Fans at the O2 arena. Credit: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
ON 17 JANUARY 2009, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) rolled into town for the first time as the organisation’s president Dana White brought his increasingly-popular spectacle to Dublin’s newly-refurbished O2 arena — formerly the Point Depot.
Although Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was very much a minority sport at the time, fans were eager to get a taste of the once-off event with over 9,000 tickets selling out months before the big night.
The light heavyweight bout between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson took top billing with the winner earning the chance to coach Team USA in The Ultimate Fighter reality television series, while the undercard included tasty match-ups such as Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua v Mark Coleman and Marcus ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’ Davis v Chris Lytle.
Former Irish Olympic boxer Wayne McCullough, meanwhile, was brought in by White in an ambassadorial role to promote the occasion.
Ireland’s great hope was a young man by the name of Tom ‘The Tank’ Egan, who had been signed up to give home fans a local fighter to throw their support behind. SBG welterweight Egan was pencilled in to take on England’s John Hathaway in the final fight of the preliminary card.
At just 20 years of age, the Kildare native was short on experience but jumped at the chance to live out his dream by stepping into the Octagon having grown up training in his house alongside current UFC fighter Conor McGregor before they discovered John Kavanagh’s SBG.
John Hathaway and Tom 'The Tank' Egan at the weigh-in. Credit: INPHO/James Crombie
At the time, Egan said: "It's going to be an amazing experience and I really can't wait. I'm fighting on behalf of Irish fighters and Irish MMA and it's great to see the UFC in Ireland.
It is a feeling of all my dreams coming true. Every punch and every fight has worked its way to this."
Unfortunately, it proved too soon for Egan and he was defeated by technical knockout (TKO) in the first round. Here's clip of him backstage before the fight and giving his thoughts afterwards:
YouTube credit: The Telegraph
Graeme McDonnell, founder of SevereMMA.com, recalls the night:
I had been watching UFC for a couple of years when it came to Ireland. All of my friends used to look at me like I was crazy when I mentioned MMA. I finally convinced two lads to come with me to UFC 93 and they loved it and have been fans ever since.
There were 9,000 fans there on the night but it was a niche sport at the time. There was a big buzz around it and people were trying to get tickets late on. A lot of boxing fans also went along thinking they would try it out.
I remember at the time there were a lot of people complaining about the card, saying “where’s this guy?” but it was actually a brilliant card with the likes of Shogun, Henderson, Franklin, Chris Lytle and Hathaway all involved. It was great.
The only fight that was boring was the Shogun v Coleman but there was good action in the rest of them. The crowd was going absolutely ballistic for Marcus Davis, there were ‘Ole’ chants going and people were going off their heads.
He walked out with an Irish flag and his nickname was 'The Irish Hand Grenade' so that’s all you need.
A huge crowd watches on. Credit: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
I had been to events in the O2 in London but it wasn't as good because it is small and there was no second tier. Everybody was in on top of each other.
Even Dana White said it was pound-for-pound the best atmosphere ever. What is noticeable is that these days people only turn up for the main cards and don’t even watch the others. That night the place was full before the Tom Egan fight.
I had never seen Tom Egan fight up to that point and was just into the UFC until I realised there was actually a strong Irish team.
He was 4-0 at the time but he wasn't ready. It was a different dream to get to the UFC back then. But as John Kavanagh said, he wasn’t ready but you don’t say no to the UFC.
UFC fan Noel McGuinness was also in the crowd that evening:
As far as I remember it got going at four in the afternoon and when we arrived the place was already packed. There was some atmosphere and the place was buzzing.
It was my first UFC fight but I was a big fan at the time. We would have a few lads over to watch other events on telly on a Saturday night so to have it in Dublin was amazing. I remember looking forward most to seeing the Henderson v Franklin and Belcher v Kang fights.
I’m surprised they haven’t been back since because even before Conor McGregor blew up they would have had a sell-out here.
I worked in the IFSC and the fighters were staying in the Clarion Hotel nearby. They just happened to be checking in a few days before and I came across a number of them. All the UFC staff were so friendly and made an effort to say hello.
They were signing posters and happy to pose for photos. I got pictures with nearly all the fighters on the card as well as some of the announcers.
Noel McDonnell meets Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua. Credit: Noel McDonnell
YouTube credit: dametallica
In the eagerly-awaited main event, the two US fighters exchange early blows with Henderson coming out narrowly on top (29-28) after the first round. There is little between them but Henderson takes the second by the same scoreline before winning via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30) with Franklin claiming the final round.
Rich Franklin (left) and Dan Henderson. Credit: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
During the week, we asked fans to tweet us their memories from the night:
Were you at UFC 93? How was it for you? And are you looking forward to it returning in 2014?
Quality player, very surprised he was dropped.
I’d be very surprised if he was dropped in the first place as he needed match time. He’s better than Jager in all facets that I’ve seen, scrum, maul and as we’ve all seen, in the lose. Jager, just not seeing it with him especially scrum. Am I missing something???
@Noel Lynn: Bealham is certainly well ahead of Jager and all other TH (Furlong apart) in Ireland, but I think Jager is doing a better job than you’re giving credit for. He’s been very good at scrum time for munster, especially when he came up against Porter, and was solid against Wales. His ruck defense was excellent both clearing and counter rucking and his goal line defense was superb. His lineout work wasn’t up to scratch IMO and he still needs to improve his S&C but he’s certainly got a high ceiling and a great addition to our TH stock.
@Noel Lynn: Short answer – yes
Easily the best TH after Furlong, who seems to have recovered some of his previous form. Great to have several options here between Furlong, Bealham, O’Toole and Jager. The order is not important as they are all playing well at the moment.
Literally no one else is suprised.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m surprised, arguably pushing Furlong for a starting spot
Bealham is a quality player but I think it’s getting a bit clearer that farrell and his coaches are huge fans of jager. To go from the ‘training squad’ to the verge of the 1st choice 23 over a couple of weeks is pretty phenomenonal
@munsterman: jager has plenty to work on to over take Bealham. He may not have over taken TO’T yet, so 1 step at a time.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: well I’ve never seen farrell move so quickly to promote a player in a meaningful match. Even players like Joe Mccarthy and crowley had to put in their time in camp for a year or so. There’s every chance that bealham will be back-up th v England but you wouldn’t bet on it
@munsterman: There’s every chance that Bealham will start and Jager on the bench if Furlong injured.
@Con Cussed: yea that’d be the most likely scenario I’d imagine. It’s quite tough on otoole who’s been very good for Ireland too
@munsterman: Agreed. It just means the pressure is now on all four to keep the momentum up. It’s a tough position and injuries abound so can see them all getting a chance in the future.
This could mean Furlong has an injury concern… I hope not!
Has anyone authoritative said that Bealham was dropped? As far as I recall the mood music before the Welsh game was that Bealham had proved himself across a number of matches to be no great step down from Furlong; and that Farrell was taking advantage of a game we were almost certain to win to have a look at Jäger off the bench.
Depressing stuff
@Kevin Ryan: when have we ever seen farrell use a competitive game to just have a look at a player? The only time he ever changes up his side much is v the most tier2 of tier2 nations in Nov or else gets A games set up
@munsterman: Giving a guy a debut as a bench prop is not really changing the side much, though. And if he didn’t pick this game, he’d have to wait until the Autumn, assuming SA too strong. Anyways, we’ll see what Farrell does with the selection for the England game.
The story around Bealham is a bit of a head scratcher. Why was he dropped? Some say he needed time off as a new dad. Personally I believe the coaches think Jager is a better prop. When your coach uses faint praise to describe your last performance then you are in trouble. I think Farrell described Bealham’s last outing as “decent enough”. In all these scenarios the public never gets a true picture until someone writes a book.
@Tom Reilly: I seem to have missed him saying that about Bealham – was that in a press conference? I checked the post Italy match press conference again to refresh my memory, and Faz was effusive in his praise of the set piece, calling it excellent and top notch, so I’m surprised he would then be naming Finlay as not being a top performer. A lot of media said that Finlay was doing as much as he could possibly do to challenge Furlong for the starting berth on the back of his performance against Italy, so I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he performed excellent in that match.
@Tom Reilly: ah, I heard it now – it was from the pre-Wales match conference. To be honest, the way I hear it, it seemed more so saying that Oli deserved a chance in spite of Bealham having a decent performance. TBH, I think he couldn’t say “Wales’ scrum is poor so this is the best chance to give Oli a tryout in the six nations window”, so has to justify it on the basis of competition for places. If he said Finlay was excellent, then he would effectively be needing to say that Oli is even better, which would be a huge amount of pressure to put on a debutant. So, he kind of has to nearly qualify Bealham’s performance so as not to put down Wales.
@JoeVlogs: As I said earlier it is hard to know what exactly is going on. I think most people think Bealham did not deserve to be dropped from a playing point of view. Maybe something else is going on.
The euphemism that Alex Ferguson developed to replace “dropped” was “rotated.” The image that most of us have of a “dropped” player is of someone so bad in the last match that they had to be replaced. Sometimes it is about building squad depth, other times you were the Lions captain last week and this week not in the 23 – an utterly unexplainable event.
I suspect that Furlong has twinged his hamstring. If Furlong is out, Bealham absolutely starts ahead of Jager – and we all know that.
@PatN: I meant calf not hamstring
Bealham should be pushing Furlong for a starting position not getting dropped
When was the last v good game from Furlong?
@Derek Casserly: Last week!
There is much debate about the word “dropped” concerning Bealham. Was he or wasn’t he dropped. IMO if a player is available for selection, has been selected everytime he is available and then he is not selected, then he is indeed deemed “dropped”.
Let’s stop using the word “dropped”. To play at elite level you need a squad of 35 players and the ability to get game time into all of them. ( let’s not repeat RWC errors from the past). Rotatated is a much better word.