Review of UFC: 23 & 24

Introduction

If you haven`t already had enough of my mixed martial arts (MMA) DVD reviews as of yet, you might just be glad to hear that 2007 is likely to be the sport`s biggest year yet in the UK.

In September last year, the resident Cage Rage promotion held the biggest MMA event ever in Europe, and tentative plans have America`s UFC visiting Manchester in April. Unlike the show at The Royal Albert Hall in July 2002, UFC`s forthcoming visit is highly unlikely to be a one-off.

Back in FightDVD`s time machine, however, we are in Tokyo and Louisiana respectively for UFC 23 ("Ultimate Japan 2") and 24 ("First Defence").

UFC 23 was held on 19th November 1999, from the Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Tokyo, Japan. It featured a four-man Japanese-only tournament to decide the first UFC Japan champion, as well as a UFC Heavyweight Title match between Pete Williams and Kevin Randleman.

UFC 24 was held on 10th March 2002 at the Lake Charles Civic Centre in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The event is best remembered for the fact that the contracted Williams vs Randleman re-match never occurred, as Randleman fell whilst backstage at the event, and gave himself a concussion. As such, the card was left without a notable main event.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is very good for a DVD of this genre. The image has been captured well, if slightly softly, and only the somewhat muted live production values stop this from being excellent.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good. Mike Goldberg (looking much more trim than in 2007!) and Jeff Blatnick are our hosts, and provide a good analysis of events, even if Blatnick doesn`t have the charisma of current incumbent Joe Rogan.

Conclusion

The first match on UFC 23 is a semi-final tournament bout between Katsuhisa Fujii and Masutatsu Yano. Unfortunately, their bout is rather dull until the finish, although it is much better than the second semi-final of Kenichi Yamamoto vs Daiju Takase, the latter of whom spoils the fight both as a contest and a spectacle by being overly defensive.

Eugene Jackson and Keiichiro Yamamiya are up next, and produce a long, cautious bout that is somewhat saved by a good finish, before a horrible injury scuppers the bout between Joe Slick and Jason DeLucia.

The tournament final is next (somewhat surprisingly, as the fighters barely had time to rest), although in what was the best match on the card so far, that didn`t seem to factor into the equation. The match is highlighted by what is a technically superb finish.

In the penultimate match-up, Tsuyoshi Kosaka and Pedro Rizzo square off in another match that is blighted by defensive tactics. At least the bout ended with what was another great sequence.

It was going to have to be an excellent main event to drag this show out of the dirt, and unfortunately Kevin Randleman and Pete Williams were not the men to provide it. Another boring fight - which Randleman actually apologises for in the post-match interview - makes this one of the worst MMA events that I`ve ever seen.

But there is still one half of the DVD set to go, and UFC 24 at least brings us back to the more familiar surroundings of the USA (Japan never took to the UFC in the way that they did to Pride and K-1).

The opening match-up is Jens "Little Evil" Pulver vs David Velasquez, which thankfully begins the show on a high note, providing us with a match that is light years ahead of anything on UFC 23. The striking here is excellent, and even the ground work is relatively quick-paced.

The follow-up bout between Bob Cook and Tiki Ghosn is, remarkably, an even better contest, filled with more brutal striking, and a tremendous attacking verve. Dave Menne and Fabiano Iha unfortunately could not stick to that pace, but then Lance Gibson and Jermaine Andre showed up in fighting mood, and had another good match, concluding in a devastating manner.

Shonie Carter and Brad Gumm then compete in a match that was held prior to the live pay-per-view broadcast, and thus consists of only two rounds. This is a nice addition to the show, with Carter showing off some superb wrestling/judo throws, and both men engage in some good striking.

In the main event (by default, due to the Randleman hospitalisation), which was also the first heavyweight fight of the night, Tedd Williams faces Steve Judson in a match that looks like it was going to be a massacre, but finishes rather competitively.

The last match shown here is one which is again taken from the non-live, preliminary bouts, as Scott Adams faces Sunderland`s Ian Freeman. This is an interesting submission-based match, with a rather surprising ending given the men`s future MMA careers.

Overall, all I can say is thank goodness for UFC 24, which saved this two-disc set from being one of FightDVD`s worst releases in recent memory. UFC 23 was played out in front a quiet Japanese crowd, a fact which made things seem worse than they actually were, which was pretty bad in the first place. UFC 24 was the opposite, with the American crowd raucous during the exciting exchanges between fighters, of which there were many.

For as bad as UFC 23 was within the Octagon, UFC 24 was excellent, especially given that the main event of Randleman vs Williams - really, the only "name" match on the card - ended up not taking place. The matches between Pulver & Velasquez, Cook vs Tiki, Gibson vs Andre, and Carter vs Gumm were all very good indeed, and in all likelyhood, Randleman vs Williams would not have reached that standard.

Overall, due to the ying and yang nature of the two cards, this double-disc set goes down as just above average. But for anyone interested in learning about UFC before its 2006 boom period, UFC 24 is a must-see.