Customer Reviews

Ultimate Fighting Championships, Vol. 61: Bitter Rivals

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Drew Fickett vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Gilbert Aldana vs. Cheick Kongo
Jeff Monson vs. Anthony Perosh
Hermes Franca vs. Joe Jordan
Yves Edwards vs. Joe Stevenson
Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer
Dan Christison vs. Frank Mir
Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovoski

The Edwards/Stevenson fight and the Franca/Jordan fight are the highlights of this event. The main events are just terrible. If you sat through Sylvia/Arloveski III the first time, you won't be able to the second time around. Ortiz and Shamrock was a huge letdown and waste. The rest of the card just isn't that strong. A lot of new guys, a bunch off of the Ultimate Fighter, and a really out of shape Frank Mir. The dvd quality is just okay. They do include a few nice extras pre and post fight. Most of that stuff I caught on various UFC shows, but it was nice to include it on the dvd. This is for completionists only.

Overall I have to give UFC 61 a big thumbs down. Sylvia v. Arlovski did have to happen, but it was a very, very boring fight. Sylvia fought as a counter-fighter - in other words he pretty much waited for Arlovski to throw something and then he would counter with his own strikes. Its tough for a fight to be exciting when one fighter is forced to initiate all of the action.

Tito v. Ken - I was really looking forward to seeing this - another big let down - very anti-climatic.

Frank Mir's comeback - oh man, that was rough to see. I know he was in a motorcycle accident but it was very hard for me to see him in the shape he was in.

Wait to see this on Spike TV or something or go to youtube or something - its not really worth your money.

Very rarily will you see a main card event that is below the preliminary fights.

Fickett/Pellegrino was a very action packed fight, something you should always expect from Fickett. Pellegrino did move up to 170lbs for this fight, but luckily for those who enjoy his style, he has moved back down to the 155lbs division.

Cheick Kongo makes his UFC debut taking on Gilbert Aldana (RIP) in a display of strikes from the outside and a superb clinch game.

Jeff Monson/Anthony Perosh is a battle of 2 ground technicians who actually take it to their feet and display not great technique, but tremendous power.

Hermes Franca/Joe Jordan, what can you say? Franca is a machine and Jordan took this fight on short notice. Good showing by both in a action filled contest of the little guys.

The rest of the night, the main card....dismal. One man bleeds profusely, another fighter is robbed by the judges, a rematch that didn't need to happen, battle of Josh's, and a timid main event

I remember originally seeing this fight at my local sports bar. The first televised match was between Yves Edwards and Joe Stevenson, and was one of the bloodiest I've ever seen (it almost made my girlfriend throw up, but I loved it). That set the stage for what should have been a legendary night of fights - but it wasn't. As the card continued, match after match was boring - three out of four of them going to decisions and no impressive submissions displayed. Of the two headlining matches (Ortiz vs. Shamrock 2 and Sylvia vs. Arlovski 3), one ended MUCH too soon due to a highly criticized referee stoppage and the other went on forever (neither fighter really did anything significant). During the airing, a pushing match between two drunk patrons at the bar I was at ended in two punches thrown and a tackling by the bouncers - and that was more interesting than the UFC matches. Overall, I was glad I didn't pay my usual fifty bucks to see this dog on cable.

The DVD itself is typical UFC, and contains the (sadly) more impressive preliminary bouts that were not aired on the PPV broadcast. In the end, though, none of the fights make this DVD worth buying (though Yves Edward's bout was quite memorable for the gore-factor).

This DVD is region-free, and contains the following bouts:

Drew Fickett vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Gilbert Aldana vs. Cheick Kongo
Jeff Monson vs. Anthony Perosh
Hermes Franca vs. Joe Jordan

Yves Edwards vs. Joe Stevenson
Josh Burkman vs. Josh Neer
Dan Christison vs. Frank Mir
Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovoski

First off, the two main events were overhyped, but still important matches

Sylvia/Arlovski-This had to happen. They each had one win apiece. I will admit it was the longest fight of the night, but it also added some closure which was needed.

Shamrock/Ortiz-Played out just like it was expected. If anyone expected this to be an all out war, they knew nothing about MMA.

Christionson/Mir-Mir was a top UFC HW until he had a motorcylce accident. As a former HW champ, it is sad to see his "comeback" going the way it is. This fight is the high point of it though.

As far as the other fights went, some were better than others, but there were some definate talents being displayed. The undercard featured the following:
Hermes Franca (Probably the next person to fight Sherk for the LW title
Jeff Monson (Just fought Sylvia for the title)
Yves Edwards (LW who is always exciting to watch and keeps the fight moving)
So don't listen to the people who say this is the worst MMA event they have ever seen. It was definately better than 60, 53,54,55, and 56.

This was a dismal UFC event. If I was going to add this DVD to my collection, simply for the sake of having it, the price would have to come way down... This is not recommended viewing.

First off, I am a die-hard fan of MMA, particularly the UFC and PRIDE. I don't miss a UFC Pay-per-view or Ultimate Fight Night. That being said, this was by far the absolute worst event I have ever seen, and I cannot figure for the life of me why the UFC even bothered to put it on DVD.

Both main events were absolute abominations. Shamrock / Ortiz ended with a horrible early stoppage, and the Sylvia / Arlovski match was arguably the worst fight I have ever seen. When the referee has to stop both fighters and remind them that they need to fight, something is terribly wrong! Both fighters should have been disqualified for refusing to push the action (which is technically a foul in MMA) with the title made vacant.

Recognizing how angry the crowd was, UFC President Dana White brought out then UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell and PRIDE Champion Wanderlei Silva, promising an epic match-up between the two that to date (August 2007) has yet to materialize. In a night of horrid fights, Wanderlei Silva's accidental misuse of the "F-word" during the interview is the hightlight of this entire event. Apparently there were some decent fights on the undercard, however we were instead treated to watching Sylvia and Arlovski sissy-slap each other for 25 minutes.

To the UFC I say don't bother making DVD's like this one. If there are some decent fights on the card, put them on a DVD compilation and burn the rest of the footage.