Here it is. Watch it before it gets taken down.
You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re watching Ortiz Vs Shamrock 2 all over again.
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Here it is. Watch it before it gets taken down.
You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re watching Ortiz Vs Shamrock 2 all over again.
Tito Ortiz just whooped Ken Shamrock for the third time in a row, in their “Total Redundancy” re-rematch.
Wasn’t Shamrock already totally redundant after “Bitter Rivals”?
Was it ever going to be any other way?
Related posts:
UFC 61: Ortiz vs Shamrock vids., for some old vids of the two.
Tito Ortiz Vs Ken Shamrock – The coming documentary, about the documentary released after Bitter Rivals, last July, which has now also been made totally redundant.
Not only is their coming bout this Saturday night a title fight (UFC Light Heavyweight), but it is also a long-awaited rematch between the two, punctuating Sobral’s 10 fight winning streak, since he was last beaten by Liddell back in 2002. In that bout Sobral was knocked down by a left high hook in the first round. Liddell has also had a long run of wins, his last loss being back in 2003 to “Rampage” Jackson.
Sobral (27-5-0) seems to have the fitness edge over Liddell (18-3-0); he’s been working hard developing his stamina with sand and hill sprints, among other things. He’d be planning on using that edge to wait til Liddell tires and perhaps slips up, allowing himself to be taken down. At 30, the Brazilian is also 7 years Liddell’s junior. Sobral is masterful on the ground, while The Iceman prefers to end his fights standing and is known to stubbornly resist being taken down and do so very effectively. As time wears on in the fight it is likely to shift more and more in Sobral’s favour, if he can hold his defence together in the first two rounds, and I think that is what will happen. I am going with a Sobral victory in this one.
The Forrest Griffin (12-3-0) vs. Stephan “American Psycho” Bonnar (also 12-3-0) is another long awaited rematch. Both fighters are coming off a loss, Griffin a close one to Ortiz and Bonnar to Rashad Evans. Their last fight, in the finals of the first UItimate Fighter reality TV show, is considered one of the best in UFC history. That fight is haled with bringing UFC into the mainstream, after their three round toe-to-toe battle reportedly drew 10 million viewers at the peak of the show, up from an audience of 2 million at the start. My money is on Griffin, who has gotten much better since their first encounter, to win again.
The third fight is between the French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and the wrestler Christian Wellisch, known as “The Hungarian Nightmare”. Don’t know much about these guys, or the next pair Hermes Franca and Jamie Varner. In my ignorance I am going with Kongo and Varner respectively. The last fight on the televised card is Nick Diaz (who is replacing Thiago Alves, unable to fight due to illness) versus Josh “The Dentist” Neer. I am going with Neer for that one.
Here’s the full card:
Live PPV Fight Card:
Pre-PPV Preliminary Card:
And now for some bad news – the fight between the current PRIDE champ Vanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva and Liddell (current UFC champ) that was announced at UFC 61 for November has been called off. The reason given was “negotiation issues” between PRIDE and UFC management.
Here are a couple of videos to refresh your memory.
Stiffman1 has made a “Bonnar Griffin tribute”, in anticipation of their rematch. Check it out, it shows their previous three round stoic battle.
Part 1:
Part 2:
So apparently there is a documentary coming out next week about the long running feud between Tito and Ken. It is called “Relentless: Tito Ortiz -vs- Ken Shamrock: The Untold Truth Behind UFC’s Legendary Feud” and the release date is this Tuesday, the 18th of July.
All I’ve been able to find out about is this bit of promo:
This DVD is a high impact, no holds barred, behind the scenes look at how the blood feud between Tito Ortiz and the Lion’s Den got started.
– What did Tito’s shirt really say?
– Did it spark a riot thrown down between some of the best fighters in the UFC?
– Why does the Ortiz/Mezger war continue even today?You’ll find rare, exclusive video, photos, and candid, revealing interviews with Tito Ortiz’s former manager, Sal Garcia, amongst others.
You’d hope this has their fights in full and its coming out next week because they are throwing something together that includes last week’s fight. Guy Metzger is listed as “starring” as well. So is this going to be good? I have no idea. For me it comes down to how much actual fight footage is in the 105 minutes which this video goes for and they are not giving much away on that front. If anyone finds a review, point me in the right direction.
Click the ad link on the sidebar to order from Amazon or get more info.
I’ve noticed a lot of people are coming by this site looking for video of the Ortiz vs Shamrock fight from Saturday nights’ UFC 61. Whatever video of the fight has shown up on Youtube or Google Video has been quickly taken down due to copyright infringement. I did just see a poor quality recording on Youtube, so if you search for something like “ufc 61″ or “ortiz shamrock” there you may be lucky. What I saw was basically a recording made by someone holding a video camera to their TV screen, so you can imagine the quality. And from what I could make out of the fight, you did not miss out on much.
Here’s a video of the post fight press conference.
I also came across this nice video of the first Ortiz vs Shamrock fight, and the more recent Liddell vs Ortiz fight, check it out.
This is fantastic news, but shouldn’t it be called the World Schooner?
Australia wins ‘World Cup’ of beer
A World Cup-style competition to find the best beer has named an Australian made sparkling ale as the winner.
The competition, run by the UK publication Off Licence News, pitted beers from 32 countries that contested soccer’s World Cup against each other.
The drinks were placed in one of eight groups of four, to correspond with the World Cup, with the two top scoring beverages moving to the second round and knock out tastings.
Marks were awarded for taste, appearance, balance and drinkability, with a sparkling ale produced by South Australian brewer Coopers named the eventual winner.
Coopers marketing director and chairman Glenn Cooper said despite Australia’s controversial elimination from the World Cup, he took comfort in the knowledge Australia had snared “the more important World Cup”
Too right!
I won’t give any spoilers here for the main fights, you can see the results and read commentaries on each fight over at onlyufc.com. I will just say that the Arlovski vs Sylvia battle has just gone to round 5. Quite a surprise, considering noone expected it to go past the first round! OK, that was a bit of spoiler. Tough.
For the Australian fight fans, the Perosh – Monson fight, which was a preliminary and was not broadcast on Pay-per-View ended at 2:22 in the first round, with KO for Monson. The fight went to the ground at first, with a take down from Monson. When they got back up a flurry of knees and punches from Monson ended the fight with Perosh down and out.
Jeff Monson is not the man you want to meet in your first UFC experience, unfortunately. Better luck next time, Anthony.
I completely missed this before, because, to be honest, I did not look that far down the Fight Card, but it has now come to my attention that there is an Aussie fighter on the card – Anthony Perosh, from Sydney will be making his UFC debut. Anthony is the training partner of Elvis Sinosic, who had a great debut back in UFC 32, submitting the No. 1 light heavyweight contender Jeremy Horn, but has not done so well since. Together they run the Sinosic Perosh Martial Arts school in Sydney.
Anthony will be fighting Jeff Monson, who has much more MMA experience, having fought several times in the UFC, with a couple of wins under his belt. Monson is by far the favourite in this fight, with Perosh seen as pretty much an unknown newcomer.
Anthony’s last MMA fight was at Warriors Realm 5, on the 25th of February, on the Sunshine Coast, when he beat Ross Dallow by submission. He has won the Australian BJJ Championships many times and has been making his way up in the world of MMA for several years.
Here’s a video you can dowload of his MMA highlights.
While looking up some info on Anthony Perosh I just came across 2 petitions to get the UFC back on Australian Pay-per-View. It used to be shown here a couple of years, but I guess did not get enough support. Surely its time to reconsider!
Sign the petitions here:
UFC Pay Per Views in Australia at Petition Online.
UFC on Foxtel at Petition Spot.
Best of butt-kicking luck to Anthony Perosh tonight. And I’ll just say it one more time – damn, I wish this event was being broadcast in Australia.
An interesting look at refereeing at this World Cup.
World Cup saga: Crime and punishment – International Herald Tribune
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By Rob Hughes
Published: June 28, 2006
BERLIN This World Cup, like others, started with the rulers resolving to protect quality players and rid the game of thugs, cheats and protesters.
Since appealing to the better nature of players and coaches is like getting turkeys to vote for Christmas, it was agreed that the referees would impose fair play.
It started well. The arbiters kept up with the players, who discovered there would be no leeway for brutish fouls and nothing less than a yellow or red card for haranguing the referee. But as the games went by, the standards dropped. Have referees simply become bad, or rotten? Are they making mistakes, or is it corrupt? In every sense, the heat is on the men in the middle.
There was an elementary error by Graham Poll, England's top ref, who showed the same Croatian defender three yellow cards. (Two result in a red card and expulsion from the match.) Valentin Ivanov, a Russian, broke all the records by giving 16 yellow and four red cards in the Netherlands-Portugal brawl. Something smelled foul in the 93rd-minute penalty given to Italy in its match with Australia by Luis Medina Cantalejo, a Spanish referee. Poll and Ivanov were dropped from the tournament Wednesday; Cantalejo was given one of the quarterfinal matches.
Most referees started off zealously against the violent use of elbows, the tackle from behind, the clowns who dive to try to gain a penalty or get a fellow professional sent off. But as they wilted under the sun, they lost that sharpness. If a ref runs 13 kilometers, or eight miles, in a game, and if he's made to do that several times a week in this climate, surely his mind is impaired. Who is to blame for that?
FIFA - that's who deserves a red card. By selecting 23 instead of 32 referees this time around, and by teaming refs with two linemen from the same country or who at least speak the same language, FIFA hoped to improve the communication. There was evidence of it working. But two referees had dropped out - an Italian because of the match-fixing investigation in the country's top league, and a Caribbean because his fitness did not satisfy FIFA.
A week before the kickoff, I asked a top official if having just 21 referees was not alarmingly few, especially given that FIFA threatens to send home any arbiter whose performance falls blow requirements.
"No," he said, "we're paying these guys plenty and we intend to work them hard."
The officials are being paid $40,000. In cool conditions, fair enough. In 27 degrees Celsius, or 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and 60 percent humidity, not so good. Unlike the players, many of these referees have day jobs - electrical engineer, school teacher, salesman, tax collector, maritime officer. Players could be rested by team managers. Referees tried to plod on, under dire warning that FIFA would humiliate them or fire them if their performance fell below par.
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Still on the World Cup, get a load of this clown:
BEIJING – The “hysterical” ranting of China’s most popular soccer commentator on live television during the broadcast of a World Cup match this week has sparked an outpouring of emotion in a nation where strongly felt opinions usually are sublimated.
Popular soccer commentator Huang Jianxiang lost his cool during a match between Italy and Australia, shouting himself hoarse in an outburst seen by millions of people.
“Italy is victorious! Long live Italy! . . . Great Italy!” Huang shrieked during the match broadcast by state-run China Central Television early Tuesday morning as Italy won the game on a dramatic penalty kick. “I don’t like the Australian team,” he shouted, adding with glee that it “should go home.”
..
Huang described the Australian team as “full of naturalized Australians who play and live in Britain. I don’t want to see Australia have good results in the World Cup.”
I think someone is a little worried about Australia playing in the Asian Cup next year, and from there onward. Someone whose team came second at the last Asian Cup. Someone who sees a whole new world of football pain just around the corner. See ya in 2007.
UPDATE: The rant has now been released as a ringtone, Reuters reports.
The full version went like this:
“Goooooal! Game over! Italy win!. Beat the Australians! … Italy the great! … Happy birthday to Maldini! Forza Italia!”
“The victory belongs to Italy, to Grosso, to Cannavaro, to Zambrotta, to Buffon, to Maldini, to everyone who loves Italian soccer!… (Australia) should go home. They don’t need to go as far away as Australia as most of them are living in Europe. Farewell!”
I didn’t realise crack was such a big problem in China.