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Eddie Bravo’s Thoughts on UFC 49
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 02/01/2005 06:24 PM
BY Ken Pishna, BoxingInsider.com
BoxingInsider.com: First off Eddie, what were your overall impressions of UFC 49?
Eddie Bravo: It was fantastic! I think there was one decision, a lot of knockouts. It was great. Of course, being a grappler, I would’ve liked to see more submissions, but for the entertainment value, the knockouts are very nice. And even though the Randy Couture fight was kind of a slow grinding thing, the dominance alone was mind-boggling. No one thought Vitor was going to get dominated like that. All in all, it was a great show.
BoxingInsider.com: Before the show, you were talking about how you were looking forward to the Karo Parisyan and Nick Diaz fight. That bout ended up being the only decision of the night. What did you think of the fight?
Eddie Bravo: They were going back and forth. They both had a pretty good position for a flash, and then the other guy would reverse it. Karo is pretty hard guy to submit. That’s obvious because Nick’s pretty good at jiujitsu. That was a crazy fight. That showed the heart that Karo has. He just brings it and he keeps coming forward. He’s not known for his hands, but he was throwing some big overhand rights and I think they were wearing Nick down. Towards the end of the fight, Nick looked sluggish and Karo just kept pressing. It was a great fight, especially the first round. It was unbelievable.
BoxingInsider.com: Was there any one fight that really stands out in your mind as a surprise or shocker?
Eddie Bravo: Well, the Chuck Liddell and Vernon “Tiger” White fight was another fantastic fight. Chuck would just unload on Vernon and seem to put him away for a second. I mean, it looked like they could have stopped the fight a couple of times. Vernon was just taking shot after shot on the floor. He’s a tough guy. He can take a lot of shots and he kept coming back. He gained a lot of fans that night for just his heart. He kept getting back up and he kept coming forward. It looked like Chuck was starting to wear down a little bit, like maybe the tide was turning. But that right hand right into Vernon’s eye, it was just perfect.
BoxingInsider.com: There’s been some mention since the fight, and I think Vernon himself has said this, that Vernon believes he was thumbed in the eye by Chuck. What are your thoughts?
Eddie Bravo: As far as I know, it’s hard to thumb someone in the eye when you’re punching him in the right eye with your right hand. The only was that I could see that is if his fist landed on his left eye and then his right thumb would go into his left eye. But [Chuck’s] fist went right into his right eye, so if his thumb were out of the fist position, it would be to the outside of Vernon’s head. I think with the small gloves in MMA, you see that a lot where a guy gets punched right in the eyeball. It happened to Bob Sapp when he fought Cro Cop. I don’t think [Chuck] thumbed him at all; I think he just got punched right in the eye. It felt like a thumb maybe, but it wasn’t. It was a punch.
BoxingInsider.com: I know that you probably weren’t surprised that David Terrell was able to defeat Matt Lindland. You’ve seen David quite a bit and know what he can do, but were you surprised at the way that he won?
Eddie Bravo: I think everybody was. I was expecting a grappling battle. It could have gone either way. It could have been Matt Lindland taking Terrell down and just grinding out a decision or it could have been Matt Lindland taking Terrell down and Terrell sweeping him and just dominating him with some serious jiujitsu. It could have gone a couple different ways, but I did not expect it to be a quick knockout. We really didn’t get to see that much from Terrell. I really would have liked to see his grappling, but good for him. He deserves that knockout and who knows, maybe he’s a killer on his feet. Maybe that wasn’t a fluke, maybe that was just a little flash of what he could do.
BoxingInsider.com: The main event, you mentioned before that the Couture-Belfort fight was a slow grind that didn’t have quite the flash that many of the other fights had, but what do you think Couture’s dominance of Belfort says about him at this stage of his career? Is he the pinnacle of the mixed martial artist or is that giving him too much credit?
Eddie Bravo: In the cage at 205 pounds, it’s going to be seriously hard to beat Randy Couture. He uses that cage so well and he’s got a great chin. He’s fought powerful strikers and his chin is so strong that he can weather a little storm here and there. All he needs to do is get the clinch. Once he’s got the clinch, that world-class Greco style that he has just dominates. He pushes you against the cage, takes you down and just smothers you against the cage. I don’t think anybody in the UFC at 205 can stop him.
If anybody can stop him, it’s going to have to be in Pride rules where you can’t use the cage. You’d have to fight in the center. Even then, that’s going to be hard to stop Randy there. I think that’s going to be the only shot that anyone has, especially at 205.
BoxingInsider.com: Wanderlei Silva was in attendance at UFC 49. One, do you think that a fighter like Wanderlei has a shot at defeating Couture in the cage and two, do you think he has a better shot in Pride?
Eddie Bravo: For sure, I don’t think he can beat Randy Couture in the cage. I think Randy would do the same thing to Wanderlei as he did to Vitor and everyone else at 205. In Pride, he has a better chance. Randy still might dominate him, but he has a better chance in Pride where Randy can’t use that cage.
BoxingInsider.com: The UFC announced at the post fight press conference that they are going to take UFC 52 over to Japan on December 12th, do you think that the UFC going to Japan is a good move right now?
Eddie Bravo: I think it’s a great idea. I mean, take the UFC everywhere. I think Vegas is the best spot because it’s right here near my home. [laughs] But taking the UFC to Japan, I think it’s a good idea. They’ve got more mixed martial arts fans out there than we do in the United States, that’s for sure.
BoxingInsider.com: The UFC has been very successful in Vegas lately, so it’s probably a little difficult to pass that up and take the show on the road.
Eddie Bravo: They are selling out the Vegas arenas, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to come back every other show, kind of spread it out, so that every time you come back to Vegas people are jonesing for it. They’ll be even more excited about it. You know, I’d go to the UFC every weekend, but not all fans are like me.
Eddie Bravo is a boxinginsider.com contributor.
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