Digital Sportspage Blog

Last month I was invited to a friend’s house to hang out and watch UFC 68. The last time I watched a UFC fight was probably 10 years ago when it was in its infancy. Back then, on the recommendation of a co-worker, I checked out one of the UFC videos. I remember thinking it was cool when I watched the tape but I never really started watching it.

I even remember picking up the UFC game for the Dreamcast and having some fun with it but the wrestling/submission portion of the game slowed things down and didn’t translate well to a videogame. Needless to say, another several years went by with nary a thought of the UFC. That all changed on March 3, 2007.

I went to my friend’s house that night more to just get out of the house. I wasn’t expecting much out of the UFC but thought I’d have fun just hanging out. To my surprise I was getting in to the fights as the night went on and then the title fight between Randy Couture and Tim Sylvia came on. Sylvia was the reigning heavyweight champ at 6′8″ and 255 pounds while the 43-year-old Couture was coming out of retirement at 6′2″ and 220 pounds. Nobody was giving the old man a chance but he proceeded to totally dominate the entire 5-round, 25-minute fight. It was a thing of beauty enhanced by the fact that Couture was an underdog and Sylvia was an asshole. I left that night a new fan of the UFC.

I recently enjoyed UFC 69 which featured another great title fight won by the underdog. This time it was the Welterweight Title fight. On top of that was one of the most exciting fights I’ve ever watched in my life, an epic 3-round, 15-minute slugfest between welterweights Roger Huerta and Leonard Garcia. Now I can’t wait for Mirko Cro Cop against Gabriel Gonzaga and Andrei Arlovski against Fabricio Werdum this Saturday. If you haven’t checked out the UFC in a while or ever try and check it out this Saturday night on Spike. Give it a chance; you might just become a new fan like I did.