UFC 98

So this past weekend I went to UFC 98 in Las Vegas.  I'm not a die hard fan of MMA, but I am definately a fan of the UFC.  I don't watch every MMA thing out there, but some friends and I usually take turns getting the UFC fights on a pretty regular basis.  I also usually try to watch the Ultimate Fighter competition whenever I get a chance.

So when my wife told me that her brother was getting married in Vegas,  and it happened to be over the same weekend as UFC 98 I started to think about trying to get tickets.  When I heard it was a title fight between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida (one of my favorite UFC fighters) I knew I was going to get tickets.  A title fight in Vegas?  Of course I was going to try to get tickets. Off to TicketMaster I went. 

Hmm, the tickets started at $125 and just went up from there, but by the time I got the tickets the cheapest I could get were second row balcony in section 221 $250 instead of $125.  Better seats than the cheap ones, but a bit more than I wanted to spend, bah it was a title fight!

My wife and I got to the fights around 6:40 (we couldn't make it to the undercard unfortunately), we couldn't find section 221, what the heck!  So we find an usher and ask for some help.  "Oh, your section was removed, you're now sitting in these seats." she said as she handed us a new pair of tickets.  The new tickets were for section 19 Row P.  Instead of being in the second row of the balcony section we were now sitting halfway down the lower bowl! Sweet! The new seats were awesome.  We were close to where the fighters came in, we were closer to the octagon. I love the UFC!

 Just before the fights start, they showed a bunch of hightlights from past events on the jumbo tron screens, it really got the crowd in into everything before the opening fight.

Sean Sherk vs Franklin Edgar

At first when I saw this match I thought Sherk would take this easy, and I told my wife that.  Well apparently I was wrong.  The fight went all three rounds, and throughout the match Edgar did a great job of avoiding the worst of Sherk's strikes, while landing plenty of his own strikes.  On top of that the Sherk got noticeably tired as the fight went on.   When the final bell sounded there wasn't much doubt that Edgar would take it.  Sherk did alright, but Edgar definitely came out ahead in this match. 

Dan Miller vs Chael Sonnen

In the pre-fight fighter interviews Sonnen made the statement that he was a bit better than Dan Miller in all areas, and he was right.  The fight started off great for Dan Miller.  He got Sonnen in a guillotine early on, but couldnt' seal the deal.  Then somehow Sonnen turned it around and was dominated the rest of the fight.  For the remainder of the fight Sonnen had Miller down on his back, and just kept grinding away at him.

Drew McFredries vs Xavier Foupa-Pokan

This looked like it was going to be a great match.  Two strikers that looked ready to pound on each other.  Well I was wrong again.  Roughly 30 seconds into this fight it was stopped.  McFredries came out swinging and just overwhelmed Foupa Pokan.  He didn't know where he was when it was all over.

The grudge match - Matt Serra vs Matt Hughes.

Everyone I talked to that watched the fight at home said this was a boring fight.  I have to disagree.  This was a great fight in person  I don't know if it was the mood of the crowd after seeing the pre fight interviews where the fighters said how much they hated each other.  I don't know if it was the fact that live crowd was divided in who they were rooting for, or if fights are better in person, but this was a fun fight to watch.  Some of the take downs made by both guys were just awesome moves.  They'd both be standing one second, then with a flick of a foot, WHAM! Down they went.   Overall, I had a feeling Hughes was going to take the fight.  Serra had a great first round, but after that Hughes seemed to have control of the fight, not by much, but I thought he was going to win.  There was a lot of vocal debate in my section rooting for one side or the other, and when the winner was announced, it was Hughes.

The title fight - Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida

I was stoked for this fight.  I had been waiting to see this fight since it was announced that Evans was going to fight Machida instead ofRampage Jackson.  I had been rooting for Keith Jardine to win the fight against Rampage so that the UFC 98 fight would be Evans vs Machida, and so when Rampage won I was a little dissapointed.   Not terribly, but still I had wanted Evans/Machida.  When Jackson pulled out due to injury he made this fight night even better for me. 

The opening bell sounds, and off they go.....and they didn't do much for about two minutes.  There was just a lot of dancing, and feinting for about half the first round.   I was starting to get nervous that this was going to be another Silva fight, when Machida finally landed a kick. "Great!" someone in the my section yelled "Machida is going to win this round with a single kick!". 

Well the action wasn't great in the first round.  There were a few flurries here and there, nothing major.  Machida did his usually counter-striking strategy, and Evans definitely respected it.  The flurries that did happen were almost all a result of Evans attacking first.  Unfortunately for Evans, he got the worst of just about every flurry, not that he got hit badly, but he definitely got the worst of the exchanges.

The second round starts, and there is a bit more dancing, but not as bad as the first round.   Machida was actually starting to initiate some of the exchanges.  Then, about a minute in, Machida counters an Evans attack, and just keeps wading in.  He gets a few solid shots on Evans, not hard enough to really hurt Evans, but enough to rattle him.  The key is that Machida doesn't back down at all, he just keeps wading in, and doesn't let Evans catch his balance.  Eventually Machida gets a good opening, and nails Evans in the chin.  Evans goes down hard, knocked out standing up.  It was a great image of Machida running around the ring with his arms up, while the Evan's fight team and the doctor circle around a laid out Evans.  Evans' feet sticking out of the crowd. 

 All in all, I loved going to the figthts.  I can't wait to go again.  Just a few quick observations

1. The fighters are fast.  Sure they look pretty fast on TV, but they look even faster in person.  Something about the TV cameras doesn't quite dow them justice.  Even on the jumbo trons at the fight they looked slower than they did live.
2. The atmosphere of live fights is incredible.  It makes the entire event that much more exciting.  From the lights, to the loud music, to the energy of the crowd.  Seeing the fights live is an incredible experience.  So much so that my wife, who is not an MMA fan at all, was standing and cheering throughout the fights.  At the end of the fights she asked when we were going again!
3. One of the funnies highlights of the night was the introduction of the a referree.  Yves Lavigne.  The fighters were introduced to the usual chears, and Lavigne got bood loudly.  I thought it was great since I've seen him ref horribly in the past (most noticeably at UFC  96 when he jumpedin the middle of two fighters then DIDN'T stop the fights).  Apparently he had botched another fight earlier that night, and the crowed was already sick of him. 
4. Its a pain getting out of the fights, it took us a good 1/2 hour just to get out of the hotel.  Not a huge deal, but it was a little annoying.