MMA Changed Two Years Ago

Ask MMA fans to name their favorite past event and you're not likely to hear UFC 67 get much love.  Travis Lutter failed to make weight for a title shot, and Rampage and Cro Cop made somewhat lackluster UFC debuts, with many fans feeling they failed to meet the hype.

But while randomly rewatching that February 3rd, 2007 card this morning, I realized that it has a rare distinction:  it marks (in hindsight) a clear transition point, in several respects, from one era of MMA to another. 

K-1 fighter Mirko Cro Cop made a name for himself in MMA in the Japanese PRIDE organization.  One of the most feared strikers in the sport's history, his highlight reel ranks as impressive as anyone else you'll name.  While he never did win the PRIDE heavyweight strap - playing the Utah Jazz role to Fedor's Chicago Bulls - he beat almost everyone else of note in PRIDE and captured fans' imaginations en route to residing in the top 10 on most rankings list for years.

On December 30th, 2006 Dana White completed a major coup when he announced to the world that the UFC had signed a two-year/six-fight deal with Cro Cop.  His first fight would be at UFC 67 on February 3rd.

Cro Cop did make his UFC debut that night, thrilling hardcore MMA fans with his choice of the PRIDE theme song as his walk-in music.  This was as prescient as anything else on the card, as the UFC-model Cro Cop would never achieve remotely the success he enjoyed in PRIDE; and PRIDE would be dead and gone in mere months.

Cro Cop did finish his opponent, 5-1 one-trick-pony Eddie Sanchez, in round one; but the lethal left head kick fans breathlessly invited their friends over to watch never made its appearance. 

As disappointing as this generally workmanlike performance was, Cro Cop's subsequent UFC performances were positively horrifying, as he was viciously KO'd by an all-time highlight reel KO (ironically, a head kick) by Gonzaga in UFC 70 and then lost an uneventful unanimous decision to French kickboxing phenom Cheick Kongo.  Cro Cop left the UFC in disgrace - despite both he and Dana White putting an amicable public face on the split - and has yet to regain his former glory.

To many fans, Cro Cop was the face of PRIDE - or certainly one of them - and his reign of terror was one of the most dramatic themes in PRIDE.  Both eras ended essentially at the same time, an end presaged (in retrospect) by Mirko's appearance at UFC 67.

Another fighter making his UFC PPV debut on the card (he had fought once previously on an Ultimate Fight Night undercard) was a youthful (then) 155-pounder named Dustin Hazelett.  Hazelett, all of 20 years old at the time of UFC 67, was facing BJJ submission wizard Diego Saraiva.  Hazelett was unable to finish Saraiva - partially thanks to multiple questionably quick stand-ups by referee Yves Lavigne - but outfought him decisively not only on the feet but surprisingly on the ground en route to a unanimous decision. 

Hazelett has since gone on to win 4 of his next 5 fights (the loss being to top-5 powerhouse Josh Koscheck in a fight where he was holding his own), with 4 submissions including two consecutive (and running) Submission of the Night bonuses and a Submission of 2008 candidate.  Joined by the likes of Rousimar Palhares and Demian Maia, he is the prototype for the young generation of exciting, dynamic grapplers coming into major-org MMA, with fresh techniques and styles that are taking BJJ grappling for MMA to the next level.

A third fighter making his UFC debut at UFC 67 was Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, fondly known to fans as simply Rampage. 

Rampage had also cut an impressive swath through PRIDE, beating a who's who at light heavyweight (known in PRIDE as middleweight) including his famous destruction of Chuck Liddell in PRIDE's Final Conflict 2003 tournament.

Now he was making his UFC debut with much fanfare alongside his PRIDE co-star Mirko Cro Cop.  The UFC (actually Zuffa, its parent company) had bought the smaller World Fighting Alliance - in which Rampage had also fought - in December 2006 (the same period they acquired Mirko's services) largely in order to acquire Rampage's contract in order to build to a rematch with their longtime 205-pound champion and the organization's poster boy, Chuck Liddell.

While Rampage's performance in UFC 67 was nearly as disappointing to the hardcore faithful as Cro Cop's (despite a second-round KO), his future in the UFC was as different from Mirko's as it was transformative to the MMA scene. 

Chuck was given his rematch with Rampage at UFC 71.  Educated opinion was strongly divided, with many believing Chuck would avenge his humiliation of four years prior in PRIDE to retain the UFC light heavyweight title and many others maintaining that Rampage either had Chuck's number or was simply a better fighter and would dethrone the long-time dominant champ.

The latter group proved to be correct as Rampage TKO'd Chuck early in round 1.  Chuck had destroyed everyone he had fought for five years via (T)KO - except for Rampage, who had decisively beaten him twice and had now ended the ferocious reign of one of MMA's most dominant champions.  Liddell has since gone on to drop two of three following the Rampage fight, and faces very long odds to ever regain the belt.

Yet another fighter was making his UFC debut on the UFC 67 card.  Lyoto Machida was 8-0 with wins over Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin and BJ Penn, but most viewers who purchased UFC 67 had never seen him before.  Lyoto defeated Sam Hoger in typical Lyoto-like fashion, displaying the elusive striking defense, timely takedowns, powerful grappling, and pinpoint precision timed in-and-out strikes.  He won his UFC 67 debut via unanimous decision and served notice that there was another, and quite unique, threat on the 205-pound landscape.

Since that fight Lyoto has remained undefeated, winning his next 5 straight against progressively better competition; most recently viciously KO'ing fellow Brazilian Thiago Silva at the very end of round one in their UFC 94 fight in January.  Every educated fan of the sport has Lyoto ranked as a top-10 205er, and most have him top 5. He is expected to receive a title shot either in his next fight or after one more win, and many fans expect him to win the belt as an undefeated fighter.

Even the disappointing non-title defense at UFC 67 was the first chapter in a new era of MMA.

Every transition point contains some old and some new; Anderson "Spider" Silva's UFC 67 bout with Lutter was no exception.  Silva had already made a name for himself and electrified fans with his merciless destruction of Chris Leben in his UFC debut and his even more brutal beating of Rich Franklin to win the 185-pound title.  His appearance at UFC 67 was therefore not the first most UFC fans had seen of him, as was true of Cro Cop, Hazelett, Rampage, Machida; but it was notable for being his first title defense.

Lutter robbed him of that honor by failing to make weight, therefore relegating the fight as a 3-round non-championship affair; but Silva nonetheless turned in what has become a trademark "Spider" performance, catching Lutter in a triangle and  finishing him with elbows early in round 2.  Silva has since gone on to decisively finish his next 5 straight opponents en route to 4 successful title defenses and the honor, in the minds of many, of best pound for pound fighter in the game.

A tremendous amount of change came to our sport in the period from December 2006 through May 2007.  Not all of it has been chronicled here, but much of it has thanks to UFC 67 serving as a unique crossroads through which many of the themes of change intersected.