This was one of the first times a I was a little disappointed with a UFC event. The Brawl in Buffalo, in my opinion, was a little lacking. I had 2 problems with this one, 1) The Super Fight between defending UFC Champion Oleg Taktarov and defending Super Fight Champion Ken Shamrock and 2) the main draw.First off the Super Fight is extremely long and very disappointing. Mainly in part that you could tell that Taktarov did not want to fight his friend, Shamrock. Plus with very limited action, aside from ground techniques and "the guard", there is really very little else to this match. It was a very hyped up match that totally bombed out.
Now the main draw was also not as impressive as it should have been and here's one of the problems. This came right after UFC 6 and everyone was expecting the same kind of action from the last one and everyone was expecting the same kind of bare knuckle striking. Unfortunately, there was none of that (aside from Marco Ruas).
This one did however see the return of UFC 2 fighter Remco Pardoel and UFC 3 finalist (and resident UFC Redneck) Harold Howard and the return of UFC 6 fighter Paul Varelans. The action was a bit slow and in some parts, it really dragged. I'll give it that this UFC had the difficult task of following UFC 6 but having more aggressive fighters in the main draw would've helped.
The last thing I want to be sure to cover (and DEFEND!) is the match between Ruas and Varelans and I just wanted to say that people are wrong in saying that Ruas was afraid to fight the much larger Varelans. Ruas had a great strategy and turned a UFC fight that could've gone to the ground into a Sabaki fight (if you don't know what that is, LOOK IT UP or go to a Martial Arts gym) where he had a better chance against a bigger and slower opponent.
Ruas used strategy instead of trying to go ape on his opponent and he just took his time. Special commentator Don "The Dragon" Wilson made the comment of "I don't see why Varelans is taking all this punishment on the leg and quadricep. All he has to do is lift up his leg and take the kick on the shin where he can take more damage." This happens all the time in Sabaki fights. Most times, kicks above the waist are rare and kicks to the leg and quads are more preferable in an attempt to bring your opponent down piece by piece. That and it's easier to kick the leg than it is to kick at the body or face.
So here's how I'm going to score UFC 7... -1 star for the Super Fight, -1 star for the main draw and lack of aggressive competition, -½ for the return of resident UFC Redneck Harold Howard BUT, +½ star for a pretty good interview with Tank Abbott. 3 Stars in total. If you're a fan of Marco Ruas, check out this UFC but if you're more of a fan of the fast paced action of the UFC, check out UFC 2, 3 or 6.