UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets - ’Belfort vs Liddell’ | 6th Round Retro

June M. Williams

Eddie Mercado & Victor M. Rodriguez are here to recap the ‘UFC 37.5: Belfort vs Liddell’ event from twenty years ago,,, way back on Saturday, June 22nd, 2002.

Welcome to the 6th Round Retro Post-Fight Show. This is the show that digs into the archives and gives you a comprehensive review of classic MMA events, that span as far back as UFC 1.

June M. Williams

Your RETRO hosts, Eddie Mercado & Vic Rodriguez

Join Eddie Mercado & Victor Rodriguez as they delve into the world of the ‘UFC 37.5 As Real As It Gets’ event this week, straight out of the archives of yesteryear. So let’s take a trip back to Saturday, June 22, 2002 and check out the first UFC event to feature Joe Rogan as a color commentator; after having done several behind-the-scenes interviews starting back at UFC 12.

The guys will explore the UFC 37.5 event complete with results, analysis, and of course a few laughs. The oddly numbered event was a last-minute deal which was held in order to promote the ‘UFC on FOX’ Sports Net’s ‘The Best Damn Sports Show Period’, where the “best fight” of the night was to air during the BDSSP’s ‘All Star Summer’ celebration in June 2002. The fight aired was ‘Steve Berger vs Robbie Lawler’, which holds the distinction of being the first ever MMA fight to be aired on US cable TV.

UFC/UFC Fight Pass

Official UFC 37.5: As Real As It Gets ‘Belfort vs Liddell’ Fight Poster

The UFC 37.5 event, aka: ‘As Real As it Gets: Vitor Belfort vs. Chuck Liddell’ went down from the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. It featured a mere six fights on the card and was then held aside for it’s PPV broadcast until later that summer, on August 16th. They called it UFC 37.5 because UFC 38 was previously announced & marketed for England, where the UFC was making their debut in three weeks.

Your commentators were Mike ‘Goldy’ Goldberg, Jeff Osborne, & the debuting Joe Rogan. Plus, we had Bruce Buffer on the mic, with ‘Big’ John McCarthy, Kipp Kollar, & Cecil Peoples refereeing the event.

The big names of the show were Chuck Liddell & Vitor Belfort in the headliner with Benji Radach vs Nick Serra in the co-main. We also had a young Robbie Lawler making a stellar appearance on the card. The event had what may be the smallest audience for a UFC numbered event, at 3,700 people.

If you would like to watch the event, it can be found on UFC Fight Pass in the UFC Archives in one viewing; you can also search for the event via YouTube or you can search under the names of the fighters of each bout, one video per bout is likely out there across the interwebs, so some hunting would need to be done to look up the card in its entirety off of platforms other than Fight Pass.

Join us to rediscover all the action and discuss as we go along! Let’s check it out!

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(SPOILERS)

The fight card was set up as follows... fight card via tapology.com:

At 5:39 — LHW: Chuck Liddell (11-1) def. Vitor Belfort (10-3), DEC (Unanimous, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

At 18:32 — WW: Benji Radach (6-0) def. Nick Serra (4-1), DEC (Unanimous, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

At 25:31 — WW: Pete Spratt (11-5) def. Zach Light (2-1), SUB - Armbar at 2:25 of Rd 1

At 30:42 — WW: Robbie Lawler (6-0) def. Steve Berger (15-8), TKO (Punches) at 0:27 of Rd 2

At 38:45 — MW: Tony Fryklund (7-1) def. Rodrigo Ruas (3-1), TKO (Punches) at 3:34 of Rd 2

At 46:19 — LW: Yves Edwards (20-7) def. Joao Marcos Pierini (4-1), TKO (Injury) at 1:19 of Rd 1

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