In the short history of the UFC by 2003, few fighters had achieved as much success as Matt Hughes.
Pat Miletich defended his welterweight title four times, Tito Ortiz was currently on an incredible run at light heavyweight, Frank Shamrock previously had his own reign of terror, and the list basically ends there. Most others didn’t last long with their belts.
Hughes was incredibly active as a champ, defending his title three times in 2002 after defeating Carlos Newton in the year prior to capture the belt. A rematch win over Newton, a quick stoppage against Gil Castillo due to a cut and a fourth-round finish over Japanese vet Hayato Sakurai pushed his title run past the one-year mark.
After his long stretch of title wins, Hughes basically reached untouchable status already. With his incredibly persistent wrestling, ability to look for submissions and highly active ground and pound game, he was trouble for anybody in the weight class. Even if you put him against a respected name, he was favored highly.
Sean Sherk was a respectable opponent for Hughes. He came in with an impeccable undefeated record somewhere in the area of 18 wins, including three previous UFC victories. Similar to Hughes, he came from a wrestling background and built upon those skills once coming into MMA. He had some legit experience and a style that could possibly provide trouble for Hughes.
Yet, oddsmakers still had the bout quite wide. Sherk was a huge underdog and would have been considered a substantial upset winner if successful in the fight. Hughes was, for now, seemingly unstoppable. Was Sherk going to be the one to overcome the odds? That was the main question heading into UFC 42: Sudden Impact, the promotion’s first-ever event in the state of Florida.
Hughes Puts on Masterclass, Sherk Makes It Tougher Than Expected
The first and second rounds of Hughes vs. Sherk gave off the disheartening vibe that the entire bout would be the one-sided pummelling that we all begrudgingly expected. Hughes took Sherk down only 20 seconds into the fight and kept control for a large period of time afterward. Ground and pound shots opened a cut near Sherk’s right eye, but worries of a doctor stoppage were calmed by the fact that blood was not flowing into his eyes.
Hughes continued to aggressively pursue takedowns throughout the second round. Referee John McCarthy stood them up due to inactivity – which seemingly had a different definition back then as Hughes was quite active from the top – but Hughes would just get another takedown moments later.
It was only by the third round that the fight became somewhat interesting. In a turn of events, Sherk shot in for a takedown of his own. Hughes expectedly blocked the attempt, but then a minute later found himself on his back after a successful second shot.
Similar to Hughes, Sherk was being pretty active from the top with ground and pound, hammering home some punches. However, Hughes was busy from his back and didn’t make things easy for the challenger. He attempted a kimura at one point, forcing Sherk to pause his attack and instead look to defend.
Hughes was seemingly up two rounds to one on scorecards before the championship rounds. He needed just one more round to keep his title. It still seemed like his fight to win, but the drama of anything other than the status quo happening made it exciting.
Hughes had a dominant fourth round, cementing that a stoppage would be needed from Sherk to win the fight. The fight had a close final round that seemingly was scored to favor Sherk by one of the judges, but it didn’t matter in the big picture: 48-45, 48-47, and 49-46, Hughes remained champ.
Hughes seemingly was surprised by the moments of resistance that Sherk provided, mentioning that he expected to do a lot better than he did. While it’s true that Sherk made the fight a little more interesting than a clean sweep on scorecards, this wasn’t necessarily a tooth-and-nail clash either. Hughes walked into the final round knowing he essentially had already won the fight and just had to survive, and I think whenever you’re in that position, you’ve had a pretty incredible night.
This isn’t the type of performance that fans absolutely love, as it was wrestling-heavy and devoid of much drama. This wasn’t going to make anyone’s “Fight of the Year” lists for 2003. However, it’s always fair to respect the stellar performance that Hughes was able to put together, and the level of excellence needed to do so. Hughes was damn good at his job, and with four title wins was one of the few true dominant champs in the UFC’s first decade.
‘Cabbage’ Gets His Moment
At UFC 39 “The Warriors Return,” Wesley Correira played an important role in a star-making performance for Tim Sylvia.
Sylvia needed just one-and-a-half rounds to win the fight via stoppage after a solid stand-up showing. But what set this fight apart from any other finish win you would see on a UFC card was the incredible toughness of Correira.
“Cabbage” Correira ate all of Sylvia’s clean shots and continued to stay in the fight, turning the bout into an all-out brawl in no time. And to show his stubbornness, the finish only came because Correira’s corner decided to throw in the towel.
The fight would have stolen the show at UFC 39, if not a the incredible five-round comeback win from Ricco Rodriguez over Randy Couture later that evening. It was so good that Bill Simmons, then of ESPN, walked out of the event before the headliner fight!
The fight was massive for Sylvia, seemingly fast-tracking him to a heavyweight title fight and making him champ by early 2003. But there’s no doubt Correira got some shine as well.
Correira returned on this card for a heavyweight clash against Sean Alvarez. “Cabbage” still had a lot of hype from his previous bout, but coming off a loss he definitely had something to prove. I was personally really curious to see how he would look. We saw that he was tough and could take damage, but that can only get you so far in MMA.
Opponent Alvarez had lots of experience in grappling competitions but had a limited MMA record of just four wins and two losses heading into this show.
Alvarez, known for his work on the ground, tried to take the fight down early. Correira stopped attempts, keeping the fight in a clinch and using the positions to cause damage.
“Cabbage” found more time to strike at range in the second round, letting go of his hands with fast hooks. When he got the chance to punch, he proved to be a really, really fast striker.
Correira also had good instincts. He could recognize when Alvarez was hurt and would capitalize on it. He rocked Alvarez two minutes into the second round, continuing to throw shots until the referee had seen enough.
Alvarez was no world-beater, in fact, he retired with a record of 4-3 following this loss. But nonetheless, this was a solid showing from Correira. The fight truly proved that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Correira might look short, round and unprepared to fight. Yet, he has stellar conditioning, incredibly quick hands, and the ability to prevent takedowns. We’ll see him again later in the UFC, although he’s going to pick up two more wins elsewhere before coming back in November 2003.
Future Champ Franklin Debuts
An important debut took place on the main card, as Rich Franklin met Evan Tanner in a light heavyweight fight.
Nowadays, Franklin is known as a former middleweight champion and a UFC veteran. But in 2003, he was a newcomer to the promotion with an impressive record of 11 wins.
Tanner was favored to win this fight, entering with a series of notable prior wins in the promotion. But, oddsmakers would soon know that they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Franklin absolutely ran through Tanner, hurting him with his boxing. A pair of hooks stung the UFC vet halfway through the round, and then a combination of a knee and pair of right hands to the head caused a finish in less than three minutes.
This win was one of the many that would eventually lead to a title shot in 2005 against, once again, Tanner. Franklin will pick up many more finishes along the way, including three more UFC appearances over the next few months.
A Sign of the Times
If you want proof that 2003 was a completely different time in MMA, look no further than some of the blatant differences in how fights were officiated.
Throughout the night, ground positions were stood up despite obvious activity being displayed by the fighter in control. This was seen in the main event, but honestly throughout the entire evening.
There was also a major error in the opening bout of the main card, which cost legendary Japanese fighter Genki Sudo his third loss as a pro.
Here’s the set-up: After two rounds, Sudo was locked in a close battle against UFC newcomer Duane Ludwig. Sudo snuck by the opening round on my scorecard, and Ludwig won the second. Sudo had a strong start to the third and possibly decisive round, getting a takedown 30 seconds in. He had nasty ground and pound that bloodied Ludwig and really put him in control of the fight.
Sudo hurt Ludwig so badly that referee John McCarthy decided to pause the fight and get the American’s face looked at. There’s no problem with that, it’s a ref’s job to do those sorts of things.
But here’s the issue: After the check, McCarthy resumed the fight on the feet – this despite Sudo being in a crucial ground control position. That move ended up possibly costing Sudo the entire fight: Ludwig gets a takedown and finishes the round with his own flurry of ground and pound shots, getting the Florida crowd unglued and stealing the round on scorecards.
Ludwig ended up winning the fight with a split decision result. If not for the final round being taken away from Sudo, he likely would have scored the win.
It’s rare that a referee would make such a mistake nowadays, in fact, I can’t recall the last time I saw it on a recent show. But, in the moment during this fight, nobody seemed to have an issue with it.
The Rest of UFC 42
Here’s a quick rundown of the four other fights on the card…
Robbie Lawler’s seven-fight undefeated record was broken in the co-main event against Pete Spratt, as seemingly a leg kick caused him to suffer an injury in the second round. The fight, which was competitive before the stoppage, was seen as a big upset due to Lawler having put together three wins in the promotion during last year alone.
Dave Strasser beat Romie Aram in a close split decision that saw both guys really empty the tank. Both came off as UFC-level competitors. Despite this, it ended up being Aram’s second-last pro fight and Strasser’s second-last UFC appearance.
Canada’s David Loiseau made a statement in his UFC debut, putting out Mark Weir cold with ground and pound shots in the first round. This marked the end of Weir’s UFC career, although he would go on to fight all around the sport until 2013. Loiseau will make many more appearances in the promotion until 2010.
Brazil’s Hermes Franca got past Rich Crunkilton in a hectic three-round decision result. Franca’s grappling skills gave Crunkilton trouble on the ground, and he held his own on the feet too. The bout was Crunkilton’s last UFC appearance.
Next Week: UFC 43: Meltdown
Throwback Thursday will return with another UFC event next week, covering the promotion’s June 6th, 2003 card from Las Vegas, Nevada: “UFC 43: Meltdown.”
The card is headlined by a real head-scratcher of a main event: Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell battling it out for a vacant interim light heavyweight title. But why not Tito Ortiz? We’ll discuss in the next issue.
The card has numerous notable fighters: Pedro Rizzo, Frank Mir, Vitor Belfort, as well as Tank Abbott trying (again) to win in his return to the UFC. The card is notably without Ken Shamrock, who tore his ACL and withdrew from a fight against Ian Freeman, causing a significant hit to the card. However, UFC 43 reportedly did a higher pay-per-view buyrate than 42, so there was clearly some interest there. See you next week for that discussion!
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