UFC 72 : Victory

Review by Gary Graham

 From the Odyssey in Belfast – Northern Ireland, UFC 72 continues the UFC’s expansion into Europe with a fight card packed with crowd favourites. The line-up features some of the UFC’s finest rising stars including The Ultimate Fighter alumni like Rory Singer, “Short Fuse” Ed Herman, Marcus Davis and Scott Smith as well as UK fighters Jason Tan, Stevie Lynch and Collin Robinson. Forrest Griffin and Hector Ramirez battle it out in the Light Heavyweight category with Ramirez hoping to strike his way to victory.

Will he have enough to overcome the heavy hands and all-round talent of Griffin? The main event sees Rich Franklin go head-to-head with Yushin Okami. Franklin comes into the fight looking to earn a shot at regaining the Middleweight title while Okami aims at building upon his 4-0 UFC start and claiming a valuable scalp along the way. Who will prevail and who will have to go back to the drawing board?

UFC 72: Victory features the following bouts: Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan DVD Special Features include a behind the scenes featurette. 

The Review

As the UFC take its journey further into Europe they sell out the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  A great Belfast crowd made loads of noise through out the show and helped create that UFC atmosphere that our American crowds give.

The opening contest on this the latest fightDVD release featured Stevie Lynch the hometown man making his UFC debut, Lynch being a Mixed Martial Arts vetran of 16 years is fighting the youngster Dustin Hazelett from he USA.  I like this about the UFC how they give someone local the chance to fight in front of a home crowd.

This fight from the off saw that even though Lynch had the experience he was way out of his depth against the fresh eger Hazlett.  Hazlette dominated from the off and inside the first round drew blood and finished off the Irish man with a choke hold.

As the card progresses the fights are pretty intense and actually it seems to be one of the best fought Pay Per Views I have seen here in the UK.

The two matches I was most looking forward to, obviously included the main event between Rich Franklin and Yushin Okami and the match between Forrest Griffin and Hector Ramirez. 

Griffin was the fan favourite in his match against Ramirez and was given a standing ovation as he entered the octagon. The chants of Forrest rang through the Odyssey area as the fight started and the cheers every time Griffin made contact with a kick or a punch. Ramirez looked in better shape and was almost certainly making the biggest impact in the first round, with some high power punches that soon left Griffins right eye looking red and swollen.  As both fighters came out for the second round Griffin had more of a sense of urgency and was moving forwards more, exchanging some hard jabs with Ramirez, landing some hard hitting kicks.  After 2 rounds of pure standup and with Griffin looking like he was on top, the third and final round was going to be explosive and Ramirez knew he had to give it his all to take the win.  Forrest again comes out fast and furious with a flurry of punches and kicks.  Half way through the final round Griffin slows it down and starts focusing on low leg kicks to Ramirez.  Ramirez showing signs of obvious pain in his legs and this was giving Griffin more opportunity to put together some nasty combinations.  The fight over and it was down to the judges.  Forrest took a unanimous decision and won the bout.

The main event between Rich Franklin and the UFC undefeated Japanese fighter Yushin Okami was one of those fights which on paper looked too close to call. 

The opening round sees both fighters start slow and at one point even Big John McCarthy (ref) told them to pick it up.  With this being a non title fight it had a very lack lustre feel and neither fighters appeared to have any urgency.  The first round over and I have to say it was the dullest round on the card, both fighters just feeling each other out. The second round got under way and started slow.  Franklin starts picking up the fight mid way through the second round, picking his punches and kicks hitting his target.  Franklins confidence was growing throughout the second round as Okami was giving no offence at all.  Midway through the final round Okami took Franklin to the mat and fighting with all his might to get full mount, Franklin fought out and back to his feet and almost got out caught out with a choke.  Okami back onto Franklin and takes him to the mat again almost again nearly getting an armbar locked in.  Franklin survives Okami’s final assault but it was not enough.  The judges decision saw Rich Franklin winning by  29 – 28.

Overall a great Pay Per View and I have to say it does bode well for the future of the UFC in the UK, with bigger and stronger cards hitting our shores.

 DVD Contents:

Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami 

Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez  

Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida 

Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer  

Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith 

Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson 

Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch  

Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan

UFC 72: Victory is available on DVD at all good stores from 5th November 2007 at £17.99 or online from www.fightdvd.co.uk, the premier UK site for mixed martial arts DVDs.