UFC Takeover 2001

jksander · July 11, 2018

Trying my hand at a diary of my takeover of the UFC in 2001, using the UFC vs Pride modification I found in the mods forum.

January 1, 2001

In surprising news for the world of MMA, relatively unknown American retired fighter Aaron Highbaugh has taken over UFC in its bid to take the top MMA organization in the US international. He is already reportedly working on new signings as well as in th process of finding the organization a pair of media partners for Pay Per View and TV show promotion. In a gutsy move, Highbaugh has announced its first “Fight Night” program in anticipation of said TV show media partnership signing, which he hopes to announce this week. The date for the first airing is scheduled for the 19th of this month, though if a partnership is not lined up in time, the only people who will see it will be those who attend the live fights.

UFC Fight Night 1: Matyushenko vs. Ortiz

Preliminary Card

1 Matt Lindland vs. Murilo Bustamante

2 Jeremy Horn vs. Pat Miletich

3 Matt Serra vs. Chris Lytle

4 Joey Gilbert vs. Tony De Souza

Main Card

Main Event: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Tito Ortiz (Light Heavyweight Title Bout)

Co-Main Event: Kevin Randleman vs. Randy Couture (Heavyweight Title Bout)

3 Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo

4 Sean Sherk vs. Matt Hughes (Welterweight Title Bout)

5 Dennis Hallman vs. Caol Uno (Lightweight Title Bout)

jksander · July 11, 2018

January 5, 2001

UFC CEO and Owner Aaron Highbaugh has made a big splash in his first week, already inking a 10-PPV event deal with inDemand Broadcasting, as well as an initial 10-show deal with NBC Sports Network, where they will launch “Fight Night” in just two weeks! Anticipation is high for an announcement of Highbaugh's next slate of fighter contract signings, which is expected to come shortly along with his first major PPV announcement.

January 7, 2001

Six major signings have come through in the last day for UFC, including Ben Rothwell, Gilbert Yvel, Hayato Sakurai, Jose Landi-Jons, Oleg Taktarov and Robbie Lawler! Landi-Jons, a legend of Brazilian MMA, is 18-4 currently and is the #11 Middleweight in the world. Lawler, unranked currently, is 6-0 fighting as a middleweight and is only 18, a protege of Pat Milletich. Sakurai is the #1 Welterweight in the world and #9 Pound-For-Pound, and is currently 17-0-2, making him a significant signing on an exlusive contract for Highbaugh and UFC. Yvel and Taktarov are each top-20 level Heavyweights as well, and Rothwell is a promising but untested American fighter who is rumored to have signed exclusively with UFC in a long-term, ten fight deal.

Highbaugh has also announced UFC 30: Brave New World to take place via PPV on iNDemand on February 27, 2001, to be preceded by UFC Fight Night 2 on February 5, 2001 and UFC Fight Night 3 on February 19, 2001 on NBC Sports Network. Fights for those shows are currently set to be scheduled.

jksander · July 11, 2018

January 8, 2001

Among a handful of signings today for UFC, it is worth noting that Highbaugh has netted his organization the services of Yves Edwards, the #3 Lightweight in the world, currently 14-4 overall, as well as those of Naoya Uematsu from Tokyo, the #4 Lightweight in the world (currently 10-0-1). This is further proof that Highbaugh and UFC are interested in shoring up depth in all their weight divisions, which should make for exciting fights in the coming months.

January 9, 2001

UFC has just signed #13-ranked Welterweight “The Black Legion” Jason Black (currently 7-0 overall) to an exclusive deal, along with #22-ranked Welterweight Mikey Burnett (5-2) and #11-ranked Heavyweight “Hightower” Semmy Schilt (18-9). They also netted another top Heavyweight in Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, #8 in the world and #24 Pound-For-Pound, who is 20-10-2 overall and 3-2 in past bouts for UFC.

January 10, 2001

Royce Gracie has signed an exclusive deal with UFC that brings the veteran to work for the company for five years and seven fights guaranteed. The current #4 Middleweight in the world (#12 Pound-For-Pound), Gracie was in a global bidding war, and though it is rumored that UFC had to go well above his normal contract to gain exclusive fight rights, this is a signing which should help put them on the map, particularly with Gracie returning to the UFC fold to help bring credibility to the sport as it tries to distance itself from its “no holds barred” past.

UFC has also signed #1 Worldwide Bantamweight “The Big Frog” Jeff Curran (8-3), who is looking to make the leap from regional to national recognition here in the United States.

jksander · July 11, 2018

January 13, 2001

Official announcement:

UFC Fight Night 2: Liddell vs. Tanner

Preliminary Card

1 Elvis Sinosic vs. Gil Castillo

2 Paul Creighton vs. Fabiano Iha

3 Hayato Sakurai vs. Jason Black

4 Renato Sobral vs. Quinton Jackson

Main Card

Main Event: Chuck Liddell vs. Evan Tanner

Co-Main Event: Jose Landi-Jons vs. Eugene Jackson

3 Gan McGee vs. Pete Williams

4 James Zikic vs. Jerry Bohlander

5 Naoya Uematsu vs. Jeff Curran

UFC Fight Night 3: Nogueira vs. Taylor

Preliminary Card

1 Steve Berger vs. Laverne Clark

2 Phil Johns vs. Mark Hughes

3 BJ Penn vs. Tiki Ghosn

4 Tim Lajcik vs. Maurice Smith

Main Card

Main Event: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bobby Hoffman

Co-Main Event: Ian Freeman vs. Andrei Arlovski

3 Lance Gibson vs. Yuki Kondo

4 Dave Menne vs. Amaury Bitetti

5 Jens Pulver vs. Yves Edwards

After talking with sponsors and their broadcast partners, it has been decided that after UFC Fight Night 3, shows will be spread out more to allow for UFC to build for a stronger PPV launch. In that regard, UFC 30 has been postponed, to be reset for April 13, 2001.

jksander · July 11, 2018

January 19, 2001

On the eve of our first “Fight Night” event, UFC learned that Mark Hughes injured his ribs during training and will have to be removed from the card for “Fight Night 3” against Phil Johns. Robbie Lawler has agreed to step in to fight Johns instead.

January 20, 2001

UFC Fight Night 1: Matyushenko vs. Ortiz (Results)

PRELIMS

Tony DeSouza defeats Joey Gilbert (Submission (Kimura) in 4:50 of round 1). The fight was rated as being Good.

'Lights Out' Chris Lytle defeats Matt 'The Terror' Serra (Unanimous Decision in 5:00 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Good.

'The Croation Sensation' Pat Miletich defeats 'Gumby' Jeremy Horn (Unanimous Decision in 5:00 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Poor.

Murilo Bustamante defeats Matt 'The Law' Lindland (Submission (Armbar) in 4:28 of round 1). The fight was rated as being Good.

MAIN CARD

'Uno Shoten' Caol Uno defeats 'Superman' Dennis Hallman (TKO (Strikes) in 1:39 of round 2). The fight was rated as being Good. Uno won the UFC Lightweight Title.

Official Result: Matt Hughes defeats 'The Muscle Shark' Sean Sherk (Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 4:32 of round 5). The fight was rated as being Decent. Hughes won the UFC Welterweight Title.

'The Rock' Pedro Rizzo defeats 'The Babyface Assassin' Josh Barnett (TKO (Strikes) in 1:18 of round 2). The fight was rated as being Great. Rizzo, with the upset, improves to 11-1 and ends Barnett's perfect pro-MMA record.

'The Natural' Randy Couture defeats Kevin 'The Monster' Randleman (Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in 4:26 of round 1). The fight was rated as being Great. Couture successfully defended the UFC Heavyweight Title for the first time.

'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' Tito Ortiz defeats 'The Janitor' Vladimir Matyushenko (TKO (Strikes) in 2:15 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Great. Ortiz successfully defended the UFC Light Heavyweight Title for the second time.

ATTENDANCE: 1,530 in Nevada ($225,675 in gate receipts) + was broadcast on NBC Sports TV.

CRITICAL RATING: 79%

COMMERCIAL RATING: 68%

UFC Popularity has increased by 1.1% in the US and by 1.5% in Canada as a result of tonight's “Fight Night” debut. Tito Ortiz won Fight and KO of the night, and Randy Couture earned Submission of the Night. UFC gave performance bonuses to Ortiz and Couture as well for contributing to the night's strong critical and commercial ratings relative to the organization's “Low National” size. Including advertising and sponsorship, the night's show was a staggering success for the UFC, making a profit of just shy of $360,000.

jksander · July 12, 2018

February 5, 2001

Jason Black broke his foot right after weigh-ins last night and put his fight with Hayato Sakurai in jeopardy. It was a preliminary fight and as weigh-ins had already occurred, we could not find a fill-in opponent and therefore had to cancel the bout. No replacement can be added.

We have, however, convinced Royce Gracie to take on Sakurai as a challenger in a Catchweight bout as the Main Event of UFC 30: Brave New World, which is still scheduled for April 13, 2001! Tito Ortiz, meanwhile, will defend his Light Heavyweight title in a Catchweight bout against Kevin Randleman (9-5) in the co-Main Event. More fights are likely to be added to both the prelims and the main card for that night so we'll make full announcements at a later date.

jksander · July 12, 2018

February 6, 2001

UFC Fight Night 2: Liddell vs. Tanner (Results)

PRELIMS

'Rampage' Quinton Jackson defeats Renato 'Babalu' Sobral (TKO (Strikes) in 3:26 of round 2). The fight was rated as being Good.

Paul Creighton defeats 'King of Armbar' Fabiano Iha (Knock Out (Punch) in 0:18 of round 2). The fight was rated as being Fantastic.

Gil Castillo defeats 'The King of Rock n Rumble' Elvis Sinosic (Submission (Kimura) in 4:44 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Great.

MAIN CARD

Naoya Uematsu defeats 'The Big Frog' Jeff Curran (Split Decision in 5:00 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Decent.

Jerry Bohlander defeats 'The Messenger' James Zikic (Unanimous Decision in 5:00 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Good.

'The Giant' Gan McGee defeats 'El Duro' Pete Williams (Knock Out (Punch) in 1:54 of round 1). The fight was rated as being Good.

Eugene 'The Wolf' Jackson defeats Jose 'Pelé' Landi-Jons (Submission (Armbar) in 2:39 of round 3). The fight was rated as being Good.

Chuck 'The Iceman' Liddell defeats Evan Tanner (TKO (Strikes) in 1:04 of round 1). The fight was rated as being Good.

ATTENDANCE: 1,172 in Nevada ($172,870 in gate receipts) + was broadcast on NBC Sports TV.

CRITICAL RATING: 70%

COMMERCIAL RATING: 50%

Surprisingly strong critical ratings were not enough to overcome a lackluster performance on television with our advertisers. This led to a 0.8% decline in US popularity and a 0.3% decline in Canadian popularity for the UFC, and we're going to look hard at adding a strong fight to bolster “Fight Night 3” in advance of what is looking to be an incredible night of fights for UFC 30 in April. We'll be the first to admit there was no marquee bout in this one and it bit us in the end. Liddell won Fight of the Night, while Jackson won Submission of the Night and McGee took KO of the night. The show still made a profit of $181,802 overall.

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UFC Takeover 2001

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