UFC 7.5 Ultimate ultimate 95

UFC 7.5 Ultimate ultimate 95
Mammoth Gardens,
Denver, Colorado

• Ultimate ultimate 95. On paper the best card yet. Once again the format is an 8 Man Tournament with 2 unaired alternate belts. There is no Superfight at this event.
• On this card there is 4 previous tournament winners and 3 runners up.
• There is also one major change for this event which is the intoduction of Judges for fights that go the distance

Firstly in the Alternate bouts Joe Charles defeats Scott Bessac via armbar and Mark Hall beats Trent Jenkins via armlock.

Quarter finals

Tank Abbott v Steve Jennum

Jennum who won UFC 3 versus Abbott who was runner up at UFC 6.

Abbott shoots for a take down straight away and uses his strength to push Jennum up against the cage. Abbott throws some punches but Jennum is able to defend the strikes with out taking to much punishment. Abbott continues to push Jennum up against the cage and then puts all his weight on Jennum. Jennum's neck is cranked against the side of the cage and he taps out due to this position. Abbott wins easily.

Dan Severn v Paul Varlaens

The winner of UFC 5 (Severn) versus the runner up of UFC 7.

Severn gets a quick takedown and lands in side position. From this position he works a head and arm choke and Varlaens taps. Another quick fight with Severn winning easily.

Dave Beneteau v Oleg Taktarov

The winner of UFC 6 (Taktarov) versus the runner up of UFC 5. This is also only the second rematch in UFC history ( the first was Gracie v Shamrock).
Both fighters clinch at the start and Taktarov then rolls through and grabs Beneteau's leg and gets the takedown. Taktarov then works for the heel hook. He takes one kick to the face before Beneteau taps. Another one sided fight.

Marco Ruas v Keith Hackney

Ruas won UFC 7. Hackney is the only fighter in the tournament who has not finished in the top two in previous events. He has made enough of an impression in his previous fights to earn his spot in the Ultimate ultimate Tournament.

Both fighters start of cautious. Leg kicks are thrown by both fighters but nothing to effective. Ruas then shoots for a takedown which Hackney is able to defend. Off the defence of the takedown Ruas is able to take Hackneys back while standing and pulls him down to the ground with Hackney on top of Ruas but Ruas still having his back. Ruas is patient and softens Hackney up with strikes to the back of the head before he sinks in a rear naked choke. Hackney taps out.
This fight lasted the longest so far at two and a half minutes.

Semi Finals

Tank Abbott v Dan Severn

Both fighters meet in the middle of the Octagon and Severn shoots for a takedown. Abbott tries to defend the attempt but is eventually taken down. The rest of this fight is spent with Severn holding position and neautralising Abbott. Severn throws strikes but they are more for show as hardly any of the strikes are effective. There is also long spells were Severn just holds Abbott and throws no strikes. Unfortunately Big John did not restart them. The fight went for eighteen minutes with very little action and Severn won by decision.

Oleg Taktarov v Marco Ruas

This fight was also fought at a very slow pace with both fighters being known for there patience. Ruas starts the fight with leg kicks. Taktarov then closes the distance and they both end up against the fence. Ruas then uses is famous foot stomps. Taktarov then rolls for his leg to get the takedown. The attempt is unsuccesful and Ruas ends up on top of Taktarov who manages to put Ruas into his butterfly guard. Taktarov uses the cage to get back to his feet. He then lands with some punches before grabbing the guillotine and pulling guard. The guillotine was not in properly and after about two minutes Big John restarts both fighters on there feet.
This does nothing for the fight as both fighters circle each other and throw a combined total of two leg kicks each in a two minute spell. There is five minutes left and Taktarov tries to push the pace with a couple of takedown attempts but Ruas is able to defend. We once again go to the Judges and Taktarov wins by decision.

Final

Dan Severn v Oleg Taktarov

Im afraid to say that the final is worse than the two semi finals.
This fight follows the same pattern through out the fight. Taktarov tries to roll for a leg to take Severn down. Severn blocks the attempt and ends up in top position. Severn then uses his wrestling skills to move around Taktarov on the ground and to control him with out causing any damage. The fight is restarted but it always ends up in the same position. Both semi finals were eighteen minutes and the final is thirty minutes.
After thirty minutes of nothing Severn wins by decision.

Overall this was great idea on paper but it did not work in reality. The first round fights were all won easily and were not competitive and the semi's and the final were very boring as each fighter cancelled each other out.

Bonus Awards

KO of the night There was no KO's or TKO's

Tapout of the night Dan Severn v Paul Varlaens

Fight of the night Marco Ruas v Keith Hackney

Fighter of the night Dan Severn