Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification E | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 302 minutes
Back in February, the Ultimate Fighting Championship went Down Under for the very first time in its seventeen year history. Hitting Sydney, Australia hard, UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez at the Acer Arena sold out its 17,431 seats in under twenty minutes, setting not only an attendance record for the venue, but also making the event the second fastest sell out in UFC history. The enthusiastic Aussies reacted deafeningly to the whole show, which consisted of nine prelims and upper card fights, creating an excellent atmosphere for the night and one that will surely have Australia seeing a lot more from the UFC in the future.
Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight Bout: James Te-Huna vs. Igor Pokrajac ??
Pokrajac was striking aggressively throughout, but the skill of New Zealand's Te-Huna as a grappler meant that he could rarely tag him. Igor's wild swinging mostly caught air, but near the end of the second round he absolutely rocked Te-Huna with a wicked right, very nearly obtaining a knockout victory, but the clock saved his opponent, taking the fight to the third and final round, where Te-Huna got the TKO win via a vicious ground and pound.
Middleweight Bout: C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic ??
Reljic's return fight from an injury that put him out for two years was a tough one to say the least, as he succumbed to a unanimous decision victory for Dollaway. No doubt he was rusty from his time away from the ferocity of the competition outside of the gym and in the Octagon.
Welterweight Bout: Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster ??
Foster stepped in at short notice for the injured Dong Hyun Kim and looked great, though just about escaped serious damage himself after tapping out to Lights Out Lytle's sick knee bar in under two minutes of the first round. Foster would go on to break his leg and dislocate his ankle in April, not in the cage, but in a game of basketball.
Light Heavyweight Bout: Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski ??
Stephan Bonnar, one of the competitors in the greatest fight in UFC history against Forrest Griffin, entered the Octagon at UFC 110 the lesser fighter. Krzysztof “The Polish Experiment” Soszynski gave a valiant effort and took home the TKO victory, though through an incorrect decision after the referee stopped the fight because of Bonnar profusely bleeding from a cut in his forehead, however he was busted open by the two inadvertently butting heads in the third round.
Main Card
Heavyweight Bout: Mirko Filipovic vs. Anthony Perosh ???
Cro Cop proved why he belongs in the UFC on the night by quite simply handling Australia's own Anthony Perosh like a lamb to the slaughter. No matter how hard he tried, Perosh was absolutely no match for the formidable, explosively fast Croatian; his performance could be likened to that of a war machine, reacting effectively to all of his opponent's attempts at offense and rarely conceding a tag. The same most definitely cannot be said for Perosh, whose nose was heavily bloodied in the opening round. He was continually cornered by Mirko and beaten hard on his feet, the stance where most of the fight took place, but it was on the ground where Cro Cop delivered a precise elbow above the left eye, which immediately began pouring blood, causing the fight to be stopped for a knockout win.
Light Heavyweight Bout: Keith Jardine vs. Ryan Bader ??
The veteran Jardine, as I'm sure most fans did as well, no doubt expected Darth Bader to utilise his abilities as a wrestler far more often than he actually did on the night, instead battling with the excellent, smart technique of staying on his feet and swinging for the fences. The intelligent game plan threw Jardine off guard and the pair had a balanced fight up until the last round, when Bader, sticking to his guns, knocked Keith stumbling back against the cage with a nice flying knee out of nowhere, followed by a right hook that didn't connect, but a left that most certainly did, sending Jardine to the mat for the TKO.
Lightweight Bout: Joe Stevenson vs. George Sotiropoulos ????
Definitely deserving of its Fight of the Night award, Stevenson and the Aussie Sotiropoulos had the bout with perhaps the loudest reaction of the whole show from the crowd, which was completely amplified when the unanimous decision victory went to their fellow countryman after both men went the distance in a very even, well balanced contest, going from technical exchanges on the ground, to trading hard fists and round kicks on the vertical base.
Middleweight Bout: Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping ??
In the co-main event of UFC 110, the legendary Wanderlei Silva, rocking a surgically-repaired nose so he can now actually breathe through it, obtained a much needed win in a contest that didn't turn out to be the war that we had hoped to see. There was almost a theme of the event of old school versus new school, with this bout adhering to that perfectly. Both combatants fought smartly, but the Axe Murderer was the better man, not only having an answer to everything that Bisping threw at him, but winning via a unanimous decision from the judges, having taken the close of the second round with an incredibly tight vertical-drop Guillotine, to which the Brit almost submitted to twice, but was saved by the time. Similarly at the end of the final round, Silva took Bisping to the mat with an explosive combination of lefts and rights, but the clock expired.
Heavyweight Bout: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Valesquez ?
Both main events proved to be equally as disappointing. There's nothing much to say about UFC 110's final fight except that it was almost over before it began. Nogueira was beaten to the punch every time and Valesquez just continually worked his offense first, dominating the quick contest and ending it only halfway through the first round.
EXTRAS ★?? This double-disc set contains two hours of extras, which include the UFC 110 Countdown show, fighter interviews, a behind the scenes feature, and the entire weigh in that was held on the eve of the event.