This Month In MMA History
Lets take a look back in MMA history at fighters who put on great shows, the shows that hosted them and moments in MMA that changed the future of the sport. April was a significant month in MMA history:
R.I.P Pride FC
On April 8th 2007, the world of MMA lost Pride FC-the most exciting MMA organization of all time. Pride 34 took place in the Saitama Super Arena, and fans were treated to eight fights, all of which ended in the first round by submission or T/KO. The swansong event even included a guest appearance by Kazushi Sakuraba, who had left to join Hero’s the year previous. The fight i remember most from that night was the six minute war between James Thompson and the don of moustaches, Don Frye.
‘Bones’ Takes The First Step
The year is 2008, and the world has never heard of Jon Jones. The 20 year old MMA newcomer stepped in to the cage for the first time as a pro , to face Brad Bernard at FFP Untamed 20. Jones finished Bernard with ease in the first round by TKO, Fast forward five years, and Jones is without doubt the best LHW on the globe, and many consider him a top three P4P fighter.
Captain America Meets A Dragon, Retires.
On April 30th 2011, Randy Couture faced Lyoto Machida at UFC 129. The fight itself was pretty one sided, to say the least. The always evasive Machida did his best to stay out of Couture’s clinch, and in the second round Couture was put to sleep with a vicious crane kick to the melon. This marked the final outing for the MMA legend, after a lengthy, record-breaking career. My favorite Couture moment was when he put the screws to Tim Sylvia for five rounds, to win the UFC heavyweight title back in 2007.
Shamrock And Gracie At UFC 5
This was the early days of MMA, guys would fight for 30 minutes to decide who was the best fighter in the world, and in the UFC. UFC 5 was an extremely highly anticipated card, headlined by the rematch of the feuding Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.The two had met at UFC 1, in a fight which ended with a submission win for Gracie, much to Shamrock’s dismay. The two men battled for half an hour before committing to an on the spot decision to extend the fight by a further five minutes. Although the result was a draw, I was thoroughly entertained by the scrap, and it helped to introduce the UFC as a marketable sport. Ah, those were the days.
