Okay maniacs, here are the quick UFC 66 results:

–Chuck Liddell defeats Tito Ortiz in round three via technical knockout

–Keith Jardine defeats Forrest Griffin via technical knockout in round one

– Andrei Arlovski defeats Marcio “Pe de Pano” Cruz via knockout in round one

– Jason MacDonald defeats Chris Leben via guillotine choke in round two

– Michael Bisping defeats Eric Schafer in round one via technical knockout

– Thiago Alves defeats Tony DeSouza via technical knockout in round two

– Gabriel Gonzaga defeats Carmelo Marrero via armbar in round one

– Yushin Okami defeats Rory Singer via strikes in round three

– Christian Wellisch defeats Anthony Perosh via unanimous decision

Thoughts on PPV action:

Tito-Chuck 2:

I can’t say I’m shocked by the result. Sure, it’s easy writing about a result after the fact. But, Tito just hasn’t fought anyone on Liddell’s level in YEARS. I thought maybe his cardio could get Liddell in trouble. But instead, he decided to stand and trade with a ferocious striker.

People aren’t supposed to make the same mistakes twice, right?

Tito looked poor trying to take Chuck down from way outside. And when he did get Chuck down, the champ popped right back up.

I’ll tell you what, I give Mario Yamasaki a lot of credit for not stopping this fight in the first round. Chuck had Tito hurt bad, but he let it go. There were a lot of folks who thought “Big John” was the only guy who could handle this type of assignment. Mario, however, did a fine job. He gave Tito every chance to extend the fight … but it just wasn’t in the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” tonight.

By the way, Eddie Bravo — the guest judge — did give Tito round two. I didn’t see it that way. Chuck hurt Tito bad in round one, opening up a nasty cut over his right eye and went on to just pound Ortiz.

For what it’s worth, Chuck didn’t look amazing. In fact, he looked a little gassed coming out for round three. If Tito was able to get him down, I think he could have done some damage.

Just to drive home this final point, Liddell could barely catch his breath during the post-fight interview.

Whatever … bring on Rampage.

Griffin-Jardine:

Man, I’m a sucker for Forrest Griffin. Or, Alfred E. Neumann super-sized, as Randy Couture likes to call him.

Unfortunately, tonight he got beat at his own game.

For the first half of round one, Griffin dominated the action, firing off stinging low kicks to Jardine’s legs and stiff jabs to his face.

Jardine, however, could not be stopped.

Toward the waning minutes of round one, he caught Griffin with a sweet uppercut. Normally, that wouldn’t phase the gritty Griffin. But, “The Dean of Mean” followed it up with a nice left cross that put Griffin on his back.

After that, Jardine smelled blood and hopped in Griffin’s guard to deliver six — and I counted them thanks to TIVO — vicious head bouncers.

The referee had no other option other than to stop the fight.

Even Griffin admitted in his brief — and colorful — post-fight interview, he got beat at his own game.

Great fight, Keith.

Leben-MacDonald:

I think Chris Leben is great for the sport. But, I also think he’s outclassed at 185.

Tonight, MacDonald proved just that.

Quick rant: Leben is a soft 5′10″. Sure, he’s got “bricks” in his fists and can take a punch like Rocky Balboa. But, at what point does a man realize that in his physical condition — and keep in mind he weighed in at 186 — he needs to either bulk up or trim down?

MacDonald — four inches taller — showed up wirey and chiseled (kinda like Anderson Silva, no?). He didn’t look great in the opening minutes, but he let “The Crippler” walk right into his trap — an awkward rear-naked/guillotine choke.

Leben — to his credit — didn’t puss out like his Team Quest teammate Ed Herman, deciding to go to sleep rather than tapout.

What does it say about a fighter when Team Quest Captain Randy Couture picks the opponent (MacDonald) to pull out the upset before the bout even starts?

That’s a man who doesn’t let his passion get in the way of MMA smarts. It’s also the reason I made a nice little profit this evening ;).

Either way, “The Athlete” has made a statement as a force to be reckoned with in the 185-pound class as the the “Team Quest Killer.”

By the way, is there any other better nickname as the “Gracie Hunter”?

It looks like we have the UFC version of Sakuraba when it comes to Team Quest.

Arlovski-Cruz:

This is one of the stranger fights I’ve seen in a while.

Arlovski — who thank God finally jettisoned the crew cut — looked jacked.

Cruz, however, managed to take the former champ down in the opening minutes and looked to have the fight right where he wanted it — on the ground.

The accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu champ, however, couldn’t capitalize. Arlovskli handled himself well on the ground and eventually the referee — Herb Dean — called a stop to the action after Arlovski booted Cruz in the face (illegal in UFC when fighters are on the ground).

He checked to make sure Cruz was okay, and when the underdog gave Dean the thumbs up, Arlovski nailed Cruz with a right cross when the action was restarted.

Cruz rolled and went for an ankle lock, but Arlovski reigned down punches that put “Pe de Pano” to sleep.

Great win for Arlovski, but I’m still scratching my head. I think Cruz forgot for a second that he was in a mixed martial arts bout — not a grappling match.

Who’s next for “The Pitbull”? I can’t wait to find out.

He’s back.

Bisping-Schafer:

I’ll be honest, I was a little worried about Bisping tonight. He hasn’t really fought a solid opponent in more than a year.

It didn’t matter, he took out Eric Schafer in the latter end of round one with a barrage of punches, which was set up with a high kick to the face.

As for Schafer, he wasn’t a pushover. He almost caught “The Count” in a few slick submissions before getting pounded out.

This is one of those fights that Bisping won, and Schafer didn’t lose.

I give the guy credit … he’s crafty.

It just wasn’t his night.

Final thoughts:

I’ve got mixed feelings about the action this evening.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some great stoppages and upsets. The undercard action was great. We’re definitely going to see a lot more of Jardine and MacDonald, which is good news.

Having said that, I’m not quite sure what I was expecting. But, for the “biggest fight in UFC history” it just didn’t live up to the expectations that I had set for it.

And, that’s my fault.

I think it all comes down to the championship bout. Tito, in my mind, could have beaten Liddell tonight, I truly think it was possible. I’m not an Ortiz fan, either.

At the very least, I expected him to do something different than the first fight … and he just didn’t.

He made mention to the fact that he might have broken his foot in the third round. Couture actually speculated the same when it happened.

But even before that, when Tito hit the ground, he just covered up. He didn’t really try and scramble, grab an ankle, or anything for that matter — he just let Chuck pound him.

I have no idea to the extent at which Liddell hurt Ortiz or he was hurt. I just think he could have done so much better.

Put simply, he may have left too much in the Octagon.

del.icio.us:UFC 66 results and impressions digg:UFC 66 results and impressions     December 31st, 2006

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13 Comments »

Comment by farrenator
2006-12-31 00:53:43

how did tito lose again i thought he was good

 
Comment by LarryLar
2006-12-31 01:04:02

Chuck Rules

 
Comment by Juan Carlos
2006-12-31 02:25:19

Big Big disappointment from Tito’s performance … I thought Tito had a lot more to show us and a lot more to demonstrate. I think he wasted a lot of energy and a lot a time trying to fight Chuck from the outside. I couldn’t believe that this fight ended up like this… I honestly was expecting something else… Like I said Big disappointment from Tito..

 
Comment by UFCmania
2006-12-31 08:34:26

Yes, Rampage will fight Marvin Eastman at UFC 67. I was more or less making the sloppy point that the fight (Liddell-Jackson 2) should happen at somepoint in 2007.

 
Comment by MIKE C
2006-12-31 13:06:10

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT TITO ORTIZ LET THE CHANCE OF HIS LIFETIME SLIP THROUGH HIS HANDS SO EASILY. FOR BEING IN THE BEST CONDITION OF HIS LIFE AND GETTING THE CHANCE TO GET THE BELT THAT WAS A PRETTY PATHETIC PERFORMANCE HE GAVE LAST NIGHT. THE BAD THING ABOUT THIS IS I AM A TITO FAN, BUT NOT ANYMORE AFTER LAST NIGHT. THE REF SHOULD HAVE LET THE FIGHT CONTINUE SO THEIR WAS ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION ON THE WIN. CHUCK LIDELL DOES NOT HAVE THE SKILLS OR DISCIPLINE TO RETAIN THIS BELT. HOPE YOU CHOKE ON IT IT CHUCK OR SHOULD I SAY “LUCKY CHUCKY” AS ALWAYS.

 
Comment by UFCmania
2006-12-31 13:12:17

The more I think about it, Chuck didn’t seem to have his A-game last night. Dunno, I think Tito could have caught him on a bad night but just couldn’t capitalize.

Perhaps that’s more a testement to how good Chuck is.

 
Comment by MIKE C
2006-12-31 13:26:53

OR THAT THE FIGHT WAS BOUGHT..

 
Comment by CHUOLNEGRO
2006-12-31 14:29:00

I SORT OF GOT THE IDEA THAT TITO WAS SOMEWHAT AFRAID OF CHUCK , AND WAS WAY OVER CAUTIOUS. HE CONSISTANTLY ALLOWED LIDELL TO MAINTAIN HIS STRIKING RANGE, AND HE WAS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT PROTECTING HIS FACE, THEN SMASHING UP CHUCK’S FACE. TITO SAID AFTER THE FIGHT THAT HE FOUGHT THE BEST HE COULD ,….. WELL I’VE SEEN HIM FIGHT MUCH BETTER, I REALLY THINK IT WAS THE FEAR FACTOR! JUST ASK JOE ROGAN (LOL)

 
Comment by MIKE C
2006-12-31 18:03:26

THE WAY I SEE IT IS TITO CONTIUNUOUSLY STATED HE WAS GOING TO TAKE CHUCK DOWN. NOW FROM A PAYING CUSTOMERS POINT OF VIEW IS TITO ORTIZ IS THE PRODUCT AND WE “THE FANS” ARE THE CONSUMERS. TITO FAILED TO PERFORM TO THE CONSUMERS(FANS) EXPECTATIONS. AND IF EVERYBODY SAW THE SAME FIGHT I DID. I’M TAKING THIS DEFECTIVE PRODUCT BACK FOR MY MONEY. I THINK TITO LET ALOT OF FANS DOWN LAST NIGHT, BUT THIS IS ONE FAN WHO IS NO LONGER TO THE UFC OR TO TITO ORTIZ. SHAME ON THE UFC AND TITO FOR THE BAD PERFORMANCE. THIS IS ONE FAN WHO CHOOSES NOT TO SUPPORT TITOS AND UFC CEO’S LAVISH LIFESTYLES ANY LONGER!!!!BYE BYE UFC AND ALL THE ****TALKERS THAT CAN’T BACK UP WHAT THEY SAY.. MAKES ME WANT TO START TRAINING AGAIN MYSELF SO I CAN TAKE CHUCK THE SNOWMAN DOWN MYSELF DOWN. ANY REMARKS????

 
Comment by Rob
2007-01-01 14:19:01

Mike C, you have voiced a few points that were almost suspiciously coming across with validity. Then I quickly noticed your fault, your fault is really not in your fluffy message or your over-ambitious use of caps-lock, no your fault my friend is that you’re just an idiot. Go ahead and strap-on those gloves. By the way, when you do, you might want to tie up your shoes first, or should I say pull the velcro across so it’s very snug. cheers, Rob

 
Comment by Erhardt
2007-01-01 16:44:11

Arlovsky got lucky. Herb Dean is the worst referee. He stops the action on the ground, and then starts giving warnings and instructions to two fighters who barely speak english. Pe De Pano Cruz didn’t have a clue what was happening at that point. All of the sudden it’s on again - and Arlovsky basically wins by sucker punch. That fight should have been stood back up!

 
Comment by Big Al
2007-01-03 16:09:21

Chuck said it best in one of his pre-fight interviews- “If Tito wants to take me down he needs to prove he can stand and strike with me.” Tito could not. Randy Couture was able to take Chuck down in his their first fight because he was able to give him a good stand up battle; Tito does not have the hands (and feet) required to beat a guy like Chuck. Yeah, Chuck was gassed a littled in round 3 but that was likely from punching himself out on Tito’s face. Also, the UFC promo about, “Tito Ortiz has won his last 5 fights…” OH PLEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!! Let’s review those fights- 1) A past-his-peek Vitor Belfort with a mediocre ground game whose sister was kidnapped in Brazil prior to the fight, Ken Shamrock TWICE (zzzz), Patrick Cote who was out of his league and weight class and a questionable win over Griffin. This is not the resume of someone who is going to defeat a guy with recent knock outs Coture (TWICE), Vernon White, Jeramy Horn, etc, etc, etc…

 
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