100 UFC's Ago: When Tito Ortiz Ruled and Zuffa Was New
by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 11:15 AM EDT
in UFC History
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As we gear up for UFC 130 this Saturday, Jonathan Snowden of SBNation thought it would be fun to look back at where we were 100 UFC's ago at UFC 30 in February 2001. This was the first UFC under the current ownership, Zuffa LLC. Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers were in charge but were only beginning to make their presence felt.
This was the second UFC held in New Jersey -- the original owners had managed to get MMA regulated by the nation's second most important athletic commission before selling out. This was the last UFC to feature the match-making of John Peretti. Joe Silva had come on board and would start booking the fights with UFC 31.
Here's Snowden on UFC 30:
The most memorable fight of the night featured Josh Barnett slugging it out with kickboxer Pedro Rizzo. Barnett was primarily a grappler, but on this night decided to test his striking with one of the sport's best. Barnett charged recklessly forward throughout, playing right into the counter punching Brazilian's hands. Rizzo, a disciple of UFC legend Marco Ruas knew he had been in a fight afterwards, but managed to knock Barnett out in the second round.
Josh Barnett:
Watching him stop (former UFC champion Mark) Coleman and TK (Tsuyoshi Kohsaka) really got in my head a little bit about trying to grapple or shoot in on him. I was having so much success on my feet I decided to stick with it. And against a very experienced and heavy handed striker like Pedro I got caught. He was able to get one shot in and was able to come out on top.
I try never to be in a boring fight. In an exciting fight, win or lose, if people like what they see you're going to have a fanbase. People are going to want to watch you fight. I think some of these promoters get that all mixed up and get too caught up on who's won what. That certainly does matter. But does this guy bring what I want to see? Or is he just somebody who happens to win?
In the main event the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz solidified his status as one of the best fighters in all of MMA. Former Pancrase stalwart Evan Tanner stood no chance as Ortiz locked onto his body and slammed him to the mat. Tanner was knocked unconscious and Ortiz secured his second defense of the UFC middleweight (now called light heavyweight) title. Tanner would recover to win UFC gold himself, but with this highlight reel slam, Ortiz continued his reign as the UFC's top star.
For me personally, it was a bittersweet UFC. Thanks to making the acquaintance of a dude with a satellite dish I was able to watch a UFC live on TV for the first time since UFC 22. But Tito Ortiz' crushing victory of my home town hero Evan Tanner really took the wind out of my sails.
Coming into the bout Tanner was 23-2 and I thought he was going to be UFC champ. Alas, Ortiz showed everyone what a difference sheer size and power make as he slammed Tanner right out of what was then the Middleweight (200lb) division.
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Thie Rizzo/Barnett tilt
is a great one. I ended up watching it years after the fact, and it stands up to some of the fights today.
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by Cory Braiterman on May 25, 2011 11:26 AM EDT reply actions
"Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes" Groucho Marx
by KimboLeopoldo on May 25, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
Never seen the fight actually. Thanks for the gif because I’m now going to try and find this fight.
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by chrisbboy82 on May 25, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions
it's one that holds up to repeat viewings
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions
why the fuck are my gifs being removed
by The Evil Dr Pork Chop on May 25, 2011 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions
it was off topic to the comment you replied to
fine for the general thread but wasn’t about Pedro Rizzo vs Barnett.
I felt it detracted from the discussion.
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Odd story about Evan
He came and trained at my gym (the gym I train at, I’m not the owner) a ton before the Tito fight. We’re mainly a Judo school, so his first night was supposed to be taking falls. He insisted he was a professional fighter, and knew how to fall properly. He never practiced falling correctly. He trained like a crazy person, and was honestly incredibly cool to work with, but we all cringed when he didn’t control his fall properly in the ring.
interesting
and what a bummer. He was a stubborn man.
I honestly think the size difference with Ortiz was just too much and Evan wouldn’t have beaten him once in 10 fights but still he could’ve done better than he did.
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
True nuff
His wrestling was good, but our gym had guys around his size that he struggled with. I believe he rolled with Macias a few times and didn’t overpower him like he should have. Tito really was a wacky shark-man back then, and I don’t know how Evan could have pulled it off. Still, he won a few he really shouldn’t have back in the day, so I can’t count him out completely.
by Hedonismbot on May 25, 2011 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
Anthony Macias?
Same guy that Severn ragdolled or am I thinking of someone different? When I saw that the first time I was positive he was going to die.
by Forbidden Psychological Technology on May 25, 2011 11:53 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Yep.
He’s an old wrestling buddy of the main guy at my school. He was really a great fighter (isn’t since his comeback), and won quite a lot. He was just good enough to get a shot at the best, who in turn smashed his ass into paste. I haven’t talked to him much, but he sounded like he was most proud of the Saku fight. Getting halfway through round two with the IQ wrestler back then was a big deal.
by Hedonismbot on May 25, 2011 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Very cool.
Anyone who doesn’t completely lose their shit after three consecutive suplexes from a peak Dan Severn is legit in my book (not that approval matters in any way to anyone).
by Forbidden Psychological Technology on May 25, 2011 1:27 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
am I the only one who can't see the images?
you’re trying to share?
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
fail
the direct links aren't even working
frustrating!
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions
perfect!
thanks for sharing. was a sad day for Tanner fans.
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
There it is
He should be basically making sweet love to Tito’s neck in the first one. Just aggressively nuzzling right in there. His head is too far back, and whipped when he got slammed. It felt like a good fight that never got to happen due to poor fundamentals.
by Hedonismbot on May 25, 2011 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm working completely from memory
But I recall the Tanner slam having some head-to-head contact. Nothing dirty, just how the slam played out.
I also saw it years after the fact and after the KP said after the fact “yep, that’s persuasive justification for a185 division.”
Overall, solid card that stands the test of time (unlike those first Pride cards).
by Forbidden Psychological Technology on May 25, 2011 11:49 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Say what you will about Tito Ortiz
but that ko slam that he put on Tanner and thos tko stoppages to Shamrock were fucking violently beautiful, but I will admit that I haven’t really seen too many of his fights outside of the beatings that Chuck put on him and I’m not really a fan.
Anderson Silva, Edson Barboza, Jose Aldo, Charles Oliveira, Thiago Alves = Muay Thai wrecking machines!
by SentientAndroid on May 25, 2011 11:54 AM EDT reply actions
the region
a small town 50 miles north of there actually
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by Nate Wilcox on May 25, 2011 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
uggh come on people
"Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes" Groucho Marx
by KimboLeopoldo on May 25, 2011 12:13 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs
Also at UFC 30
Elvis Sinosic picked up his only UFC win over Jeremy Horn
Jens Pulver defended the then Bantamweight title against Caol Uno
Sean Sherk made his UFC debut defeating Tiki Ghosn
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its funny how he made tons of excuses for that loss
and after his “great career” how much “respect” he gets in the MMA community
in the years following MMA's explosion
Tito was treated as if he was a flat out awful fighter by many. Most of them don’t remember when he ruled the sport. Dude was a scary man back then.
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"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
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that and
most of them were tuf era fans who missed Tito’s run. All they knew were the Liddell fights. These are the same people who are like “Cung Le sucks, who’d he beat? Shamrock? That CAN?”
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
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by Urijah Bieber on May 25, 2011 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Cool
I like the concept of looking back at old UFCs before an upcoming event.
Nate on the all time GOAT list where does Tito rank?
I have him tied for 2 with Wandy. Wandy’s run was only facilitated by Tito chasing him to Pride(after Wand chased him across the cage)
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"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
I don't even have him on the list. (unless it's exclusively light-heavyweight)
Guys I think are so much more worthy I wont even debate it: Royce, Frank Shamrock, Fedor, Anderson, GSP. Wandelei should be here but that loss to Tito does cause some problems…
Other guys I think are better, but could consider revising: Miletich, Lidell, Sakuraba, Minotauro, Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Shogun.
Off the top of my head, these are 13 guys that should be above Tito in a historical ranking. I could think of more, probably.
Even if we’re only talking about 205ers I don’t think he makes top 5.
I should have clarified 205 only
try to weight it using historical context a bit, because just like Chuck and Wandy he is a product of match ups as much as anything else. Chuck KO’d exclusively wrestlers in the UFC and would have found a much harder go of dominating guys like Page, Shogun etc at any point in his career. Wandy on the other hand didn’t face as many wrestlers and fought a lot of 178 pound Judokas. Machida, Shogun and possibly Jones skill for skill are the three best ever probably but that makes it boring. I am talking one of those all time division lists.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on May 25, 2011 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I did try to weight it historically. Even if we limit this to 205 (or close to it), I’d say that Chuck, Wanderlei, Dan Henderson and Frank Shamrock are better qualified than Tito. I’d also argue for Sakuraba, Randy, Shogun and Rampage, though these are a bit harder to justify (for different reasons). Machida is bellow Tito, but still has plenty of time to go above him (as does Jon Jones, who doesn’t belong on the list yet, but I’m sure will someday). I’m still probably missing some names…
Tito's run is what makes him tied for 2
He ran Wanderlei out of the UFC, smashed Tanner, beat Mezger who for many years was an all time top ten guy for me, holds the record for most defenses(and all but the Sinosic one were legitimate defenses not worth any more criticism than any other champion with a long defense record)
And I have always operated under the belief that Shamrock retired partially to avoid a rematch with Tito, as we all know who would have won a second fight in all likelyhood…
I’d say that Chuck, Wanderlei, Dan Henderson and Frank Shamrock are better qualified than Tito. I’d also argue for Sakuraba,
Because I think there are strong cases that two of these fighters left the UFC because of Tito, this weighs heavily in his favor.
Saku is a glaring omission on my part actually, but a young Tito would have beat him I am quite sure.
Dan however has a really good case, and overall is much higher on my all-division list than Tito. But when we just look at his 200/203/205 accomplishments, he isn’t as high. His UFC tournament title is better considered a modern day MW title, and he immediately lost to Wanderlei and sent packing to 183 immediately after Wanderlei was kicked out the UFC by Tito. Then the only big fights Hendo won for the next six years were MW bouts and he would lose to every top ten LHW until he beat Belfort(dont know what he was even ranked then though) and Wanderlei back to back in 06. Dan’s only 205 worthy accomplishment before Wandy 2 was his rings tournament victory(which was really a HW title at the most elite level but we’ll count it)
Then he immediately loses the Pride title without a defense to Jackson, hangs around MW for the next few years until his current SF run.
Pound for pound he has a lot of accomplishments and accomplishments spanning as long as any fighter in history, but LHW-wise Tito’s defenses and strength of schedule is just better.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on May 25, 2011 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions
LHW all time list in order, sort of*
1. Chuck
2a Wandy
2b Tito
3. Shogun
4. Machida
5. Page
6. Frank
7. Hendo
8. Randy
9. Jones(let him defend it once or at least beat somebody before we crown him)
- I made this order up as I typed and as such devoted no thought to it. I could easily change these rankings easily but unless I am making a glaring omission the fighters would remain the same.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
Not bad at all
But I’d have to put Page over Machida.
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by Derek Suboticki on May 25, 2011 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions
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