wanderlei Silva v. Quinton Jackson II; Aleksander Emelianenko v. James Thompson

3. Bushido 9
Joachim Hansen v. Yves Edwards; Takanori Gomi v. Luiz Azeredo

2. Final Conflict 2005
Fedor Emelianenko v. Cro Cop; Mauricio Rua v. Ricardo Arona

1. Final Conflict 2003*
Wanderlei Silva v. Quinton Jackson; Quinton Jackson vs. Chuck Liddell

*NOTE: Final Conflict 2003 is damn near impossible to find these days, I searched eBay, Sherdog, and numerous sites only to be let down. I had to result to downloading it and converting it to a DVD. If anyone manages to find somewhere that sells this DVD, please e-mail me at: massonl@gmail.com. Thanks!

UFC 4: Revenge Of The Warriors

I bought this partially because I was interested in the less-regulated early UFC bouts and partially because I wanted to see the 15 minute plus main event between Royce Gracie and Dan Severn. Both motivating factors were realized during the hour or so that the entire event was on and the tournament format was just as interesting as current cards, however different it may have been.

During a first round bout between Keith Hackney and Joe Son (who to this day has not won an MMA bout), Hackney won with repeated strikes to Son's unprotected groin. Not repeated strikes to the body...or the to head. The groin. Other first round highlights include Dan Severn suplexing Anthony Macias numerous times. The take downs today are all right, but none compare to the way in which Severn made Macias look like a rag doll.

Of course, the finale was incredible -- a 15 minute chess game dominated by Severn but won by Gracie with a magnificent triangle choke. Even more incredible was the fact that Gracie fought at a svelte 180 pounds as Severn came in at a solid 275 lbs. As a comparison, a smaller weight difference would be that of Fedor Emeliankenko and Caol Uno. The Gracie win is one of the more impressive physical feats I've ever seen, making this DVD an entertaining and worthwhile purchase.

PRIDE: Bushido, Vol. 9

PRIDE: Bushido Vol.9

The fights:

Paulo Filho vs. Ryuta Sakurai
Akihiro Gono vs. Daniel Acacio
Dan Henderson vs. Ryo Chonan
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Phil Baroni
Murilo Bustamante vs. Masanori Suda
Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs. Charles Bennett
Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver
Joachim Hansen vs. Yves Edwards
Takanori Gomi vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Luiz Azeredo vs. Naoyuki Kotani
Dan Henderson vs. Akihiro Gono
Murilo Bustamante vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
Hayato Sakurai vs. Joachim Hansen
Takanori Gomi vs. Luiz Azeredo

I was constantly told by my MMA buds that I “had” to watch Bushido 9, that it was a “must buy.” They couldn’t have been more right. This is a DVD that can’t be excluded from any MMA fan’s DVD collection.

PRIDE Bushido 9 was an explosive event which held the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the first ever Welterweight tournament and Lightweight tournament. The event went down at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan on September 25, 2005. The event was of course under BUSHIDO rules. In BUSHIDO, fights are two rounds as opposed to three. The first round is ten minutes, and is followed by a second round of five minutes.

Hosts of the event are Mauro Renallo and the best in the business, Bas Rutten. Without question, all the matches most definitely lived up to the hype built around them, well, with the exception of the Baroni v. Minowa bout. This 2 DVD set contains over 3 hours of MMA goodness with special features including a fight glossary, photo gallery, fighter bios, and a few more goodies. With fourteen action packed fights, you cannot go wrong for twenty bones on one of, if not the best, MMA event of 2005, chump change!

Without further ado, here are my two cents for each of the bouts:

Welterweight Tournament: Alternate Bout

Paulo Filho vs. Ryuta Sakurai:

In this fight Filho puts a Jiu-jitsu clinic on Sakurai with a line of submission attempts. Filho takes this bout with a graceful armbar with just under four minutes of the first round, The Brazilian displays his exceptional ground game and tremendous strength.

I think Filho is a good fighter, but needs to face better competition. Also, his fights aren’t the most exciting ones either. Filho’s (14-0) record is consisted of six submission wins, seven decisions and one TKO victory. With Filho’s recent signing to the WEC maybe we’ll get to see big things in the future from the undefeated middleweight.

Welterweight Tournament: Quarter Finals

Akihiro Gono vs. Daniel Acacio

This match was a classic standup battle between a kickboxing champion and a member of the famous Chute Boxe entourage, Gono and Acacio, respectively. Gono displays solid boxing skills while Acacio attempts to counter those skills with Chute Boxe’s signature arsenal of knees, Muay Thai clinches, and soccer kicks. In the end Chute Boxe’s Acacio falls short to a unanimous decision in favor of Gono.

Acacio almost looked promising with his rather impressive wins before Gono. Unfortunately, Acacio went on to losing three more fights on top of his loss against Gono and earned a less than impressive decision win in his latest fight.

Dan Henderson vs. Ryo Chonan

Dan Henderson, current welterweight and middleweight champion of PRIDE, faces off against Ryo Chonan in the third fight of the night. Ryo Chonan is best known for his remarkable flying scissor heel hook win over current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Apparently Henderson had somewhere to go and decides to end the bout in just 22 seconds, dropping Chonan with his signature right hand and pounding his way to a lightning quick victory.

Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa Minowa

This match was a sequel to Minowa’s first loss against Baroni back in Bushido Vol. 7. I found Minowa’s pre-fight interview funny when he flexes his biceps to the camera and says “Baroni, this for you.” Talk about an intimidation factor! This fight was the worst one of the night. Minowa, in a desperate attempt to neutralize Baroni’s overwhelming power, serves as a blanket for fifteen minutes and avenges his first loss against Baroni with a mind-numbing decision victory. At least fans didn’t have to put up with Baroni’s claim to being the “best-eva!”

Murilo Bustamante vs. Masanori Suda

Murilo Bustamante had been unsuccessful in Pride thus far with three major losses; however they were at 205lbs, opposed to his natural 185lbs weight. Suda on the other hand, hasn’t been submitted in the last ten years, which is explained to us by Mauro Renallo before the fight. UFC vet, Bustamante, shatters Suda’s streak and wins with an armbar 3:20 into the first round.

Lightweight Tournament: Alternate Bout

Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs Charles Bennett

There is no doubt that any fight with Bennett is going to be an entertaining one. With Dokonjonosuke Mishima also known for his eccentricity there was no dodging the excitement in this matchup. Mishima exploits Bennett’s lack of ground game by sinking a toehold into a heel hook variation for the submission victory at 4:04 of round 1, leaving Bennett on the mat and later limping back to the locker rooms.

Lightweight Tournament: Quarter Finals

Hayato Sakurai vs. Jens Pulver

To be continued...

The Irish Whip Shop

On this page, you'll find all of our recommended products, most of which are DVDs from each sport. Masson, Drew, and I will contribute product reviews on here from each sport as needed.