This Week In MMA History (August 21-27)

UFC 49: Unfinished Business took place on August 21st, 2004 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Main event featured the rubber match between Vitor Belfort and Randy Couture for the Light Heavyweight title.  Their previous bout at UFC 46 was ended prematurely after a cut to Couture's eyelid prevented him from continuing the fight.  Couture got his revenge on Belfort this time around, grinding Belfort for 3 straight rounds and winning by TKO to regain the title.  Also highlighting the main card was Chuck Liddell defeated Vernon White by KO in the first round and earning a shot at Couture and the Light Heavyweight title.  The prelimary portion of the event featured a highly competitive back and forth battle between Karo Parisyan and Nick Diaz which Parisyan won by split decision.  A high light reel head kick KO by Yves Edwards over Josh Thomson was the last UFC Lightweight bout until they brought back the division 2 years later.

UFC 74: Respect took place on August 25th, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Main event featured newly crowned Heavyweight champion taking on Gabriel Gonzaga.  A broken arm due to a kick did not stop Couture winning his 2nd straight bout after coming back from retirement beating Gonzaga by TKO in the 3rd round.  The co-main event featured former Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre returning to action after being upset by Matt Serra as he took on Josh Koscheck.  Koscheck the decorated wrestler was surprised and dominated by GSP's wrestling as GSP cruised for a unanimous decision victory.  Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson and Patrick Cote were also victorious on the main card.  The preliminary portion of the event was highlighted by Frank Mir beating Antonio Hardonk by submission and Babalu Sobral winning by a contraversial choke over David Heath as he did intially let go of the choke after the ref called for a stoppage of the bout, Sobral was fined by the commission and ulitmately released by the UFC.

UFC 62: Liddell vs Sobral took place on August 26th, 2006 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Main event featured Light Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell taking on Babalu Sobral in a rematch.  Liddell made even quicker work on Sobral the 2nd time around winning by TKO just 1:35 into the 1st round.  The co-main event featured another rematch which was Forrest Griffin taking on Stephan Bonnar after their 1st bout was highly regarded as the best MMA fight of all time.  Griffin was just again named the winner as he took the decision victory.  Nick Diaz, Cheick Kongo, and Hermes Franca were also victorious on the main card.

Pride 10: Return Of The Warriors took place on August 27th, 2000 at the Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa, Japan.  Highly recognized as one of the best Pride events ever the main event featured Kazuski Sakuraba taking on yet another Gracie, this time around it was Renzo Gracie.  Sakuraba came up victorious again against a Gracie, locking in a Kimura arm lock in the 1st round which Renzo would not tap to but because of the danger forced the ref to call a stop to the fight.  Other highlights from the historic event featured wins by Ryan Gracie, Kazuyuki Fujita, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, Gilbert Yvel, Ricco Rodriguez, Wanderlei Silva and finally Vitor Belfort.

Other Events that took place:

Strikeforce: Houston took place on August 21st, 2010 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Sengoku 4 took place on August 24th, 2008 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Pride: Bushido 12  took place on August 27th, 2006 at the Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

Birthdays
Jeremy Horn born on August 25th, 1975 in Omaha, Nebraska.
A veteran of a staggering 114 MMA career bouts Horn or "Gumby" has won 88 of those fights with an impressive 59 of them coming by way of submission.  As well as being known for his excellent grappling skills Horn was also known for his ability to withstand punishment as it wasn't until his 95th career bout that he was knocked out.  A whole post could be dedicated on who Horn has beat in his career but in an attempt to narrow it down they include Chael Sonnen 3x, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell and Gilbert Yvel.

Oleg Tatarov born on August 26th, 1967 in Arzamas- 16, Russia
"The Russian Bear" was a competitor in the early UFC's and had a career record of 17-3.  Of the 17 victories for the Sambo expert, 14 of them came by way of submission.  Tatarov who is now officially retired from MMA competition is also an actor and has been featured in films such as 15 Minutes, We Own The Night, Predators, Righteous Kill, and Miami Vice.  Notable wins for Oleg include Mark Kerr, Marco Ruas, and Tank Abbott.


Others celebrating birthdays this week:
Hideo Tokoro born on August 22nd, 1977 in Gifu, Japan
Marcus Davis born on August 24th, 1973 in Houlton, Maine

Hayato Sakurai born on August 24th, 1975 in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

Trevor Prangley born on August 24th, 1972 in Cape Town, South Africa

Hermes Franca born on August 26th, 1974 in Fortaleza, Brazil
Amir Sadollah born on August 27th, 1980 in Brooklyn, New York

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