“UFC: Ultimate Knockouts 9″ DVD Review

Find me a person who does not love watching someone get knocked out, and you will have found me a filthy hippie. Once you give that hippie some hemp to knit hats out of, you will most likely have found someone who does enjoy knockouts – yourself!

Anchor Bay has recently released a new compilation DVD of knockouts from the UFC, entitled “UFC: Ultimate Knockouts 9,” which as you can infer, is the ninth installment in this popular series. Highlighting some of the biggest knockouts over a specific timespan, this DVD promises beatdown’s and mild brain trauma from fighters like Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Dan Hardy, Melvin Guillard, and many more.

Does this compilation DVD deliver the goods, or is it as disappointing as the original programming lineup on G4? Hit the jump for the full review of the “UFC: Ultimate Knockouts 9″ DVD!

“UFC: Ultimate Knockouts 9″ features 30 fights from the UFC, all ending in the brutal knockouts we have all come to love. Which fights do you get on this DVD? Here is the full rundown:

Chuck Liddell vs Rich Franklin

Luiz Cané vs Cyrille Diabaté

Melvin Guillard vs Waylon Lowe

Todd Duffee vs Mike Russow

Brendan Schaub vs Chris Tuchscherer

Tyson Grifin vs Takanori Gomi

Fredson Paixão vs Pablo Garza

Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit

Stefan Struve vs Chris Morecraft

Johny Hendricks vs Charlie Brenneman

Frank Mir vs Mirko Crocop

Mark Hominick vs George Roop

Matt Mitrione vs Tim Hague

Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velásquez

Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn

Karo Parisyan vs Dennis Hallman

Joe Stevenson vs Mac Danzig

Stefan Struve vs Sean McCorkle

Phil Baroni vs Brad Tavares

Marcus Davis vs Jeremy Stephens

Chris Leben vs Brian Stann

CB Dollaway vs Mark Muñoz

Thiago Tavares vs Shane Roller

Mike Pierce vs Kenny Robertson

Kyle Kingsbury vs Ricardo Romero

Paul Taylor vs Gabe Ruediger

Mark Hunt vs Chris Tuchscherer

Raphael Assunção vs Erik Koch

Mirko Cro Cop vs Brendan Schaub

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs Jon Jones

Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort

Thankfully, this DVD includes a full run-down of all the fights with a paper insert inside the DVD, although it does not reveal any info as to what the “Total TKO’s” bonus material is.

The DVD itself features that classic image of Anderson Silva kicking Vitor Belfort in the face, making for a very exciting disc cover. It is a simple design but all of the elements harmonize nicely on this circular surface and look quite striking, pun intended. It’s amazing how I like the design on the disc more than the one on the packaging, even though they are very similar, likely because the added image of Jon Jones hovering over everyone like some entity detracts from the overall design.

The fights themselves are all from 2010 to mid-2011, and are not necessarily featured in full-length unless they were quick first-round finishes. At a little over 90 minutes in length, Mike Goldberg hosts this special and introduces each segment in a mostly chronological format. You will get to see around 90 seconds to two minutes worth of each fight, sometimes more, all ending with that wonderful thing we call a knockout.

Before more significant matches, we get a quick history lesson to explain the build-up before each bout, as well as interviews with the fighters behind these moments, such as title fights or the first featherweight battle in the history of the company. There are also some interviews spliced through the DVD with many fighters discussing knockouts, specifically how great it feels to do it, how to train for it, and who does it the best.

It’s always enjoyable watching these great moments, like reliving Todd Duffee’s bout against the doughy Mike Russow which ended in a surprising manner, Takanori Gomi’s return to excellence against Tyson Griffin, Jon Jones finishing off Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to start his reign as lightweight champ, and of course, the now infamous front kick that Anderson Silva delivered to Vitor Belfort. A cool feature of this DVD is that each fight is broken up into two chapters, one with the beginning of the clip, and the second with the actual knockout itself. This way, if your impatience has kicked in and you just want to see the bodies hit the floor, just press “Next” on your DVD player and move along with the show.

This disc has one special feature, the “Total TKO’s” highlight reel, which is eleven and a half minutes of technical knock-outs from UFC PPV’s, TUF finales, and TV specials. This includes David Loiseau VS Mario Miranda, Carlos Condit VS Rory Macdonald, Jamie Yager VS Rich Attonito, Chris Leben VS Aaron Simpson, Michael Bisping VS Jorge Rivera, Jon Jones VS Vladimir Matyushenko, and many others (around 20 total).

One warning to anyone who buys this DVD – get used to hearing Mike Goldberg say “And it is all over!” Especially in the “Total TKO” feature, you will hear this after every fight, which is not unusual from him. The problem comes in how much you will hear this in such a short time span. The best way to remedy the annoyance that is Mike Goldberg is to make a drinking game out of it. Bring lots of booze, and have paramedics on stand by, because someone will get sick pretty quickly.

You can grab “UFC: Ultimate Knockouts 9″ on Amazon for around $12-16. If you are a fan of knockouts you will enjoy this DVD, just do not expect to see full-fights. This is not a detailed and comprehensive look into anything, this is purely the joy of the art of knocking people out. Great for a newer or more casual fan, but more discerning fans might not be as interested in this since it really is just a very long highlight reel. If you are a hardcore UFC fan, this is not to be missed and a solid way to introduce your friends to MMA and relive some great moments.

You might also like my reviews of these other DVD’s: “Warrior,” “UFC: Ultimate Heavyweights,” “UFC 136: Two-disc Ultimate Edition,” and the massive 20-disc “UFC Ultimate Fight Collection: 2011 Edition”.