Robinson's strategy appeared to be to win on wrestling alone. That didn't work, and he seemed to have no contingency plan. He backed Hoffman into the fence when he was unable to take him down. He didn't do anything once he got him there though, he just wasted his energy pinning him there. This kept Hoffman from finding the range to hit him, but there's not much worse when you are dictating positioning than spending a ton of energy for no potential offensive gain.

Hoffman threw several blows. Aside from a few knees to the stomach, none were particularly damaging because he couldn't get enough space and the right angle. Effective striking can't always be judged by impact though. Hoffman's knees bothered Robinson enough that he eventually reacted to them, which gave Hoffman the opening to level him with a Misawa style elbow. That one good shot was all Hoffman needed because Robinson went out like a light. A spectacular knockout; the first of four different spectacular finishes we'd see tonight.

Round 1 3:27

Jeremy Horn vs. Elvis Sinosic

A surprising fight. Although the mat is Horn's strength, Elvis pulled him to the mat into the guard like a Gracie. Horn threw body shots from the top, but Elvis tied his arms up with a body lock and went into a triangle hold then arm bar for the shocking submission victory. Horn was being groomed for a middleweight title match while Elvis never meant meant shit, but suddenly Elvis became a hero to most. As with the previous fight, it was somewhat uneventful before finishing with a bang.

Round 1 2:59

The best kickboxing match in UFC history! No, there weren't any special rules, just one helluva ballsy and somewhat insane fighter named Josh Barnett. He didn't care how good Rizzo is in standup even though he's the best in UFC right now and may not have an equal elsewhere. He didn't care that his own advantage over Rizzo was on the mat. He was determined to take it to Rizzo the whole fight, probably noticing that Rizzo is not nearly as effective when he's in passive/defensive mode.

Barnett is one of those guys that somehow finds a way to win. To look at him, you wouldn't think he'd be that great. He's not one of those guys that has deceptive ability either. He's not that well conditioned, isn't particularly athletic, and certainly isn't a technician, yet he got the best of The Beast and just about everyone else that stood in his way. The one thing he is though is fearless. That makes him tough to fight because an uninhibited fighter doesn't act like a "normal, restrained fighter," he uses surprise over conventional logic, but in a premeditated way that's sane in it's insanity.

Barnett took it to Rizzo the entire fight. Both fighters often did the same thing. Barnett would lung in throwing punches and Rizzo would back away and circle to the right. Barnett didn't look that good coming in, but his rushes were effective enough that, while Rizzo often hit him at least once, Rizzo couldn't sit back and get the kind of debilitating power on his blows that we saw against Severn, among others. Also, while Rizzo is way better than Barnett with knees and decidedly better with his kicks, it's hard to use these when you are backing up the majority of the fight. That's why it was so important for Barnett to keep coming at Rizzo. If they stood toe to toe in the center of the ring, Barnett wouldn't have stood a chance, but his attacks neutralized Rizzo's striking enough for Barnett to be competitive.

By his own admission, Rizzo fought a poor fight. The guy possesses an enormous amount of talent though, so even on an off night he's still good enough to beat the majority of his opponents. He's a natural, while Barnett has to try so hard it seems forced. Even though Barnett, in a sense, took Rizzo out of his game, Rizzo's standup talent can't be denied. His strikes exemplify textbook precision and crispness. He bruised Barnett's left thigh up. His accuracy in this weakened spot was tremendous. His frequency in throwing blows there was way too low, but he seemed to hit the mark every time he tried. Rizzo won the first round when it came to effectiveness and damage done, but Barnett was the aggressor who was dictating the what, where, and when, so it could have gone either way.

The 2nd round was faster paced, with both men landing more good shots than they had in the 1st. The pace seemed to benefit Rizzo because he had to react more; in the first round he could stay in his shell to some extent, but now he had to come out more. Barnett marked Rizzo's face up a bit with punches, particularly under the left eye.

Barnett's problem was he didn't know when to change things up. Against a better opponent, you can only do the same things so many times before they figure you out. He was winning the second round, but he was also tiring a lot more than Rizzo. If he could have taken him down, he would have won the round and he could have rested. Instead, his rushes were getting a little slower and way predictable, but he stuck to them until Rizzo backed away and planted in time to nail Barnett with a right hook. Barnett was stunned, only able to stand there hunched over like a sitting duck. Rizzo capitalized in a big way, taking Barnett out with one big right that busted his nose open.

Excellent fight; the kind that every promoter dreams of. The fans loved it. It'll wind up being overrated since everyone loves a great standup fight, but as far as one-dimensional matches go this was definitely among the best ever. The law of averages caught up to Barnett, but you have to give him credit for laying it on the line.

Round 2 4:21

Fabiano Iha vs. Phil Johns

This was the worst fight on the show because Iha was too far superior. He had the advantage in size, strength, striking, and submissions. Johns tried to take him down, but at his size (5'2", 158) it's not going to happen with a straight lock. Instead, Iha was able to muscle him down. Iha, of course, was looking for his trademark arm bar. He passed Johns guard to the side mount with ease, and after that it didn't take long for him to get the submission. It was poor match making, but at least it had the spectacular finish that you hope for in that kind of situation. Iha challenged Miletich to a light heavyweight title match.

Round 1 1:47

UFC Bantamweight Title (Decision) Match: Jens Pulver vs. Kaoru Uno

Pulver won because he was able to stay on his feet almost the whole time, a position where he's looking near unbeatable. Uno knew he couldn't punch with Pulver, but takedowns are not his forte. Pulver's defense against the takedowns was very good, and he was not going to be suckered into winding up on the mat by biting at a seemingly advantageous position.

This was the best fight of the night because not because of what we did see, but because of what we could have. In a worked match, not delivering would have been the ruination, but let's not confuse shoots with works. Uno may lose occasionally, but he'll still be the most exciting fighter in the match. He's so quick and innovative. He comes at you in all ways and from all angles. Even though his stuff was largely ineffective because he couldn't take Pulver down and Pulver didn't get overaggressive and walk into one of his kicks out of nowhere, Uno is that rare bread of exciting fighter that you know is capable of doing the most amazing thing at any time. You know no matter how many times he fails, he'll keep trying something wild so you are always on the edge of your seat.

Uno won the first round because he got a takedown where he had Pulver's back. Although he wasn't able to control Pulver's body enough to choke him out, there was enough of a submission threat to sway things in his favor. In terms of damage and energy expension, it was an even round.

Uno went for several takedowns after his successful one, but it was ages before he got another. Uno is a rare breed in that he's a stone-faced showboat. He had to be getting really frustrated, but only on occasion at the end of a round could you tell that he wasn't happy with himself.

Pulver's punches were the thing that stood out about rounds 2-5. Uno did an adequate job of hanging with him in standup, but it probably only seemed as close as it was because Uno can take a punch so well. Pulver wasn't able to put together too many combinations, but he caught Uno with a number of good shots, particularly his feared left hand.

Uno was losing the fight after the first round, but not by a lot. It seemed like he couldn't break the vicious cycle, but there were just enough moments of hope that no fan of his could give up on him. He nearly had the same takedown he got in round one where he got behind Pulver, but Pulver just stood up out of it. Uno jumped on his back, but Pulver gave him a piggy back ride until Uno gave up. Pulver followed with one of his better combinations.

On the occasions when Pulver would be even close to the ground, mainly when he went to his knees with Uno under him to stop his takedown, Uno would do everything in his power to keep Pulver down. In a scene that would look like he was begging for mercy if we didn't know better, he even held one of Pulver's gloves with both hands at one point. It didn't work though, and nothing else he tried in this regard did either.

The one thing that annoyed me about this fight is the fans were rather disrespectful. They booed when Uno got his takedown in the first round and also when the pace slowed. Mind you, these guys were giving us constant motion the entire fight. Uno may not have been all that successful in standup, but he never gave Pulver a stationary target so Pulver had to work for every blow he landed. Uno may not have hit 90% of the spinning and/or back kicks he threw, but not since Don "The Dragon" Wilson has there been a guy in UFC that did crazy movie kicks, and Wilson never actually showed us any in the UFC, he saved them all for Bloodfist and the like.

Just when you where on the verge of thinking Uno would never take Pulver down again, he did his low single where he dives in headfirst like he's stealing a base. He had half the round to work with, but Pulver was able to get back to his feet within 10 seconds. Uno was too low on Pulver's body, so Pulver just stood right up. Had Uno done anything on the mat here, he probably would have won the round. Had Uno won the round, he may have won the decision. Make no mistake about it, Pulver won the fight if you look at the whole, but scoring round for round Uno won the first, and probably the last, so this round could have made it 3-2 in his favor. That's really the brilliance of this fight, on one had it was almost one-sided, but on the other hand Uno wins the fight if he has one or two more spots of being either lucky or good.

Uno occasionally got a good shot in, but Pulver hit him with a lot of punches and a few kicks and knees. Uno nearly hit a spinning savate kick. Uno threw some kicks with so much power that he fell on his ass when he missed, but he was able to do this with no fear because it was too his advantage if Pulver followed him down. He was a homer or nothing, but all his outs didn't count against the team (although the clock was against him).

Uno mixed it up more in round 5. The funny thing is this was his second best round. You could say why didn't he try this earlier, but how long could he strike with Pulver before he got Pulverized? I'd still give the round to Pulver, but it was the closest round of the fight. Pulver, who Jeremy Horn claims is the hardest puncher he's ever trained with (which includes real boxers) landed his two best punches here, but still couldn't hurt Uno. Uno was the aggressor here, but Pulver was landing some combinations. Time ran out on Uno, with Pulver winning the unanimous decision.

Pulver was more overcome with emotion from this win than anyone in the history of the UFC. He had beaten his idol Uno in a match where he claimed God wanted his 17-year-old friend Dusty, who passed away very recently, to be in the ring with him rather than watch the fight on TV. He said he will respect Uno forever and he'd give him a rematch if he ever wanted one.

25:00

UFC Middleweight Championship Match: Tito Ortiz vs. Evan Tanner

Ortiz ended the match almost as soon as it began in spectacular fashion that evoked memories of Frank Shamrock's enormous win over Igor Zinoviev. Ortiz seems to be training harder than ever and has become a real monster. He got his left arm under Tanner's when they clinched then concentrated on making Tanner worry about defending strikes. When the opportunity presented itself, Ortiz brought his right arm under Tanner's, clasping his hands for the body lock then immediately planting Tanner with a massive belly to belly suplex. Ortiz dropped Tanner flat, so Tanner's head hit the mat hard enough to knock him out. Ortiz got on top and started punching, but John McCarthy quickly realized Tanner was on dream street and jumped right in to stop the fight before Tanner suffered serious excess damage. Ortiz trained to go 25 minutes, but it turned out to be a short match that made a real statement about his abilities.

Round 1 0:29