BlurayMMA.com

UFC 119 - Mir vs Cro Cop

No championship contests included on UFC 119, however this recent offering features 2 world class marquee match-ups, including a UFC vs PRIDE FC themed fight for the fans.

Countdown show (disc 2) features wicked footage of Mirko – Cro Cop dominating former UFC Heavyweight champ Josh Barnett in Pride, winning the Open Weight Grand Prix. Frank Mir – former UFC title holder declares he’s representing UFC honour in fighting Croatian Cro Cop.

Aside from the UFC vs Pride angle the featurette tells the story of Mir restrategising, following losses to hugely powerful wrestlers Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

We learn more about Ultimate Fighter winner Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader, who trains with former wrestling team-mates CB Dollaway and the reigning Heavyweight king Cain Velasquez. Countdown show clearly illustrates why Bader is a force to be reckoned with in the UFC Light-heavyweight division, Little Nog has his work cut out against the young fast-rising MMA star.

“Young lion” Evan Dunham vs Sean Sherk is hyped up here also, Dunham is clearly getting noticed as he climbs the lightweight rankings.

Having got hyped for those 3 fights you might want to make use of the menus, skipping forward to the top tier of the card.

Dunham vs Sherk: an exciting, close fought contest, won by Sherk, stalling Evan’s climb to the top. Sherk’s wrestling dominance in the clinch coupled with amazing submission defence pipped for the veteran.

Little Nog – Antonio Rogerio Nogueira against Ryan Bader is a fight where the action and suspense doesn’t pick up until round 3. Mostly neither fighter takes advantage throughout the bout. Less experienced Bader edges out the decision win, thanks to a take-down in the final round.

Main event – Pride FC vs UFC match-up pitting Crop Cop against Frank Mir is a much hyped cage-clash that disappoints, the fighters respecting each others abilities just don’t get stuck in. However if you’re prepared to sit through the dullness of the majority of the bout you’ll see Mir amaze, KO’ing the Croatian striker at 4:02 of round 3.

Former TUF coach Matt Serra makes an appearance at UFC 119, versus Chris ‘Lights Out’ Lyttle. You’ll enjoy this if you like a stand-up battle or a Lyttle fan, Serra fans won’t be so joyous. Serra disappoints not utilising his wicked Jiu- Jitsu skills, choosing to fight one dimensional, thus losing to Lytle.

The main card is lacking somewhat, disc 2 with prelims plus bonus features helps make for it. Prelims include fun squash match-ups: Mark Hunt tapped out by ‘Big Sexy’ Sean McCorkle, Thiago Tavares makes the debuting Pat Audinwood tap via guillotine choke plus CB Dolloway impresses on the mat submitting Joe Doerksen within the 1st round.

Matt Mitrione against Joey Beltran is a good scrap, Meat-head always entertains.

Bonus feature Behind The Scenes follows UFC commentator Mike Goldberg’s preparations pre fight night. Home-town hero Chris Lyttle treats us to a tour of the fire station he’s based at, giving us an insight to his life as a fire-fighter and cage-fighter. Charismatic Matt Serra is featured too, doing a video diary.

Not the best fight card match-up-wise but overall a great package.

UFC 119 Mir vs. Cro Cop 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

MMA NOTES-
PRIDE Veteran Henri Miller dropped to 5-9 with a TKO loss to Chang Seob Lee at Heat 12 held in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Miller went 1-4 in PRIDE in 2004.

Jeremy ‘Gumby’ Horn won his official 83rd MMA fight when he submitted Joe Trujillo via Keylock at 2:52 into the first round. The fight took place in Denver, Colorado and Horn has now won 3 straight since his release from the UFC back in January.

A long-rumored bout between Brazilian light heavyweights Luiz Cane (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is now official. The UFC today announced the bout as the fifth and final contest for the main card of UFC 106. Featuring a recently substituted main event of Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin, “UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II” takes place Nov. 21 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The main card airs live on pay per view. Nogueira is a 10-time PRIDE veteran, and 10 of his 17 career wins have come via stoppage.

Welterweights Jon Fitch (19-3 MMA, 10-1 UFC) and Mike Pierce (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) have agreed to meet at “UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez.” The bout will be on the main card. Pierce is a replacemnet for Thiago Alves who was forced out of the bout with an injury.

UFC veteran Jason ‘The Athlete’ MacDonald will face his sixth former competitor of the Ultimate Fighter show when he faces Season 3 veteran Solomon Hutcherson in a middleweight contest on December 4 at MFC 23: Unstoppable in Canada.
Sources: gerweck.net

EXPO-
There will be an MMA Expo on 1/9 and 1/10 in Philadelphia at the Volley Forge Convention Center with Sean Sherk, Marcelo Garcia and Shonie Carter, Cung Le and  Kim Couture.
Source: wrestlingobserver. com, f4wonline.com

UFC 98 Evans versus Machida and Hughes against Serra.

UFC 98 is fast approaching with just a week to go until May 23rd when the UFC return to Las Vegas and live PPV cage fighting action. The original plan for the main event was all set to decide the UFC Heavyweight championship between Interim champ Frank Mir and defending champion Brock Lesnar in his first title defence but as we all now know that fight is rescheduled for UFC 100 in July.  So we have a little longer to wait but the double main event heading UFC 98 looks wicked.

First off in the top slot Rashad Evans defends the Light Heavyweight crown against challenger Lyoto Machida. For Rashad this will be his first defence of the title against Machida, a very worthy contender. Machida is undeated in the octagon boasting a unique style of countering his opponents attack coupled with a fantastic ability to avoid taking punishment from his attacker. Evans versus Machida the Karate master will be interesting seeing as they are stylistic so different where Evans is a superb wrestler and excellent striker. Can Evans overcome Machida’s strategy or will Lyoto continuing his winning streak and add the UFC Light Heavyweight belt to his trophy cabinet?

Check out this highlight preview video at youtube.com to wet your appetite for their light heavyweight championship showdown next weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzYdPq59kw

The co-headliner for UFC 98 will be the long-delayed welterweight
bout between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. This one is a grudge match dating back to season 6 of The Ultimate Fighter where Serra and Hughes were the opposing coaches of the welterweight fighters. These guys just do not like each other, it’s as simple as that. Each fighter are two totally opposite characters. Hughes is the Mid-Western famer’s boy with Christian values, then we have Serra a loud mouthed Italian American hailing from New York. It’s fair to say both fighters need to prove themselves in this fight to climb back up to the challengers position for another shot at Georges St Pierre’s Welterweight belt. As with Machida and Evans here again Joe Silva and Dana White have booked another clash of styles which is what makes an exciting fight when you have wrestler against a BJJ submission specialist.  Personally I would love to see Serra take the victory due to how Serra comes across as a nice guy and Hughes is the villain you love to hate.

Follow the build up to Matt Serra versus Matt Hughes at UFC98.
If you enjoyed watching Serra on TUF 6 you will love this, he’s a great little character. Serra is a down to earth engaging guy you would want to go for a beer with.

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb4bK8K2sUQ

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 2, taped on 5/6/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvrkaRUTcCM

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 3 Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog – Day 3 (Last Day, taped on 5/8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhuCp5BUDo4

See Serra and his trainer make media appearances on TV and radio,
including a phone in to Setanta Sports Ultimate Talk from the gym.

Here is the finalised event card in full.

Main Card Bouts:
-Rashad Evans (16-0-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (14-0)
-Matt Hughes (42-7) vs. Matt Serra (11-5)
-Dan Miller (11-1) vs. Chael Sonnen (21-10-1)
-Sean Sherk (33-3-1) vs. Frankie Edgar (9-1)
-Drew McFedries (7-5) vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (20-10)

Preliminary Card Bouts:
-Brock Larson (25-2) vs. Chris Wilson (14-5)
-Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-3) vs. Brandon Wolff (7-3)
-Tim Hague (9-1) vs. Patrick Barry (4-0)
-Phillipe Nover (7-1) vs. Kyle Bradley (13-6)
-Andre Gusmao (5-1) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (17-8-1)
-George Roop (10-5) vs. David Kaplan (3-3)

You can watch UFC 98 live on Setanta Sports in the UK or on pay per view in the USA.

MMA blog by Dynamite Duane

duane@bluraymma.com

www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane