- Jan 23, 2010
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So we're winding down 1997. This actually takes place a couple of months before UFC 15 - still working on my sequencing.
Pride 1 - Here we are, the first Pride show. The dragon graphics, the video game sound effect intros.. this is definitely a different time. We've got a few ex-UFC fights like Gary Goodridge, Oleg Taktarov, Kimo, Dan Severn. And you've got a couple of Gracies, Renzo & Rickson. I don't know if it was the ring or what, but this card just wasn't good and did nothing for me.
UFC 15.5 - Missed this one of first posting - also known as UFC Japan. First time we've had Mike Goldberg in there commentating. First UFC appearance of both Frank Shamrock & Sakuraba. Shamrock looked great with a quick armbar win, Randy Couture continued his dominance, and both Vitor Belfort and Tank also had big wins. The most interesting part of this card for me thought involved Sakuraba. In one of the worst stoppages you'll see, Big John awarded the fight to Marcus Silveira as McCarthy thought Sakuraba was hurt when he was just going for a takedown. Clearly a bad call, but McCarthy stopped the fight and Silveira won. Then a clearly pissed Sakuraba tried to steal Bruce Buffer's mic to plead his case. Weird enough scene yet? It gets better. Soon after, McCarthy reviewed the tape and changed it to a No Contest. Guess we'll see a rematch on the next card. Nope, we're going to see it later on tonight after a couple of other fights. Sakuraba wins the "rematch" and everything is back to normal. Just a wild night.
Onto 1998..
UFC 16 - Probably the least interesting UFC card I've watched.. or I'm just getting tired from watching 20 MMA events in two weeks. You have the debut of Pat Miletich, so there's that. But really we've only got one highlight and it's an awesome one - Frank Shamrock with a career-ending, KO slam of Igor Zinoviev. This is one of those cards you sleep-walk through for a couple hours but the main event ending makes up for it with an amazing finish.
Pride 2 - We've got a couple of Gracies again, couple of UFC vets, and we get to see Sakuraba for the first time. Main event featured Mark Kerr winning by disqualification as his opponent basically was trying anything he could to not get slammed by Kerr. Very weird fight ending, but so far we're 0 for 2 in terms of Pride cards being interesting. I have a feeling things will pick up..
UFC 17 - Historic card for a number of reasons and you can tell the sport and the fighters are evolving. First, you have the commentator Jeff Blatnick being announced as commissioner. This appears to be the first time it's called "Mixed Martial Arts" as well. You've got the UFC debut of Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, and Carlos Newton. As far as I can tell the Liddell fight wasn't broadcast (unless I fell asleep for 12 minutes) but Newton & Henderson had a great matchup in the finals of their tournament. A week or so ago it was discussed how impressive it was that that Max Holloway is this deep in his UFC career without being knocked down. Well, Dan Henderson gets knocked down within 2 minutes of his UFC debut against a guy I've never heard of before. His finals opponent in Carlos Newton really looks like the new style of fighter - young, fast, and athletic. If you watched this card and heard that 15 years later one guy would still be relevant, you'd probably pick him. The "main event" features a good fight between Frank Shamrock and Jeremy Horn which apparently was taped and then added onto the event later. I tried to figure out why exactly they did that but it seems like there are numerous reasons/stories behind. Either way, it was weird. But after all that, the highlight of the night comes from Pete Williams who delivers an absolute perfect head kick to Mark Coleman. Great KO, and really a great night of fights.
Pride 1 - Here we are, the first Pride show. The dragon graphics, the video game sound effect intros.. this is definitely a different time. We've got a few ex-UFC fights like Gary Goodridge, Oleg Taktarov, Kimo, Dan Severn. And you've got a couple of Gracies, Renzo & Rickson. I don't know if it was the ring or what, but this card just wasn't good and did nothing for me.
UFC 15.5 - Missed this one of first posting - also known as UFC Japan. First time we've had Mike Goldberg in there commentating. First UFC appearance of both Frank Shamrock & Sakuraba. Shamrock looked great with a quick armbar win, Randy Couture continued his dominance, and both Vitor Belfort and Tank also had big wins. The most interesting part of this card for me thought involved Sakuraba. In one of the worst stoppages you'll see, Big John awarded the fight to Marcus Silveira as McCarthy thought Sakuraba was hurt when he was just going for a takedown. Clearly a bad call, but McCarthy stopped the fight and Silveira won. Then a clearly pissed Sakuraba tried to steal Bruce Buffer's mic to plead his case. Weird enough scene yet? It gets better. Soon after, McCarthy reviewed the tape and changed it to a No Contest. Guess we'll see a rematch on the next card. Nope, we're going to see it later on tonight after a couple of other fights. Sakuraba wins the "rematch" and everything is back to normal. Just a wild night.
Onto 1998..
UFC 16 - Probably the least interesting UFC card I've watched.. or I'm just getting tired from watching 20 MMA events in two weeks. You have the debut of Pat Miletich, so there's that. But really we've only got one highlight and it's an awesome one - Frank Shamrock with a career-ending, KO slam of Igor Zinoviev. This is one of those cards you sleep-walk through for a couple hours but the main event ending makes up for it with an amazing finish.
Pride 2 - We've got a couple of Gracies again, couple of UFC vets, and we get to see Sakuraba for the first time. Main event featured Mark Kerr winning by disqualification as his opponent basically was trying anything he could to not get slammed by Kerr. Very weird fight ending, but so far we're 0 for 2 in terms of Pride cards being interesting. I have a feeling things will pick up..
UFC 17 - Historic card for a number of reasons and you can tell the sport and the fighters are evolving. First, you have the commentator Jeff Blatnick being announced as commissioner. This appears to be the first time it's called "Mixed Martial Arts" as well. You've got the UFC debut of Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, and Carlos Newton. As far as I can tell the Liddell fight wasn't broadcast (unless I fell asleep for 12 minutes) but Newton & Henderson had a great matchup in the finals of their tournament. A week or so ago it was discussed how impressive it was that that Max Holloway is this deep in his UFC career without being knocked down. Well, Dan Henderson gets knocked down within 2 minutes of his UFC debut against a guy I've never heard of before. His finals opponent in Carlos Newton really looks like the new style of fighter - young, fast, and athletic. If you watched this card and heard that 15 years later one guy would still be relevant, you'd probably pick him. The "main event" features a good fight between Frank Shamrock and Jeremy Horn which apparently was taped and then added onto the event later. I tried to figure out why exactly they did that but it seems like there are numerous reasons/stories behind. Either way, it was weird. But after all that, the highlight of the night comes from Pete Williams who delivers an absolute perfect head kick to Mark Coleman. Great KO, and really a great night of fights.
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