UFC 15
Maurice Smith vs. Tank Abbott
Mark Kerr vs. Dwane Cason
Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture
Dave Beneteau vs. Carlos Barreto
Mark Kerr vs. Greg Scott
Houston Dorr vs. Dwane Cason
Alex Hunter vs. Harry Moskowitz

UFC 16
Frank Shamrock vs. Igor Zinoviev
Kimo vs. Tsuyoshi Koshaka
Chris Brennan vs. Pat Miletich
Kevin Jackson vs. Jerry Bohlander
Pat Miletich vs. Townsend Saunders
Mike Burnett vs. Eugenio Tadeu

Price: £14.99
Languages: English
Approx running time 281 mins
Certificate: 15

UFC 15 COLLISION COURSE

The DVD opens with highlights of Maurice Smith’s upset victory over Mark Coleman for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Mark Coleman couldn’t make the rematch and his replacement, Dan Severn, was forced to pull out due to injury so Tank Abbott was called in as a late replacement to face Smith for the Heavyweight Title. Also, at Collision Course, UFC hosted an heavyweight tournament and Randy Couture was scheduled to face 20 year old Brazilian phenom, Vitor Belfort.

The first bout of the night was an unimpressive alternate bout between Alex Hunter and Harry Moskowitz. This was followed by Michael and Leon Spinks’ nephew, Dwane Cason, demolishing Houston Dorr in three and a half minutes in the other alternate bout.

Mark Kerr only needed one knee shot to defeat Greg Stott in the shortest fight of the event in the first semi-final while Dave Beneteau and Carlos Barreto went the distance in the other semi in a fight that was sometimes entertaining, sometimes mediocre, but always very close throughout.

Vitor Belfort v Randy Couture started slowly as Couture waited for Belfort to throw hands so he could take him down but Belfort was reluctant to attack as he anticipated Couture’s game plan. After several minutes Couture caught Belfort with an uppercut while in the clinch and capitalised from then on, delivering blow after blow and earning a stoppage victory surprising many experts…more due to the method he used to defeat Belfort rather than the fact Couture had won the contest.

Dave Beneteau pulled out of the Heavyweight tournament final, opening the door for Dwane Cason to step in to face Mark Kerr. The fight was a short affair as the more experienced Kerr forced Cason to tap out to a rear naked choke within a minute.

Maurice Smith spent the first 90 seconds of his title defence avoiding Tank Abbott and look worried about the challenger’s brute power. Tank took Smith down and spent over 5 minutes in control of the fight on the ground with variations of mounts. When the referee ordered the fighters to stand the fight up due to a lack of action, Abbott looked exhausted and Smith started throwing kicks. Referee, Big Jon McCarthy stopped the bout as Abbott was making no attempt to defend himself and Smith retained his title.

UFC 16 BATTLE IN THE BAYOU

After an often disappointing Heavyweight tournament at UFC 15, I was pleased to see a Lightweight tournament staged at this event. Hopefully, the quicker athletes in the Lightweight division would prove more entertaining than their Heavyweight counterparts at the organisation’s previous event.

Mike Burnett and Eugenio Tadeu opened the event in the first Lightweight tournament semi final bout which started quickly and entertained throughout the contest whether the fighters were on the ground or on their feet. Burnett eventually got the win after about ten minutes when the referee stopped the contest after a flurry of punches connected with Tadeu who was unable to defend himself.

Pat Miletich took on Townsend Saunders in a mediocre contest which went the distance in the second Lightweight semi final.

Kevin Jackson took on Jerry Bohlander in a Middleweight Superfight. This ground based fight was exciting as both men traded control of the fight. Both men showed their wrestling and submission expertise with holds and reversals aplenty. The fight came to a strange conclusion with only a minute of regulation time remaining when Bohlander locked in a tight armbar and referee John McCarthy called for the end - despite Jackson refusing to tap out. Jackson appealed for McCarthy to allow the fight to continue but McCarthy explained that his arm was about to break so he stopped the fight for Jackson’s own safety.

Chris Brennan stepped in as an alternate winner to face Pat Miletich in the Lightweight Tournament Final due to Mike Burnett being unable to compete as a result of an injury. Miletich was in control early on as he took the fight to the ground. Miletich, in a dominant ground position, wasn’t exactly explosive but he certainly was efficient as he methodically wore down his opponent until Brennan eventually tapped meaning Miletich was crowned the Lightweight Tournament winner.

Kimo took on Tsuyoshi Koshaka in a Heavyweight Superfight. Heavy hitting big man Kimo sprawled Koshaka’s shoot attempt and locked in the leg after throwing a few bombs to get the fight off to an exciting start. I’m confident Kimo would have won a stand up fight early if they had stayed on their feet and I think Koshaka shared that logic as he tried to take the fight to the ground as much as possible…not that he always fared much better on the ground! After 9 minutes, however, Kimo looked exhausted and at this point the tide change as Koshaka landed plenty of shots and began to chop his opponent down with repeated kicks to Kimo’s thigh and hamstring. The fight went into overtime, giving Kimo a minute to regain his wind. Koshaka fought a very smart fight once he realised Kimo was tired and Koshaka, after dominating the final part of regulation time and most of the overtime period looked likely to pick up the decision.

The main event saw the Middleweight Championship on the line as Frank Shamrock defended the title against Igor Zinoviev. Shamrock picked up an alarmingly quick victory after slamming Zinoviev on his head after 22 seconds.

Summary: I didn’t particularly enjoy the Heavyweight Tournament at UFC 15 - I actually thought the best fight was maybe the alternate bout with Cason demolishing Dorr although Beneteau and Barreto was a mixed bag which occasionally entertained. Outside of the tournament, Couture v Belfort was interesting and exciting and I enjoyed Smith v Abbott in the main event much more than I thought I would.
UFC 16 started well with a quick paced opening fight but the second contest was a long, drawn out affair. Jackson v Bohlander was a wrestling clinic and a great fight to get pro wrestling fans (who appreciate the technical side of the sport) into mixed martial arts. Kimo v Koshaka was an enjoyable fight and the way the fight changed as it went on showed that heavy hitters need to end fights early or face the consequences for a lack of conditioning. The main event was obviously short but it’s worth watching to see Shamrock’s ferocious slam on Zinoviev.
To examine the plus points of this double set, for £14.99 you get nearly five hours worth of footage featuring several very good bouts and includes fights displaying MMA legends like Randy Couture, Mark Kerr, Pat Miletich, Tank Abbott, Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock and the always impressive Vitor Belfort when he was a young kid making a name for himself in the world of MMA.