Original subtitles

The Octagon. It's become the home of the most dramatic martial arts clashes ever.

The home of the most awesome displays of power, technique, and

heart. This is the ultimate fighting championship where over the last 24

months, reputations were built and destroyed.

Fighting Systems Judge.

and found warranty.

Now, after seven grueling tournaments, eight warriors have passed muster. The

greatest fighters on the planet, Ultimate Champion, Jenna, Sever, Takara,

and Buas.

Ultimate Challenger, Abbott, Smith, Hackney, and Benito. All

here tonight, ready to do battle in the Ultimate Ultimate.

Are you ready?

Let's open up the gate.

We're at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the mile-high city of

Denver, Colorado.

Our setting, the Mammoth Gardens, an intimate building with a rich history

that dates back to the early 1900s when it was once the soul of Denver's social

and entertainment life. Tonight, this arena will be transformed into a martial

arts melting pot as we present the White Knuckle Event, a bare-knuckle

competition.

The ultimate fighting championship.

Hi, everybody. I'm Bruce Beck. Welcome to the ultimate ultimate. Twice as fast,

twice as furious, twice as tough. Tonight, eight fighters, four former UFC

champions, three former UFC runner-ups, and one man known as the Giant Killer.

It's the largest purse ever in a martial arts competition, $250,000.

This, the culmination of two years in the making. One of my broadcast

partners, the former gold medalist at the Olympics in 1984, Greco-Roman

Wrestling Super Heavyweight Division, Jeff Blatnik. And Jeff, when we look at

tonight's competition, you've got to be excited.

Oh, I certainly am. And when I take a look at that field, Bruce, unbelievable.

I see three key points with this field. The first being experience.

Everyone here has experience.

They have multiple fights inside the octagon.

They've had time to go back, digest the lessons, and that brings me to my second

point, preparedness.

How well have they trained? Have they taken those lessons, put them to use,

learned new tactics, new skills to bring them in against the best field ever to

enter the octagon?

And my last point, Bruce, incentive.

$150,000 goes to the man who's standing up.

last in that octagon.

And that's certainly a lot of incentive. One, to train hard, be prepared, and to

go out there and lay it on the line. What about the mental approach of these

fighters in the Ultimate Ultimate?

Well, without a doubt, all of our interviews with these fighters, Bruce,

you've seen it. They're all very, very focused.

They all seem to be very, very calm.

Don, you hit it on the head. That's what experience does for you. You don't waste

energy with nerves, and you don't suffer from anxiety.

Thus, you focus.

on what you want to do, and that's your goal, to be successful once you enter

that octagon.

Well, the other member of our broadcast team has captured ten world titles in

four different weight classes in kickboxing. Three times he was named

Fighter of the Year. He's also been in 20 movies, from Blood Fist to Batman

Forever. And now he's got a new tape out there, Night Hunter.

It's coming out soon. It's where a vampire and a dragon fight to the end.

And I'm talking, of course, about the dragon, Don the Dragon Wilson. And, Don,

what does the ultimate, ultimate mean to the martial arts community?

Well, I've been a martial artist for 23 years, and I think I can speak for all

the rest of the martial artists worldwide.

This is the most exciting martial art competition that has ever happened in

modern times. I mean, this is the first time that kickboxers, boxers, wrestlers,

jiu-jitsu, aikido, judo, we all can meet under one banner, which is the UFC.

What is the question you've been asked most often when cruising around Denver

the last two or three days?

Well, oddly enough, since the first broadcast that I worked on, I've been

asked, is this real?

And having been a choreographer and an actor in 20 films, I've seen the fake

stuff, and I've been a fighter for 17 years. I've seen the real. This is as

real as it gets.

There will be some blood spilled tonight. This is not for the faint of

heart. Right now, let's take a look at the draw for the Ultimate Ultimate,

which took place several months ago.

First of all, we've got Big Tank Abbott in the opening round matchup. UFC 6

runner-up against UFC 3 champion Steve Jenim. Then UFC 5 titleist Dan Severin

meets the polar bear Paul Varland, who got into the main draw yesterday when

Patrick Smith was medically disqualified from the event. Then it's a rematch of

the UFC 6 quarterfinal. Oleg Tektarov, the Russian bear, against dangerous Dave

Beneteau. And then we conclude the quarterfinals with the defending UFC

champion... Marco Huas, the king of the streets, against the giant killer, Keith

Hacking, a classic grappler versus striker confrontation.

Here is the referee for the UFC, Big John McCarthy from Corona, California,

working his seventh UFC.

He is a tactical instructor at the Los Angeles Police Academy. He has

officiated 55 no-rules fights.

The chief medical advisor, Dr. Richard Istrico of Howard Beach, New York, a

panel physician for the New York State Athletic Commission.

medical director for the New York Golden Gloves, team physician for USA Boxing.

The sanctioning body for the event is the IFC, the International Fighting

Council. The commissioner is Art Davey from Las Vegas, Nevada, longtime UFC

matchmaker and fight consultant, a former sergeant in the U.S. Marine

Corps.

Well, as you diehard fans already know, during the tournament, the UFC is live

online on CompuServe. All you CompuServe members log on.

and go e-forum to Conference Room 2 Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Here are the laws of the octagon. No biting, no eye gouging, no fish hooking,

reaching fingers into the mouth. The referee has the authority to restart the

bout if there is a lack of action. No rounds, but a 15-minute time limit in

the quarters, 18-minute time limit in the semis, 27-minute time limit in the

finals with a three-minute overtime if necessary.

Now, if time expires... Three judges decide the winner based on the following

criteria, aggressiveness, effectiveness of strikes, and effectiveness of ground

techniques.

Here are the ways to win a fight.

First of all, by knockout.

Second of all, by submission, which is tapping the mat with your hand or your

foot. Also, number three, if the corner throws in the towel. If the referee

stops the contest because the fighter cannot intelligently defend himself.

by disqualification.

Now, for the first time in the UFC, there will be three judges outside the

octagon who will render a decision if a bout reaches the time limit.

Ernest Hart Jr., four-time PKA kickboxing welterweight champion.

John Little, associate publisher of Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu, and

Inside Taekwondo magazine.

And Michael DiPasquale Jr., the editor and publisher of Karate International

magazine and a highly ranked...

Jiu-Jitsu instructor.

So we open things up with our first quarterfinal match.

The street fighter, Tank Abbott. The police officer, Steve Jenim. Right now,

let's go up to our announcer in the octagon, the G-Man, Rich Goins. Ladies

and gentlemen, SEG Sports Corporation welcomes the world to

Denver, Colorado in the Mammoth Events Center.

For the greatest martial arts competition in the world.

The ultimate fighting championship.

Ultimate. Ultimate.

Tonight, eight of the world's greatest fighters will fight in the

octagon. Four former champions. Four competitors. Only one will emerge

victorious.

and $150,000 richer.

Only one will come out. No rounds, no timeouts, no weight classes. Are you

ready to rock and roll?

Let me introduce our fighters for the first round matches.

He's 30 years old.

6'2", 250 pounds, a pit fighter with a bare-knuckle record of 7-0.

2-1 in the octagon, the runner-up in Ultimate Fight Championship 6, fighting

out of Huntington Beach, California, David Tank Abbott!

Abbott!

And his opponent, a police officer from Omaha, Nebraska, a practitioner in the

art of taijutsu, a third-degree black belt in ninjutsu, 32 years

old, 5'10", 195 pounds, 2-0 in the octagon. Please

welcome the Ultimate Fight Championships 3 Ultimate Fighting Champion, Steve

Jenner!

And our referee is John McCarthy.

Let's get it on.

Here's a look at the tail of the tank.

Ninjutsu. It's actually now Taijutsu against pit fighting.

Age, not much difference.

Height, not much either. But the big story is in the weight.

55 pounds per tank. Is it too much?

We'll find out.

Quarterfinals about to begin in the ultimate ultimate.

Big John McCarthy.

He's on top.

He's looking now to take his time.

We'll see how much he's learned now about the guard since he's gone to Utah.

And you see him take Jenham right to the fence. He's going to try to crowd him,

get his head up tight against that.

and then possibly open up some channels for some strikes.

Well, this looks to be a pretty good strategy for Tank. Having the size, the

strength, grappling should be where he would have an advantage over Jenim. If

he was to sit outside and just duke it out, he's probably quite a bit slower.

Jenim repelling Tank, trying to use the fence, and trying to break clear.

Tank wants to unload that right hand.

He did in that last second, now he does.

And you can see Jenim is schooled in the guard. You saw when Tank tried to raise

up to throw down punches, Jenim went right up on the points of his shoulders,

thus putting Tank out of reach.

Tank couldn't hit him there. And then he was able to push Tank away.

Didn't panic. He's right back in the guard again.

15-minute time limit.

Tank on top working against Steve Jenim.

It's a very bad position for Jenim. He taps out.

Jenim taps out. He had nowhere to go. His head was crowded again.

And Tank Abbott wins the first bout of the ultimate ultimate.

And he did not use that much energy.

Which is a big thing, guys.

Hardly used any.

In this style of competition, that can make a big difference in the outcome.

Tank used very little energy for that bout.

A minute and 14 seconds.

Abbott was unable to really throw that blistering right hand.

Chatham did a good job, Jeff, of just trying to stay alert against the fence

and not get reamed.

Well, he didn't get struck in any way, but unfortunately he was driven into

that chain link fence so hard it appeared that his neck was bent at a

severe angle.

Obviously the metal on the skin and the skull probably was highly uncomfortable.

He probably didn't feel he had a way out. He might have panicked a little bit

there, but felt as though he was going to be in some more desperate trouble.

And before he took any attriting kind of strikes.

He tapped out. I think the term highly uncomfortable is pretty conservative.

You can see here right away the grappling skill of Tank Abbott knocking

him right down. But Jenim held his own in the guard position.

But you'll see Tank drive him. Here is where Jenim did a nice job of keeping

Tank from striking him. That's what you use the guard for, using your feet to

keep distance.

But Tank closes in again and this time drives him into the fence.

And there's a real good look at it. You can see Jenim's head bulging that chain

link fence. He's caught there. Nothing to do. And you'll see him now tap out.

Looks very painful.

Very painful. All the weight of Tank Abbott against your head in the fence.

Particularly with Tank's skull driving into your chin. Right. So Steve Jenim's

first loss in the octagon.

Tank Abbott advances to the semifinals to take on the winner.

of Dan Severins and Paul Varlins.

All right, here's a look at our next matchup in the quarterfinals. Paul

Varlins against Dan Severins. Right now, we're set for the introduction. Let's go

up to Go Go Goins.

Ladies and gentlemen, our second battle of the evening. Please welcome the

competitors. First, a black belt in the art of trap fighting and a practitioner

of free-form freestyle fighting.

He's 25 years old.

6'8", 300 pounds.

The runner-up in Ultimate Fight 7, a record of 3-2 in the octagon, out of

Sunnyvale, California, from the icy north of Fairbanks, Alaska, please

welcome the polar bear, Paul Barland.

Barland.

Please welcome back his opponent from Coldwater, Michigan, 37 years old, 6

'2", 250, a National Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion, the

94 AAU Greco-Roman Masters champion, Sambo champion, and freestyle champion.

He's 5'2 in the octagon, UFC 4 runner-up, UFC 5 ultimate

fighting champion.

The beast is back.

Daniel Severn.

Severn.

Let's rock and roll.

And here's the last number.

Three south, three foreign versus Rustling.

Severn 12 years older than Barlitz.

6'8 is the polar bear. He also has 50 plus.

Barlins is still down. He's got a small cut on him. He's okay. It's not as

though he's not breathing or anything like that. He's just a little bit out of

air. Severin goes over to console him, see how he is.

Dr. Richard Istrigo there quickly, bringing over the towel. Barlins said to

Doc Istrigo, he is okay.

Here's another look at it. Severin closed the distance. There's the kick.

Severin uses his wrestling skills to immediately take the big guy down.

Once he gets him down, he clears the legs. Barlin doesn't have a guard.

and he eventually took Varlin's right arm, folded it over his own face, and

then clamped on that lock, and it was a chokehold all the way.

The beast is back.

Here we go, folks. We move on to the bottom half of the draw in the

quarterfinals, and this one on paper is the best quarterfinal matchup.

Dangerous. Dave Beneteau against the Russian bear, Oleg Tektarov. All right,

we're set for the introduction of the fighters right now. Let's go up into the

octagon. to Rich Goines.

Ladies and gentlemen, our third match of the evening pits two great warriors.

First, a super heavyweight wrestler, 28 years old, 6'2", 235

pounds, a four-time CAWA wrestling champion with a record of 2-2 in the

octagon, fighting out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, the UFC 5 runner-up,

Dangerous. David Benetton.

And his opponent holds a fourth-degree black belt in the art of jiu-jitsu, four

-time European and Asian jiu-jitsu champion, Russian national judo

champion, world sambo champion, a record of 4-1-1 in the octagon, 27 years

old, 6'225",

From Gorky, Russia, the UFC 6 Ultimate Fighting Champion, the Russian Bear,

Oleg Taktarov.

What a matchup this one is. Taktarov, by the way, has an

unbelievable threshold of pain. Benito is one year older than Taktarov.

As far as height is concerned, Beneteau is two inches taller.

The weight, one went down, one went up. Beneteau went down, Taktarov went up. It

is an international fighting match, Ontario-Canada against Russia.

I think this is going to be a great fight.

And it's this time, it's Taktarov closing the distance, not giving

Beneteau a chance to throw any punches at all.

Both are superb grapplers, the edge in wrestling. The Beneteau, definitely the

edge in submission to Tektara.

There's Beneteau trying to use that left hand that he picked up from working with

Emmanuel Stewart.

Well, you can't learn very much when it comes to boxing or kickboxing or

striking in a short period of time, so I would guess he's going to stick with his

wrestling technique.

There's the wrestling technique, single leg.

Let me ask you, Don, I saw Beneteau do it twice now. When he's tied up, he's

put the head under Taktarov's chin. Would that open a knee to Beneteau's

face? Absolutely, absolutely. Right there. What he should be doing if he

wants to get that knee in is bring his hand around Taktarov's head. And

actually, there's a Thai boxing move that he could use to get that knee in.

Oh, he could have a leg lock here.

Tartaro's got the leg lock on Beneteau. Not yet. He's going to try to bring the

big guy down. There it is. Now, if he can keep the pressure and keep Beneteau

from sitting up, he's going to be okay.

Right, he's got him in it.

Beneteau kicks to the face and taps out.

Couldn't do it. He tried one valiant kick, and he tapped out, and you are not

allowed to kick with the shoes on.

It was an illegal strike.

So it's the Russian bear with the leg submission.

Beneteau did not want to give up, but he had no choice done.

No, the only choice you have is to have your joint dislocated or bone broken,

which is no choice at all.

I am just so impressed that technique has been the deciding factor.

Each of these are over quick. As soon as one of the grapplers gets a hold against

the other one, it's over.

And I'm not sure what happened there, but you are not allowed to kick if you

use shoes.

No, he can push, but he can't kick. That's correct. I don't know if that was

an illegal or legal blow, but after he made that effort with the kick, he

tapped out. Don, let's take a look back. I think what we're going to see is we're

going to see a takedown.

They lock up.

He goes down, and Oleg goes right for the leg immediately.

Now from here, it's a matter of Oleg taking him down.

Here he goes. He's going to get him down, break him down, get him on the

ground, get him on his back.

As we said, he was the master finisher.

Here he's going against the knee. You can see that.

At this point, there's nothing that Beneteau can do. That's illegal.

I think it was an act of desperation. There goes the tap.

Our final quarterfinal matchup.

The giant killer, Keith Hackney, against the man of the street.

The favorite in the ultimate, ultimate, unofficially, Marco Huas. Go, go, Goins,

to tell us more about these two master martial artists.

Ladies and gentlemen, our fourth and final match of the first round.

Two great fighters. Please welcome, from Medina, Illinois, he's the practitioner

of White Tiger, Kenpo Karate.

A second-degree black belt in Kenpo.

a second-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do, and a second-degree black belt in

Taekwondo with a record of 12-0 in amateur boxing, 11 by knockout, 2-1 in

the octagon, 37 years old, 5'11", 200.

You know him as the giant killer, Keith Hackney!

Hackney!

And his opponent,

6'1", 218 pounds, four-time Brazilian Muay Thai champion,

state heavyweight boxing champion, Brazilian belly-to-toe champion,

undefeated in bare-knuckle matches, 3-0 in the octagon from

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the king of the streets and reigning ultimate fighting

champion, Marco.

Hoorah!

Hooah!

Hackney came in at 200 pounds.

Here's a look at the discipline description.

Tempo Karate Valley 2-0. In terms of age, Hackney is 37.

Huas is somewhere in his 30s. He says Brazilian men are like American women.

They don't like to tell their ages.

The height differential, Huas with a slight advantage. As far as weight is

concerned, Huas has 18 pounds.

It is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil against Roselle, Illinois.

Both look well-conditioned. Hackney looks like he's put on some upper body

power. I'm not sure if that helps hand speed or not. Don, you'd know more about

that. Well, actually, it doesn't have much to do with it. It's all technique.

In boxing, and it's looking to me like it's technique at the UFC also.

Hua says he's got a great right hand. He's not just a guy who wants to end up

on the mat. Let's see if we'll see it tonight.

And he had a broken finger, which we didn't know about. I did make that

comment when I saw him looking and flexing his fingers during one of his

fights at UFC 7. But he did not punch very much with that right hand at all.

He tried another leg kick, which was successful before.

And Hackney counters with a leg kick.

This is turning into more of a Hackney-type fight. He wants to stay in

there. and duke it out with a striker. And oftentimes Hackney comes racing

across the octagon to try to make a big first move.

He didn't get caught out trying to do that against Houas, Don.

No, I think these guys, you know, they're getting more and more cautious

in the beginning, which is the sign of a professional.

They don't just come out right off the bat and throw their best arsenal.

They set things up.

Remember that Houas went after Big Paul Barlins with those leg kicks in the last

UFC and eventually wore down the polar bear.

Right, well, he's got some Thai boxing experience, and that leg kick, hitting

with the shin to the thigh is one of their best techniques.

A long feeling out process here.

Few leg kicks from each guy.

And there's no real aggression. No one fighter here wants to take too many

steps towards the other. They're circling. That's what we do in wrestling

to obliterate a head-on charge is to counter by getting angled.

And here you don't see any one of these two fighters chasing the other, thus

setting up.

A strike coming back the other way. Hackney missing with the wild right

hand.

And now Huas goes after Hackney. Gets him up against the fence.

Trying to take him down.

Behind him now.

Huas trying to get a choke.

Anytime they get behind.

An opponent, Valetudo, says go for the choke. Great strength by Hapty, bending

him off on the tower.

Well, from here, I think it's Huas' advantage on the ground like this. I

think it's going to be over here. I think he's going to eventually work that

choke in.

And he punches to the back of the head a couple times.

Huas landing a big left hand.

He used his left hand to do it. He didn't use his right.

And I think that might have been just to get Hackney to try to move and thus open

up the area around the neck for that choke. Don, it may look effective, but

it could really hurt the hand, can't it?

Well, if he punches his skull, but if he hits the back of the neck, which I think

that's where Huas is going, there's a muscle back there, and if he causes

damage there, I think Hackney will release and let him get the choke. He's

working it in now.

He's working it in now. It's going to be a... There it is.

That's it.

Anytime in Valley Trudeau, they go for the choke when they're on their

opponent's back.

Beautifully done by Marco Huas.

And he bows to the crowd.

Hackney with a big hug, a great sign of respect.

Hackney looked really tough.

Came out amazingly cut up.

But when it came down to the ground...

It was Huas' advantage.

That's right. Versatility is where it's at.

And Marcos Huas is well-versed in all aspects of fighting. And I think for the

uninformed or uneducated public, there's great honor between great martial

artists. And you saw it there at the end of the fight. I think we've been seeing

it all night. I think each fighter has shown concern for his opponent and

respect after each bout.

These guys are not brutes.

Marcos Huas wins this one.

Two minutes and 39 seconds. You know, it seemed like a lot longer than that.

Didn't it, Donovan? They were around the ring for the octagon for quite a while.

Well, that, I think, was the nervous anticipation.

We were waiting for something to happen.

Here's a look at some of the action.

Well, here, once Huas has got Keith on the ground, and he's behind him, he's in

control. He uses his legs to basically neutralize Keith's legs, and he just

works that choke in.

Here he softens him up with a few solid shots to the same spot and gets that arm

under Keith's neck.

And here's the tap out.

There it is.

There's nothing Keith can do from there.

With the leverage that he's using.

Here you can see there's no way he can strike.

He can't roll.

He's basically helpless here. Look at the grapevine on Hackney's legs. His

knees are above the ground. He cannot crawl.

Ruas just totally paralyzed him. Kept working around that neck. And I have

trained a little bit of ballet to go since I've been out here in Denver. And

I picked up that cardinal rule that any time they get on an opponent's back.

they immediately look to choke. It is the most advantageous position to be in.

And, Jeff, you trained against a guy who was well older than you, wasn't he?

Well, he was 65 years old, and he opened my eyes that wrestling is not an end in

itself. All right, the bracket unfolds this way right now.

Tank Abbott with a tap out, a minute 14. Steve Jenham taps out, Abbott advanced.

And Dan Severin with a choke.

Marlins tapped out at 1-0-1. He advances, so it's Abbott against Severin

in one semifinal.

Oleg Tatarov, leg lock submission at 1-22.

Moves to the semis to meet Marco Huas, the master of the streets.

Two minutes and 39 seconds to choke the measure of success for Huas. So it is

a Final Four that's very, very impressive.

Well, all you hardcore fans always looking ahead will be glad to hear.

That UFC 8 is coming up live Friday, February 16th here on Pay-Per-View.

Eight fighters, seven fights, one champion, plus the super fight

everyone's been waiting for.

World super fight champion Ken Shamrock versus the Hawaiian fighting legend. He

made quite a name for himself here in the octagon, Kimo. That's right,

Shamrock versus Kimo.

It's UFC 8's David and Goliath tournament, tonnage.

Versus Technique, don't miss it, live Friday, February 16th, only on Pay-Per

-View. And here's Jeff Platnick.

I'm here with the man who broke UFC wide open, giving Hoist Gracie the fight of

his life. He goes by one name, Kimo. Welcome to the Ultimate Ultimate.

Thanks a lot. Before I answer any questions, the first thing I want to say

is praise to my Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you looking forward to coming back to the UFC?

I'm very much so.

I've been training hard, and I think the folks are going to see a different Kimo

this time.

Got a little haircut also.

How has your fighting changed since the last time you set foot in the octagon?

I've been working on techniques.

Instead of just straight-up street brawler, I started actually doing a

little technical workouts now.

What did you learn from your bout with Gracie?

I learned you've got to be in a little bit better condition than I thought, and

I learned it's more a sport than just a brawl, which I thought it was before.

How about the hair?

The hair was definitely a big deal in that fight. He used it as a handle and

he took advantage of it. Would you want a rematch?

I don't look too far ahead. I'm just looking at this fight right now.

Tell us about the tournament you just fought in in Hawaii.

I just fought in this thing, Pancreation, which is actually, if you

look back to the first and second Olympics, it's a sport back then, but

they don't have it anymore. It's similar to Ultimate, except you wear little

gloves and basically the same rules, which is no rules.

And what are your thoughts here about the fighters in the Ultimate Ultimate?

I mean, what can I say? If you guys are watching these fights, these are

probably the best fights I've seen in the Ultimate.

How has martial arts...

How has martial arts changed since the UFC has come about?

I think martial arts now is going towards a sport where before it was just

people looked at it as just straight ahead and doing little exercises. Now

people are training at it as a sport, well-rounded. As you know, you've got to

have stand-up and ground fighting, whereas before people just concentrated

on blocks and different things.

Well, we look forward to you joining us at UFC at Kimo. Welcome back. Thanks a

lot. We're back to you, Bruce.

All right, thank you very much, Jeff.

Kimo looks ready. A little bit humble tonight.

It will be him against Shamrock in Super Fight 8.

This is our first semifinal battle.

Oh, what a battle it is. The tank against Dan Severin.

This is one that the people were talking about on their way in tonight. If it

would unfold, the beast and the tank. Two guys with a very ferocious approach.

to fight it. We are getting set for the formal introduction of the fighters.

Severn against Tank Abbott. Let's go up to the G-Man, Rich Gorns.

Ladies and gentlemen, our first semi-final match of the evening in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Ultimate, ultimate.

Please welcome back six-foot, 280 pounds, an

expert in pit fighting.

He's 2-1 in the octagon, 7-0 in bare-knuckle pit fights. The UFC

6 finalist, Tank Abbott.

Abbott.

And his opponent, a specialist in Greco-Roman wrestling, a finalist in UFC

4, super fight combatant in UFC 6.

And UFC 5 champion, 5-2 in the octagon, 6'2", 260,

from Coldwater, Michigan, Daniel The Beast Severn.

Severn.

So it is pit fighting, whatever that is, against wrestling.

Well, you know, I'm from California myself.

Now, you know, Orange County, Huntington Beach, that's a pretty nice little area.

I've never heard of pit fighting down there, so I'm not sure how much validity

there is to that.

Severin has seven years on the Tankman.

Height, not much of a difference there.

Weight, Severin's listed at 250.

He's really down to about 238. Tank came down in his last bout from 265 to 250.

That's my final. It'll be ultimate, ultimate.

$150,000 for the winner.

$25,000 to the runner-up. The winner of this bout is guaranteed $25,000.

You're right.

You're right. I'll tell you what, this is going to come down to the grappling

skills of both those. If Severn can dominate, he won't have to deal with

those punches of Dave Abbott.

But Abbott has been doing a lot of grappling.

There you can see it. He was prepared for a shot from Severn's sprawl

position.

Tank trying to get that left hand free.

Oh, knee to the head.

And it works him back up against the octagon fence.

This might be the most powerful, talented individual that the tank has

gone up against.

Absolutely. I don't think he's faced someone with this much technique and

experience because those titles are separate.

They're legit.

He's looking for some kind of submission move instead. Now he needs him.

Now the right hand begins to land.

And the elbow to the back attack.

You know, Dave would be ill-advised

not to do that punching. He's going to break a knuckle, break his hand. He's

going to limit him.

Elbow to the head of Abbott again.

The elbow is a much better bet.

He should be using the knees again.

He's hitting that glove, though. He's hitting that glove, it seems.

Tank absorbing punishment.

Stuck on the ground.

The wrestler keeping the brawler down right now.

Tank showing a tremendous chin.

Well, Dan, looks like he's going under that chin with a hold here, a choke

hold.

He's under the arm.

Knee to the head by Severn.

Let's see if he goes to the choke now.

I'm impressed with Severn striking.

Striking with the knees and the elbows. He's really come a long way for a

traditional wrestler.

Severin pushes Tank up against the chain link fence.

Can Severin punch himself out going after him so hard right now?

That'll be a big question.

You see it in boxing here. You have no rounds to catch your breath. Once you

get tired, it's all over. But it just doesn't seem that Tank can get off his

side. I feel like an experienced grappler.

An experienced scrapper can pace himself and go as long as he needs to. A man

like Dan Pepper is not going to wear himself out.

Tank Abbott continues to absorb punishment and continues to show his

mettle. He's working it. Severed elbow again.

Oh, that one had a bounce.

That was clean to the back of the head. That was clean to the back of the head.

And Tank's still fighting, but he's in a bad position here for trying to get off

his stomach. He's not going to the guard position, which is really surprising.

That allows all these unanswered blows to take place.

Severin is really punishing Abbott.

This could be a submission right here. Oh, no, no, no.

That was a good thought there, Don. It's exactly what he was looking for. He was

looking for the choke.

Just like ballet can go once you have a man.

Back to you. It's very easy to work for the throat.

Severin did not punch in UFC 5. He came back to win the next one. We're actually

4-5.

Trying to unleash the beast again tonight.

Abbott hanging on and getting hammered again to the back of the head.

I think Severin might have punched himself out a little bit here.

He's reluctant to throw blows. He's not a powerful striker.

It looks like he's learning his lesson not to punch the skull. You're just

going to break your knuckles.

And the slaps are not going to cause a submission of any kind. There, the elbow

and the forearm, that might have its effect.

Another elbow.

Another elbow.

The tank is helpless. He can't get off his base. He's stuck on his knees.

Severn, using wrestling skills, is keeping him there.

You can see Severn hanging on.

To the fence. The reason he's doing that is to not let Abbott out in the open.

He's keeping him pinned and punched up.

But if Abbott is not being hurt by these strikes... I feel Dan should be going

for a choke. This is counterproductive. Well, not counterproductive, but it's

not really producing the result that he wants. It's inefficient, isn't it? Lots

of energy, not a lot of effect.

Can Tank work himself out of this? Can he continue to absorb the punishment and

still have something left, guys?

We don't know how badly he's hurt. He's not trying to move. We've seen people

lay there, but you can see him. That bothers him, catching those strikes to

the back of the neck. That one got through.

Severed again with the elbow.

Punching to the head.

Let's just say this goes to a draw.

Certainly, Dan Severn has a lot of points in his favor. He'll win. He'll

win with a draw because he's definitely taking the fight to Tank. I mean, Tank

is just staying in one spot. He's not really, it doesn't appear that he's

actually trying to get out of it. He's just content to absorb punishment.

Five minutes in. This is an 18-minute time limit. And then it would go to the

judges. Oh, that was a good elbow.

Stretching his body that way is preventing those ribs from out and

torquing. Elbow has to be doing some damage. It is, but not the kind of

damage you could do if you get your body behind it. These are what you would call

arm punches and arm strikes. They're not with the weight of the body and the

torque of the hips and the shoulders.

These have a cumulative effect, but there's not going to be a punch knockout

from this distance.

Tank on his side, not going to any kind of a guard, leaving his back turned to

the opponent, and you would think Severn would want to choke, but perhaps he

feels that if he goes for the head, it might allow Abbott to get up off his

belly, and obviously Abbott on his feet is a lot more dangerous.

Tank continues to hang in.

I think he needs to get that arm around, get it around there, get the other arm

out, get it under his chin, and force a submission.

He's doing his best to defend that choke.

Severn, on the other hand, now after expending an enormous amount of energy

with all these strikes, he's still trying to do it, but he's got to be

tired. I would tend to think, use your wrestling skills, continue to keep the

weight on Abbott, making him have to work harder to carry away. Oh, a good

right hand there.

And another pounce to the head. Now the choke.

Severn couldn't get it.

He's just not a good finisher when it comes to the choke.

There's the corner, and that is R.T. Hamilton, who is a professor at Grand

Canyon University where Dan Severin trained the past several months. The

only program in America, martial arts degree, either as a major or a minor.

He's an ordained minister.

It's at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where Severin spent a

lot of his time training.

Tank Abbott was up in Utah. Let's see now if Tank's going to make a move to

try to come up.

Severn, smart as he is, uses wrestling skill to keep him pinned up against the

fence.

He is not going to let Abbott off of his side.

He sees this as an advantage position.

He'd rather keep him down. Sort of like keeping Joe Montana off the field. Don't

let him on the field to win.

Don't let Abbott up off the ground.

Severance, you're in position.

There's a saying, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Now, I believe it

was Tank that had Jemim up against these ropes the same way.

And now he's pinned up against the ropes. Or, excuse me, the fence.

It's kind of like deja vu.

Severin talking to his corner as he works.

Kneeing Abbott.

Kneeing him again to the head.

Those are effective strikes, Barrett. Those are effective.

Severin continue to work on the tank.

They're effective, but I don't think any of them were really clean. Yes, they had

some impact to them. Now, those are good.

Those sharp forearms.

They'll take their toll. There are no cuts.

There is no blood.

But it seems as though Severn's a little befuddled. The only thing that's working

for him is keeping him down. He's going for what we call a power Nelson there.

He's lifting on the elbow, torquing on Abbott's left shoulder. He needs to

continue to watch his back, not giving up position, broke the hold.

Tank hanging in there. We can see his eyes looking up, perhaps frustrated, but

not giving up.

Well, the blows he has received, although they look vicious, have not

been with the weight of the body behind them.

Therefore, they're causing superficial damage, but not the brain damage that

you get from a boxing punch. A boxing or a kickboxing punch causes tremendous

brain damage. But Tank is basically just suffering superficial damage.

But Tank said he could wrestle with anyone in the world. He was a world

-class wrestler.

Thus far, he has not been able to show us.

That level of skill.

Don, it's not the superficial type treatment that I'd like to take.

I didn't say it wasn't painful or effective.

I just meant it wasn't the concussion that you get from a boxing punch.

Would you go ahead and leave the thigh here, Don? He's protecting his upper

half. Would you go to the legs, hit the legs to open up the upper half? Very

good point, because as you remember, Huas won his fight by kicking to

Varlin's thigh. That thigh is a very big... a meaty part of the body that you

can cause a lot of pain to.

Certainly it would limit Abbott's mobility, putting in a big charley

horse, a hematoma somewhere just above the knee.

Well, I tell you, for the past ten minutes, Abbott has not been very mobile

regardless. Under eight minutes to go, and if it ends up with no time remaining

for the first time in the UFC, we have three judges who will render a decision.

Well, I would call this the reverse guard.

I mean, he is just not turning to face Severn at all.

And Dan Severn, unable to apply a choke of any kind, is a little bit frustrated,

continues to range strikes, mainly elbows and open palm slaps. Is Dan

better off here just trying to ride out to Tank? Exactly. Rather than use up his

strength and also possibly hurt his hand. I think that's what he's trying to

do. Tank is just not well enough versed on how to get off that base and get to

his standing position.

The best thing he could do would be to try to turn Dan.

and face him, thus Dan's weight now is up on his hips. He might be able to roll

him to the side, clear a walk with him long enough to turn and face him. Jeff,

does it expend more energy just riding him out or trying to keep punching away

and trying to finish?

I would say throwing these kinds of strikes that he's doing is spending much

more energy than it would take Dan to just use wrestling skills to keep Tank

Abbott down. But without a doubt... Abbott's got to get off his belly. To do

so, he has to not only pick up his own weight, but Dan Severn's as well.

I can see right now that if this fight continues this way, Tank Abbott will

lose a decision by the judges because he is not making a legitimate attempt to

escape. He is just laying on his stomach with his hands on the back of his head

trying to protect himself, but not really making an effort to escape.

6.20 to go, and then it will go to the judges.

And this is the one question we had about Tank Abbott. He hadn't gone up

against a real skilled fighter yet. Dan Severn, his very first using wrestling

skills, got the tank down. The Beast in control.

And at this point, I would say my strategy, if I were in Severn's shoes,

would be to keep Tank down.

Never mind these strikes. Wait.

Gather energy, and if an opening presents itself, then hit him with a

good strike. Right. I think we're seeing the strengths and weaknesses of both

fighters. Obviously, Dan Severin's not mastered the finishing moves that he

needs in grappling to get that choke in there, lock it in there, and get that

submission.

Because he's got Tank in a very vulnerable position, but he's just not

able to finish him. There's Dan Severin's corner.

And, you know, the one thing that Dan does not want to do is...

Get caught up in a situation here where he's not working enough, where there's a

restart. And John McCartney puts him back on their feet.

That would give Tank a chance.

He's got to still work. I thought the first offensive technique by Tank, he

tried to sneak in a little reverse headbutt there.

He did snap that head up well. Right, that's the first offensive technique

I've seen.

Elbow got through, was affected by Severin.

Dan trying to open up Tank for a choke.

but not much doing, and Tank using those gloves to defend his head.

I actually think Dan could spin to the front so that his body isn't laying

across Abbott. He could get more into those strikes. That headbutt caught Dan.

That headbutt caught Dan.

In fact, Dan might have a welt on his forehead there. I see a red spot on his

forehead.

Don, in boxing, we call it the chin. What about Tank's chin in the octagon?

Well, his chin hasn't been tempted yet in the octagon.

I think Dan has hit everything but his chin. But I'm talking more about a chin

being a term that we use in boxing to describe a fighter's ability to absorb.

Well, he's proven himself able to absorb punishment.

You know, as a fighter, I wouldn't call that a good thing. I never wanted to say

about me, wow, that Wilson could take a punch.

Coming up on four minutes left of the semifinal match.

I think Severn has settled for that first strategy.

He's going to be the wrestler, keep Abbott down at this point. In this

respect, knowing that there's three judges, it's a big advantage for Dan

Severn. He knows all he has to do is stalemate out now. Keep it a draw.

Don't let Abbott up. He doesn't have to finish Abbott. He's got enough points

now in the judges' eyes.

To win, I shouldn't say points, enough aggressive tactics and striking, ground

attack, and aggressiveness that he should win this. He's got it all. He's

won in all three categories.

Aggressiveness, best strikes, and ground techniques, the three categories, and

the three guys that are the judges are all guys who know the martial arts game.

And if he is now knowing he's going to win it that way, I would tend to want to

save my energy for the finals, thus stop striking.

Let's go ahead, just ride him out. Tie him up.

Immobilize him. Don't allow the tank to move. He won't attrit any more energy.

That's the best tactic for performing well in the final. Absolutely.

Jeff, as a grappler, being on the bottom and not being able to do something, what

about the frustration?

Right there, this one-on-one now.

I thought he might just lay on it to keep the tank down.

Tank gets himself to his feet.

Under three minutes left, he grips on to the chain.

Reverse headbutt by Tank.

Gannon's too close to him yet to have any effect for those strikes.

Abbott's got something left in his tank.

The Beast hanging on. The Tank trying to get going.

And now the crowd begins to chant Tank.

the ground.

The fact that he's putting his head against that post, I'm wondering, is

Tank really fatigued at this point?

Carrying all that weight for that amount of time, that's going to really drain

your batteries.

We've seen fighters use defense before, but not in an offensive way, just as a

stalling tactic, and that seems to be what Tank is doing now.

Under two minutes to go.

It's clear at this point, I don't think Tank has it left, as long as Severn does

not leave his head.

open for one of those elbows to come flying around from the tank.

He should do all right. Right.

It looks as though, looking at Tank's face, you can see his eyes are a little

bit glassy.

He is tired.

And he's absorbed a lot of punishment. Again, he tries to throw that elbow, but

Severin counters with the knee.

To the back of the thigh.

This was right when we said Seven should just stay behind him and immobilize him.

He did that one-on-one, a wrestling move, trying to isolate Tank's arm.

And that allowed Tank the opportunity to get up off of his stomach to his knees.

He did a quick stand-up, but he's been unable to improve position from here.

This is mile-high altitude here in Denver.

And when this fight is over, Tank is going to just collapse.

He may collapse before the end.

Looks like Severin's looking at a full house in there for a second.

Severin cannot afford to make an error now.

If it goes to the cards, the judges will render a decision not based on points,

just on a win.

Abbott trying to do something with 30 seconds to go.

He's doing his best just to stay on his feet.

Severin though.

Excellent grappling skills, not allowing the tank to be able to pivot in any way

to bring any of those big weapons to bear.

Can't get three, but time is running out.

Devin's just got to be careful not to get hit by one big right hand.

He should circle which way, Don, to keep from that right hand.

That is it. Block is over.

Semifinals will go to the judges' cards.

Look at this crowd.

Determination of Severin, heart of Abbott.

Well, I don't know what's louder, either the boos for Tank or the cheers for

Severin.

Three judges will render the decision.

Ernest Hart, former four-time TKA welterweight kickboxing champion.

John Little.

associate publisher of Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu, Inside Taekwondo

magazine, and Michael DePasquale, editor and publisher.

And there's the decision.

It's unanimous for Severin.

DePasquale, the editor and publisher of International Karate Magazine.

And all three give the decision, and I would think you would think the same way

at home, to Dan Severin. Well, I think we saw the strength of Dan Severin, but

we've also seen the weakness.

His inability to finish. And I like the way he continually was looking for an

opening for a strike. But there again, I think he needs a little more experience

of which strike to use when.

And one thing I'm impressed with is he kept it going the whole time. He didn't

slow down.

Severn is in great shape.

Absolutely. The beast is back.

Oh, he trained and trained hard at Grand Canyon University. He said, I had to

separate from my family. I had to put business first. I don't have much time

left. My opportunity is waning. Well, guys, our next fight is another one on

paper that could go the limit.

Marco Huas and Oleg Tektarov.

Tektarov just does not understand the word quit. At least he hasn't in any way

in the UFC.

He's been in serious shape, and the only time that he was ever stopped was John

McCarthy stepping in once against Dan Severin and saying that he was too

bloody, but Oleg would never have submitted. That's not his style.

It's Huas against Taktarov.

And so it is Valetudo and Sambo.

Taktarov is 28 years of age. Huas is somewhere in his 30s. We would educated

guess would say under 35. Look at these two athletes. They're not about jumping

around. They're not moving around.

They're sitting there. They understand what they have to do. Two composed

fighters.

There's Oleg's fan club.

We're set for the introduction of the fighters. Here's Rich Go-Go Goins.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready for our second semifinal match of the

evening. Welcome back a specialist in the grappling style known as Sambo, a

fourth-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu, Russian national Sambo champion,

semifinalist from UFC 5, and the ultimate fighting champion of UFC

6. Four, one, and one in the octagon.

Six foot, 210 pounds from Gorky, Russia. The Russian bear,

Oleg Toktorov.

Toktorov.

And his opponent, 6'2", 220 pounds.

His specialty is Brazilian valetudo.

a Brazilian Valley Tudor champion, Brazilian heavyweight boxing champion,

and the reigning UFC champion, Marco

Huas.

Huas.

At the Mammoth Gardens in the altitude of Denver,

Colorado, it is Huas against Taktar up in the semis.

Are you ready?

Get it on!

Get it on.

The winner to take on Severn.

This will be a chess match.

It'll be interesting to see Oleg sometimes will go toe-to-toe even with

the likes of Tank Abbott.

And at the same time...

Marco Huas has some good boxing skills, but I believe their strengths lie in

their ground attacks, and I think that's eventually where this fight will end up.

I don't think the bear better stay on his feet, because I don't think he can

match Huas' striking techniques, boxing or kicking.

Once again, the two fighters circling, looking for an opportunity, feeling out

process.

Kick by Huas, momentarily sacked off, shot away.

Oh, a little bit of a...

Marco shaking his head saying, no way, not going to take me down.

Nice double leg attempt there.

But certainly faking the shoot and then coming up top with strikes.

Great tactic, mixing levels.

We do that in wrestling all the time. Change levels to unbalance your

opponent, create openings. And certainly, Don, hitting from different

levels will open that up as well. One thing I like about these two fighters,

this is the first time I've seen some fainting going on.

These guys are fainting each other to get him off guard. They're not just

going all out with the technique.

A kick by Huas. It's certainly not a wild brawl by any means. These two are

calculators. It's a chess match.

Two of the best tacticians in the UFC.

There's the kick from Huas.

But as effective blows.

Oleg was looking to grab it. He does want to bring it down to the ground.

I can see some damage on Oleg's left leg already from that roundhouse kick.

Juhasz is the only one that really can throw a decent roundhouse kick to the

leg. And that's not a safe bet because he can go to the head just as easily.

While you're reaching down there to grab it, he can go right to the back of the

head.

These are Thai boxing techniques.

Seems Oleg's trying to crowd him up near the fence.

Keeping his back to the center of the octagon.

There it is. You see he's tired of chasing him. Right. That's the mistake,

if you remember, Varlin's made against Juhasz.

And that front leg, if you look, there's discoloration already on Oleg's left

leg. Two minutes, 15 seconds in.

And Oleg looks like he messed up his brace there momentarily.

Reset that right knee brace.

No braces are allowed, just those knee-free sleeves.

Come on, let's go, let's get it going.

Come on.

Oleg coming in. Gets two outs up against the back of the fence.

Now it'll be close in fighting. Elbows, knees, headbutts. And possibly foot

stomps. Remember, Huas has those 13, size 13 feet, and he used those foot

stomps in the last UFC.

Here's the chest match.

Little side shot there to the head by Takara.

They both know to stay very tight on each other to keep those strikes from

being effective.

There's the foot stomping.

Oleg looking down, trying to see where his feet are now.

We saw this in UFC 7. He got his attention in a hurry.

And there's a cut now over Tukhtarov's right eye.

And it's just to the, it's around the bridge of the nose, closer to the right

eye. And Huwak lands a left and it got the spot.

And that means more blood. And Oleg has been cut before.

And, you know, cuts tend to open more frequently.

He went for the leg. He went for Huwak's leg.

Who else knows this?

Who else knows all about this?

The key will be now the better ground-to-catch specialist, Valetito,

against Sambo.

A classic matchup of grappling skills.

That guard is cut.

And that one will start to squeeze a little bit.

I would give the advantage here to Huas simply because...

He is in the mounting position, and I don't think Tatarov on his back against

a person well-versed in ground attack will be as effective.

Chopping shots to the midsection by Huas.

And he's not just more versed, he's more experienced, he's stronger.

Well, he's definitely got the advantage here.

Tatarov gets to the seat.

Magnificent. Absolutely magnificent.

Using the fence to bring himself up.

He took punishment to get to his feet. That's something Tank was not able to do

in 15 minutes.

Dakar took two shots to the belly, accepted it, grabbed the fence and

pulled himself up, and now they're in a restart position.

Marco wants Dakar off the following.

Marco is not going to chase him. Look at him. He's circling.

Neither fighter is taking a step forward now.

Marco's breathing a little heavily.

He seemed to breathe hard at UFC 7 as well.

Now, Steve, this shows the inexperience of dealing with the leg kick.

All he needs to do is lift his knee up on the inside of Marco's leg, and he can

actually do damage to Marco if he tries that leg kick. But Oleg is a grappler.

He's not experienced at blocking that Thai leg kick.

And it was a question, a rumor.

Was his knee okay? We have seen no problem with his mobility.

Must have just been what I said it was, a real one. Another kick by Huas.

And this is the white knuckle event of bare knuckle competition, the ultimate

ultimate. The winner guaranteed $25,000.

The winner tonight gets $150,000. That was a very ineffective strike because

he's right.

When you hit with the foot, it does no damage to the thigh. You've got to hit

with the shin.

Huas again, effective double A counter.

Katara trying to shoot.

Huas with the sprawl. Huas is content to stay on the feet.

Oleg missed.

He knows he's a better striker. He knows he will take that leg out eventually.

And Oleg is waiting for it now.

Oh, Oleg landed a thunderous left.

Another right.

Huas checked his mouthpiece and got nailed.

And this is Tatar's favorite position.

It's the choke.

He's got him in it. It could be a tap out pretty soon.

Taktara working the choke.

Huas experienced.

Look at how calm Huas is. Right. He's not thrashing, which only sinks the

choke tighter.

Eventually, Taktara's hold will be broken.

He's going to get tired. That's a lot of arm power. A lot of energy being

expended.

Keep this lock on.

Just trying to be calm.

That's exactly what you have to be.

They say take your time.

And they said he had a neck of rubber. They said you can put him in a chokehold

and it doesn't go.

But obviously Tukhtarov is a master choker.

But it seems Uras here is able to solve that. See how he's twisting the wrist,

creating that gap. You can see a little bit of dark space near his chin.

That's enough room for him to breathe.

Jeff, if you pull away, you only intensify the choke. Exactly. You want

to drive towards the head. Keep your body low. The more you raise yourself

up, the more angle he has to sink that choke in.

Ten minutes plus to go in his 18-minute round.

And unlike wrestling, Huas can attack a finger. He can rip on one finger to go

ahead and break the lock. And there's the toe that's being used by Marco Huas

on the side of 13 feet.

And instead of stopping, he's using it as an ally. That is Tartara's foot on

the fence.

He's using it trying to keep his balance, keep Marco Uas from being able

to go ahead and improve his position.

But they've moved away from the fence now, but Tartara relentless with that

choke. I think he's going to have to release that. I don't think he's going

to be able to hang on.

Even no matter how much endurance he has, he can't keep it indefinitely.

That is correct, and there he broke the lock.

But he still has that arm sunk in there. What he's trying to get Huas to do is to

move, to try to improve his position.

And he'll bring that right arm right back in there to try to sink the choke

even more.

Nine minutes, 15 seconds left. Marco Huas, Oleg Tektarov.

Tektarov trying to move the choke. And now, referee John McCartney will restart

the action.

He has the prerogative to do that. Bad break for Oleg. Bad break for Oleg. And

now he wants the doctor, referee John McCarthy wants Dr. Richard Istrigo, the

medical advisor, to take a look at the cut.

Doesn't look bad.

Doesn't look bad. Well, the bad break for me was when they forced Oleg to

release that hold. I mean, you know, I don't know if he's going to be able to

get that back in on block.

Cup man Leon Temp tries to clean away, and he has been given the green light to

continue.

You saw that against Renfield Pardue.

Something was thrown in the ring into the octagon. I don't know if the

fighters see it.

But John McCarthy clears out one piece.

And now we are back in action with a 40 left.

Referee is the authority to stop the fight with the advice of the ringside

position. It's the first time we ever saw debris thrown into the octagon.

That's very unfortunate.

Two class athletes laying it on the line for the Sprouse. They really shouldn't

be throwing stuff in there. Now, as a striker, I can see right now that not

only are these guys relatively open to the legs, they're very open to the body.

But no one has gone to the body with a punch or a kick since I've been watching

tonight.

I'm not really sure why that is, but... Well, it's a lack of boxing skills, Don.

Well, he's not even barking. I mean, you can throw a foot to the body, bring the

hand down, you can land the punch to the face.

But the fighters are not thinking in twos and threes.

They're thinking in one move at a time, one punch, one strike.

And the beauty about going to the body is the accumulation of blows. If you can

score off, it really works in a guy.

Absolutely. If you want to knock a guy out, you hit the body. You kill the

body, the head will fall.

And again, the chest match.

Huas circling left.

Taktarov circling with him.

tatara's waiting for that kick every time marco picks up that right leg oleg

is waiting for it well he's not properly blocking it because what he needs to do

is lift his knee up and move forward inside hooah and then his knee will

actually strike off his thigh and cause him damage that's how you stop the leg

kick not by just coming forward and absorbing it a little blood underneath

the lip of hooah not a bad cut tatara much more

bloody

At some point here, one of these two, we're going to have to ask ourselves,

who would be ahead by the judges? And the person that feels he isn't ahead is

going to have to become a little bit more desperate in their aggressiveness.

You know, I would say at this point, the strike, it would be Hua and grappling.

Believe it or not, I think Oleg having that choke in as close as he did would

be ahead on the grappling end.

Taktaro's trying to put together a one-two. Right, he faked a little left

hook, came in with a right hand. And that's what these guys need to do. If

you want to strike, you need to put some combinations together, not one touch at

a time.

Oleg said, no, no.

In the middle of this fierce battle, a cute little antidote.

It almost seems that Marcos' disposition never changes.

The expression on his face remains constant, never letting his opponent see

whether or not he's hurt.

anxious and frustrated.

Come on, Joe. Let's work. Let's go.

Get it moving.

What are the judges thinking, guys, right now?

This is a big mistake by Oleg to bend over and try to grab that leg after the

fact. I mean, I've seen fighters do that a million times in kickboxing matches,

and it always ends up bad.

If Klaus has a roundhouse kick to the head, he could take Tatarov out right

now. Fake to the leg, go right up to the head.

Oh, an exchange there.

And Oleg looking to counter with the right hand.

And here Oleg wants to be the puncher.

He's giving up on those leg shots, trying to take Duas down.

It doesn't seem that he wants to rush Marco and try to close the distance,

thus to force a grappling game.

It's very interesting here. Where is Oleg's tactic coming from? What is his

strategy? Team Duas here just wants to sit and kick away.

Five minutes, ten seconds left in this 18-minute time limit.

If we end up with no time on the clock, three judges render a decision.

And the winner takes on Dan Severin for the ultimate, ultimate title.

You know, it takes about five minutes to teach a fighter how to block a leg kick.

And I can't understand why, after watching Fuat win with a leg kick, that

Oleg had not prepared for it a little better.

He has not blocked one properly yet.

Actually, when a man goes to your leg, that's the time he should throw a punch

because who else will be on one foot? And at that point, they can't do

anything. So if he throws a kick, you block it, come in with a punch.

That's what Oling should be doing.

They've been on their feet circling now for three or four minutes.

They seem at a loss as to how to really launch an effective offense from this

position.

Jeff, does it behoove either fighter here to make a move based on where he

thinks he might stand with the judges?

I think that's really right now where the fight stands is how they interpret

it and who's going to be desperate feeling they're behind.

How do you interpret it?

It's too close to call. I think the aggressiveness factor is the one thing

we don't know. You have leg strikes and some punches from Ross, but I really

don't know. There's an attack now. I say the aggressor is Oleg. Those leg kicks

are counters to Oleg.

Trying to corner Huas. I would give the aggressiveness to Oleg right now at this

point. And Oleg also had the choke move.

He had the choke. It was an effective grappling technique that the referee

ended up breaking.

In the old rules, that would not have happened.

I question how effective that choke was. It was not a choke. It was a hold close

to a choke. Does that count as a choke?

Huas was never threatened.

He breathed the whole time. He was in a guard position, which we've seen many

times. And the guard is what determines whether or not there's no action. And

ground techniques are being judged on both defensive as well as offensive.

You can't win a fight the way Hua is fighting right now. Just moving around,

basically just avoiding a conflict. He's just avoiding the fight. He's not using

techniques to set something up that could do damage. He's just countering

with a leg kick and avoiding.

Oleg has shot the takedown.

He's come in with some big punches.

Here he tries to get a very risky move, very risky. And look, Huas still does

not want to fight.

Who would have ever thought this fight would be on its feet for this long?

I'm really shocked.

The question will be, do the judges see Huas as being the non

-aggressor? And certainly whether or not that choke hold, which has really been

the only ground attack that Tukhtarov has had, is being effective.

Well, if nothing else, Jeff, it did have the potential for damage. I agree. Even

though it was not locked in yet, but it looked like something might have

happened. A good leg kick by Houla.

He set it up by faking the right hand, and when Tukhtarov backed his body away,

Went ahead and took the shot.

But look who brings the fight to who. Look who's bringing the fight. It's Oleg

now. At this point, the aggressive, there's no doubt. Oleg is now chasing

him. He's shooting for tape guns. He's throwing left hook. He's trying to

fight.

If Oleg started backing out the way Huas is fighting, what would we be watching?

Two men avoiding each other.

I'm not a judge, but my unofficial, up to this point.

Oh, nice attempt.

My unofficial decision is.

It's Oleg's fight.

I don't know what Ross is thinking. I don't know what his strategy is at this

point.

But he's not taking the fight to Oleg.

Absolutely.

A little over a minute to go. If Oleg starts doing what he does, we're going

to be having an audience fall asleep out here.

Oleg has taken the fight. He's taken chances. He's shot with a leg takedown.

He's shot almost with a football takedown.

And as usual, he's bloody in the face area.

Very dangerous move by Oleg, and who lost too does not want to mix it up. He

must have felt something on the inside there grappling that he didn't like.

Well, it's interesting. If a person wants to go to the ground and the other

chooses not to, is that a sign of non-aggression?

These are the questions that having judges will bring to bear. Well, not if

that person wants to stand up and strike, but Klaus isn't doing that

either.

If you don't want to go to the ground and grapple, and you don't want to duke

it out, what do you want to do out there?

Right hand by Ole. I would say there are some strikes there.

Taktara's face bears that measure.

That's right.

Taktara, his French, his face, and his own blood.

Huas' body drenched in his own sweat. Final seconds.

It's over.

And it will go to the judges.

The scar tissue on Tartaro, I think I can slap him in the face and cause him

to bleed. I don't take that as damage.

He's been cut so many times before in the UFC.

And so it will go to the judges for a second time tonight.

Ernest Hart, John Little, Michael DeFosqually. I'm not a judge, but you

know what my opinion is.

I've seen a thousand fights.

We will wait for the official decision.

You can't win a fight. You don't want an ultimate champion who doesn't come to

fight. You can't have that. And Oleg came to fight. And I did not see that

tonight. And who else?

There's Leon Tabbs, the well-known cut man who's worked for so many world

champions.

Leon does a marvelous job in the UFC. 30 years in the fight game in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania. And there is a unanimous call from the judges.

Taktara, Taktara, Taktara.

He's in tears, I believe.

Now, once again, we want to talk about UFC 8.

It's coming up on Friday, February 16th. Please join us on pay-per-view. Eight

fighters, seven fights.

One champion plus a super fight. People are talking about Shamrock versus Kimo.

That's right, Shamrock versus Kimo. It's UFC 8, David and Goliath tournament.

Tonnage versus technique. Don't miss it live. Friday, February 16th. Only on...

pay-per-view.

And Ken Shamrock, the Superfight Champion, joins me now, and it's Kimo

against Shamrock. What are your early thoughts?

Well, you know, Kimo's big and strong, and he's dangerous, so it's just like

these rest of these guys. You know, you've got to go in here mentally and

physically prepared to fight, because none of these guys are easy. None of

them. And when you step into that octagon, you better have your thinking

cap on, and you better have your physical shape in top condition.

These guys are tough.

Do you like the Superfight format?

Yes, I do.

I fought in many, many tournaments earlier in my career, and I earned the

right to be in a super fight.

And I fought Hoyes to a draw, and the title was pushed over into, the title

was unheld. So I fought Dan Severin, and I beat Dan Severin. So I won the title,

and I fought Oleg and went to a draw. I still had the title, so I kept the

title. So, you know, I've earned that spot, and until I lose it, I'm staying.

Ken, what about tonight? What are your thoughts, first of all, on how quickly

the quarterfinals went?

Well, you know, I kind of expected that, except for one of them.

But, you know, these guys are so good when they step into the ring that at any

given moment, anybody makes a mistake, the fight could be over. If you notice,

all the preliminary fights were won by submission except for Dan Severance, and

that went to a draw. But all the other ones were hooked.

All right, what about the second round? As we advance to the finals, both had to

go to the judges, which is a new concept for the UFC.

Number one, do you like the judges' format? Number two, what did you think

of the fight?

Yeah, I like the judges' format because it's not fair when someone really fights

hard and another person kind of backs off and backs off and just basically

wastes his time and gets a draw, then basically both lose.

I don't think that's right, especially in this format when your time limit is

pushed on you and you have to fight to a time limit. So I think the judges,

you've got to go with it. It creates controversy. It's good for it.

You know, I didn't see any controversy in the fight tonight. They were all

talking. Well, Huas complained and said that he got a bad deal. Do you agree or

disagree? No, I think what they were looking at is what Oleg looked like and

what Huas looked like. And if you were going to go by what someone looked like,

of course, Huas would have won the fight. But if you're going by strategy,

aggressiveness, the man that was pushing the fight, the man that went to the

ground, did have two submission holds on him, could have ended the fight at any

time except Huas got out. Just because he gets out of a hold doesn't mean that

he wins the fight. It just means the other guy should have two points.

and the other guy doesn't have any, and as far as standing up, I think I gave

who is just the edge, but not enough to win the fight.

Shamrock, we're not going to the octagon. I got you right where I want

you. The broadcast booth, pal.

Ken Shamrock will join us for the championship fight.

I know I got the advantage over you there, but we look forward to hearing

your comments, so stay around. Thank you, thank you. So the championship

fight is coming up in the Ultimate Ultimate.

It will be a rematch between Daniel the Beat Severin and Oleg Tektarov.

Here's Rich. Go, go, goins.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the match you've been waiting for. The final of

the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Ultimate, ultimate.

Brought to you by SDG Sports Corporation. And it pits two former

champions of Ultimate Fight Championships.

Our first fighter.

Out of Coldwater, Michigan, 37 years old, 6'2", 250 pounds,

a champion in Sambo, freestyle, and a Greco-Roman master UFC 4

runner-up and the UFC 5 champion. Please welcome back the beast, Daniel

Severn.

Severn.

And his opponent, from Gorky, Russia, fighting out of California, a fourth

-degree black belt in jiu-jitsu, four-time European and Asian jiu-jitsu

champion, Russian national judo champion, UFC 6 ultimate fighting

champion, the Russian bear, Oleg Tokturov.

Tokturov.

Well, Taktar said it's easier to fight a guy with technique.

And he's fighting another guy with technique right now. He proved he could

do it against Tuash. Now can he do it against Severin? Two guys who love to be

on the mat.

Severin, 10 years the senior of Oleg.

Severin with a two-inch height advantage outweighs Taktar by probably only 13

pounds considering he came in at 238. It's the U.S. against Russia.

Here we go. Finals of the ultimate ultimate.

Dan the speech is waiting the time is now

It looks like

dance trying to slap those wounds And open them up he sees

it he knows it he understands it

Do you think Oleg's going to pull him to the ground, Ken? Do you think he wants

to go to his back? Oh, absolutely.

A wrestler wants to get him down there, but it's a whole different world when

you get down there. I think what Dan wants to do is take him down into his

advantage and not into Oleg's advantage.

So Dan's going to wait, flap him around a little bit, and I think he's going to

shoot on him and try and scoot to the side and then drop some knees on him and

some punches.

Do you think the guard is Tukhtarov's advantage, being in the guard, or do you

think Severn, even if he's in the top position?

Being in the guard, do you think he can handle that and solve it?

I don't think Dan is going to be able to solve the guard, only because he really

doesn't understand what Oleg does with legs, because Oleg really hasn't showed

anything. Well, there's a kick by Oleg Tektarov. Nice pop, huh?

Not bad.

We saw what Huas could do with the leg kicks. Finally, Tektarov explodes with a

leg kick. And Dan's right thigh, you can see, Dan, is pretty red already.

That's from the slapping I think he does to himself at the beginning of the

fight.

It seems to me, looking at Tukhtarov, he doesn't seem phased or fatigued.

Okay. And there's the difference between Huas and Severin.

Severin sees Tukhtarov down and goes for him. Watch the knee bar.

That's the aggression. Watch the knee bar. Here it is right there. It's over.

He's got him. He's finishing him right here.

He's done.

Dan's trying to work himself out of it.

Oh, it's got him. He's got to kill his hold right now. Dan needs to pull his

hand down.

Otherwise, Oleg will bring it up and he'll put severe pain on him.

Dan needs to break his arms and get his legs straight. Dan's flopping away at

the face of Tektara.

Dan needs to be really careful where he's at because he's in several

positions where he can be submitted.

He can do a knee block from there.

He'll roll over it, and he's got it in a knee block.

This is dangerous.

He's done. He's done.

Oh, Dan, nice move.

Whoa, whoa. How'd he get out of that?

He's got to keep rolling. He's got to keep rolling with it. Every time he

tries to put the pressure, he's rolling. Now he's in a position.

Very nice. Dan's out of it.

Good job by Severn. Absolutely. He went the direction that he was trying to

force, and he just went with it. And we got the blood going now. The blood is

flowing. And that's what was the factor in the last time these two guys fought.

It doesn't take a hard shot to open the skin. The skin is a quarter of an inch

thick, soft material.

particularly when it's already been opened from the previous fight. Should

Dan go for headbutts here and try to make those wounds open more?

I think his best bet was the open palm because he's going to break his knuckles

if he punches, but that open palm could just open that wound up. Oh, that cut is

bad right there. John's going to be looking very closely at Oleg.

Yes, he is.

I think it's still the same cut. It's just that it's opened up now and it's

bleeding. Right. I don't think it has really opened up to any great extent

like that first cut we saw when these two fought. I think Ken called it right,

though. If he opens that up, it may be stopped on that again. Exactly.

And rightfully so. That's a good tactic for Severn to look at if it presents

itself. Rightfully so. I mean, you don't want a man out there bleeding because

obviously it's not good for him. Well, you can't see.

Exactly. That boy gets in your eyes and you can't see. You'd be a blind fighter.

How well can...

And look at the mass of the forehead of Coctaro.

It's rising.

They're the headbutts. Yeah, he's bleeding really heavily.

John's looking real close at him right now. He's going to have, if they stand

back up, Coctaro is going to be blind out there. Oleg's moving in for a knee

bar right now. The only reason he can feel confidently fighting is he can feel

where Dan is. Exactly. You see what Dan did? He's putting his arm around Oleg's

head because he sees Oleg tucking between his legs and he's going to try

and go for a knee bar again.

What Oleg will do is slide his head between Dan's leg. Dan blocks his head

so he can't get between his legs.

And it keeps him from dropping for a knee bar.

We have seen Taktara so many times before. Keep working. Keep working.

In this position and just work. He's so dangerous. He's so dangerous. He's

always thinking.

He's got such tenacity. Yeah, but at this point in time, Oleg Taktara has to

finish the fight. Right. Because of the blood. He's not going to go 15 minutes

like that. Well, there doesn't seem to be that much blood right now. Look at

his face.

If anything, it's running off the side of his eye there. But it doesn't seem to

be as bad as huddling in the eye socket at all.

It's on the canvas of the Octagon. It's covering.

It's going to be stopped.

It's going to be stopped. Now it will be.

It's going to be stopped. Right. It's going to be stopped.

You know,

John might let this go a little while because of what happened last time they

fought. Ole wasn't happy with the stop into the fight, but it was stopped

likely so.

He's confidently defending himself, so should it be stopped? No fighter ever

wants to stop it on the cut. I had 22 stitches in my face. I didn't want to

stop it. It was squirting out with my pulse.

I don't see it squirted out with his post, so I would think that they can

keep it going.

It's John's judgment. John's got the best view in there, and if he keeps it

going, I've been in there, and I think he's a real professional. He knows when

the guy's had enough or it's bleeding too much. So, I mean, John's looking at

it close, and he understands what's going on there.

Well, as long as they're wrestling, I think Oleg can deal with not seeing

clearly. Here are those headbutts by Dan Severin to the face of Tatara.

If they get back on their feet, Oleg will be blind.

He's going for a knee bar. If he breaks that arm off, if Oleg moves his arm off

his head, Oleg will slip between his legs and go for a knee bar.

He's doing it. He's going. He's in a position right now. He'll do a knee bar.

Nope, Dan scooted the leg out. Very good.

Dan moving very well.

Here comes the knees.

He's gotten the guard. He's outside the legs now. He has an opportunity to

really go after Tatarov now.

What Dan keeps wanting to do is pin him. But he does do the strikes. He'll use

his knees. He'll use his elbows.

Still 21 minutes left in this championship bout. Then there would be a

three-minute overtime if there was still about to continue.

Yeah, this won't go to a draw. I believe that, especially with Oleg's technique,

if Dan doesn't get the fight stopped with the blood.

And it goes into the later round. Oleg has a really good chance of finishing.

Because he can finish the fight. And Dan is a pounder. And if he keeps doing what

he's doing, there he goes. He has to do that. He's got to rain punches. He's got

to get after him.

Oleg has a bloody mess on the bottom.

And Severin continues to headbutt him.

And Severin works.

Can you train with Taktara at times? Tell me, do you feel something for him

right now?

Yeah, I do.

You know, he's...

He right now is exhausted.

He got beat up. He got punched on in the last fight.

He came back in. He didn't have the rest that he needed.

But, hey, you know, this is what this is all about. You know, the champion's got

to step up, and I think Oleg's going to be all right. I think he's going to make

it. The only way he's going to lose is if John stops the fight because of the

blood. And if it was me at this point in time, I would be looking very close at

Oleg. What about his will, Ken? What about Taktarov's will? He won't quit.

No, I fully agree, you know. I don't even know the guy, and I feel for him.

I do realize that in a fight, this is still superficial bone. This is skin.

That's the damage that he's suffering. His head is not getting jarred around

like boxers do. Show for a choke. He missed it.

Oleg is dangerous from this point. If Dan gets too high, Oleg, if he has the

energy, could turn him. There's the roll. He's trying to roll him.

He got his legs inside there, Kenny. He tried to plop him to the side. Right.

Oleg's in a serious situation here, and he needs to...

He's just laying there. I don't know if he has anything left.

And don't forget the altitude.

Yes, it's a big, it's a big, the altitude is really big, and it's hard to

understand until you actually fight in it.

You know, it's even bigger, Ken, when you only get 15 minutes off after going

18.

That's the biggest factor here. He's taken from knees and from body shots,

and he's got a big man on him.

Yeah, this here is going to be really interesting to see.

If Ole's going to be able to keep Dan off him long enough to where his cuts

will stop.

If Dan keeps hitting him, you know, they're going to keep opening up. And,

of course, the blood will keep coming out. Well, Severin has not stopped

working in any bout tonight. He's in tremendous shape for a guy who's 37.

You know, at this point now, if Dan would just open his hand and rub on the

face, I think he's going to split that skin wide open. It's not even a matter

of strike. He's already open. All he needs to do is just rub it.

You know, boxers do that with them.

Got a tilt going.

Dan is just so strong.

He's strong, he's big, he's got leverage.

So strong.

Dan's going for a side choke there, but Oleg defended it.

Can Oleg be choked out, Ken?

You know, I've tried several times, man. He's got no neck.

I think he breathes with gills.

18 minutes to go.

Championship of the ultimate, ultimate.

Bruce Beck down to Dragon Wolfen.

Jeff Blatnick and Super Fight Champion Ken Shamrock with you.

All kinds of time left. It doesn't seem like the bleeding now has picked up any.

His face is marred. I know when I fought Ole before, he started bleeding quite a

bit, and then after the fight wore on, the bleeding just stopped.

It seems like it's doing that. Yes, that wound is still open, and it will have

blood coming out of it, but it is not profuse. It is not fuddling in for a

second. It's not puddling in that eye socket. And as long as it's not doing

that, Oleg can still get glimpses. And without a doubt, he's an expert in this

guard. He knows where Severn is.

The blood doesn't look pretty, guys.

Never looks pretty.

You know, the thing about this and Oleg's advantage is that because he's

rubbing on Dan also, he's got his face up there, and he's rubbing the sweat in

there, and that helps dilute the blood. So there's probably blood coming out,

but you've got sweat and blood mixed together, and you can't see it.

With the camera because there's so much sweat in there. You can see it on the

canvas. It could look worse than what it really is. You can see it on the canvas.

And Severn now getting a little bit of a breather.

He's got a tilt.

Oleg needs to get out of there.

He's going to get damaged. Dan needs to drive him to the fence and start raining

some knees here.

Oleg hanging on.

He's tearing the chain link fence.

He's actually bent the chain link fence with the force trying to hold himself

up. That was almost a choke there. Yes, it was.

I think he learned, huh?

Severn has shown that he can come back. Absolutely.

The same with Tartaro.

The big advantage here has been the fact that Tartaro had that fight after

Severn. He got in there with a good 25 minutes of rest. Watch this knee.

If Dan throws it, Oleg's in trouble.

He's working.

It looks like he's scooting around trying to get him there in that knee

position.

Are you referring to his left knee coming to the head there? Left knee.

He's spinning around. He's got Oleg's head pinned against the fence.

He's trying to get his far leg, his right leg free.

Watch the knee bar. If Oleg talks, he's got his... Devereux now wants to grab

onto the fence just to keep him here.

It's not a bad decision either. I think if he can pin Oleg up against the fence,

you know, that's where Dan is strongest right there. He pins the guy up and he

just starts raining knees and punches. He could be dangerous.

Does Oleg have the strength to possibly try some type of countermaneuver here?

Yeah, no, that's one thing with Oleg is he'll lay there, he'll store it up,

he'll store it up, and then one big burst, he'll go for something. And a

burst can do it when you can always come up with a choke, right?

He almost caught him off. He almost caught him off.

Oh, here's the knee of separate.

Dakhtara works his way to his feet.

And now I think John McCarthy will take Oleg over to the doctor, Richard

Istrigo, to take a look at him.

This could be a decision right here.

It doesn't look too bad there. It doesn't look bad at all. One of them's

under the eye, that's fine.

One above the eye.

That's not the one that's bleeding. It's the one on the cheek, and it don't look

bad. No, I think he's going to be all right. I think he's going to finish. Oh,

he's going to be able to go.

Cup man Leon Taft takes a good look at him. And that's not to say we're medical

people. This is just from the experience we've seen in fighting.

We obviously leave it up to the doctors.

Absolutely. It looks really bad for him, but, you know, his head has not been

shook up over and over. It's all this superficial cut. Look at his eyes. Look

at his eyes.

He does not want to lose this fight. Look at Dan Seven.

Dan Seven does not want to lose this fight. You've got two outstanding

warriors in there, and they're going to go at him. Look at him. They're ready to

go. They're both ultimate champions.

Absolutely.

That's a very good compliment. Coming from a super fight champion, that's a

very good compliment.

Thank you. I think that they're both champions right out there. They're

giving it their all.

Taktarov won UFC 6.

Severin won UFC 5.

Inside of 15 minutes in the championship.

Of the ultimate ultimate.

The largest martial arts purse ever. $150,000 to the winner of this bout.

$25,000 to the runner-up. I don't think you can say loser, Ken. Oh, he landed a

punch right there. Oh, he landed another uppercut, too.

There's no quitting, Oli. No, he's the best puncher, too, in these two.

Severin can't go with him on the feet like this.

Although seven is big and strong. He hit me with a straight right hand when I was

fighting him and it shook my world. So he doesn't need a lot of snapper power

just to wait. If he throws it forward and he hits, he can knock him down. Good

punch by Shepard there.

He's going for a knee bar.

I think Dan's wise to this. He's been doing his studying. He understands.

The last time he took on Tektar, he studied tapes from 1976. He dug out the

archives from when he went across.

Oleg's bleeding quite a bit again.

Oh, yes. Now Oleg's face is a bloody mess. Yeah, it's worse than it was.

Yes, I think Oleg needs to move right now because if he lays there, John has

every right to stop this fight.

He needs to move. If he moves and John knows he's okay, he'll continue to

fight. But if he lays there, continues to get punched, you know, John has no

option but to stop the fight.

Severin's face is filled with Oleg's blood as well.

Still plenty of time here.

The only question is the condition of Oleg Tukhtarov.

Well, you've got to look at Dan. Dan looks a little gassed there, too.

This is going to be interesting.

On points, who would you have ahead, Kenshi? Oh, definitely Dan Severin. He's

dominated the fight. Would you start to shut her down a little bit,

conservative, control Tukhtarov so he cannot score?

I would definitely keep punching and keep being aggressive.

But I wouldn't take any chances because Oleg is dangerous with submissions.

All it takes is one mistake.

Right. You know, I always believed it was a game out there. I had no animosity

towards my opponent. Right now, if I were Dan, I'd be looking for that $150

,000.

You've got to look at the feet, how he's trapping Dan's legs. If Dan can't scoot

to the side and start dropping knees and punches on him, he's got him what we

call in a half guard.

He controls that leg there. Dan can't scoot around. He really can't get no

brace to throw any punches.

And that controls Dan from actually getting off on Oleg with punches and

knees. Isn't this similar to your fight with Tukhtarov at this point where it's

turning into more of a defensive guard than looking at offense?

Yes, it is.

I think at this point in time that Oleg right now is just... I know if I was in

his position, I'd be thinking, patience, patience.

I'm going to wait for him to make a mistake.

You know, I'm bleeding. I need to make him do something. He needs to rotate his

hips, make Dan move a little bit, make Dan think he's got something, and then

go for a hold because if Oleg waits too long and he's too patient, he's going to

start bleeding.

When does patience, though, become urgency?

Well, I think if Dan starts throwing knees and kicks and really starts really

trying to get out of that half guard, then you'll see Oleg really start to

move. He'll have to move. Right now, Oleg's content being right there.

because he's in really no danger for any power to come and hurt him.

11 minutes and 30 seconds just went by in terms of time remaining and

regulation time.

And I'll tell you, it looks as though Severn's holding onto Takara's head like

he's holding onto $150,000. Right, what I'm saying is that Severn is up. He's

up on the judges' decision, I'm sure.

And this is a restart for John McCarthy. All to watch Takara to be looked at

again.

It's leaned up.

If there's a lack of action, the ref can restart the duo.

And watch these guys' two eyes when they step in there. I mean, neither one of

them even see the end. They just see what's in front of them.

I asked Takara earlier this week if all the accumulation of punishment in the

last four UFCs might catch up to him. He said no.

I disagree with Takara. The skin can only take so much. The skin is beyond

your... I mean, he's got the will, but he's

right now.

Oli's going to push him a little bit. He has to.

He's losing on points right now.

And he really, if he wants to win this thing, he's going to have to go over

Dan. And he knows that. I think he really knows that. And so you'll see Oli

keep coming after him until Dan takes him down. Then he'll put him in the

guard again and wait for him to stand him up again.

Look at these two guys. I mean, look at them. They are not going to stop. These

guys are two warriors out there, and they see no way that they're going to

give up. They're going to fight to the end.

As much as you people know I like Seven with grappling, I just cannot fathom and

understand the heart of Taktara to take 18 minutes, only get a 20-minute break,

and come back, and he's already gone just about another 20 minutes here.

Incredible. And he's still going. And I said earlier tonight, guys, that his

threshold of pain is incomprehensible.

Yep. I don't know if there's a lot of pain. It's just bleeding.

Yeah, you're right, you know and you being an expert at kicking a punch and

understand when you throw a punch how that snap it Hits you you're gonna drop

them, but there's really been no you don't feel it No, no, you know, you

wouldn't feel it even if it does. I mean, you know knockout is the Painless

thing you've ever had happen.

I just heard your ego ride. You never know what hit you.

I Don't know what dance doing but he needs to get after him He's got this

fight one if he needs he just needs to go after only Right, if he keeps doing

this, he's going to end up like, you know, he's losing points by backing off.

Under eight minutes to go in regulation.

Three-minute OT to follow if needed.

Ultimate, ultimate championship.

Severin and Tektar.

Oleg and Dan, man, these guys, you know, you can tell how much better that both

of them have gotten since the last ultimate. They're snappier, they're

quicker. Oleg's a little better moving on his feet.

You know, you saw that fight with Huas. He was moving well. Huas is a good

boxer.

Severed content now to train punches.

Something we didn't think would be in his arsenal is good striking, but he's

able to throw some punches.

I don't know. Maybe fatigue has to be affecting Pacquiao.

It has to be. I have not seen any body punches thrown.

Good point.

And really, that's the way you punch. You can't punch a guy in the head with

your knuckles, but you can dig to the body. I mean, you can blast the body,

double up on the body, and get out of there.

At this point, it's the same thing when you guys get tired.

See how quick Oleg moved into that? Very gutsy move.

That's what he's like.

I mean, Dan Seven is strong, big. He comes in after you. Oleg is basically

slow, sloppy.

But when he hits a move, man, he's snappy. And that's what makes him

dangerous. What makes Dan Seven so dangerous is that if he does get into a

position, he's going to hurt you.

Looking at the guard, Tukhtarov on the bottom, Severn on top.

Severn thus far, I would say he's the aggressor. Certainly he's done better on

the ground. Certainly he's struck more than Tukhtarov. So I would give him an

edge in all three categories at this point.

And if you are Severn then, and you know you have a commanding lead, the one

thing you don't want to do is make a mistake.

Absolutely. Start shutting it down, be a little bit more conservative, continue

to attack. But as Ken said, you cannot make a mistake. And you make mistakes

when you get overly aggressive.

When you let your ego take over instead of your thought process. You also get it

when you're overconfident. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. And Dan's actually fighting a pretty smart fight other than I think

he's taking too much time when he had Oleg into defense. You know, he probably

could have unloaded some good shots there.

Those knees that he was using, you know, he should have backed off a little bit.

Maybe he used the knees because Oleg looked a little.

too winded and tired to really launch an attack himself.

Yes, and now, you know, in a thing like that, it's easy to stand out. You're

looking at it and say, they should have did this and they should have did that,

you know.

But these two guys in there are really fighting hard. They both have great

technique. You know, I've fought them both. They're both outstanding.

And Oleg is dangerous in his way and Dan is dangerous in his way. And this makes

for a great finish.

Right, this is the best fight of the evening and rightfully so. It's the main

event actually. You think Seven has improved since when you fought him in

the super fight?

Dan is smarter.

You know, he's not coming in with his head down.

Oleg tried to choke him one time. He put his chin down. Oleg couldn't get the

hand in to choke him.

Dan is coming in a little higher.

He's throwing punches, more punches, and he's shooting off those punches.

Under five minutes to go.

Dan Severn fighting like it's his last fight. You know, I'm amazed at this. You

know, before the event started, people come up and ask me if it was going to be

a draw, and I said, no way.

And I'm amazed at how long this fight has gone with these two guys. And, you

know, it has been no rest. These guys have been going at it the whole time.

Early on, it looked like it might end quickly.

Absolutely, with Oleg bleeding and Dan actually being stronger and obviously in

better shape at that point in time. And Oleg has basically fought a smart fight

by just waiting and waiting until he gets Dan in.

His position is being tired. And right now, I think they're both equally as

tired.

Right now, with four minutes and 17 seconds, we remind you that is

regulation. If there is no finish here, in other words, a submission or a

knockout or a doctor stopping the fight, we will do the three minutes overtime.

Well, Dan Severin went to the finals of UFC 4.

He lost to Hoyce Gracie, a triangle choke. He came back in UFC 5. He won the

championship. Then he lost to Ken Shamrock in the super fight at six.

And now trying to come back in the ultimate ultimate and atone for that

loss.

I'm just totally amazed.

You know, all these fighters are just, you know, they're incredibly, they're

all getting so much better.

Do you think that's partly due to their training or partly understanding their

opponents? Well, you know, I think it's both because if you can end a fight with

a submission hold.

then it ends quickly. But if you get a guy that's in not so good shape, it

don't matter whether you finish with a finishing hold or not. Kenny, there's

also the vehicle now to improve, and that is competing in the UFC.

Yeah, absolutely.

And these, I mean, you've seen the fight tonight, and these guys are raring to

go. These guys are all champions, and they're going for it. And the crowd, you

can hear that they're not booing. That shows their respect for these two

fighters. And respect, Don, is what the fight game's all about. Three minutes

left in regulation.

Look at all this space.

He's got Wells all over the top of his forehead and cheek.

He's holding on to Dan's neck, trying to keep Dan from raising up and actually

landing any headbutts to open up any more cuts.

Right at this point, it's a safe bet they're not going to stop it on a cut.

If I was Dan, I'd go.

I'm sure there must be...

There's some finishing moves that he could be trying, but maybe he just feels

Oleg's too dangerous to even try one. But, you know, with Oleg Taktarov, he is

so good at defending from submission. He knows, like, when a body moves a certain

way or he shifts his weight a certain way, he knows what's coming, and he's

able to defend that. And that's what makes Oleg so tough is that he knows how

to block. When you shift your weight, he knows what's coming.

So Dan knows that, and he's just using these just to be doing something

aggressive and hopefully get some points.

Well, Dan, like he's picking his leg up, and he'll scoot to one side. You'll

watch how Oleg maneuvers his way when Dan maneuvers his.

Oleg will slip a leg out. You'll see here in a minute, if one of them move,

you'll see how the other one on the bottom counteracts that move.

Under two minutes to go. There goes Dan. He slides over. Oleg puts his leg up

higher and drops the other one down on the other side. If Dan moves too far

over, he'll flip the leg under and tilt him.

See how his leg's sliding down on the far side?

He's going to look to tilt Dan. He'll slide the leg inside if Dan moves too

far to the left.

Dan does not want to make the mistake he did with Hoyce Gracie. There he goes.

He didn't catch it just right. He's trying to slip it under there and make

the turn. He lost to the guillotine choke in that one after controlling much

of the action, we thought.

Very much like an elevator in wrestling. Just flip that leg. Watch how he slides

it down. See how sneaky he is? He's sliding it down.

He's sliding it down, and he'll stick it under when he feels Dan is not ready or

off balance, and he'll try and tilt him.

Severin being very smart, has Oleg Tukhtarov's upper body in hand, under

lock. He's not allowing Tukhtarov really to do anything. He knows he's ahead,

probably by the judges and his efforts, and he is trying to stay a little bit

conservative to prevent Tukhtarov from getting an opening.

50 seconds to go in regulation.

Well, let's see what happens here that would do that wonder if they know how

much time is left The referee doesn't start Can you ever hear it? It's kind of

tough in there when you're in there in this situation You're so concentrated on

what's going on in there that you don't make a mistake or fall asleep Let the

guy catch you with something. So yeah, sometimes you hear it Sometimes you just

your thought is on what's going on there. There goes all over the leg

inside slip it inside

He needs to go for the tilt now. I think Dan feels it, though. So he's posting

with that close to the left knee. He's posting with his elbow behind Ola's

head.

Final seconds of regulation. A three-minute overtime to follow.

Finals of the ultimate ultimate.

And they will get the restart in just a second.

Three-minute overtime, yeah?

Yes. Three-minute OT.

I think you'll see Dan coming out and being a beast for this next three

minutes.

Well, he's got three minutes, and he knows whoever finishes strong is likely

to win this thing.

I think I got Dan way ahead on points.

Oleg needs to win with his mission.

I think Dan is not going to settle for a draw. I think he wants to come out and

get it done.

Here we go. Three-minute overtime.

Jeff, what's the one thing Dan doesn't want to get caught with here? He wants

to stay in control and not flurry.

Flurry is an advantage for Tuttara because of his skill in submission

locks. Plus, when you get in a flurry, it's an all-out goal. You're kind of

sprinting. You can't control everything that happens.

Sever wants to measure Tuttara and keep him in front of him and not make any big

mistakes, particularly just on flurry. But if you have to, go under him, try to

knock him down to the mat, kill time in the guard position.

Ole's coming after him. Dan needs to throw some back.

There he goes. There it is. Dan needs to be careful with his front leg. He's

leaving it out there. Ole's going to try and tuck for the knee bar.

He'll get inside on him.

Dan needs to watch that front leg.

I think Ole's kind of content with 12 punches here. What do you think?

Oh, there's no doubt. I think he's looking to try to hit him. Oh, whoa.

He might also know that he can wait for the last minute to go for an all-out

lock. Maybe set seven up by.

Thinking he wants to get into a pounding battle.

Well, Severin is not much of a puncher. And, you know, as tired as Ola gets, you

know, it doesn't take much to take a guy out. If he can land something, maybe he

thinks he can actually hurt Dan standing up. Dan throws a straight jab here.

He'll hit him.

It just seems Tatarov has to be fat, fatigued beyond belief. He's just got to

be exhausted.

And yet he still steps forward.

He's got his hands up at least to his waist.

Severin's are up by his hands, which is obviously good for protecting himself.

But Taktara up here is going to have to make a move. Does Taktara have one big

move left?

I think so. I think he does, and I think he'll use it. You'll see him. Odom won't

settle for it. Dan won't settle for it. These guys are going to go after each

other. They know it. They're waiting for that one minute probably, and it's a

full flurry.

I think Dan, though, if he was smart, you know, I think he's fighting a smart

fight right now because he is a head right. He's got that purse.

Oh, right hand by Severn.

That was a good shot there.

But he was smart. He backed off. He knew he had it. He landed the punch and

backed out. He doesn't want to engage in battle now, does he? No. He's got

everything to lose.

He said Dan would jump down on top of him, and he had a chance to try for a

submission. Dan backed off. It's Severin's fight to lose, Jeff. At this

point, it is. At this point, it is.

Unless the judges are watching a different fight.

You know, it's happened before.

But not in the UFC.

I think this is totally wrong combinations now.

Severin actually putting together multiple punches.

25 seconds.

He's going to stay outside the range. He's sticking to the move. He looks like

Ali. He's sticking to the move. And now a mouse underneath Takhtara's left eye.

The clock is going to run down on Takhtara.

Oh, he made one move and Severin just alertly backed away with 10 seconds to

go. That's smart.

He doesn't need to engage at this point.

And this one will be in the hands of the judges Yeah, but I just don't doubt he

won the fight Dance ever dominated the mat and by right, you know who won the

fight The beast rejoicing before the announcement

The largest person in history of martial arts and somebody's gonna get it a few

minutes

150,000 to the winner, 25,000 to the runner-up. Dan Severin earned that

fight. He was definitely stronger.

It was his night. Yes, it was.

And the paddles are up from the judges.

The paddles are up.

The winner of the ultimate, ultimate, unanimous decision, Dan Severin. Yes, by

right.

Looks as though Dan's having a hard time reading the placards.

150,000 reasons to be happy right now.

150,000 and a lot of pride.

Absolutely.

And we've got to give Oleg a big, big, big hand because for what he did, you

know. You see when he fought Dan last time, and Dan basically pummeled him,

caught him, and they had to stop the fight.

This time, Dan just went in there, and he dominated him, but both these guys

were prepared for this fight.

So that is it for the ultimate, ultimate.

Dan Shepard wins the championship, and he wins the final over Oleg Tektarov.

For Jeff Flatnick, Don the Dragon, Wilson, and Ken Shamrock, I'm Bruce

Beck. Thanks for joining us. Don't forget, the UFC 8 coming up.