UFC 80: "Rapid Fire" Discussion

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

Event: UFC 80: “Rapid Fire”
Date: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Location: The Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England

Main Event:

BJ Penn (11-4-1) vs. Joe Stevenson (28-7) for the interim UFC Lightweight Championship

Main card (televised):

Hvywt.: Gabriel Gonzaga (8-2) vs. Fabricio Werdum (9-3-1)
170 lbs.: Marcus Davis (13-3) vs. Jess Liaudin (12-8)
205 lbs.: Jason Lambert (23-6) vs. Wilson Gouveia (9-4)
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove (8-4) vs. Jorge Rivera (14-6)

Under card (may not be broadcast):

Hvywt.: Antoni Hardonk (5-4) vs. Colin Robinson (8-3)
170 lbs.: Paul Taylor (8-2-1) vs. Paul Kelly (6-0)
205 lbs.: Alessio Sakara (11-6) vs. James Lee (12-2)
155 lbs.: Sam Stout (12-3-1) vs. Per Eklund (12-2-1)
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Is it just me or this a pretty bad card?

I haven't heard of several of these people.

I say BJ Penn handles Joe Stevenson easily.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum will be the match of the night I think. I think Werdum will take it though.

Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera. I have never heard of Jorge Rivera. I can't really make an educated pick on this one so I say Kendall Grove simply because I have seen him fight.

So what do you think?

Lou

yeah, this card doesn't look too hot to me either. I'm pretty damn excited to see the Penn-Stevenson fight, but that alone is not enough for me to buy the card. I would have wanted to see Gonzaga more, but Couture ruined it for me... though I guess Couture would have made anyone look bad in his current hot streak. I remember Marcus Davis putting up fun fights the last time I saw him on a PPV.... but not much else.

I remember Rivera from Matt Serra's season of TUF. He was the guy who put on a clown suit and pretended to be Shonie Carter... but I don't remember his fight to be particularly exciting.

So yeah... this is definitely a DL, not a buy for me.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I usually get together with some friends and we usually throw down like $10 a piece for the PPV.

I will probably do that this time as well.

This is not a very good card though.

Suffy

This card is going to be great.

First off don't write out stevenson espicially against BJ Penn who will be willing ot take it to the ground, that means you have two amazing bjj artist going at it which is always a great thing to see.

We get to see Gonzaga revenge a loss as Werdrum has shown no improvement in his striking even though he works with Cro Cop, so hopefully a nice KO there.

Also there is the Irish Hand Grenade Marcus Davis who always has entertaining fights and pushes the action very well.

Also Kendall Grove if I'm not mistaken will be coming off a loss so look for him to be very explosive this fight.

And on the undercard there is Sam Stout who was in my opinion the fight of the year against Spencer Fisher, this kid is a great kickoboxer that loves to stand and trade strikes and is never afraid to push the action.

AudioSavior

What is MMA? What does UFC mean?

yes, hi

Suffy

MMA is mixed martial arts and UFC is a mixed martial arts company that stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

It's every fighting style combined basically

wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, judo, karate, tae kwon do, muay thai, brazilian jut jitsu.

There are a few things not allowed like biting, eye poking, shots to the grain and knees to the head of a downed opponent.

YouTube - A Tribute to MMA/PRIDE

There's a youtube video of pride a former mma company that was bought out by UFC, the guy who comes out at 2:20, is Fedor Emalianko (I spelt that wrong) he's the pound for pound best fighter in the world.

YouTube - Georges "Rush" St. Pierre

and that is a video of my personal ufc fighter George "Rush" St. Pierre.

Zar

Marcus Davis has to be seen as one of the most shocking sucess stories of last year. Dude went from deciding to hang it up, to having a great win streak and just insane show stealing fights.

I'm also stoked to see Lambert on the main card, it seems like after he beat Babalu they just kind of pushed him to the side, but the cat has some heavy hands.

Jorge seems like an opponent picked to give Kendal a win, but I think it could end up being a great fight.

Gonzaga shout be able to take Werdum on the feet, if it goes to the ground we may see a fantastic BJJ contest.

And BJ vs Stevenson will be a great fight, and while I want and think that Penn will win, a Stevenson upset wouldn't suprise me.

Jackie Pies on Jackie Pies:
"Did I ever mention that I'm not really made of pie? Nor have I ever baked myself into a pie."

Lou

I know I'll be rooting for Stevenson in his match... Penn is someone that I really want to like, but he just came off like such a prick in his TUF season that I know it'll be hard for me to root for him.

The Phantom

Just found out that this is on TV here in the UK tonight, so i'll be watching this. We normally have to wait untill Sunday evening. The only match i'm really looking forward to is Penn vs. Stevenson. Gonzaga vs. Werdrum should be good, and Marcus Davis always puts up a good performance.

The Phantom

Here's my thoughts as I watched the event...

Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera
Wow… what a win for Jorge! He dominated Kendall from the get go, and I was quite surprised by that. As soon as Jorge got the momentum you felt it wasn’t going to be long before the ref stopped it. Awesome left hand to finish it.

Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia
Holly Sh!t!!! What a left hook by Gouveia. That came out of nowhere! What the hell went on during the rounds? How the hell could you lose a mouth-guard? lol

Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin
Jesus, thank god I haven’t had to pay for this event, its going to be over in another half an hour at this rate! Devastating punches from Marcus Davis. He impresses me more and more every time I watch him .

Paul Taylor vs. Paul Kelly
Oh god, I instantly I hate Paul Kelly, he’s a Scouser (that’s someone from Liverpool). I remember Taylor from UFC 75, and he was impressive then, hopefully we have another exciting fight from him tonight.

Good god, this started like a back street brawl in Newcastle at 2am on a Saturday night! Crazy stuff. Second round seemed to be spent pretty much on the floor, but it was still good to watch. A lot of blood loss from Taylor at the end of the 2nd round. Awesome camera shot showing how he got the cut. You could see his forehead open immediately.

No complaints can be made about the decision, Kelly totally dominated Taylor on the ground during the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Nice fight to watch. Credit deserves to go to both fighters for a good contest.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum
How intense did these two look at the stare down? Gonzaga is hitting some good leg kicks on Werdum. They really do look like their hurting Werdum. I can’t believe Gonzaga lost. The knees Fabricio landed were what did the damage. Big win for Werdum.

UFC Lightweight Championship
BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson
BJ came out of the blocks pretty quick here, and didn’t give Joe Stevenson and time to do anything. Big elbow from BJ and Stevenson looks like someone’s taken a knife to his forehead. He’s bleeding like a pig.

As soon as the blood came gushing out of Joes cut, you knew it was the beginning of the end. If anything I was surprised it took BJ so long. Joe put up a valiant fight at the start of the second round, but it was inevitable that The Protégé was going to walk out the winner.

How funny was it to see BJ talk smack about Sherk and then when he came back into the octagon he just seemed to go back into his shell and say I hope we have a good fight. The build up for that one should be good!!


Overall a good event, but I’m glad it wasn’t on PPV here in the UK, otherwise I’d have said it wouldn’t have been worth paying for.