Guest brian Posted August 14, 2005 Report Share Posted August 14, 2005 A little change of pace, but with the UFC show this weekend and what will hopefully be a killer fight between Pierre and Trigg, I wanted to review these two matches from UFC 52 (and also because I'm converting my tape). These were two of the best bouts of the evening but for two different reasons; I'll try to convey as best I can what is going on and the excitement as well as explaining stuff. Hopefully people enjoy. UFC 52 came in the wake of the Ultimate Fighter, featuring the main event of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture in re-match of the UFC 43 fight, which was over the Interim Light-Heavyweight Title of the time. It also featured a re-match of Frank Trigg against Matt Hughes from UFC 45. That was only the second loss of his career and was also his debut fight with UFC. Trigg lost the fight submitting to a rear naked choke. Both of the fights reviewed were in the middleweight division, 170 lbs. and under. Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. George "Rush" St. Pierre "Mayhem" is crazy. His entrance is cray. His mouthguard is crazy. He comes out in a mask, tosses money, and wearing platinum teeth (mouthguard). But I love me my St. Pierre. He reminds me of Jean-Claude Van Dam for some reason. Tons of charisma, great promo, exciting fighter. Coming into this match, St. Pierre is bigger and stronger, so it's uphill already against what could be the future of the middleweight title. If I were into men, I'd have a poster of St. Pierre in my room. Well, I probably should anyway. Both have Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, though Miller is more expansive. Miller is a student of Mark Laimon, who does the technique segment for PPV (and helps coach on the Ultimate Fighter). Fight starts and they both come out. Miller has the wild style. St. Pierre catches a kick and put him down, but nothing comes of it. St. Pierre gets the better of some trade-off and they clinch. Knee by Pierre and they're out. Pierre is just a better boxer as he's countering with starigh shots. Miller's not afraid to go, though. Miller jabs in and clinches. Pierre works the double jab. Pierre jumps in with a big right and they clinch, with Pierre earning the takedown. Miller tries a kneebar and Pierre pulls out. Miller stays down in guard and Pierre passes from standing with an axe kick, laying down some punches when he gets to guard. Side-control. Pierre goes for a kimura but Mayhem knows what to do. Spinning backkick from St. Pierre and another takedown. St. Pierre controls from half-guard from there til the end, landing a lot of shots. Mayhem is bloodied at the end. Good first round, lots of action. Miller is still coming out to the middle, not afraid. They clinch and Mayhem tries to get the takedown, but Pierre's got great defense, putting him down into half-guard a minute in. Meyhem's trying to utilize rubber guard, bringing his leg up and trying to get more control over his upper body. Mayhem slips out of another kimura and tries to take a single leg, but Pierre just rolls him over and starts nailing some elbows against the fence. Miller's outclassed in terms of strength, which has negated most of his ability, but everything is going really nicely and they're moving well. Pierre takes mount, Mayhem gives him his back but there's a really nice spin-out by Mayhem to get out, grabbing the single-leg. This time he gets the takedown but Pierre is totally in control, standing up and then doing a sprawl. Big elbow from Pierre, and he's going for a jutigatame (cross arm-breaker) with 0:15 left and Miller rolls with him. Pierre still has it and it looks like he's cranking it but time give out. They take center again and Pierre once again is doing better with the striking, countering with the straights. Pierre with another takedown, grabbing half-mount. Nice sweep attempt by Miller off the cage but Pierre shifts. Guard and two BIG elbows from Pierre. Miller just can't get anything accomplished, but he's trying like hell. Pierrer rolls and they're in north-south. Pierre just has beautiful control. Secures mount. Pierre goes for the arm-bar, but Miller has a beautiful counter and grabs side control. Knees to the mid-section, but Pierre sweeps him before he can do any real damage. Miller with more punches. Big knees to the stomach. Dominant fight by St. Pierre, but really active and Miller showed a ton of heart to last fifteen minutes. St. Pierre is a killer, unanimous decision (30-27). And at the end of the fight, Pierre just gives a great promo in his limited English (If you allow me Mr. Rogan, I'd like to thank my Sponsors). He is just so likeable. My girlfriend adores him. You wil too. Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg Frank Trigg blows Hughes a kiss after a staredown. Trigg is a southpaw. They clinch and Matt pushes him to the cage. Trigg hits a knee that hits Matt in the groin, no ref stoppage. Trigg pounces and he actually get Hughes. Trigg gets mount, but Hughes has underhooked him. Hughes tries to sweep and Trigg gets his back, but Trigg can't secure the choke. He's got underhooks with his legs, and he rolls with Matt. Now he secures and Hughes struggle. HE ESCAPES and pulls guard. And Hughes is back to his feet, carrying Trigg across the ring. Un-Fucking-Believable. Matt takes mount, get the back again. Triggs struggles, break it, and ends up on his back. They fight for a minute and Matt secures the get the hooks with his legs. Frank gives up his back again and after a short struggle Triggs gets caught with the rear naked choke. AGAIN. WOW~! Better than I remember, great struggle with Hughes overcoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheShawshankRudotion Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Trigg/Hughes was like the best pro wrestling match that wasn't a pro wrestling match this year. The psychology behind the rear naked choke -the move that Hughes finished Trigg with in their previous fight- and how Trigg almost beats Hughes with it, but somehow, someway, Hughes escapes and then within moments finishes Trigg with it, was fucking perfect. Not to mention Hughes losing to the RNC from BJ Penn. Then there's Triggs redemption storyline, and how to get his rematch with Hughes he beat two guys who beat Hughes in the past (Hallman twice, and IMO Verissimo beat Hughes), and how he is willing to do anything to win - capitalizing on the knee to the groin. And EVEN THEN he can't beat Hughes. It just made Matt Hughes out to be this amazing fighter, and the crowd went nuts for him. I've never been a big Hughes fan, his matches are either really good or really boring, but even I was going nuts for the guy when he won. I was sure Trigg had him. "It's over! There's no way Hughes is going to get out of that" St. Pierre/Miller was so much fun. I was having some people over for Poker night/UFC show, and I usually never watch UFC shows with other people. I was hyping St. Pierre up like crazy. This fight made everyone there a fan of his. This is one of those fights which are one-sided, but are still really fun to watch. St. Pierre had Miller BEAT *3* times in that fight. If it were anyone else, the fight would have been over. But Miller is crazy flexible so he was able to get out of it. And the kip up spot is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brian Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 The RNC was on-fire all night long. I didn't even get to the Cote/Doerksen fight, which had the whole thing centered around the choke, where the first round nearly ended with it, and then Doerksen later had to hook the arm in the third to beat him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheShawshankRudotion Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 I love the arm-trap. I really hope Doerkson beats Lindland, but I doubt he will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benjie Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Trigg/Hughes was like the best pro wrestling match that wasn't a pro wrestling match this year. The psychology behind the rear naked choke -the move that Hughes finished Trigg with in their previous fight- and how Trigg almost beats Hughes with it, but somehow, someway, Hughes escapes and then within moments finishes Trigg with it, was fucking perfect. That was easily the best moment this year in terms of pro wrestling and MMA. When Hughes escaped the hold the crowd went crazy and Hughes had such an adreniline rush to finish Trigg off. I sort of felt sorry for Trigg though, as I really thought he had won the match, but Hughes coming was fucking fantastic. St. Pierre match was alright, but it was just so one sided. It was like watching someone just get their asskicked continuously. I was rather disapointed by it. Especially in Miller because his entrance was so cocky and I hadn't seen him in a fight before. He got beat so bad that had I just came in when they were announcing the winner, I would've easily had known who had won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brian Posted August 16, 2005 Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 Trigg/Hughes was like the best pro wrestling match that wasn't a pro wrestling match this year. The psychology behind the rear naked choke -the move that Hughes finished Trigg with in their previous fight- and how Trigg almost beats Hughes with it, but somehow, someway, Hughes escapes and then within moments finishes Trigg with it, was fucking perfect. That was easily the best moment this year in terms of pro wrestling and MMA. When Hughes escaped the hold the crowd went crazy and Hughes had such an adreniline rush to finish Trigg off. I sort of felt sorry for Trigg though, as I really thought he had won the match, but Hughes coming was fucking fantastic. St. Pierre match was alright, but it was just so one sided. It was like watching someone just get their asskicked continuously. I was rather disapointed by it. Especially in Miller because his entrance was so cocky and I hadn't seen him in a fight before. He got beat so bad that had I just came in when they were announcing the winner, I would've easily had known who had won. I agree that it was one-sided, and that's pretty much what I felt the first time through. On repeat, I've come to value that there's a realu underdog story going on, a few awesome moments (kip-up SMASHED), and the fact that it shows off how incredible a talent St-Pierre could be. I just wonder if they ever put back together the lightweight division, would Mayhem be available to go there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheShawshankRudotion Posted August 17, 2005 Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 I like watching a fighter showcase his skills, so one-sided affairs don't bother me at all. I've watched Fedor/Nog I well over 20 times on the basis of Fedor beating the brazilian sun off Noguiera, and it never gets old. And I like Noguiera, it's just Fedor is THE MAN in that match. Just like St. Pierre is the man against Miller. But then again, Fedor and St. Pierre are two of my favourite fighters, so that may have something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts