February 11, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Brock Lesnar’s first UFC fight, Paul Heyman resurfaces
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was trying to become the first man in history to be a world champion in both Pride and UFC. Tim Sylvia was trying to become the first man other than Randy Couture to win three major league world championships in MMA history.
And before the show, almost nobody cared.
UFC 81 was built around the debut of Brock Lesnar, who steam rolled Frank Mir for about 80 seconds, including knocking Mir down with a jab and taking him down at will, but showed his inexperience, getting bear trapped into a kneebar, that with more experience he could have rolled out of, and tapped out at 1:30.
Nogueira, who by record should be considered the second greatest heavyweight fighter of all-time, also took a pounding, but on a night that jiu jitsu ruled, he swept Sylvia on the ground and caught him with a guillotine for the tap out in 1:28 of the third round.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.