On Saturday evening (June 2), the prodigious Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum held its first MMA card in the venue's 74-year history. The show was put on by FEG and while the reported attendance was 54,000, the actual turnout was closer to 14,000.

The first match of the night pitted two lightweights as Fort Lauderdale, FL's J.Z. Calvan (12-1-1) secured a quick, KO-victory over Westminster, CA's Nam Phan (12-4-0) at 26 seconds into the first round.

In the second bout, two more lightweights did battle as Japan's Katsuhiko Nagata (3-1-0) earned a time limit nod over the USA's dilatory replacement, Isaiah Hill (4-4-0).

The evening's third contest saw Springfield, Ill's Jonathan Wiezorek (11-1-0) garner a ground-and-pound stoppage over Irvine, CA's Tim "Big Perm" Persey (8-2-0) at 50 seconds into round two of this heavyweight battle.

Subsequently, San Francisco, CA's highly regarded welterweight, Jake Shields (18-4-1) grabbed a second-round tapout victory over Israel's Ido Pariente (4-3-0) via rear naked choke.

The next bout featured light-heavyweights as former USC and Detroit Lions wide receiver, Johnnie Morton (Torrance, CA) made his MMA debut against Bernard Ackah (2-0) of Africa's Ivory Coast.  At a mere 38 seconds into the first round, Ackah floored Morton with a perfect shot to the jaw, resulting in a KO victory.  The former football star remained on the canvas for a good five minutes, eventually being carted off to the hospital on a stretcher while adorned in a cervical collar.  To make matters worse, the CSAC suspended Morton indefinitely after he refused to take his post-fight anti-doping test.  Additionally, Morton's reported $100,000 purse for the bout is being withheld.

Following the previous debacle, the heavyweights took center stage as San Bernardino, CA's "Mighty Mo" Siliga (3-0-0) TKO'd Ruben "Warpath" Villarreal (Calousa, CA, 11-13-3) at 1:33 of round one.

The sixth contest featuring light-heavyweights, resulted in the Netherlands' Melvin "No Mercy" Manhoef (16-4-1) losing to South Korea's Dong Sik Yoon (1-4-0) via armbar at the 2:17 mark of round one.

Up next, Japan's lightweight, Hideo Tokoro (18-11-1) bested the UK's Brad "One Punch" Pickett (10-4-0) via an armbar tapout, late in round one.

One of the night's two main events featured the highly anticipated (but ultimately underwhelming and uneventful) re-match of MMA gods, Kazushi Sakuraba (20-10-1) and Royce Gracie (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 14-3-3).  This one went to the cards and in what many thought was unjust, Gracie took the decision over the Japanese warrior.

The evening's swansong found former NCAA and WWE champ Brock Lesnar (Webster, SD) making his MMA debut against last minute fill-in, Korea's Min Soo Kim (2-6-0).  The heavily muscled Lesnar proved too much for Kim as he scored a ground and pound tapout at just over a minute into the first round.

Now You Know
* Trophies were handed out to the winners
* Fighters took a long, dramatic walk down the Coliseum steps for their entrances.
* Former basketball star Dennis Rodman was on hand.
* Pyrotechnics concluded the evening.
* Gina Carano, a top female MMA fighter, was also on hand.

Faces In the Crowd
Regardless of which direction you looked, you would see a fighter ... and not in the ring.

Phil Baroni, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Quinton Jackson (wearing his UFC belt and smoking a cigarillo), Josh Barnett, Krazy Horse, Michael MacDonald, Gary Goodridge, Frank Trigg, Denis Kang, Ricco Rodriguez, Cung Le and Tank Abbott were just some of the fighters in attendance.

Hollywood also made its presence, as Nicholas Cage and Tracy Ullman were present. They were not, however, seated together.

Former basketball star Dennis Rodman spoke just prior to the PPV. He said, "You can love me or hate me, but you know what? It's not my night. It's these guys [tonight]. K-1 is coming to America and L.A., and you are seeing it live. UFC? Hell, no. This is K-1."

- Doug Jeffrey


Morton Is Not Ready for MMA
Give former football star Johnnie Morton tons of credit for jumping into MMA. It takes a warrior to get into any ring or cage.

However, as he should know by now, it also takes a tremendous amount of skill to fight. While he may have torn up the gridiron, two months of training (the amount of time the L.A. Times reported he trained for this) is absurd. Athleticism and strength does not make a fighter.

Plus, he refused his post-fight anti-doping test, which reflects poorly on the sport.

Morton is obviously an athlete. If he doesn't get another football gig,  he should get back into an academy and work on his ground and stand-up skills. We'd love to see him fight, but he needs a stronger foundation before he puts it on the line again. And, he needs to take his test next time ... or he should not bother getting back into the ring. - Doug Jeffrey