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Bow-Tie Reviews: UFC 43: Meltdown

Welcome to Volume 2 of The Bow-Tie Aficionado Reviews DVDs of Events That Happened Years Ago. Today I am going to look at UFC 43: Meltdown. UFC 43 took place on June 6, 2003 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pedro Rizzo vs. Tra Telligman B

Matt Lindland vs. Falaniko Vitale B

Yves Edwards vs. Eddie Ruiz C+

Frank Mir vs. Wes Sims F

Ian Freeman vs. Vernon White C

Vitor Belfort vs. Marvin Eastman C+

Tank Abbott vs. Kimo D

Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture A

Overall: B-

This was a better than average event. Even the "bad" fights were somewhat entertaining. There weren’t any boring 15 or 25 minute fights, and that’s always a good thing. There is one must see fight on this event and that is the Lidell vs. Couture fight. Other than that there really wasn’t any UFC history being made on this card.

I know this event happened years ago, but I don’t want to give spoilers to people who don’t want them. If you want a more in depth breakdown keep reading below…

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Pedro Rizzo vs. Tra Telligman

Result: Rizzo by TKO Cut at 4:24 of Round 2

Grade: B

Good fight to start the event. I’ve seen Telligman fight on a couple of different occasions, but I had never heard the announcer talk about the elephant in the room. Telligman has only one pec. His right pectoral is completely missing. There is just a cavity. Before this fight Joe Rogan mentioned that it’s from a car accident that occurred when he was a child. I understand not wanting to make a big deal out of it, but if you’re an announcer you can’t just ignore it. Round one of this fight was a slugfest. Telligman definitely got the better of the exchanges, but Rizzo’s well timed leg kicks worked to even things out. The round ends with Rizzo suffering from a decent sized cut above his eye, and Tellingman with a discolored leg. Round two starts much the same way as round one, with both fighters exchanging blows. One of Rizzo’s punches manages to cut Tra’s cheek and Rizzo is able to secure a takedown early in the second round. From Tra’s closed guard Rizzo is able to do a considerable amount of damage to Tra’s face opening up multiple cuts. Telligman is able to get up near the middle of the round and exchanges with Rizzo until the doctor is forced to stop the fight because of a cut above Telligman’s eye near the end of the round. If it wasn’t for the blood in Telligman’s eye he was physically still in fine shape to continue.

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