Review of UFC 66: Liddell vs Ortiz II

Introduction

The main event of UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz II, was the culmination of a years-long feud between former training partners. It all began when Tito Ortiz headed Team Punishment, as the UFC Light-Heavyweight champion. His training partner was Chuck Liddell, a formidable stand-up fighter with excellent takedown defence. Even with his excellent wrestling, Ortiz always found it difficult to take Liddell to the ground, and thus struggled in many of their training-camp sparring sessions.

After Liddell had cut his own path through the division with impressive wins over Kevin Randleman, Guy Mezger, and Vitor Belfort, he was declared the No.1 contender to Ortiz` title. This did not please the champion, likely because he knew Liddell was a major threat to him. Ducking the challenge of Liddell, Ortiz was stripped of the belt. Only then did the two collide for the first time, at UFC 47 (2nd April 2004), a bout which Liddell won via knockout.

This second meeting between the two, held on 30th December 2006 from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, was a milestone for UFC, and the sport of mixed martial arts in general. For MMA, both the live gate and the pay-per-view buyrate records were smashed, with 14,607 people paying a total of $5,397,000 (as of this writing, £2,708,556) to attend, and 1,050,000 paying $40 each to watch on pay-per-view. Furthermore, more mainstream media attention was paid to this event than any other UFC show in history, building on the premise that UFC should be covered as a sport, in a similar manner to boxing.

Away from the main event, there were other interesting bouts on the card, such as Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine, and England`s Michael Bisping vs. Eric Schafer. Bisping was coming off several impressive UK wins, as well as being crowned the winner of The Ultimate Fighter competition.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. For a presentation that lasts almost three hours, there isn`t a hint of compression problems. Furthermore, the event has been captured superbly considering it was live-to-tape.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good for a DVD of this genre. Everything is well-mixed, meaning that both commentary and in-Octagon action are easily heard. Speaking of which, commentary is delightfully provided by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan.

Other 2.0 tracks are provided in German, Dutch, and French, and there are also subtitles for the former two.

Features

The regular style of featurette accompanies our main feature here, this time centring on the two marquee bouts of Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine, and of course, Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz.

We get a look at the fighters` preparation, training, and tactical thoughts on their bout, as well as some insight into their characters, most notable when each is asked why they love fighting.

The weigh-ins are covered, as are the actual bouts, before we see the immediate dressing-room aftermath, which is a real treat.

Conclusion

UFC 66 began in crunching fashion, with an superbly hard-fought heavyweight bout between Christian Wellisch and Anthony Perosh. For a preliminary match that did not actually air on the pay-per-view broadcast, this was excellent, with neither man really deserving to lose after leaving so much of themselves in the Octagon.

The talented Japanese fighter Yushin Okami was up next, looking for a win over Rory Singer, a veteran of the Ultimate Fighter television show. This was quite the methodical fight, which in this instance is not a different way of saying boring, and contained moments of excellent skill from both.

The third contest of the evening saw Gabriel Gonzaga face Carmelo Marrero, in another heavyweight bout. Marrero was coming off an excellent win against Cheick Kongo at UFC 64, but Gonzaga had taken a seven-month sabbatical from UFC since defeating Fabiano Scherner at UFC 60. In any case, this was a fine bout, made so by the excellent performance of the eventual winner. After the bout, Joe Rogan noted that the same fighter was "a threat in the heavyweight division". Four months later, UFC fans would find out just exactly how threatening he could be.

Things dropped down to welterweight for the proceeding encounter, an entertaining contest between Thiago Alves and Tony DeSouza, who may be recognisable for his appearances as BJ Penn`s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trainer in The Ultimate Fighter. This was somewhat of a one-sided fight, but an intriguing one nonetheless, especially since the eventual loser was hardly a walkover.

England`s Michael Bisping then opened up the actual pay-per-view broadcast, with a bout against noted ground fighter Eric Schafer. This was an impressive back-and-forth fight, which was all-action. There was plenty of good technique shown by both participants.

Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski then began his comeback from two championship losses to Tim Sylvia, with a bout against Marcio Cruz. Due to its finish, this was a very controversial bout, but wasn`t particularly interesting otherwise.

The impressive Jason MacDonald then locked horns with possibly the most easily-recognisable fighter in UFC, the wild-haired Chris Leben. This was a fairly average contest until an excellent finish saved the day.

Forrest Griffin vs. Keith Jardine was a very entertaining fight, which simmered for almost its entire length, before exploding in its final moments. The result was quite the surprise, especially so given the viciousness of the finish.

The main event of Liddell vs. Ortiz saw the crowd in raptures for the entire duration, and understandably so. This was a tremendous bout, which truly felt like a main event, the sort of contest that has even the viewers at home sitting on the edge of their seats. The bout was fought almost all from a standing position, with some brutal strikes being exchanged. This was just a notch below the incredible Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn contest from UFC 63, but in many ways, the intensity of Liddell vs. Ortiz surpassed it.

Overall, then, UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz II was a very good card, from start to finish. The main event delivered on the hype, and there was much excitement in the lead up to it, particularly in the Griffin/Jardine and Bisping/Schafer bouts. Andrei Arlovski`s bout with Marcio Cruz was probably the weakest here, yet was no reason to reach for the SKIP function on your remote.

UFC 66 was a solid, enjoyable showpiece, with an incredible main event. As such, it is recommended to anyone with an interest in this rising sport.