UFC 81: Breaking Point

Introduction

The main event of UFC 81: Breaking Point may nominally have been the Interim Heavyweight Title match between Tim Sylvia and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but in reality, the match that everyone wanted to see was the UFC debut of former WWE champion Brock Lesnar, as he faced Frank Mir.

Mir, a former UFC Heavyweight champion himself, would be no pushover for Lesnar, who despite his stint in the cartoon world of pro wrestling, was a champion collegiate wrestler in his youth. But whereas Mir had 13 fights on his MMA record, the bout was only the second for Lesnar, his first being a quick, dominating victory over Korean Min Soo Kim for the K-1 promotion.

UFC 81: Breaking Point took place on 2nd February 2008, from the Mandalay Bay Events Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. It's a typical UFC production, meaning the camerawork and lighting of the Octagon - the most important things - are tremendous.

The transfer to DVD is also very good, with no digital artefacts noticeable.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good. Audience noise, in-Octagon action, and commentary (provided by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan) can all be easily heard alongside the other.

There is another 2.0 also available, in French.

Extras

A 25-minute "Behind The Scenes" featurette is available as an extra feature here, and is typically excellent. Covering both Mir vs Lesnar and Nogueira vs Sylvia, the details of the former are by far the most interesting, largely due to this being Lesnar's first bout inside the Octagon.

The interview footage serves as an excellent build to each fight, and we get a little look at the fighters' preparation, including the weigh-ins. The post-fight footage is fascinating, too.

Main feature

The preliminary card of UFC 81 began with a Lightweight contest, in which Ultimate Fighter contestant Rob Emerson faced Keita Nakamura. This was a long fight, but was an enjoyable one nonetheless, with a good mix of action standing, and on the ground. A similarly long contest was Marvin Eastman vs Terry Martin in a Middleweight bout, but unfortunately it wasn't anywhere near as exciting.

Tim Boetsch took his Light Heavyweight bout with David Heath on very short notice, but no-one was complaining, given his all-action style of competition. There was some good striking on show here, but a quite unique finish made this contest even more memorable. The proceeding Welterweight bout between Kyle Bradley and Chris Lytle was over almost before it had begun, and with quite the knockout, too.

The event proper began with a Lightweight bout, in which wrestling standout Tyson Griffin faced Gleison Tibau. Griffin simply doesn't have boring bouts, and this was no exception, even if there may be a little more groundwork here than some fans would like.

Brazilian Ricardo Almeida then made his return to UFC after a four-year fighting hiatus, in what was a very short bout with Rob Yundt. Nate Marquardt vs Jeremy Horn was a much more competitive bout in the Middleweight division, and featured an usual submission finish, from a position where one isn't usually possible.

The one that everyone came to see, Lesnar vs Mir, was up next, and even though the bout only lasted ninety seconds, it was a show-stealing ninety seconds, fought with a furious pace, in front of an electric crowd. Unquestionably, this was one of the most memorable bouts in recent UFC memory.

The main event of Tim Sylvia vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was a bout which told an interesting story, with the burly striker Sylvia facing the submission expert Nogueira. While not the greatest of fights, there was an excellent, dramatic finish to this one.

Conclusion

UFC 81: Breaking Point will forever be remember as the night when Brock Lesnar shook up the UFC Heavyweight division, just by his sizeable presence in the Octagon. But in Sylvia vs Nogueira, Griffin vs Tibau, and Boetsch vs Heath in particular, there's more to this release than just that one fight.