Shamrock-Ortiz #1

This morning in the gym I watched UFC 40: Vendetta. I wasn’t closely following UFC at the time, but I sure remember the hype surrounding this one. It happened in 2002, and had this show not taken place, it’s possible there would be no UFC today.

UFC was fighting for its life back then, losing millions of dollars in search of a TV deal and government acceptance. UFC 40 featured the best possible match-up that could draw back then: Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock. Shamrock was only a few years removed from a major WWF run in which he was on top during the peak of WWF’s popularity in 1998 and 1999. Not only that, he was a UFC legend who drew big PPV numbers long before he ever went to the WWF, during UFC’s early 90s heyday (which didn’t last very long). If you recall, he also wrestled for TNA when they opened up shop in 2002, and in the promos for UFC 40, you can see Shamrock wearing a TNA shirt. This fight marked his return to UFC, and the attention and hype led to a PPV buyrate that breathed some life into UFC.

The other part of the equation was Ortiz. Ortiz (who has also done some work for TNA) was an amazing heel character. Even though he’s a classy guy in real life, he’s smart enough to know how to act in front of the camera to draw money. Ortiz’ skill level is not top 5 (top 15 maybe), but his charisma and aura are top 3. In 2002, he was the ultimate heel, and just so easy to hate. I remember hating him so much back then, before I fully understood what he was doing. The fact that he hung out with Fred Durst was reason enough for anyone to hate him.

As for the fight, anyone who knew fighting knew Ortiz would destroy him. He was bigger, stronger, younger, and his skills were more modernized. He trained with better coaches, and his ground game is still world class. Despite the obvious mismatch, this fight was a huge success each of the 3 times it has happened.

The entire UFC 40 card was great. The undercard was a who’s who of future MMA stars, including Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Matt Lindland, Robbie Lawler, and Andrei Arolvsky. That means that today, you are seeing undercard guys who will be bigger stars in 5 years, including Forrest Griffin, Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn (not a new name, but still very young), Rampage Jackson (already a star), Brandon Vera, and much of the PRIDE crew.

Another highlight of the show was a total pro wrestling style segment with Dana White introducing David “Tank” Abbott back to the Octagon. Tank came out, as charismatic as ever, to a huge pop. He cut a great pro wrestling promo, saying that in the time he has been away, all these young punks have come in with blond highlights. Tank was nowhere near top level, even back then, but it didn’t matter. UFC was dying, and signing him was a smart temporary move to bring back old fans, and the way they did it, in front of their biggest PPV audience, was brilliant.

I’ll say it again: UFC is/was pro wrestling the way it used to be and the way it should be. The booking is so darn simple and effective, and it works. Stars fight just a few times a year. Wins and losses mean something. Feuds matter, and the action is real. There are ring entrances and a slow build with long intros, so each fight means something. Less is more. New stars are nurtured and built up. Take every booking concept from pro wrestling, and UFC does it.

UFC is exactly what TNA would be if I ran TNA. UFC doesn’t have 2-hour TV tapings and an endless staff of writers. They don’t need them, because booking is supposed to be simple. And that is why TNA draws flies, and UFC draws hundreds of thousands of buys for even its low-level PPVs. And yet… no one learns from it. Absolutely amazing.