Watching the sumptuous production values of the modern
Ultimate Fighting Championship, a brand valued last year at
more than $12 billion, it is curious to remember that in October
1997, just over 26 years ago, the UFC held one of its most
important events under a circus tarp, with a capacity for fewer
than 500 people.
Despite the small structure, set up outside a small casino in
Biloxi, Miss.,
UFC 15 brought a historic card that, in addition to
the heavyweight title fight between
Maurice
Smith and
David “Tank”
Abbott, featured the long-awaited super fight between
Vitor
Belfort and
Randy
Couture, winners of the UFC 12 and 13 tournaments respectively.
UFC 15’s own heavyweight tournament offered the possibility of
another classic style clash between wrestling and Carlson Gracie
jiu-jitsu if
Mark Kerr and
Carlos
Barreto should meet in the final.
After a traumatic year in 1996 for Jiu-jitsu representatives,
marked by two historic clashes between icons of the sport against
wrestling (
Murilo
Bustamante vs.
Tom Erikson
and
Fabio
Gurgel vs. Kerr), UFC 15 was seen by Brazilian fans as the a
chance for jiu-jitsu's definitive redemption. Two of Carlson
Gracie's main black belts,
Vitor
Belfort and “Carlao” Barreto, would face two big names in
wrestling, Kerr and
Randy
Couture, and unlike the Bustamante-Erikson and Gurgel-Kerr
fights, things would be more or less even on the scale.
Expectations had increased, as seven months earlier “Carlao” had
submitted
Kevin
Randleman at UVF 6 in Rio de Janeiro. That only increased the
fight world's interest in watching a classic between Carlson
Gracie's best heavyweight and Kerr, the most feared wrestler in MMA
at the time. For the fight happen, however, Barreto would need to
get past Canadian
Dave Beneteau
in the first fight and hope that middleweight
Greg Stott,
replacing Steve Graham, who had torn his knee ligament the week of
the event, would give Kerr some work in his first fight, so that
both reached the final on equal terms.
Couture Runs Over Belfort
The 20-year-old, 227-pound Belfort, who was coming off three
lightning-fast victories over
Tra
Telligman,
Scott
Ferrozzo and “Tank” Abbott, was clearly underestimating the
34-year-old Couture, who had won the tournament at UFC 13 with two
impressive wins of his own. “I'm going to test my wrestling with
him,” Belfort told me the day before the fight, leaving even his
team members worried.
Another team concern was Belfort's preparation with well-known
American bodybuilder Curtis Leffler, who seemed not to understand
that his sport and fighting were totally different activities. As a
result, Belfort came in heavy and slow, struggling to find Couture
in the Octagon.
On his side, the American used the perfect tactic, eluding
Belfort’s attacks and tiring him in the clinch. At three minutes,
Couture had already taken Belfort down and passed his guard. From
then on, the American defined the confrontation with almost five
straight minutes of ground-and-pound. In the seventh minute, the
fight would return to standing, but a very tired Belfort would
become easy prey for the American who, taking advantage of his
opponent's fatigue, applied an indefensible sequence of 15 blows
that took the Brazilian to the canvas. Couture jumped to side
control and after a series of knees, he mounted and tried to choke
him. Instinctively, Belfort leaned against the fence and didn't
allow it, so Couture returned to mount and, after a sequence of 16
punches, forced judge “Big” John McCarthy to stop the fight. A
noisy cheer of “USA! USA!” celebrated Couture’s win, the first time
“Captain America” was crowned by the fans, while Belfort left the
Octagon carried by teammate
Wallid
Ismail.
“I actually wanted to choke him, but the fence was in the way. My
goal now is to fight
Maurice
Smith for the heavyweight belt,” Couture told me in an
interview during the closed afterparty, a staple of the promotion
in those days. That goal would be fulfilled. Two months after the
victory over Belfort, Couture would once again use his wrestling to
defeat Smith at UFC 15.5, winning the UFC heavyweight belt.
Beneteau Beats Barreto but Doesn’t Face Kerr
After the loss by Belfort, the biggest star of the Carlson Gracie
team, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound “Carlao” Barreto, considered the
greatest heavyweight representative of jiu-jitsu by that time, felt
more responsibility than ever to make it to the final against “The
Smashing Machine” Kerr, who had defeated jiu-jitsu idol
Fabio Gurgel
in the WVC final in Brazil. Before catching Kerr in the final,
however Barreto would need to get past Canadian wrestler
Dave
Beneteau.
Beneteau, who had trained jiu-jitsu for almost three years with
Brazilian Pedro Sauer, used a perfect tactic to neutralize the
Brazilian's game. “Carlao” started off well with a clinch, taking
him down and taking the Canadian's back, but the Brazilian was
unable to submit. From then on, Beneteau put “Carlao” down on three
occasions and imposed his ground-and-pound, winning the judges'
decision and postponing the long-awaited fight between Kerr and
Barreto.
In the end Barreto avoided complaining. “I have no excuses, I lost
because I underestimated Beneteau. Instead of listening to Carlson
and going for the submission, I decided to punish my opponent with
punches. I made a mistake and paid with defeat,” the visibly
dejected athlete told me after the fight. On the other side of the
bracket, Kerr knocked out the chubby “Ranger” Stott in just 19
seconds.
Very tired after 15 minutes of battle with Barreto, Beneteau
decided not to return for the final. “I don't consider Kerr
invincible, but to beat him I have to be 100%, my chances would be
minimal in the conditions I'm in.” Replacing Beneteau was alternate
Dwayne
Cason, who was no match for Kerr either. After taking down his
opponent, Kerr landed a few punches, took his back and decided the
fight with a rear naked choke. “Actually, I came prepared to face
‘Carlao,’ but unfortunately he didn't make it to the finals, I hope
we can hold this fight in the future,” said the champion of the UFC
15 heavyweight tournament. After the event, Kerr told us that he
didn't expect a fight with Barreto would be as difficult as the one
he had with Gurgel in the WVC final. “‘Carlao’ is very good, but I
think Gurgel is more technical, I can't see a more difficult fight
than that. If Fabio had been my size he would have beaten me.” Kerr
also spoke of a possible confrontation with his colleague Coleman,
who had beaten him on three occasions in wrestling. “It won’t
happen. In addition to training together, I am against
confrontations between wrestlers. There are a lot of good people
for us to beat.”
“Tank” Buster: Smith Wrecks Abbott With Low Kicks
After his unexpected victory over Coleman by unanimous decision at
UFC 14, the new champion,
Maurice
Smith, returned to the octagon against “Tank” Abbott, ready to
put an end to his reputation as an underdog and join the ranks of
the UFC's best once and for all, even though he wasn't in its best
condition. “I was actually invited to fight a week before the event
because
Dan
Severn was injured in his fight with [
Kimo
Leopoldo] at Pride 1 in Japan. But even out of shape I think I
can beat him,” said the champion in the press conference.
Right at the beginning of the fight, Smith was surprised by Abbott,
who took him down, forcing the champion to show the guard knowledge
he had been developing with
Frank
Shamrock. Abbott managed to pass the champion's guard, but got
tired and ended up becoming easy prey for the kickboxer. Smith
managed to get back to the fight on his feet and, after applying a
series of low kicks to the original “Huntington Beach Bad Boy,”
forced referee McCarthy to interrupt the fight at 8 minutes, 50
seconds. Two months later, Smith would return to the Octagon to
defend his title against Couture in the first edition of UFC Japan,
which would establish
Kazushi
Sakuraba as the tournament winner and Couture as the
promotion's new heavyweight champion.