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| UFC 17 & UFC 18 |
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| Written by Administrator | |
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UFC 17: REDEMPTION UFC 17: REDEMPTION The opening (somewhat uninspiring) bout was a Middleweight tournament semi-final pitting Dan Henderson against Allan Goes. One of only a few key moments in the fight came in the opening round when the referee had to temporarily stop the fight when Goes illegally kicked Henderson in the head while Henderson was down. The fight went to the judge’s decision. In the second Middleweight tournament semi-final Carlos Newton, who was making his UFC debut, made short work of Bob Gilstrap when he choked him out with a triangle choke in under a minute. Both Mike Van Arsdale and Joe Pardo were making their UFC debuts in the third fight of the event. This was the busiest fight of the event so far as both men threw fists and feet for the first couple of minutes in the fight and the pace didn’t slow when the fight was taken to the ground. After eleven minutes of exciting action, Pardo tapped out. Tank Abbott spent the first 30 seconds of the fight escaping a rear naked choke and an armbar and then spent the next 15 seconds pounding his opponent, Hugo Duarte, from behind and the referee stopped the bout after 45 seconds. Carlos Newton took on Dan Henderson in the Middleweight tournament final and Newton came out swinging until Henderson slammed him to the canvas. Newton show his tenacity when he took several stiff knee shots to the head and still battled on against Henderson. After a good first round, which Henderson surely won on points, Newton hit some good shots in overtime and almost knocked Henderson out in the last minute with a right hook. The judges, however, would have the final say. The main event featured Pete Williams against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Mark Coleman. After a mediocre 12 minutes regulation time, Williams showed his mettle in overtime. Several punches and a knee shot shook Coleman and he never really recovered. Finally, a kick to the face was enough to knock Coleman flat out. UFC 18: THE ROAD TO THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE UFC marked their first show of 1999 with a line up of legends in the making including Tito Ortiz, Mark Coleman, Pat Miletich and Bas Rutten and then-WWF wrestler and UFC legend, Ken Shamrock, was in the corner of three of his Lion’s Den fighters. BONUS MATCH: In a Lightweight tournament preliminary bout Laverne Clark dominated Frank Caracci from the start. After seven minutes of punishment, Caracci tapped out after taking a powerbomb and several punches to the head. Darrell Gholar faced Evan Tanner in the opening bout. Gholar started well when he powerbombed Tanner but Gholar only narrowly avoided a triangle choke moments later. Gholar looked to be in favour for the majority of the fight until Tanner fought to his feet on the seven minute mark and took control with knee shots and earn the submission victory with a rear naked choke. The judges decided the outcome of the bout between Mikey Burnett and Townsend Saunders. Burnett dominated the opening 12 minutes, avoiding several shoot attempts by Saunders and keeping the fight on their feet but Burnett put on a much better showing in the 3 minutes of overtime. I was really looking forward to Lion’s Den fighter Jerry Bohlander taking on a young Tito Ortiz. The feet went to the ground quickly and both men battled on the canvas for nearly five minutes until John McCarthy ordered them to return to their feet. This fight almost went the distance but with 30 seconds of overtime remaining, the doctor stopped the fight due to Bohlander suffering a deep cut. Mark Coleman proved the commentary team wrong when he went the distance against Pedro Rizzo. The commentators weren’t doubting the former Heavyweight Champion’s ability but they were very sceptical of his endurance after two UFC losses where Coleman had ran out of steam. UFC Lightweight Champion Pat Miletich took on Jorge Patino in what looked like it would be the quickest fight of the night. As time went on the pace slowed although both men kept busy throughout as the fight, as many others on the event, went the distance. Bas Rutten made his UFC debut against Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the final contest of the event. It was a back and forth match with both men on top of their game but Rutten exploded into action in overtime and with less than a minute remaining his powerful combinations proved too much for Kosaka and the referee stopped the contest. Summary: UFC 17 wasn’t the best event they have promoted but the Abbott fight, although short, was exciting and brutal. Williams’ overtime performance against Coleman was excellent and the knockout kick was superb. Van Arsdale and Pardo was the fight of the night for me as it went eleven minutes but never lost momentum as so often happens with longer fights.
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