Las Vegas Weekly

UFC 104 walk-in music begs for blood

Hard-hitting action prefaced by violent lyrics during walk ins

Lyoto Machida, right, connects with Shogun Rua Saturday night during the main event of UFC 104 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Machida won a controversial unanimous decision for the UFC light heavyweight title.

Photo: Justin M. Bowen

UFC 104 was filled with controversy and so were the walk in music choices. Many of the songs fighters chose had the typical semi-veiled threats right in the titles, but this time these calls to arms left little to the imagination. With songs like “Bleed it Out” (Lyoto Machida’s choice), “God’s Going to Cut You Down”(Spencer Fisher’s choice) and “Burn it to the Ground,” (Ben Rothwell), it might not be too clichéd to say these fighters were out for blood.

In contrast to those violent anthems, Joe “Daddy” Stevenson added to his good-natured dad-next-door persona with the peppy anthem “I’ve Got a Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. The upbeat song repeats the line “I’ve got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night/That tonight’s gonna be a good, good night.” Even when he caught a few blows from Spencer Fisher, Stevenson smiled through the pain, and it turned out to be a very good night for Stevenson, indeed. He won a TKO victory over Fisher after raining elbows at the end of the final round. The Black Eyed Peas’ tune proved to be prophetic for the family friendly fighter.

Kyle Kingsbury waked in to an appropriate tune, Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.” In addition to the melodic sing-a-long nature of the song, the lyrics very clearly say, “I’m on the hunt; I’m after you.” If it weren’t for the poppy ’80s melody, the track might sound scary. Kingsbury wound up with a split decision in his first UFC win, but acknowledged he might not have been the hungriest wolf this time around and would “tweak some things” and work harder on his cardio for the next fight.

The award for the most unique song goes to Stefan Struve for the instrumental Marilyn Manson song “Seizure of Power.” The lyric-less song might seem an odd choice, especially from an artist with such powerful and fear-inspiring words. However, the staccato pounding of the drums and bass line and overall intensity of the tune proved an excellent blend to pump Struve up for his battle with Chase Gormley, whom Struve was able to submit with a triangle choke in the first round.

In a change from the macabre music that usually rules the Octagon, Chael Sonnen walked in to “Too Much Fun” by Daryle Singletary. Country songs have a bit of a stigma in the ring as most fighters opt for classic rock, metal or rap. Sonnen, the underdog in his fight against Yushin Okami, did not seem to care about what others would think and boldly walked out to the twangy lines of “I’m a holy terror, a tornado/Wind me up, turn me loose, and let me go.” While it wasn’t quite that easy for Sonnen, who was on the receiving end of a lot of Okami’s counterpunches, he emerged victorious with a unanimous decision.

Another outside-the-box song didn’t go over as well with the crowd. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua trotted in to trance DJ and producer Armin Van Buuren’s “Sail.” While fighters are trying to pump themselves up for fights with their walk in music, it’s not a bad idea to remember the crowd is listening, too. I can’t see too many UFC fans going wild about clubby trance music when they are about to see a fight. This isn’t the dance floor at Rain or Pure; this is a battleground. One reporter in attendance said, “Worst entrance music I’ve seen in any card to date...terrible,” about Rua’s choice. Luckily, Rua’s performance in the Octagon made up for his entrance and might garner him a re-match, as many believed his efforts were enough to capture the light heavyweight belt.

Lyoto Machida insinuated his game plan through the choice of Linkin Park’s “Bleed it Out.” This could easily have been the re-mix, “Wait it Out,” as this championship bout went the full five rounds before heading to a controversial decision in favor of Machida. He traded punches and leg kicks with Rua for 25 minutes and many booing fans in the crowd were not convinced Machida eeked out the victory. The brutal honesty of Linkin Park’s lyrics, “Fuck this hurts/I won’t lie” took on a whole new meaning as Machida’s win was put into question. In addition to the brutal flying knee Rua landed in the second round, the controversial victory must have hurt, but ultimately, it is still a win for the light heavyweight champ.