UFC 74: Couture Stops Gonzaga, St-Pierre Controls Koscheck
UFC 74: Respect took place on August 25, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Randy Couture defended the heavyweight championship against Gabriel Gonzaga, while Georges St-Pierre returned from his loss to Matt Serra to face Josh Koscheck. Both established stars won, but the card also offered competitive lightweight fights and several early submissions.
Couture keeps the heavyweight championship
Gonzaga entered the main event after knocking out Mirko Cro Cop with a head kick at UFC 70. That victory made his challenge compelling: he carried dangerous striking as well as a strong submission background. Couture, now 44, had regained the heavyweight belt by beating Tim Sylvia at UFC 68.
The champion built his defense around close-range wrestling and striking. He put Gonzaga under pressure against the fence, used takedowns, and landed short punches and elbows. Gonzaga suffered a damaged nose early, and the fight was briefly interrupted in round two for a medical examination before he was allowed to continue.
Gonzaga still landed head kicks, but Couture stayed in the contest and took the challenger down in the third round. From a dominant position, the champion delivered the punches that prompted Herb Dean’s stoppage at 1:37. Couture retained the belt by TKO, extending an already remarkable heavyweight comeback.
St-Pierre returns with a wrestling victory
St-Pierre’s fight with Koscheck was a non-title welterweight contest. After losing the championship to Serra in April, the Canadian needed a convincing return against an opponent whose wrestling had helped him defeat Diego Sanchez at UFC 69.
St-Pierre met that challenge by taking Koscheck down and controlling important stretches on the ground. Koscheck had his own takedown success in the opening round, but St-Pierre’s positional work and later striking carried the fight. The judges awarded him a unanimous decision: 30–27, 29–28, and 29–28.
The result mattered beyond a single win. Beating an accomplished wrestler through grappling reinforced the breadth of St-Pierre’s game and placed him back among the division’s leading contenders. It was a recovery step, rather than a championship defense.
Huerta and Stevenson advance at lightweight
Roger Huerta faced submission specialist Alberto Crane in a fight full of grappling exchanges. Crane found dangerous positions, but Huerta escaped, kept working, and inflicted increasing damage. One memorable sequence saw Huerta use an arena screen to locate Crane while striking backward from a difficult position.
Huerta finished Crane with punches at 1:50 of round three. In the other featured lightweight bout, Joe Stevenson defeated Kurt Pellegrino by unanimous decision, with scores of 30–27, 30–27, and 29–28. Their exchanges demanded both wrestling and submission defense, with Stevenson producing a strong final round.
The rest of the nine-fight card
Patrick Cote stopped Kendall Grove with punches at 4:45 of the first round. Frank Mir submitted Antoni Hardonk with a kimura at 1:17 of round one, while Thales Leites submitted Ryan Jensen with an armbar at 3:47 of the same round. Clay Guida defeated Marcus Aurelio by split decision.
Renato Sobral submitted David Heath with an anaconda choke at 3:30 of round two. That victory was accompanied by controversy because Sobral continued holding the choke after the tap and referee intervention. The result remains a submission win in the event record, but the conduct surrounding the finish is part of the night’s history.
Respect is best remembered for Couture’s successful defense and St-Pierre’s return to winning form. Across the card, pressure, positional control, and the ability to escape submissions mattered as much as a single heavy strike.
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UFC 74, Randy Couture, Gabriel Gonzaga, Georges St-Pierre, UFC Results
