UFC 81 Highlights

UFC 81 was a lesson for Lesnar, a dream for Nogueira and a night full of guillotines and broken dreams inside the world famous octagon.

Here we will look at the highlights from UFC 81, one of the biggest events that captured audiences from two sides of the extreme sports world. Everyone had one question on their mind. Could WWE superstar Brock Lesnar fight in a real mixed martial arts competition. The answer was yes but Frank Mir said no.

I don’t think the AFC fighter knew what was coming when he took the fight with the newly rejuvenated Ricardo Almeida. Almeida had been out of the game for almost four years and he looked better than ever.

All it took was one quick shot and the takedown to set up Yundt for a wicked submission. Once he had Yundt on the mat where he wanted him, he threw a single shot that had Rob in a scramble. During the scramble Almeida grabbed Rob’s neck and sunk in a perfect one arm guillotine that had Yundt in tons of trouble. In an attempt to free himself from the death grip of Ricardo, Rob slammed Almeida and they both ended up landing in a very awkward position on the mat. That only tightened the choke and forced Rob Yundt to tap. Welcome back Ricardo Almeida.

Highlight #2 If anyone else deserved knockout of the night besides Chris Lytle, it was definitely Tim Boetsch. He out struck the striker in David Heath and at one point literally threw him into the cage like a rag doll. It was even more impressive than Georges St. Pierre throwing Matt Hughes across the ring at UFC 79 in December. It seriously looked like he was throwing a child as Joe Rogan put it best.

Tim Boetsch came out and immediately starting controlling the pace of the fight and outworking David Heath in the stand up department. His strikes were accurate and extremely powerful. Heath never seemed to find his ground in this battle of the strikers.

Boetsch picked him apart on the feet landing four or five nice front kicks to the midsection of Heath and a plethora of knees to the chin of David Heath as well. After a group of knees Boetsch threw Heath into the fence which left Heath in a daze. He than unloaded some punches on a defenseless David Heath who just remained crouched on the ground absorbing the blows. The ref stepped in and the fight was over. A job well done for Boetsch who took the fight on only ten days notice.

Highlight #3 All of Brock’s former WWE wrestling friends were their to support their man including Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, and the one and only "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Loads of celebrities were in attendance as well to see how Brock would fair in the world of mma. Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and other big names were there and ready for one of the biggest co-main events ever in the history of mma. Could Brock Lesnar fight for real?

Brock came out like a man on a mission ready to play his part as pro wrestler turned pro mixed martial artist. He looked good and immediately shot in to take Mir down with the ease of a two time All-American NCAA champion. He started to tee off on Mir in the half guard with big right hands and hammer fist until all of a sudden the ref stepped in to break them apart.

Amazingly the ref penalized Lesnar one point for hitting the back of Mir’s head without even a warning. Unfortunately for Brock they stood them back up. As they reached the center of the octagon again, Mir threw a kick that was countered with a right from Brock that sent Mir to the canvas. Lesnar pounced on Mir and began to throw hammer fist like he wanted to send Mir’s head through the the actual canvas. Brock spins around and continues to pound away with short hammer fist and the Mir goes for an armbar.

Brock starts to pound away again and Mir goes for a second armbar. Brock escapes easily and stands up. Mir grabs Lesnar’s leg and Brock tries to pull out his leg but is unsuccessful. Mir secures Brock’s leg and sinks in the knee bar. Mir pulled back Brock’s knee with the fury of a once UFC heavyweight champion who almost lost everything and now had the chance to come back. Lesnar tapped and the fight was over.

Brock definitely answered the question on everyone’s mind. Can he fight? Yes he can, he just wasn’t ready for one of the best heavyweight submission artist of our time. Mir definitely proved than even the biggest strongest man can have a weak point.

Highlight #4 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira becomes the first person to ever hold belts in the UFC and Pride organizations simultaneously. He submitted Tim Sylvia via guillotine choke at 1:28 of the third round but it didn’t come easy for the 31 year old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artist. I gained a new respect for Tim the "Maine-iac" Sylvia and so did some other UFC fans that were present on Saturday, February 2 in Las Vegas for UFC 81.

I already had a ton of respect for Nogueira who has been through countless wars and suffered tons of abuse throughout his mixed martial arts career. But Tim Sylvia proved to be a much better fighter than I thought he was. I knew he was good and underrated as a heavyweight but to out strike Nogueira was amazing to me.

Sylvia picked Nogueira apart for the whole duration of the fight, landing nice combinations and several hard shots. Midway through the first round Tim landed a beautiful left hook, right straight combination that sent Nogueira to the mat. He jumped on Nogueira and began to unleash big right hands but Nogueira, as you know, was not going away. He weathered the storm and eventually regained his composure. Nogueira made it through the first round but took some abuse along the way. The second round was more of the same as Sylvia dominated the stand up. He picked apart Nogueira but Nogueira hung tough for five more minutes.

The third round started out just like the others and it was beginning to look like Sylvia was going to pull out a five round decision by out striking Nogueira. That wouldn’t be the case. Nogueira finally got Tim where he wanted him and in side control at that. Sylvia scrambled and Nogueira caught him in a guillotine that would end the night for the "Maine-iac. Congratulations to Nogueira for becoming the first fighter to ever hold belts in the UFC and Pride. He is the undisputed king of the heavyweight division. Although Fedor might have something to say about that.

Highlight #5 Chris Lytle versus Kyle Bradley was over before it began. Lytle came out like a madman with bad intentions at UFC 81. It didn’t take long, actually only 33 seconds, for Chris "Lights Out" Lytle to dispose of Kyle Bradley by way of strikes in the first round. The professional kick boxer completely overwhelmed Bradley with his boxing, starting things off with a vicious right hand that had Bradley hurt.

After the big right, Lytle stormed Kyle with punch after punch, leaving Bradley dazed and confused as the ref stepped in the help him. Kyle Bradley was so rocked that he thought referee Yves Lavigne was the one fighting him at which point Kyle pulled Yves into his full guard and pulled down on the ref’s head.

The ref eventually subdued him and Bradley finally came to his senses as several people surrounded the two trying to help. It was a very impressive win for Chris Lytle who said in the post fight interview with Rogan that he doesn’t want any of his fights going the distance. He seems to have a new attitude towards his fight game and it looks like it may pay off.