UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie Review

Arguably the best UFC release to date.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 21, 2011

The friendship is over!

Steelers-Ravens. Red Sox-Yankees. Texas-Oklahoma. Lakers-Celtics. Steve Austin-Vince McMahon. Sports is often defined by the rivalries that sell tickets, get ratings, and engender a whole lot of bad blood. The UFC isn't any different. While fans have come to appreciate the sportsmanship and camaraderie that exists between many of the competitors, there are those fighters who, for whatever reason, just can't shake that grudge against their major rival, a grudge that fuels harder-hitting fights in the ring and lots of trash-talking -- amongst the athletes and their fans -- outside of it. UFC: Bad Blood is a specialty release that focuses strictly on these sorts of feuds, highlighting perhaps the most widely-recognized and heated duel of them all: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz. The two two-hunderd pounders once trained together, fought against one another, and morphed into something more: the UFC's most intense rivalry. That doesn't happen overnight, and UFC: Bad Blood is their stories, their rises to prominence, their brewing feud, their bad blood.

Once friends...

These are the best kinds of rivalries, the kind that form slowly over time, like a pot of water on low heat, the kind that fermented and grew as two warriors rose through the ranks, defeated their enemies, and were finally forced through sport structure and fan demand to square off in the octagon to prove UFC supremacy. Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, once friends and partners, have grown apart and become fierce rivalries the likes of which the UFC has never seen before. UFC: Bad Blood chronicles each fighter's past and their transformation into legendary combatants. But this feature is more than that. It's a detailed look into the lives and times of the fighters, providing inside access into what makes them tick, what makes them men, what makes them warriors, what makes them enemies. This film chronicles their respective rises within the UFC ranks through archival fight footage, interviews, and candid video segments that take viewers straight into their lives.

This is another very high quality, strongly-produced UFC/Zuffa title. It's raw, complete, and fascinating as the men recall their paths towards UFC stardom, highlighting Chuck Liddell's rise to the top and Tito Ortiz's personal journey through and ascendancy from the violence he experienced growing up in California. In between interview segments, the program weaves together highlights from past fights. The narrative is engrossing as it reveals the men behind the macho televised façade. These are real people, with real emotions, real histories, real dreams. UFC: Bad Blood's ability to craft a tale of humanity amidst the violence of the octagon is a real strength. This plays as more of a Documentary than it does a highlight video, and rightly so. It's a refreshing piece, moving away from UFC releases that deal almost exclusively with the fights, choosing instead to highlight the people behind the sweat, blood, and gloves. Of course there's plenty of UFC combat, but real UFC fans may very well likely find Bad Blood to be their favorite UFC-themed Blu-ray release if only for its deviation from the norm.

Where this title doesn't stray from other UFC home video releases is in the quality of its assembly. The work is worthy of a larger-scale Documentary, one that gains notoriety for its tackling of great social or political issues, not merely revealing the lives and rivalry of two of a violent sport's most intense fighters. But that's why this is such a fantastic release. It's given a level of respect -- both narratively and technically -- that's not only befitting the material, but that goes above and beyond what probably even the most ardent UFC fan could expect. The level of personal access is without equal for a film of this nature. The program's retrospective structure is seamlessly weaved together with fight highlights and, more critical to the film's success, material that UFC fans probably never envisioned appearing on a video release. The producers have left nothing out, and the editors have put it together without hitch. UFC releases just don't come any better than this.

UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

UFC: Bad Blood is a product of several levels of video quality. There's the vintage fight material that struggles to keep up with the more recent and far crisper high definition footage, and the newly-minted HD interview pieces that represent the pinnacle of video quality in this set. The older footage does all it can to maintain its stability, but it can't escape a roughness, lesser colors, absence of sharpness, and the deluge of various artifacts that hold it back. Then again, that's what it was and what it is; there's no improving on it. The newer fights look fine; there's a touch of aliasing, a few jagged lines, a hint of noise, but all in all it succeeds through crisp detailing and vibrant colors. The interview pieces are the transfer's best visual asset. Facial definition is very strong, colors are natural if not sometimes a touch washed out, and digital bugaboos, though present, are relatively few and far between. Basically, this transfer is on par with most other UFC titles. It's hit-or-miss due almost entirely to the age of whatever footage happens to be on-screen at the time. The fair thing to do is to judge it on the HD material only, and for the most part, that looks just fine for a 1080i image.

UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

UFC: Bad Blood features only a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It's not much, but it's satisfactory in every regard. Clarity is adequate, though some crowd noises comes across as a bit clumpy and indistinct, and the announcers sound a hair muffled in some of the older fights. Fortunately, the newer footage features crisp dialogue, both in the "real world" segments and within the octagon alike. Music delivery is quite good, featuring fine channel separation, strong clarity, and an adequate low end heft. This is a most basic sort of soundtrack; it's one of those that's not at all memorable but rather perfectly suitable for the material it delivers and the programming it accompanies.

UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

UFC: Bad Blood features a trio of extras, two full Liddell-Ortiz fights and a nearly 30-minute-long pre-fight show. This Digibook release also contains a lengthy print history of the rivalry, complete fight results for both Liddell and Ortiz, photos, and more.

• UFC 47: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz (1080i, 15:35): The complete fight.
• UFC 66: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz (1080i, 25:33): The complete fight.
• Countdown to UFC 66 (1080i, 27:07): Relive the hype leading up to the fight.

UFC: Bad Blood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

UFC: Bad Blood is a fantastic release that will likely become a centerpiece within UFC-themed home video collections. It's a fascinating journey into the very personal lives of two of the sport's biggest stars, and the narrative structure, drama, and action make it as easy to watch, entertaining, and informative as many fictional films and more broad-appeal Documentaries alike. UFC continues to impress with the quality its home videos, and Anchor Bay's Blu-rays retain a consistency for which all studios should strive. Strong technical merits and a few supplements make this a must-buy for hardcore and casual UFC fans alike. Highly recommended.