Review of UFC 70: Nations Collide

Introduction

For the first time in five years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship visited the United Kingdom in April 2007, for UFC 70: Nations Collide. The only previous UK event had been UFC 38: Brawl in the Hall, held at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2002. There, Matt Hughes defended his Welterweight title, putting back the challenge from Carlos Newton.

By the time the company then returned to the UK, the UFC dynamic had changed considerably. Certainly, the rules were the same, but now, instead of being a struggling company losing millions of dollars per year, UFC was recording incredible pay-per-view buyrates and gate receipts, and actually bringing in those millions, and more.

Some of that profitability can be put down to the success of The Ultimate Fighter, the reality TV competition which gave Englishman Michael Bisping the chance to show his skills. Having won that competition, Bisping earned his first prominent place on a UFC card here, in a bout with Australian Elvis Sinosic. The official main event may have been Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Gabriel Gonzaga, but there was no question that it was really Bisping who was the star of the show.

UFC 70: Nations Collide was held on 21st April 2007, from the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. The production values inside the arena are very high, only adding to the fact that the event itself has been very well captured.

There are no noticeable transfer issues.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good. Everything is well-mixed, so that the commentary compliments the in-Octagon sounds. In this case, commentary is provided very ably by Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. Randy Couture pops by for the main event.

There are alternative 2.0 tracks available in French, German, and Dutch.

Features

The sole special feature is a behind-the-scenes look at the Bisping vs Sinosic fight. We see both men`s physical preparation for the contest, and we also get to take a look at some of the media work which Bisping undertook in promoting the fight in the UK.

Naturally, there is also a lot of interview footage along the way, and along with some tremendous post-fight backstage footage, this feature is a great compliment to what, in terms of crowd reaction, was the main event of the show.

Conclusion

Fittingly, UFC 70 began with an Englishman`s bout, as Walsall`s Paul Taylor faced Brazilian Edilberto "Crocota" de Oliveira, a protégé of legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. This was an excellent opening contest, fought at an outstanding pace, and was exactly the type of start that UFC 70 required.

Jess Liaudin and Dennis Siver then served up a simple, short fight with a good finish, before referee Mario Yamasaki sought to confuse everyone during the Alessio Sakara vs Victor Valimaki fight. Despite that, the contest was still enjoyable, and featured a nasty conclusion.

In a Lightweight contest, Junior Assuncao then faced David Lee, in a bout which was a little too dominant for the eventual winner, before Terry Etim and Matt Grice put forth an excellent contest, which garnered a huge audience response for the ending.

Etim vs Grice rather exposed the problems of the Heavyweight division, after Cheick Kongo and Assuerio Silva failed to live up to their lofty standards. Not that Kongo vs Silva was a poor match, but rather that it seemed plodding and technically poor by comparison.

While Lyoto Machida vs David Heath was much better technically, its excitement levels weren`t up to much, so it was pleasing that Michael Bisping`s contest with Elvis Sinosic was so entertaining. Granted, the match was made to seem far better than it was, by the drama created by the audience`s participation in Bisping`s corner, but overall it was still an excellent match, and a must-see for UK UFC fans.

The less that is said about Fabricio Werdum vs Andrei Arlovski the better, for it was an ill-conceived match-up from the beginning. In recent contests, Arlovski has lost some of the fire that made him a UFC champion, and the defensive-minded Werdum was not the man to bring that out of him.

The main event of Mirko CroCop vs Gabriel Gonzaga, however, finished things off on a grand scale. The bout itself wasn`t stunning, but the finish was, and it perhaps could even be described as the most devastating conclusion to a bout in the entire modern history of MMA. It`s one that will be seen for many years to come in highlight-reel videos.


Overall, UFC produced a very entertaining and memorable show for its return to the UK. The main bouts of Bisping vs Sinosic and CroCop vs Gonzaga delivered, in drama if nothing else. By far the worst match on the card, Werdum vs Arlovski, could in no way overshadow those two bouts, nor the excellent Taylor vs Crocota, or Elim vs Grice encounters.

UFC 70: Nations Collide is certainly an event to consider adding to the collection. Being that it originated from the UK, it`s also a good introduction to new fans in this country.