Events are good...New DVD manufacturer is lame!!!
B. Belmonte | Southern California | 07/28/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"So the UFC has a new DVD manufacturer and have only put out UFC 94 and on. The UFC started making their DVD's really cool around 83 when they were two-disc's, had all the pre fight montage videos right before the fight and the post fight Joe Rogan interviews, it also starting having the UFC countdown shows, weigh-ins(which always were included), and bonus behind-the-scenes feature(which always were included as well). With UFC 94 it was two disc but the prelims were on the other disc and they took away the 24/7 countdown show, pre fight video montage, shortened the in between rounds segments, and no Joe Rogan interviews except for the last 2 fights. Lame! I don't know why they did this but it sucks. Now with UFC 95 comes with 96 and again took out the contdown show and bonus feature and weigh-ins too. It says there is downloadable features which may have that but I just got it and haven't check yet. Fortunately there is the pre-fight montage and Rogan interviews in 95 and 96 but thats it. Also I don't know if I got a messed up copy or if they are all like this but the 96 DVD is 95 and the 95 DVD is 96, the images on the DVDs got switched. Hopefully the UFC will go back to the way they were producing these DVD's with everything in them."
Overall a great UFC 2-event bundle
ThomasBJJ | Los Angeles, CA | 07/31/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This review contains SPOILERS. If you do not want to know the outcomes of the fights yet, skip this review.
First, the events themselves.
UFC 95: Sanchez Vs. Stevenson
Paul Kelly VS Troy Mandalonez
A GREAT fight! Toe-to-toe slugfest, vicious ground-and-pound! Troy's face is destroyed by relentless elbows.
Winner: Kelly R3 Unanimous Decision
Niel Grove VS Mike Ciesnolevcz
Very good short fight. Few punches and kicks to start the bout. Then a take down and quick submission.
Winner: Ciesnolevcz R1 1:03 Submission (Heel Hook)
Per Eklund VS Evan Dunham
Great fight! Slugfest!
Winner: Dunham R1 2:14 KNOCK OUT
Stefan Struve VS Junior Dos Santos
Another very good fight. Junior overwhelms 6'11" tall Struve for the quick TKO.
Winner: Dos Santos R1 :53 TKO (Punches)_
Terry Etim VS Brian Cobb
Great fight. Fight commentators Rogan and Goldberg compare Etim's striking, especially his leg kicks, to Anderson Silva and I think they are right. A dominant performance by Etim who is one of the better fighters in the UFC that is still relatively unknown by the masses.
Winner: Etim R2 :10 TKO (Head kick and face punch)
Josh Koscheck VS Paulo Thiago
Good fight. Commentators criticize Thiago's poor striking technique as he is getting picked apart by Koscheck, just then... BANG! Uppercut, hook KNOCK OUT by Thiago.
Winner: Thiago R1 3:29 Knock Out (Uppercut)
Demian Maia VS Chael Sonnen
Good fight. Demian is on another level when it comes to the ground game. Sonnen was VERY overmatched.
Winner: Maia R1 2:37 Submission (Triangle Choke)
Wilson Gouveia Vs. Nate Marquardt
Good fight with a spectacular finish. Rounds 1 and 2 had their moments, but were overall slower paced. Round 3, Marquardt lands a highlight reel finishing sequence. Punch to the face, flying knee to the face, head kick, head kick, head kick (missed), spinning backfist, punch to the face. Wow!
Winner: Marquardt R3 3:10 TKO (strikes)
Dan Hardy VS Rory Markham
Very good fight. Great KNOCK OUT!
Winner: Hardy R1 1:08 KNOCK OUT
Joe Stevenson VS Diego Sanchez
Pretty good fight. Stevenson looks one-dimensional in this fight, focusing almost solely on boxing. Diego however is a bit more aggressive and slightly more successful in the standup (which was probably 90% of the fight). Diego got the better positioning on the ground exchanges, threatening with some submissions.
Winner: Sanchez R3 Unanimous Decision (29-28/30-27/30-27)
A GREAT event with lots of short fights, lots of knockouts, and tons of action. The main event was a little lackluster, but was still entertaining.
UFC 96: JACKSON VS JARDINE
Aaron Riley VS Shane Nelson
Good fight, at least what we saw of it. Unfortunately, this is one of the Top 5 WORST referee stoppages in UFC History. Nelson hits Riley in the face, Riley stumbles backward and down, more from the force of the punch as he does not look stunned. Riley still defending himself is scrambling to get to guard as Nelson pounces and starts throwing strikes. The Ref (Rick Fyke)panics and hovers over them about to stop the fight. Nelson lands a jab to a defending Riley, causing little damage, and the ref waves the fight off. EVERYONE, both fighters, the commentators, the crowd, everyone disagrees with this call.
Winner: Nelson R1 :44 TKO (strikes)
Brandon Vera VS Mike PAtt
Very good fight. Vera looks focused and unleashes a relentless barrage of leg kicks that eventually chops Patt down. Brutal.
Winner: Vera R2 TKO (Leg kicks)
Tim Boetsch VS Jason Brilz
Good fight. Boetsch dominates the first round with punches and leg kicks, Brilz cannot seem to get the takedown. 2nd & 3rd rounds, Brilz gets the takedowns and relentlessly controls and GnP's Boetsch for the Unanimous Decision.
Winner: Brilz R3 Unanimous Decision
Kendal Grove VS Jason Day
Very Good fight. Grove is in control the whole time landing strikes.
Winner: Grove R1 1:32 KNOCK OUT
Tamdan McCrory VS Ryan Madigan
Very good fight. McCrory is fun to watch. His jiujitsu is very active and comes at you from all angles. He takes chances, sometimes losing position, but he is good enough to regain position pretty quickly.
Winner: McCrory R1 3:35 Submission (Tapout due to strikes)
Gray Mayard VS Jim Miller
Good fight. Maynard controlled the standup, the ground, and the entire pace of the fight. Not a barn-burner, but entertaining.
Winner: Maynard R3 Unanimous Decision
Matt Hamill VS Mark Munoz
Very good fight. Matt Hamill wins by spectacular head kick KNOCK OUT!
Winner: Hamill R1 3:53 Knock Out (Head Kick)
Pete Sell VS Matt Brown
Very Good fight. Brown picks Pete Sell apart on the standup striking. At one point he knocks Sell down (and pretty much out), the ref runs to stop the fight but after putting hands on Brown to stop, decided to let it continue. Brown is upset because he thinks Sell is out, but continues anyways. Sell is clearly not all there as he takes head kicks and power punches to the face. After every devistating blow, Brown pleads wiht the ref to mercifully stop the fight, which he eventually does... after a few more big bombs land.
Winner: Brown R1 1:32 TKO (Strikes)
Gabriel Gonzaga VS Shane Carwin.
Great fight. Gonzage tags Carwin, Carwin looks stunned, gets taken down, Gonzaga starts the ground-and-pound. Carwin scrambles to his feet. Both huge heavyweights go toe-to-toe slugging it out with Carwin landing the first big bomb, knocking Gonzaga OUT!
Winner: Carwin R1 1:09 Knock Out (Punch)
Quinton Jackson VS Keith Jardine
Good fight. Mostly a standup kickboxing match. Both guys a re pretty cautious thru the whole fight. All the rounds are close. Quinton gets a good punch that staggers Jardine toward the end of the 3rd round, and seals it with a takedown for the win (in the judges eyes.).
Winner: Jackson R3 Unanimous Decision.
Following the fight, Jackson and Rashad Evans square off in the octagon for some hilarious trash talking.
A pretty good event. A wide variety of everything MMA has to offer. Knockouts, ground game, submission, decisions, bad ref calls.
Now for the DVD's:
As stated in other reviews, the DVD disc's are mislabeled. The UFC 95 one is really UFC 96, and the UFC 96 disc is really the UFC 95 event. That's kinda annoying, but whatever. It doesn't seriously impact the enjoyment of the Events once you figure things out.
No special features! Here's the main menu: "Play Event", "Fight Card", "Languages" (English and Spanish). That's it. It says you can download the behind the scenes features from the UFC website with the provided code. Thanks, but no thanks. I don't like watching too much video on my small computer screen. That's why I buy DVD's and have a big HDTV.
It's too bad the countdown shows weren't on here. I watched them on Spike TV when they aired and they were very good. Learned alot about Wilson Gouveia, Nate Marquardt,and Jardine from those shows.
I guess it's nice to get 2 events for the price of one, but in my opinion, I would have rather had the two events seperately, with all the special features, their own DVD cases (to fit in with all my other UFC DVD's), and properly marked DVD disc's.
UFC 95 is a GREAT EVENT and a must have for UFC fans. UFC 96 is pretty good, worth watching.
At $14.99, this 2-event set is definitely worth getting. But please Zuffa, no more trimmed down 2-for-1 combo packs. And where the Hell are the Fight Night events and Pre-UFC 39 DVD's????????????????"
Switch-a-roo
Christopher Marzetta | 07/30/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was also very disapointed with the ufc 94 fights being on two seperate dics, but i am super stoked with the new bundle (they should have done it with 89 and 90). the fights are awesome. great buy and again (like everyone else has stated) the discs are messed up. 95 disc is 96 and 96 disc is 95.. great buy anyway"