UFC 73

[Triad]

Date: July 7, 2007
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
Venue: Arco Arena
Broadcast: Pay-Per-View

Champion Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt (for middleweight title)
Champion Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca (for lightweight title)
Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson
Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels
Drew Fickett vs. Chris Lytle
Jorge Gurgel vs. Diego Saraiva
Mark Bocek vs. Frank Edgar
Edited by: Triad

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Thanks Triad. Not too impressive of a card yet. Gonna pull for Sherk for sure, and I guess I'll have to pull for Tito as well...hope he ground & pounds over-rated YOshad Evans to a pulp. I hope they match Nog up against an A-list fighter and add a few more decent fights.

 

[White Shogun]

I'll have to disagree with you on this one Dixie; I like the looks of this card more than any of the recent UFC's. The last few cards were really atrocious; they only appear to be decent cards because of the spectacular upsets that occurred. I mean, really? Cro Cop v Gonzaga? Serra v GSP?

I like the Silva - Marquardt matchup. I am hesitant to pick Marquardt mainly because I have picked the loser to win in practically every UFC this year, lol. But if a dehydrated, weak Travis Lutter can take Silva down, then Marquardt should be able to as well.

I expect Sherk v Franca will be an entertaining fight. My gut says Sherk will bomb Franca from the guard for a gnp TKO or UD, but who knows these days.

I like the Tito v Rashad matchup, although many are picking Rashad. They have similar styles but when was the last time Tito threw a head kick? I hope Tito takes him down (Salmon had no problem) and beats him into a TKO.

I'm not sure who is available right now for Nog to fight. Depending on the opponent, could make for a very good card.

p.s. We're getting too championship fights on one card. That has become extremely rare these days!

 

[Triad]

I think this card will be above average as well. Marquardt isn't widely known but he should give Silva all he wants. Big Nog willprobably face have a tune upfight but the other three bouts should be very entertaining. Besides, we'll have Tito and Rashad trashtalking each other for two more months. They are throwing racial slurs at each other already.

Former UFC champion Tito Ortiz will face The Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight winner Rashad Evans at a UFC 73 event on July 7.

Although a recent skirmish between the two fighters at UFC 69 heated up the rivalry, Ortiz just throw a bucket of fuel on the fire with a recent forum posting about his opponent.

In a thread titled "UFC first woman fighter!!!!!!!!!!!" at The Underground Forum, Ortiz stated:

Rashad Evans!!! He will be my Nappy Headed Ho. On 7-7-07...Let The Punishment Begin!!! Tito Ortiz www.Punishment.com

 

[Guest]

Not too impressive of a card yet.

What? This is probably the best show UFC will put on in 07. It is an awesome lineup.

Why do people have to say "UFC XX looks bad" about every single show? I simply do not understand this phenomenon. Especially when you look at the fights for UFC 73.

 

[Triad]

I think the initial "it's not too impressive, yet" comment was dealing with there only being 4 announced(rumored) fights so far. 3 of the 4 could be main events on other cards (two title fights and Tito/Rashad), but there will be 5 or 6 more bouts added later. I've paid $39.95 for worse.

... About 3 weeks left until Liddell - Jackson

 

[White Shogun]

...About 3 weeks left until Liddell - Jackson

Now THAT card is one that isn't looking too good, despite Liddell v Jackson.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Nevada/WS, I must admit I didn't initially research Marquardt or his record. He seems pretty solid (with wins over Lister, Doerksen, Salavarry, Shonie Carter & Yves Edwards). I'll be pulling for him against Silva. In regards to the card, perhaps I stand corrected!

 

[White Shogun]

Didn't mean to ground n' pound on ya, Dixie!

 

[Triad]

The above card has appropriately been named
UFC 73: STACKED. There is a rumor Cro Cop is trying to get medically cleared to fight on the card but it's only a rumor now.

 

[dkr77]

Looking forward to 73! Marquardt has a good shot at taking that title from A Silva. Sherk and Franca should be a good match with both men having solid stand up and ground skills.

I have never been a Tito fan but I'm rooting for him in this fight. I also hope someone KO's his loudmouth sister / wife (whatever the hell she is) in the stands.

I'm also looking forward to the Lytle vs Joslin fight. Lytle is a tough scrappy midwestern kid who always gives a 100% and Joslin really impressed me with his guard when he fought the human blanket, Josh (the mulatto) Koscheck. I like the way Joslin extended Koschecks hips with an open guard negating Koschecks ability to ground and pound. Joslin impressed me considering that was his UFC debut against a world class wrestler.

 

[Triad]

ttt

 

[remark22]

Well I hope Tito can back his mouth up, I just saw on the news that he said he would make Evans his "nappy-headed hoe." I sure hope he does.

 

[Triad]

A huge Saturday for the interracial combat sports.

Starting with Klitschko-Brewster and then ending with Sherk-Franca and Silva-Marquardt. I just hopes ESPN provides the same coverage as they did for the last UFC PPV.

 

[dkr77]

Well we started off right with Klitschko kicking the crap out of Brewster

Edited by: dkr77

 

[Triad]

Sherk vs Franca was nonstop. Sherk must have the hardest head in MMA. How he survived those knees I will never know. However, it was a complete five round domination.

Herring had Big Nog and let him up.

Ortiz-Evans was anti-climatic.

Marquardt had Round 1 won until the last 25 seconds. It appeared to be a very questionable, quick stoppage especially compared to the Florian stoppage. Florian had to pound his opponent into submission (he tapped) and BJM stops the Silva fight with < 10 seconds left after 3-4 strikes.

So far no mention of UFC on the midnight Sportscenter in stark contrast to when Liddell lost.

 

[White Shogun]

Triad, I felt that Florian was hitting Robinson in the back of the head, even landed at least one on the back of the neck. Did you see this and what do you think about it?

I think there were exactly :02 left when BJM called the fight for Silva. I don't think Marquardt knew how much time was left on the clock but going fetal didn't do him any good. But I wonder if he had turtled up like Franca instead, would Silva have still gotten the stoppage? Would Silva have been pounding on the back of his head instead?

Tito seemed to run out of gas bad. I wonder if the fight coverage on Sportscenter would have been as non-existent if Tito had lost to Rashad Evans?

 

[white is right]

Does anybody feel that Herring pulled the biggest screwup since Golota-Grant? After I watched this fight for the life of me I couldn't understand why he didn't attack an out on his feet fighter. It was like he has a sparring partner mentality. Golota did the same thing against Grant sat there for the entire second round and allowed Grant to clear his head.....

 

[White Shogun]

I thought at first that Nog was out and Herring was merely restraining himself from beating on an unconscious fighter, unlike Evans v Salmon. Some say he wanted no part of Nog's ground game, even if he was only semi-conscious. Even so, some consider it a monumental error on the part of Herring to avoid going for the KO. I have even heard it suggested that he was trying to get the stoppage by making Nog get to his feet when he was incapable of doing so, and force the ref to call it.

The real problem is the inconsistent manner in which the refs stop these fights. Nog appeared to be in la-la land, arm sticking straight in the air, glazed look in his eyes, but the ref let it continue. Yet, BJM stopped the Silva - Marquardt fight with two seconds left. I know Marquardt was curling into a ball on his side, but no one stopped the Sherk fight when Franca was in the turtle, either. Some type of rule change is in order. The turtle has to go, imo. Soccer kicks would take care of that sh*t in short order, lol.

 

[Triad]

I didn't notice Florian's punches to the back of the head but I haven't watched the replay. That is another MMA rule I do not like. The turtle defense is allowed by some refs and others let you pound on the guy. Too much subjective influence by the ref.

I certainly thought Big Nog was more "out" than either Liddell or Marquardt. However, Silva must punch really hard because Marquardt didn't protest, appeared dazed post-fight, and had cuts around both eyes when it didn't appear like he was hit that much.