Throwback Thursday: UFC 39: The Warriors Return

UFC 39: The Warriors Return – 9/27/02 – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA

UFC 39 was a time for the promotion to try and get its act back together. After losing champions in two of their five active divisions, some work had to be done to put fighters back into title positions.

The promotion relied on a consistent name from the past, Randy Couture, to step up into the heavyweight title picture once again. Billed as a relaxed and quiet person out of the cage–including b-roll that showed him getting into hiking and donning the nickname “The Eco Freako” due to his upcoming eco challenge entry–his prior experience on top made him a favorite in front of the Mohegan Sun crowd in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA.

Couture was going for his third title reign on top, a surprising feat when you consider that the belt had just been introduced around half a decade ago. You might think: Wait, that means he lost his title twice before, why should he get a chance at a third reign? The devil is in the details: His first title run came to an end in 1998 due to contractual issues. His second reign, a more than year-long time on top, concluded due to a loss against Josh Barnett, who was recently stripped of the title due to a drug test that detected anabolic steroids.

Couture met Ricco Rodriguez, a consistent name on UFC programming who had slowly built up wins over the course of a year. Considering that he earned four consecutive finishes, it’s actually quite impressive he didn’t earn a shot sooner. It didn’t feel like there was a whole lot to Rodriguez heading into this card, apart from the fact that he was another notable talent to come from Tito Ortiz’s Team Punishment. There wasn’t any animosity in this fight, which is totally fine. In the end, it was a fight that honestly didn’t need a big storyline.

Along with the heavyweight title headliner, UFC was on a quest to crown a new champion in the lightweight division. A four-fighter bracket was set up, kicking off with the semi-finals on this card. Similar to the situation with Barnett, inaugural lightweight titleholder Jens Pulver was stripped of his belt. Pulver fought out of his UFC contract after defending his title two times, ending his time on top. We’ll see him in the UFC again for a brief run in 2006.

The opening round saw a pair of former title challengers face two names who showed promise but hadn’t gotten to the top of the division: BJ Penn was matched against Matt Serra, and Caol Uno rematched Din Thomas. The competitive quality of the two matches made it a highlight of the card and proved that the division had many solid names. We’ll find out in a somewhat soon issue of Throwback Thursday that the tournament doesn’t do much to replace Pulver, sadly.

While the quality of fight cards around this time felt hit or miss (we’re still just a year removed from UFC 33, which Dana White loves to recall as the worst of all time), UFC 39: The Warriors Return was honestly a very good show. The final four fights of the card especially were strong, providing matchups that all felt like important storylines in two of the biggest divisions. Let’s discuss:

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better: A Comeback Story

It’s hard to not spoil details when doing research for these cards. I want to go in blind as much as possible, trying to give myself as authentic of an experience as possible for a first-time viewer. Yet, when looking some things up, details sneak out. I knew the result of the main event when I was watching UFC 39. But after watching the first and second rounds, I had to double-check. “No way Ricco Rodriguez ends up actually winning this,” I thought.

Randy Couture had Rodriguez’s number for the first 10 minutes of their title fight, and it seemed unlikely that things would change. Couture’s game plan was simple but worked: Get Rodriguez down and beat him up. There was an especially concerning moment late in the second round for Rodriguez when he audibly yelped in pain following a takedown. With his opponent hurt, Couture was able to wail away with ground and pound. I assumed this could be the end: If the ground and pound wouldn’t finish him, the injury probably would. But like a cat that had its tail stepped on, Rodriguez just sort of got up and walked away after the dramatic reaction. The commentary team had trouble parsing what exactly caused that reaction from the takedown.

Apart from that small moment, Couture wasn’t exactly running away with the fight. But he was up two rounds to none, meaning he just needed a few more strong minutes to pick up another frame and durability to go the distance to secure a third title reign.

Rodriguez turned things around in the third round, escaping a bottom position against Couture and taking half guard. He held this position for a few minutes, also trying for a guillotine choke in the final few seconds of the frame. While Couture started the round strong, the freshness of Rodriguez showing resistance and doing so in the latter half of the round made him get the edge in the online vote. I scored it 29-28 up until this point, although the third round was close. Even if Rodriguez didn’t take it, there was no doubt that the momentum was shifting.

Rodriguez succeeded even more in the fourth round, taking Couture down immediately and landing ground and pound for a large amount of the frame. It became clearer than ever that it was a pro-Couture crowd when he escaped for an armbar attempt in the closing seconds of the round, as the Mohegan Sun became unglued. While the crowd was rallying behind Couture, there was no doubt that he wasn’t doing to well at this point. Rodriguez had essentially stolen his style of fighting from him, potentially evening up the fight and carrying momentum into the final round.

Couture showed life with a two-punch combo to open the final stanza, although it wasn’t long before he was on his back once again. A steady pace of punches from Rodriguez in top control caused Couture to eventually submit to strikes, ending the fight and shutting down any chance of a scorecard discourse.

Since it was a verbal submission, there was some confusion on the broadcast about how the fight was stopped. It was cleared up when Rodriguez later said that Couture opted to end the fight.

The same tactics that Couture tried to win with were used against him. The commentary team wondered if he would be seen in the UFC again. Trust me, there’s a lot more of Couture’s story to be told. Even his time as champion isn’t over yet. But for now, he’ll go lick his wounds and come back soon.

Rodriguez put together an impressive comeback victory to defeat one of the more accomplished heavyweights in the UFC by that point. “This is a dream and I’m going to sleep with this belt for the rest of my life,” he said. Rodriguez had an ambitious call out afterward, asking for a fight against Pride FC’s top heavyweight Antonio Nogueira. He had a promotion vs. promotion idea, wanting to prove that UFC was the best.

Anyone who knows the rest of Rodriguez’s story as a fighter knows that he won’t get that “Big Nog” fight. And really, he won’t get many more title fights either. In just a few months time he’ll run into a buzzsaw that we watched earlier on this card.

A Dominant Debut, A Happy Crowd

It didn’t take long for Tim Sylvia to earn a title shot in the UFC. In fact, his debut in the co-main event of this card was all it took to set up a clash with Rodriguez in 2003. Sylvia sliced through Wesley Correira, a Hawaiian talent who went by the affectionate nickname “Cabbage.”

This was a true heavyweight contest, with both guys coming just a few pounds short of the 266 limit. It was a lopsided fight that went the way of Sylvia, although the toughness of Correira made it one of the more memorable fights of the card.

Correira showed speed with his punches, but was just flinging out combinations of straights that Sylvia was able to avoid and eventually pick apart. In comparison, Sylvia was mixing his strikes up more, putting together punches and knees and closing the distance with clinches.

Heading into the second round, Correira already seemed pretty gassed. He became a standing punching bag at this point, remaining on his feet but not providing much beyond that. Sylvia backed Correira up to the cage with a series of shots, causing his corner to throw in the towel. A proper stoppage, one that the referee should have gotten to before a corner had to make that choice.

The crowd absolutely loved this fight. As Josh Gross wrote: “As disappointed as the thousands inside Mohegan Sun Arena were when Correira’s corner finally said ‘no more’ 1:43 of round two, they understood. It was the war they’d come to see, everything else was gravy.”

This fight wasn’t supposed to get the type of spotlight that it did, coming in just before the main event. The matchup was described by the commentary as a “swing bout,” meaning it was only brought in since they had the time for it. But the performance was big for Sylvia. After having an impressive run in Superbrawl, including a one-night tournament victory, he had done enough to earn a title shot.

Penn, Uno Set Up Title Fight Rematch

UFC’s quest toward crowning a new lightweight champion kicked off lower on the card. The first of two fights in a four-man tournament saw Caol Uno meet Din Thomas.

This fight was a chance for Thomas to avenge a loss he took to Uno on a Shooto card in 1999. While Thomas provided a tough challenge, Uno got his act together after the first round and won comfortably on scorecards.

Thomas had a solid start to the fight, being the more active fighter in the top position during the first round. Uno, who to his credit was able to have control of the fight for moments in the opening frame, had a much better second round. He scored with punches on the feet and landed ground and pound while on top. Thomas was deducted a point during the round after landing a kick to Uno while he was grounded.

Thomas likely knew that he needed a finish in the final round, but Uno continued to succeed with ground and pound to secure a 29-27 score from all three judges. I wrote in my notes that Thomas was an exciting fighter, but was maybe competing with too wild of a gameplan against the more collected Uno.

The second lightweight fight, a matchup between BJ Penn and Matt Serra, was arguably a much closer competition.

Serra looked to clinch early, with Penn move focused on staying at striking range. While Penn picked up the first round on my scorecard with solid punches, Serra came back in the second with a more aggressive approach to his striking and takedowns. While I personally gave the round to Serra,  online scoring from fans that the broadcast mentioned had it nearly split down the middle. It felt like the matchup came down to the third round, which unfortunately was the closest of the three.

Penn did a great job fending off takedowns from Serra throughout the third round. While Serra was constantly charging forward with singular shots or takedown attempts, Penn was great at defending. He landed a fair amount of his own blows, either on his back foot or while defending takedown attempts.

While I initially scored the round for Serra, I watched it back once again and thought Penn had the edge. In the end, the judges were all in agreement that Penn won, 29-28.

I was a little surprised that the scorecards were identical. I felt almost embarrassed that I was so undecided after watching the fight, yet the judges weren’t. Luckily, it seems like the mixed feelings on the fight are shared. MMADecisions.com has collected fan scores on the fight for years. Through the less than 50 votes they have received (small sample size, I know), just 50 percent see Penn as the winner. 42 gave it to Serra.

I am dying to know what rounds the judges gave to each fighter. And not to sound incurious, but after a cursory Google search, I don’t think those details are online.

It wasn’t mentioned on the broadcast, but the meeting between Penn and Uno would later go down at UFC 41 early in 2003. It will be a rematch from UFC 34, where Penn won in just 11 seconds. And if you know the upcoming result, you know the sequel won’t provide a payoff to the original in any type of way. But that’s for another time.

Baroni, Lindland Earn Wins At Middleweight, Cuts Result In Two Stoppages

A pair of middleweight talents lower on the card earned wins that would later match them up for early 2003. Before they meet at UFC 41 next year, Phil Baroni and Matt Lindland earned wins on this card.

Baroni was the biggest character on a quite personality-short lineup, coming out in sunglasses and a robe. He disposed of Dave Menne in just 18 seconds, scoring a few right hands to close out the fight. He called out Lindland after the fight: “I’ve got a right hand with your name on it.”

Lindland’s performance earlier in the night wasn’t as exciting, going the distance against Ivan Salaverry with dominant wrestling. The victory was an easy one to score, as his control on the ground overwhelmed a couple of the rounds. While it was not the most fan-friendly performance, it was certainly a good showing for Lindland.

Gan McGee also continued his run towards a title fight on the main card, becoming the first non-champion opponent to defeat Pedro Rizzo. McGee had an absurd size advantage over Rizzo and exploited it in a kickboxing battle. While he had a good first round, not a great one, a massive overhand right that landed in the final moments of the frame forced a corner stoppage after the opening round.

With the quality of the win, it seemed like McGee would make sense as the next challenger for the champion. He wouldn’t get a shot after Sylvia, although he’ll have his moment sometime in 2003.

Another fight on the card saw a similar stoppage due to a singular blow. Sean Sherk extended his undefeated record in the opening fight of the evening, showcasing arguably the best ground and pound of the night against Benji Radach. An elbow from Sherk sliced Radach open late in the opening round, causing a doctor stoppage.

The victory earned Sherk a title shot next year against Matt Hughes. We’ll see that fight go down at UFC 42. As for Radach, the loss was his last of three appearances in the promotion. He continued to fight for more than a decade, competing in EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Bellator among many other promotions before retiring in 2015.

Overall, UFC 39 was a card with many stoppages, a comeback performance in the main event, and numerous big storylines at play. It’s hard to come away from this card without thinking that it was, at least from an entertainment perspective, a success.

Next Thursday: ‘Rampage’ vs. Vovchanchyn Matchup Key Pairing At ‘Beasts In The East 2’

Next week, we’ll head over to Japan to catch Pride 22. Just a few days after UFC 39, “Beasts From The East 2” took place at the Nagoya Rainbow Hall. It is a show that writers had low expectations for. When looking at the staff predictions from Sherdog, Jeff Sherwood noted that the bout between Quinton Jackson and Igor Vovchanchyn was the most appealing among a lineup that wasn’t very intriguing: “Pride at least gave us one fight to watch.”

On the UFC side of things, we’ll be back in two weeks for “UFC 40: Vendetta.” Heading back to Las Vegas, the promotion will present a real blood feud between two big names: UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz will meet Ken Shamrock, a former UFC “Superfight” champ who was coming back after a few appearances in Pride FC. The build-up seems intense, with Shamrock claiming he will either earn his respect or die trying. Not going to spoil whether he earns his respect, but I’ll at least tell you he doesn’t die trying. You’ll hear the full story soon.