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New Ortiz, Same Result as Liddell Stops ?The Huntington Beach Bad Boy?
By Thomas Gerbasi
LAS VEGAS, December 30 ? Tito Ortiz came to fight tonight, and as he admitted afterwards, he brought his ?A? game. But when you?re facing the best light heavyweight on the planet, sometimes that?s just not enough, as Chuck Liddell defended his UFC crown for the fourth time with a third round TKO of Ortiz before a sell-out crowd of 14,607 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in their long-awaited rematch.
?This is the most satisfying win of my career,? said Liddell who knocked Ortiz out in two rounds in their first bout on April 2, 2004.
But even though Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, showed courage and improved stand up in the UFC 66 main event, it just wasn?t enough to answer to the power of Liddell.
?I?m kind of disgusted with myself because I let my fans down,? said Ortiz. ?Chuck?s the best pound for pound fighter in the world and I?ve got to give that to him.?
Ortiz opened the action 30 seconds in with a leg kick, and seconds later ate his first thunder from Liddell, who shook off a follow-up takedown attempt. Ortiz continued to move forward, but Liddell calmly countered his offensive rushes. Midway through the round, Ortiz found success with his leg kicks and Liddell began to move forward more purposefully, drawing a roar from the crowd as he cut a retreating Ortiz over the left eye and closed in for the kill. Moments later, it appeared that the end had arrived as Liddell put the challenger on the canvas with a left to the temple and pounded away furiously with both hands as referee Mario Yamasaki watched the action closely. Incredibly though, Ortiz survived the onslaught and made it to his feet, the crowd erupting as the bell rang.
Almost immediately going for the takedown to begin the second, Ortiz was again rebuked as Liddell avoided the mat with chants of ?Chuck, Chuck? reverberating through the arena. Perhaps looking to conserve energy for the later rounds, the fighters? pace soon became more measured, though each punch was still being thrown with fight-ending intent. With under a minute to go, Ortiz finally got Liddell to the mat, but ?The Iceman? easily made it back to his feet and out of danger to ride out the round.
Ortiz? customary early round takedown attempt in the third was turned away yet again, but this time Liddell jumped in and flurried on the grounded challenger. ?The Huntington Beach Bad Boy? again showed no fear of the champion as he swung back with a hard haymaker, but Ortiz? ineffectiveness securing takedowns was proving to be his downfall though, as Liddell took every opportunity to make the challenger pay every time he missed one. With under two minutes to go, Ortiz made his final mistake as he attempted to get into a firefight with Liddell and paid for it, as the champion sent his challenger to the canvas, where a final barrage forced Yamasaki to halt the bout at 3:59 of the third stanza.
?I had him hurt and I just kept throwing punches,? said Liddell, who led on one scorecard 20-18 at the end of two rounds, with the other two judges seeing the bout even at 19-19.
With the win, Liddell improves to 20-3; Ortiz falls to 16-5.
In a featured light heavyweight bout, Keith Jardine loudly announced his arrival to the top ten at 205 pounds, scoring a stirring first round TKO of Forrest Griffin in a fight that lived up to its explosive billing despite it?s brevity.
Griffin took an early edge in the bout behind his faster and more accurate strikes, but Albuquerque?s Jardine stayed in the pocket and gave as good as he got, eventually noticing that Griffin was putting his head down when the two would get into heated exchanges.
?I knew I?d catch him with the uppercut sooner or later,? said Jardine, and he was right, as landed a flush right uppercut and followed with a left cross that visibly staggered Griffin. Jardine jumped in and fired off a furious barrage as both fighters hit the mat. ?The Dean of Mean?s assault on Griffin continued unabated, and referee John McCarthy had no choice but to stop the fight at the 4:41 mark in what can be considered a minor upset.
?I was so nervous for this fight but I know I belong here and I knew I was the better man tonight,? said Jardine, now 12-3-1.
Jason MacDonald made it back-to-back wins over members of ?The Ultimate Fighter? cast as he submitted season one?s Chris Leben in the second round of their middleweight bout.
Leben (16-3) controlled the first round behind some solid strikes and good defense as he nullified most offensive attempts by MacDonald, who nonetheless looked to be the fresher of the two fighters when the bell rang, and in the second, the Canadian capitalized, fighting off an early second round surge to put Leben on the mat and sink in a tight guillotine choke which put ?The Crippler? to sleep and prompted
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a stoppage by referee Steve Mazzagatti at the 4:03 mark
?They can start calling me the TUF killer,? joked MacDonald (19-7), who defeated season three?s Ed Herman, in October. ?I wanted to prove to everybody that it wasn?t a fluke the first time. I?m for real. I?m not a steppingstone; I?m a contender.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski returned to the Octagon and broke a two-fight losing streak with a first round TKO of Brazil?s Marcio ?Pe De Pano? Cruz.
The ending of the bout wasn?t as explosive as you would have expected from ?The Pitbull?, but after he and Cruz (2-2) locked up on the mat and a warning was issued to the Minsk native by referee Herb Dean for kicking to the head while on the ground, Arlovski (12-5) shot a right hand in that landed flush and forced ?Pe De Pano? to give his back up. Arlovski pounced, and a series of unanswered blows forced Dean to halt the bout at the 3:15 mark.
?After my last two fights, I was very disappointed,? said Arlovski, who lost consecutive bouts earlier this year against current UFC champion Tim Sylvia. ?I came back very hungry for victory.?
Unbeaten Michael Bisping, winner of the light heavyweight division of ?The Ultimate Fighter?s third season, fought off a game Eric Schafer en route to a first round TKO victory in his first bout since June.
Bisping (13-0) entered the Octagon to the strains of The Clash?s ?London Calling? and drew a thunderous ovation from the crowd that had watched him weekly on the Spike TV reality series. Once the bell rang, Schafer (9-2-2) was unimpressed by his foe?s credentials and made several concerted efforts to end the bout via submission. ?The Count?, who actually hails from Liverpool, kept his cool, and eventually his heavy punches and kicks spelled disaster for Schafer, who was rescued from Bisping?s ground and pound attack by referee Mario Yamasaki at 4:24 of the first round.
In undercard action?
Thiago Alves (17-4) ended 2006 on a victorious note as he knocked out veteran Tony DeSouza in the second round of a scheduled three round welterweight contest.
DeSouza (10-3) had a rough opening round as his confidence in standing with the Muay Thai ace cost him when Alves dropped him with a hard right hand. ?The Pitbull? capitalized on his good fortune as he pounded DeSouza while on the mat, with only the bell saving the ground ace from an early and losing night.
Peru native DeSouza couldn?t keep Alves at bay forever though, and as he charged in for a takedown early in the second, the Brazilian countered with a perfectly timed right knee that put his foe down and out at 1:10 of the round.
Gabriel Gonzaga (7-1) scored the most impressive win of his UFC career, dominating from the opening bell against previously unbeaten heavyweight Carmelo Marrero (6-1) before submitting the Philadelphia native at 3:22 of the first round.
Gonzaga showed a complete MMA game in the Octagon, jarring Marrero with a punch to the head before getting the takedown and working the ground game that has made him a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion. And while Marrero was game as he fought out of a tight side choke, once Gonzaga locked an armbar in moments later, it was game over for ?The Fury?, who was coming off an upset win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 64.
Yushin Okami improved to 3-0 in the Octagon with a third round submission win (due to strikes) over Rory Singer in a middleweight bout.
The first round was mainly tactical, with brief spurts of standup action scattered among the boos that greeted the lack of all out action. The second saw Okami (20-3) try his luck on the ground, but was largely ineffective, and it was Singer who did most of the scoring from the mat with leg kicks as Okami stood and circled his prone foe.
The Kanagawa native broke the fight open in the third though as he took his foe down and grounded and pounded him virtually at will until Singer (11-7) tapped out at the 4:03 mark.
In the opener, heavyweight prospect Christian Wellisch pounded out a hard-fought three round unanimous decision over Australia?s Anthony Perosh.
Scores were 29-28 twice and 29-27 for Wellisch, who notched his first UFC win. Perosh falls to 0-2 in the Octagon and 5-3 overall.
Wellisch (8-2) got the better of his foe in a fast-paced first round, even dropping Perosh with a right hand late in the frame, but ?The Hippo? rebounded in the second with a right hand of his own which put Wellisch in deep trouble. Perosh?s eagerness to finish after the knockdown, coupled with increasing fatigue, caused him to lose two rear naked choke attempts, and ?The Hungarian Nightmare? was able to survive. Needless to say, both fighters were spent for the third round, but in the final minute, the bloody battlers opened up and went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the bout.
By Thomas Gerbasi
LAS VEGAS, December 30 ? Tito Ortiz came to fight tonight, and as he admitted afterwards, he brought his ?A? game. But when you?re facing the best light heavyweight on the planet, sometimes that?s just not enough, as Chuck Liddell defended his UFC crown for the fourth time with a third round TKO of Ortiz before a sell-out crowd of 14,607 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in their long-awaited rematch.
?This is the most satisfying win of my career,? said Liddell who knocked Ortiz out in two rounds in their first bout on April 2, 2004.
But even though Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, showed courage and improved stand up in the UFC 66 main event, it just wasn?t enough to answer to the power of Liddell.
?I?m kind of disgusted with myself because I let my fans down,? said Ortiz. ?Chuck?s the best pound for pound fighter in the world and I?ve got to give that to him.?
Ortiz opened the action 30 seconds in with a leg kick, and seconds later ate his first thunder from Liddell, who shook off a follow-up takedown attempt. Ortiz continued to move forward, but Liddell calmly countered his offensive rushes. Midway through the round, Ortiz found success with his leg kicks and Liddell began to move forward more purposefully, drawing a roar from the crowd as he cut a retreating Ortiz over the left eye and closed in for the kill. Moments later, it appeared that the end had arrived as Liddell put the challenger on the canvas with a left to the temple and pounded away furiously with both hands as referee Mario Yamasaki watched the action closely. Incredibly though, Ortiz survived the onslaught and made it to his feet, the crowd erupting as the bell rang.
Almost immediately going for the takedown to begin the second, Ortiz was again rebuked as Liddell avoided the mat with chants of ?Chuck, Chuck? reverberating through the arena. Perhaps looking to conserve energy for the later rounds, the fighters? pace soon became more measured, though each punch was still being thrown with fight-ending intent. With under a minute to go, Ortiz finally got Liddell to the mat, but ?The Iceman? easily made it back to his feet and out of danger to ride out the round.
Ortiz? customary early round takedown attempt in the third was turned away yet again, but this time Liddell jumped in and flurried on the grounded challenger. ?The Huntington Beach Bad Boy? again showed no fear of the champion as he swung back with a hard haymaker, but Ortiz? ineffectiveness securing takedowns was proving to be his downfall though, as Liddell took every opportunity to make the challenger pay every time he missed one. With under two minutes to go, Ortiz made his final mistake as he attempted to get into a firefight with Liddell and paid for it, as the champion sent his challenger to the canvas, where a final barrage forced Yamasaki to halt the bout at 3:59 of the third stanza.
?I had him hurt and I just kept throwing punches,? said Liddell, who led on one scorecard 20-18 at the end of two rounds, with the other two judges seeing the bout even at 19-19.
With the win, Liddell improves to 20-3; Ortiz falls to 16-5.
In a featured light heavyweight bout, Keith Jardine loudly announced his arrival to the top ten at 205 pounds, scoring a stirring first round TKO of Forrest Griffin in a fight that lived up to its explosive billing despite it?s brevity.
Griffin took an early edge in the bout behind his faster and more accurate strikes, but Albuquerque?s Jardine stayed in the pocket and gave as good as he got, eventually noticing that Griffin was putting his head down when the two would get into heated exchanges.
?I knew I?d catch him with the uppercut sooner or later,? said Jardine, and he was right, as landed a flush right uppercut and followed with a left cross that visibly staggered Griffin. Jardine jumped in and fired off a furious barrage as both fighters hit the mat. ?The Dean of Mean?s assault on Griffin continued unabated, and referee John McCarthy had no choice but to stop the fight at the 4:41 mark in what can be considered a minor upset.
?I was so nervous for this fight but I know I belong here and I knew I was the better man tonight,? said Jardine, now 12-3-1.
Jason MacDonald made it back-to-back wins over members of ?The Ultimate Fighter? cast as he submitted season one?s Chris Leben in the second round of their middleweight bout.
Leben (16-3) controlled the first round behind some solid strikes and good defense as he nullified most offensive attempts by MacDonald, who nonetheless looked to be the fresher of the two fighters when the bell rang, and in the second, the Canadian capitalized, fighting off an early second round surge to put Leben on the mat and sink in a tight guillotine choke which put ?The Crippler? to sleep and prompted
ad
a stoppage by referee Steve Mazzagatti at the 4:03 mark
?They can start calling me the TUF killer,? joked MacDonald (19-7), who defeated season three?s Ed Herman, in October. ?I wanted to prove to everybody that it wasn?t a fluke the first time. I?m for real. I?m not a steppingstone; I?m a contender.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski returned to the Octagon and broke a two-fight losing streak with a first round TKO of Brazil?s Marcio ?Pe De Pano? Cruz.
The ending of the bout wasn?t as explosive as you would have expected from ?The Pitbull?, but after he and Cruz (2-2) locked up on the mat and a warning was issued to the Minsk native by referee Herb Dean for kicking to the head while on the ground, Arlovski (12-5) shot a right hand in that landed flush and forced ?Pe De Pano? to give his back up. Arlovski pounced, and a series of unanswered blows forced Dean to halt the bout at the 3:15 mark.
?After my last two fights, I was very disappointed,? said Arlovski, who lost consecutive bouts earlier this year against current UFC champion Tim Sylvia. ?I came back very hungry for victory.?
Unbeaten Michael Bisping, winner of the light heavyweight division of ?The Ultimate Fighter?s third season, fought off a game Eric Schafer en route to a first round TKO victory in his first bout since June.
Bisping (13-0) entered the Octagon to the strains of The Clash?s ?London Calling? and drew a thunderous ovation from the crowd that had watched him weekly on the Spike TV reality series. Once the bell rang, Schafer (9-2-2) was unimpressed by his foe?s credentials and made several concerted efforts to end the bout via submission. ?The Count?, who actually hails from Liverpool, kept his cool, and eventually his heavy punches and kicks spelled disaster for Schafer, who was rescued from Bisping?s ground and pound attack by referee Mario Yamasaki at 4:24 of the first round.
In undercard action?
Thiago Alves (17-4) ended 2006 on a victorious note as he knocked out veteran Tony DeSouza in the second round of a scheduled three round welterweight contest.
DeSouza (10-3) had a rough opening round as his confidence in standing with the Muay Thai ace cost him when Alves dropped him with a hard right hand. ?The Pitbull? capitalized on his good fortune as he pounded DeSouza while on the mat, with only the bell saving the ground ace from an early and losing night.
Peru native DeSouza couldn?t keep Alves at bay forever though, and as he charged in for a takedown early in the second, the Brazilian countered with a perfectly timed right knee that put his foe down and out at 1:10 of the round.
Gabriel Gonzaga (7-1) scored the most impressive win of his UFC career, dominating from the opening bell against previously unbeaten heavyweight Carmelo Marrero (6-1) before submitting the Philadelphia native at 3:22 of the first round.
Gonzaga showed a complete MMA game in the Octagon, jarring Marrero with a punch to the head before getting the takedown and working the ground game that has made him a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion. And while Marrero was game as he fought out of a tight side choke, once Gonzaga locked an armbar in moments later, it was game over for ?The Fury?, who was coming off an upset win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 64.
Yushin Okami improved to 3-0 in the Octagon with a third round submission win (due to strikes) over Rory Singer in a middleweight bout.
The first round was mainly tactical, with brief spurts of standup action scattered among the boos that greeted the lack of all out action. The second saw Okami (20-3) try his luck on the ground, but was largely ineffective, and it was Singer who did most of the scoring from the mat with leg kicks as Okami stood and circled his prone foe.
The Kanagawa native broke the fight open in the third though as he took his foe down and grounded and pounded him virtually at will until Singer (11-7) tapped out at the 4:03 mark.
In the opener, heavyweight prospect Christian Wellisch pounded out a hard-fought three round unanimous decision over Australia?s Anthony Perosh.
Scores were 29-28 twice and 29-27 for Wellisch, who notched his first UFC win. Perosh falls to 0-2 in the Octagon and 5-3 overall.
Wellisch (8-2) got the better of his foe in a fast-paced first round, even dropping Perosh with a right hand late in the frame, but ?The Hippo? rebounded in the second with a right hand of his own which put Wellisch in deep trouble. Perosh?s eagerness to finish after the knockdown, coupled with increasing fatigue, caused him to lose two rear naked choke attempts, and ?The Hungarian Nightmare? was able to survive. Needless to say, both fighters were spent for the third round, but in the final minute, the bloody battlers opened up and went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the bout.
