Search - UFC: Best of 2008 on DVD

Decent set...

Gawo | Essex, VT | 04/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Disc 1
-- Opening/Highlight Reel
-- B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 80)
-- B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk (UFC 84)
-- Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Serra (UFC 83)
-- Anderson Silva Video Package
-- Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 84)
-- Fight For The Troops Package
-- Evan Tanner Video Package
-- Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 81)
-- Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 91)
-- Frank Mir vs. Antonio Nogueira (UFC 92)
-- Contenders Video Package - Featuring Kenny Florian, Nate Diaz, Thiago Alves, Cheick Kongo, Gabriel Gonzaga, Michael Bisping, Demian Maia, Thales Leites, Lyoto Machida, Thiago Silva

Disc 2
-- Opening/Highlight Reel
-- Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin (UFC 86)
-- Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92)
-- Ultimate Fighter Video Package - Featuring Amir Sadollah, Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero
-- Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans (UFC 88)
-- Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans (UFC 92)

Bonus Features
-- Top 5 Knockouts
#5 - Jackson/Silva (UFC 92)
#4 - Alves/Parisyan (Ultimate Fight Night 13)
#3 - Burns/Johnson (Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale)
#2 - dos Santos/Werdum (UFC 90)
#1 - Liddell/Evans (UFC 88)
-- Top 5 Submissions
#5 - Sylvia/Nogueira (UFC 81)
#4 - Florian/Stevenson (UFC 91)
#3 - Silva/Henderson (UFC 82)
#2 - Mir/Lesnar (UFC 81)
#1 - Hazelett/Burkman (Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale)
-- UFC: Behind The Scenes - A 31 minute behind the scenes documentary featuring never before seen footage from the following fights: Penn/Stevenson, Mir/Lesnar, GSP/Serra, Griffin/Jackson, Evans/Liddell, Silva/Cote, Lesnar/Couture

Whenever you put together a set, and include the word "best" in the title, there's always going to be room for debate regarding the included content. Ultimately, this is a decent selection of fights from 2008. Even though I had already seen all of the featured fights, it somehow all seemed fresh again. Well, at least for awhile. The main feature does an adequate job of focusing on certain obvious fighters, and it generally flows pretty well. One surprise was the inclusion of the Mir/Nogueira fight on Disc 1, which wasn't listed on the insert. Extra fights are always good! The Top 5 Knockouts and Top 5 Submissions were nice extras as well. My only slight complaint, well, make that a suggestion, is the UFC: Behind The Scenes extra. Don't get me wrong, I like the footage. I think that it could have been removed as an extra though, and instead, worked into the main feature. In the opening of the DVD, some of the highlighted fights are briefly discussed. As you go through the DVD, many of those fights are shown in their entirety and analyzed. After you get through it all, the Behind The Scenes extra literally goes through chosen fights AGAIN, with further analysis from different angles and relevant personalities. It seemed to me that all of the exclusive footage could have been worked in around each of the full-length fights, and once it was over, move on to the next topic. By the time it was all over, I felt like I had been in a fight myself, being beaten over the head with the same material. In the end, I really did enjoy the set though. It wasn't the knockout that it could've been (per the above listed), but ultimately a hard-fought decision victory."