Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification E | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 322 minutes
The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was the venue for a historic night in the Ultimate Fighting Championship as UFC 128 invaded the Garden State. Headlined by a World Title contest that produced the youngest champion in company history, the event was consistently solid and provided some shocks and surprises along the way, as well as a number of talking points when the dust had settled, especially as far as they pertained to a certain legend of the sport.
Heavyweight Bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Brendan Schaub
The Ultimate Fighter season 5 finalist Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub won his fourth consecutive fight since losing to Roy “Big Country” Nelson on the reality show, beating out the legendary Mirko Cro Cop by knockout in the closing minutes of the third and final round. After a slow start, both fighters began exchanging bursts of offence and it seemed as if they were on a level playing field up until the third round, where Schaub managed to score two nice takedowns in quick succession. In the end, Schaub avoided the attempt at a head kick by Cro Cop and was able to bite back with a vicious right hand to take the veteran clean off his feet and crashing head-first to the mat in a heap. Two legends have now been defeated in Schaub's rise to the top in the UFC, and with such an exclamation point on the victory, this was his biggest win to date. Only time will tell what direction his defeated Croatian opponent will take in the twilight of his amazing career.
Middleweight Bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Dan Miller
After his original opponent Yushin Okami was forced out of competition due to the earthquake in his native country of Japan, Nate Marquardt saw action against an impromptu replacement in the form of New Jersey's own Dan Miller, and brought out a rather weak performance in a fight that verged on boring. Uneventful throughout, Marquardt should have faired miles better than he did against Miller. He seemed complacent and safe as he worked, and his clean decision victory from the judges was a no-brainer.
Lightweight Bout: Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus
Hoping to walk out of UFC 128 with a new victory under his belt to continue his six-fight win streak, unlike his brother Dan in the previous bout, hometown boy Jim Miller faced former WEC star and UFC débutante Kamal Shalorus and did just that, rendering his face a bloody mess in the final round after a barrage of punches that came as the result of a big-time knee to the chin, giving the exhausted world-class Iranian wrestler his first career loss. Miller unleashed a dominant performance and gave the fans a reason to be happy once again after not only his brother's loss, but a largely lacklustre contest beforehand.
Bantamweight Bout: Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland
Two more former WEC sensations collided in their respective UFC debuts, stepping up to the plate in the co-main event of the evening. After the last – and disappointing – division fight back at UFC 126, which was also the main card debut of the weight class, big things were naturally expected from one of MMA's most exciting crops of talent, especially with The Ultimate Fighter's 14th season revolving around both bantamweights and featherweights. Thankfully, they delivered and pulled out a fast and furious battle in which “The California Kid” Urijah Faber edged out Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision after well-placed and successful offence in the final round.
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: Shogun Rua (c) vs. Jon Jones
The youngest champion in UFC history was crowned in the main event as 23-year-old Jon “Bones” Jones utterly overwhelmed the defending champion Shogun Rua, defeating him via TKO after a massive knee halfway through the third of the five scheduled rounds. It was all Jones from start to finish as he dominated one of the greatest lightweights of all time. Rua looked like a shadow of his former self as the challenger hammered in the wave of the future and proved that he absolutely had the goods to live up to all the trash he talked on the path to the fight. Welcome to the Jones era. An incredible and shockingly one-sided performance from a fast-rising star and now world champion a mere six weeks after taking out Ryan Bader at UFC 126 to earn the right to face Shogun.
The complete seven-fight preliminary card is also included in this two-disc set:
Featherweight Bout: Raphael Assuncao vs. Erik Koch
Catchweight Bout: Nick Catone vs. Constantinos Philippou
Bantamweight Bout: Joseph Benavidez vs. Ian Loveland
Lightweight Bout: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Gleison Tibau
Welterweight Bout: Ricardo Almeida vs. Mike Pyle
Lightweight Bout: Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani
Light Heavyweight Bout: Eliot Marshall vs. Luiz Cane
EXTRAS ??? The countdown show, weigh-ins and a behind the scenes feature.