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UFC Ultimate Submissions

Being a pro wrestling to mixed martial arts convert this UFC showcase of submissions is right up my street. When the Ultimate Fighting Championships first caught my attention the submissions and grappling element is what drew me in.

The submission and ground game are key elements of a mixed martial artist’s skill set. Boxing is known as the “sweet science”, however Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a scientific chess-game in it’s own right. Within octagon competition the key to victory is to knock-out your opponent by kicking or punching your opponent or to force him to tap-out in submission. UFC Ultimate Submissions DVD is loaded with masters of the tap-out.

Let’s see what you get: Highlights here include many stars of the octagon, you’ll see submission master BJ Penn winning Lightweight gold from Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson via rear-naked-choke at UFC 80, Newcastle.

TUF generation bad-ass Nate Diaz versus Kurt Pellegrino. Caesar Gracie trained Diaz is a human highlight reel of tap-out victories. Witness Pellegrino tap, constricted by a world class triangle-choke, complete with a Diaz biscep flex, adding insult to injury, accompanied by a double display of the middle finger, I told you he’s a bad-ass!

Former UFC World Heavyweight champ Frank Mir, possibly THE best heavyweight submission artist shows us how to break a giant’s arm, bringing the pain to Tim Sylvia via Armbar.

So what else do you want? Damian Maia? Yes, he’s here too, putting Ed Herman to sleep in a nasty Triangle Choke.

Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva – Middleweight champ and arguably THE best pound for pound fighter on the planet shows you just why he’s called that, making 2 tap-out career highlights.

Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre the other best pound for pounder, exhibits superb submission skills, submitting world class wrestler Matt Hughes in their  third encounter.

The finale of the main feature sees Frank Mir make another appearance, highlighting his leg-lock submission win over the debuting Brock Lesnar. A perfect example of technique overcoming power.

As well as the icons of the octagon, look out for Rousimar Palhares, Evan Dunham, Cole Miller and Dan Miller – true grappling wizards.

Bonus features: Along with the current fighters showcased, this special collector’s DVD boasts 10 classic submissions from the Zuffa vaults, featuring legends of the cage.

A must-see is Japanese MMA icon Kazushi Sakuraba, a submission wrestler and king of the Kimura, submits Brazilian Marcus Silveira at Ultimate Japan 1.

Going way back to UFC 1, pioneering BJJ master Royce Gracie shows us all how it’s supposed to be done, tapping-out ‘The Baddest Man On The Planet’ Ken Shamrock, himself a submission specialist.

Other legends featured are Marcus Ruas, Tank Abbott, Marc Coleman and ‘The Natural’ Randy Couture.

10 more bonus classic submissions are also included from the likes of Hughes, Penn, Mir and GSP.

Third added extra is a highlight reel of combatants such as our very on Dan Hardy – who just won’t tap!

It’s got to be said this collection is further enhanced by the commentating of Joe Rogan, a BJJ practitioner who’s knowledge comes to the fore explaining the holds and positions to the uninitiated. It’s too easy to take Joe’s knowledge for granted.

Make space for UFC Ultimate Submissions on your DVD shelf, a must have for all MMA fanatics.

UFC Ultimate Submissions is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD & Blu-ray releases.

UFC DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC 111: St. Pierre vs Hardy

UFC 111 is all about the great British hope – Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy challenging welterweight king Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre.

Co-main event status comes in the form of Heavyweight Interim Champion decider – Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin. Coming into the cage with Carwin, Mir was not just there to decide the interim belt wearer, but equally as important in the mind of Mir was the possibility of being booked against Brock Lesnar for a third, the opportunity to avenge a loss.

Carwin headed into the bout undefeated, with high hopes and tremendous power. Shane looks awesome here in this epic contest, KO’ing Mir inside round 1, earning his spot to challenge returning title holder Lesnar at            UFC 116.

GSP vs. Hardy: Cocky Hardy earnt respect in this welterweight championship contest. Hardy sells a fight, he brings the heat, plus The Outlaw backs up the talk to the best of his ability. Number one contender Dan entered the 5 round fight boasting an undefeated UFC streak.

Despite not besting the French-Canadian, Hardy is admirable for his staying power, never tapping out to GSP’s numerous submission attempts. Our lad from Nottingham indures the full 25 minutes, Pierre is so damned relentless, overwhelming, taking Hardy down and dominating on the canvas, utilising Olympic-worthy-wrestling.

Unfortunately despite training with BJJ supremo Matt Serra, the man who beat GSP, Hardy is unable to keep the fight standing. To up his game ‘The Outlaw’ needs to improve his take-down defence. The problem is St. Pierre any elite fighter appear pale in comparison, including former lightweight champ BJ Penn.

A personal fave – Nate Diaz makes an appearance in the prelims of UFC 111, facing Rory Markham. Always exciting Diaz putting in a dominating performance.

Rounding out the package giving you value for money are the bonus features on disc 2. UFC 111 Countdown is a must-see, focussing on the co main event (GSP vs Hardy was treated to the Prime Time TV specials, omitted from this release).

Behind The Scenes follows the UFC crew and fighters media-work, promoting the event in New York, a stones throw away from Newark, New Jersey, host to UFC 111. The featurette gets close up and personal with Nottingham’s latter day outlaw – Dan Hardy.

We’re also introduced to less familiar UFC family member  - Kurt Watson, the guy responsible for weighing in the competitors, with that includes taking good care of the scales.

UFC 111 – St. Pierre vs. Hardy is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

UFC DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC 100 - now available on DVD

Back on July 11th 2009 took place the Zuffa brand’s monumental hundredth numbered event. I remember the weekend well having timed my Sky + installation so I had no fear of missing this epic card. The biggest bonus of all the UFC treated those with Sky to the PPV card for free, on an obscure horse racing channel, despite all the Setanta debacle plus hours of extra UFC viewing thrown to boot.

UFC 100 was truly something special, drawing in the punters via a hat-trick of marquee match-ups. Making up that trifecta were all highly anticipated fights 2 of which were contesting over championship title ownership.

Team USA coach Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson versus rival TUF 9 rival, our very own Mike ‘The Count’ Bisping was a fight the fans on both sides of the pond were eager to see, having followed the middleweight contenders coach their nation’s team each week on the MMA reality TV show – The Ultimate Fighter: US vs UK. The outcome of their middleweight showdown was not what I and most British fans hoped for, Bisping was not the best man on the night. Despite the loss for Bisping the bigger disappointment was the way Henderson dived in fist first when his opponent was clearly out of it. It was a brutal move, not good for the sport of MMA, neither was his reaction post fight. If Brit Bisping acted in the same manner smirking, acting all cocky the American crowd would have reacted in a far different way but hey, Mike is the British villain.

The second reason for buying this collectors DVD is Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre successfully defending his welterweight crown versus Thiago Alves, in gruelling 5 round battle of wills.

The hugest history making moment, making up the third part of the triple main event at the top of the card was the most highly anticipated heavyweight title clash between former pro wrestler Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. Lesnar solidified his thrown, sitting at the top of the UFC heavyweight division, dominating Mir in brutal style, thus avenging his only MMA loss. In the process he shut up Mir and all the doubters.

Disc 2 includes 6 preliminary fights, including UFC hall of famer Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman in action against The Ultimate Fighter 1 light-heavyweight finalist Stephan Bonnar. 44 year old Coleman proves he can still do it versus a man 12 years his junior in this bonus bout.  Further bonus material includes Countdown to UFC 100 plus UFC 100: Behind The Scenes.

UFC 100: Making History is a must have DVD, however it is just a shame they chose to edit some of the post fight interviews and octagon entrances from the live recording. Plus a hall of fame induction ceremony, announcing the new inductees would have completed the package. In the world of pro wrestling the WWE make a huge deal of their Hall of Fame inductions annually at the weekend of Wrestlemania, the UFC would do well to do similar, I’m sure the fight fans would love it.

Never Surrender - starring Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

Have you ever entered a competition and thought, “don’t think I’ll win but what the heck it’s worth a shot!” Well that’s happened to me twice now. I was fortunate to win tickets to see WWE Raw live in Sheffield 3 years ago courtesy of the Daily Star’s Fighting Talk weekly column  for wrestling and UFC fans. Come 3 years  later I took a chance again and to my surprise through the letter-box arrived my very own copy of the MMA DVD movie Never Surrender (looks like I ought to stop entering these competitions and hook up with these DVD and BluRay companies).

The DVD cover has a great image of the fighter tipped to play BA Baracus in the movie version of The A-Team, none other than former Light Heavyweight Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Seeing Rampage one of the most recognisable and marketable faces of the UFC has got to grab the attention of both hardcore or casual mixed martial arts fans. It makes it a shame that Rampage doesn’t feature more predominantly in this martial arts action and fight fest. Despite Rampage only having a small role in the film I’ve got to say his prescence added a certain sparkle giving us a hint of Jackson’s potential Hollywood career post action octagon action.

Aside from Rampage, Never Surrender saw several other greats from the Ultimate Fight world make their acting debut in this no holds barred action spectacular including current reigning UFC lightweight champion BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn, welterweight king Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre, middleweight title holder Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva and Pride FC heavyweight veteran Heath ‘The Texas Crazy Horse’ Herring. The movie boasts some cool fight scenes especially with GSP in action taking on thevillains. The problem I found watching the film is the lead character played by Hector Echavarria didn’t connect to the viewer as being the hero you want to get behind, well at least for the first three quarters of the film and by then it seems too late. As often is the case in superhero films such as Batman and Daredevil the villain comes across stronger than the hero, that is what we have here saving the film overall.

Looking past these flaws it still remains a fun action packed movie featuring some awesome fight scenes from some of the very best mixed martial artists competing in the cage today. Oh yes I must not forget the added bonus of some hot chicks taking part in some raunchy sex scenes featuring heavily throughout.

Never Surrender is available direct from www.itvonlineshop.com

The DVD is currently available from www.play.com priced just £9.99 according to issue 52 of Fighters Only (UFC 100 Special). The offer could be for a limited time so grab your copy ASAP to own the acting debut of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackon, then boast to your mates after he becomes a major Hollywood star.

By the way whilst watching the movie see how many UFC fighters appearing you can spot donning Affliction t-shirts, the clothing brand now banned from the UFC.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

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