• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1008 0

updates, said we had the three votes and would get the sport passed. However, later that night, he called back to say something had changed. One commissioner had changed his mind and was going to vote the proposal down. Since it would be difficult to get this proposal budgeted again in a timely fashion, the lobbyist encouraged Meyrowitz to pull it from the table so they could regroup. Meyrowitz listened to the lobbyist’s advice, and MMA never went to a vote the next day.

UFC 26

“Ultimate Field of Dreams”

June 9, 2000

Five Seasons Events Center

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Bouts I Reffed:

Matt Hughes vs. Marcelo Aguiar

Amaury Bitetti vs. Alex Andrade

Pat Miletich vs. John Alessio

Tyrone Roberts vs. David Dodd

Kevin Randleman vs. Pedro Rizzo

In another misguided stroke of matchmaking, a young and green Alessio challenged Miletich for his lightweight title, making it into the second round before he lost by submission.

I had to disqualify Andrade for kicking Bitetti to the head three times while wearing wrestling shoes. At this point we had a rule that fighters could wear them as long as they didn’t kick to the head.

It was one in a long line of disappointing developments, but we still had the shows in New Jersey and the opportunity to convince its officials to regulate MMA. We all had to stay focused.

UFC 28 “High Stakes” was held on November 17, 2000, at the 5,000-seat Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It didn’t sell out, but it was quite a good show if I do say so myself. The UFC had negotiated the return of Randy Couture in a heavyweight title bout against champion Kevin Randleman, and Couture out-wrestled and ground-and-pounded him en route to a third-round stoppage. Just fifteen seconds into their lightweight bout, Jens Pulver knocked out John Lewis with a blistering left hand that broke Lewis’ jaw. And Mark Hughes, the brother of future UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, made his one and only appearance in the Octagon with a unanimous decision victory over Alex Stiebling.

UFC 27

“Ultimate Bad Boyz”

September 22, 2000

Lakefront Arena

New Orleans, Louisiana

Bouts I Reffed:

Jeff Monson vs. Tim Lajcik

Ian Freeman vs. Tedd Williams

Yuki Kondo vs. Alexandre Dantas

Jeremy Horn vs. Eugene Jackson

Maurice Smith vs. Bobby Hoffman

Pedro Rizzo vs. Dan Severn

Smith hit Hoffman with so many uppercuts that Hoffman bit off about one-third of his tongue. He went in the back and tried to tear off the remaining piece still attached. Now, that was a crazy bastard.

The fight between Rizzo and Severn should never have happened. Severn, now in his midforties, had long since passed his prime and took a couple of leg kicks that ended his night in a minute and a half.

Of course, I’ll never forget a mistake I made in one of the other heavyweight bouts that night. Belarusian Andrei Arlovski grabbed the cage and was able to change his direction when opponent Aaron Brink went to take him down. Arlovski, a sambo expert, quickly found the armbar, and Brink tapped out. All of this happened in just fifty-four seconds. After reviewing it, I realized I should’ve stopped the bout after the takedown and restarted the fighters on their feet, but I hadn’t reacted quickly enough.

UFC 29 would be the promotion’s last trip to Japan, though we didn’t know it at the time. “Defense of the Belts” was held on December 16, 2000, at the Differ Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The arena had only 1,246 seats, so it seemed like a waste of money, but SEG was there to satisfy the contract with its Japanese copromoter.

Tito Ortiz made his first successful title defense against rising local star Yuki Kondo, who knocked Ortiz on his backside with a rarely seen flying knee. Pat Miletich defended his lightweight title against Kenichi Yamamoto as well.

However, it wasn’t a banner event overall by any stretch.

Before the bouts, I sat in an empty chair next to Dana White, who managed Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. Earlier that night, Liddell had fought and beaten Jeff Monson in a light