Airing on April 16th, 2005, a week after The Ultimate Fighter season one finale, was the highly advertised UFC 52: Couture Vs. Liddell 2, the second match between TUF season one coaches Randy "The Natural" Couture against Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell for Couture's Light Heavyweight title. It would be the biggest (and still is, I think?) pay-per-view event in UFC history.

The DVD presents the event in a fight friendly edit, sans all of the live event lags, going so far as to trim away most of the fighters walk to the ring intros and post fight interviews (except in the case of the main events). This is fine, most post-fight interviews are general "here's what I did and let me thank god and my sponsers" stuff. That is the kind of thing that can grow tedious (or even downright terrible, like past events when the interviewer was some clueless person like Kerri Kasem). As a fight fan, my only real complaint is how they edit out the rest period between rounds. I like seeing the fighters recover, hearing their corners advice, and listening to the commentators (the mildly adequate Mike Goldberg and the always reliable, knowledgeable, and witty Joe Rogan) thoughts on the fight so far.

UFC 52 was stellar. The card has three preliminary matches, the main card has three more fights, then the co-main event, and finally, the main event itself. I'm usually happy if I see two really good matches plus two more decent/fair ones, but this night had five great fights. *****NOTE- While I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow account, technically I'm about to reveal details about the fights (including who won). So, those who haven't seen the event and are intending to purchase this as a blind buy will want to skip to the DVD details part of the review.

The Prelims: John Marsh Vs. Mike Van Arsdale- Heavyweight match. Despite initial audience boos due to the two feeling each other out and not trading punches (casual mma audiences still don't realize you cannot always punch away like a boxer with mma gloves because they hit harder and offer less protection), it becomes a good match with Van Arsdale dominating. He gets Marsh down on his back and rains down elbows. The second round swings in Marsh's favor, but Van Arsdale regains control in the third round. Patrick Cote Vs. Joe Doerksen- Middleweights Canuk slugger Patrick Cote and submission specialist Joe Doerksen engage in a back and forth three round war. Doerksen gets some great takedown and submission attempts, but then Cote takes over in rounds two and three with some good strikes before Doeksen pulls off a comeback. Ivan Salaverry Vs. Joe Riggs- Wrestler/striker Riggs appears more intimidating than the lithe and athletic Salaverry. This is mma, though, and the composed Salaverry pulls off a perfect, slick submission against his aggressive, brawny opponent.

The Featured Card: Babalu Vs. Travis Wuiff- Light Heavyweights. The very experienced Renato "Babalu" Sobral has a relatively easy time against Wuiff, taking down his larger opponent, maintaining control, before submitting Wuiff in the second round. This match wins the nights most heavily tattoeed fighters award. Georges St-Pierre Vs. Jason Miller- Fantastic bout between one of the up and comers of the sport, the well rounded welterweight St-Pierre and the wild and energetic "Mayhem" Miller. Bloody and action packed, the two trade some impressive blows, but St-Pierre splits (possibly breaks?) Miller's nose early on and dominates the match. The never say die Miller stays in the fight purely due to his toughness and heart. Matt Lindland Vs. Travis Lutter- Wrestler and 2000 Olympic silver medalist, Lindland presses Brazilian Jiu Jitsu trained Lutter, clinching, taking him down, landing some soft but ineffective punches, yet controlling the first round. Second round is more of the same. Linland finally sinks a guillotine choke in the third round, ending the fight.

The Co-Main Event: Matt Hughes Vs. Frank Trigg 2: Nothing short of amazing. Welterweight champion Hughes has a rematch with Trigg, who lost their first fight via an impressive rear naked choke. This fight has even more drama with Hughes being distracted by a low blow, looking to the ref, and Trigg capitalizing, nearly knocking out the champ. Tense moments follow with Hughes surviving and staging a Herculean comeback that sends the crowd to their feet with a roaring cheer at the skill and sheer power on display.

The Main Event: Randy Couture Vs. Chuck Liddell 2- This highly anticipated rematch was, though brief and controversial, a stunner. In their first match (UFC 43), mma icon and Light Heavyweight champ Couture surprised by largely forsaking his clinch/takedown/wrestling game and going toe to toe with the formidable striker Liddell. The first fight was nothing less than a pure, three round beat down by Couture on Liddell. Couture's game plan appeared to be the same for the rematch, but Liddell was more prepared and his skills had improved in the two years since their first bout. The fight halts early when Couture is bothered by an eye irritation (conspiracy theorists say a dirty, intentional thumb to the eye) but decides to fight on. Liddell gets the better of a punching exchange and does what no man had ever done to Couture before, knocking him cold onto the canvas. Though he got decked, Couture is an mma pioneer that still shows no real signs of weakening. Liddell is continually on the rise, making his strengths even stronger, never ducking an opponent, always proving his doubters wrong. A rematch is set for early 06' and it is sure to be just as electric.

The UFC has come a long way since its cheaply produced, often mismatched, and sensationalistic roots. You can't just be some golem-faced bruiser to be successful in the top tiers of the sport. It is a competition between well rounded athletes and all around tough guys. You can have the more Mercurial frame of Salaverry and Babalu or the mini-Hulk bulk of Matt Hughes and Riggs. Casual viewers still don't understand the ground game and look for blood and/or knockouts, but trust me, when you can recognize the skills involved, watching someone get caught in a submission hold that could cause him to lose conciousness or break a limb is just as exciting.

The UFC, and subsequently mixed martial arts in general, has seen an awesome growth in public awareness over the past year/year and half. The popularity boom of UFC has lead to more events and publicity, though, sadly, it is still a bit on the fringe and the mainstream sports press largely turns a blind eye to all mma. I guess it is the view of it being "too brutal", but there have been far more serious injuries and deaths associated with boxing (ask yourself, what is more healthy, being knocked out by one good punch- like in mma, or a long accumulation- like in boxing?). Hopefully the audience will continue to grow and become more aware of the dynamics of the sport. This event showcases its many fascinating aspects, good striking, wrestling, submissions. With arguably only two or three middle of the road fights, the matches are mostly engaging wether they go the distance or end early.

The DVD: Ventura

Picture: Fullscreen, Standard. Well, it is pretty basic tv quality. In terms of production values, no other US mma organization comes close to the UFC. The image is nice and sharp. Color details are quite good, from the powder blue of the Octagon mat to the red of the blood flowing out of a busted nose. The transfer doesn't show any compression artefacts.

Sound: Dolby 2.0 Stereo, English or Spanish commentary options. Again, good, modern broadcast quality audio. The UFC uses lots of beefy metal music as underscoring. The mix is pretty good, Rogan and Goldberg aren't overbearing, the actual sounds of the fight rarely get too lost when they are speaking. For instance, you can still hear the smack of an elbow while Rogan chuckles and draws attention to the fact that Miller's corner is telling him to use "retard strength."

One thing the UFC hasnt done, that they should consider, is a thrid audio option without commentary, just the fight, so home viewers can have more live audience experience (but without the drunk guy yelling in your ear and spilling his beer on you).

Extras: The extras consist of 23 mins of various, individually accessible or viewed as a whole, behind the scenes moments. You see- Liddell doing a radio interview, bits of the weigh-in, pre-fight medical check ups, fighters at an autograph session, and various fighters in their dressing rooms warming up, as well as post-fight scenes.

As an mma fangeek, I could have watched an hour of such scenes. Some standout moments include: Salaverry's pre-fight medical check up, the doc asks him standard stuff about injuries during training, when his last fight was, if he's had any problems, and so forth, and Salaverry jokes, "Well, I've got this itchy red rash." Another good bit is just watching a hyped Jason Miller bounce around backstage; the guys a perfect poster boy for putting kids with ADD into mma.

Conclusion: A great UFC card. The DVD presentation is quite solid, though the way they edit clip out all of the rest periods is annoying. Fans are definitely going to grab it. It is certainly an event to show to newbies, if they don't find these matches entertaining, then odds are they will never like mma.