UFC 85 - Bedlam

London, England - 07/06/2008

With an event which saw 8 fighters pull out due to injuries, opponents being injured or Visa problems, it seems that any name other than “Bedlam” just wouldn’t hit the mark. But after all of the changes, was the event that was widely considered as the UK’s most exciting card ever, a success?

The short answer is yes. With a great card of fights from both veterans and rising stars, and a weekend full of controversy, it would be hard for this weekend to be anything but perfect. Thiago Alves didn’t seem at all threatened by Matt Hughes at any point. Having almost finished Hughes at the back end of the first round, he finally put the nail in the coffin with a flying knee early in the second. However Alves’ victory came tarnished in the eyes of some since he weighed in 4 lbs over, looking visibly much bigger than Hughes. The reason he was unable to cut weight was due to a bad ankle injury, with which we can sympathise. However, not only is this disrespectful to Hughes being fit enough to fight but not cut weight, he won’t have been anywhere near as dehydrated as his veteran opponent giving him the edge. 

Michael Bisping looked very impressive against a visibly intimidated and deflated Jason Day, finishing him with a TKO a minute and a half from the end of the first. Independent of Bisping’s outstanding performance, Day was not himself coming into the octagon. Just prior to his entrance I could see that day looked extremely focused. But as soon his entrance music started and he began to walk, he was met with an unstoppable barrage of boos and abuse which took all of his fight out of him. Had the fight been on Jason Day’s home turf the result may have been very different, but it wasn’t, and the crowd’s reaction at both Bisping’s entrance and subsequent victory was nothing short of epic.

The most exciting part of the Swick, Davis encounter was Marcus Davis’ entrance, which saw the entire crowd turn manic due to his entrance music. However the fight lost momentum to such an extent a Mexican wave broke out from floor to ceiling which orbited the octagon a good fifteen times. However disrespectful, it was hard not to get caught up in such a monster distraction. When the wave finally dissipated the crowd found the fight on the floor and not moving which incited yet another hail of disrespectful boos. The fight went on to see Swick win by unanimous decision.

Overall the weekend was an undeniable success, regardless of controversial stoppage of the Vera, Werdum fight. It was a shame that some people didn’t make it in time for the prelim card, as the Hardonk, Sanchez fight was a firm contender for fight of the night, and got the entire crowd electrified early. So much so that there was more noise for the first fight of the night with roughly two thirds of the arena in attendance than there was for the Swick, Davis meeting at full capacity. And in spite of one or two drunken idiots putting a damper on a few peoples’ nights, the atmosphere inside the O2 was unreal. For an event that seemed destined to fail from the word go, this turned out to be the best ever UFC event on UK soil