History of the UFC - UFC XVI: Battle in the Bayou
Posted by Matt McEwen on 08.13.2007
The UFC returns from a great debut in Japan with a bunch of "superfights", a title fight and a lightweight tournament featuring the debut of Pat Militech. Oh....and the first Ultimate Fighter castmate to step into the Octagon does so on this event! Who is it? Matt McEwen fills you in this week's History of the UFC.
We hit the first quarter of 1998 on the heels of a very fun debut in Japan, and now the UFC returns to the south as they put on the Battle in the Bayou in New Orleans on March 13th 1998. I think I rated Ultimate Japan as the best UFC event in their four or five year history so far, so my hopes are high that this show will continue the trend.
On this card - the first put together by new matchmaker John Perreta (I'm spelling that phonetically, so I may be wrong) - we have the first ever lightweight tournament, as we add the 170lbs division for the first time. For you history buffs out there, this is also the final one night tournament in UFC history, as they finally move away from that demanding and often disappointing structure. The tournament features the Octagon debut of the legendary Pat Militech, so my interest is peaked in this card already. In addition, we get a heavyweight "superfight" between the returning Kimo and the debuting Tsuyoshi Kosaka, a middleweight "superfight" between Lion's Den fighter Jerry Bohlander and former Olympic gold medalist Kevin Jackson, who is trying to rebound from his quick loss to Frank Shamrock in Japan.
Speaking of Shamrock, he will main event this card with his first middleweight title defense against Russian fighter Igor Zinoviev. Blatnick and Goldberg hype up the challenger who, even though he is making his UFC debut, they say is probably the biggest challenge of Shamrock's career.
For his part, Joe Rogan is PUMPED about this card.
Prior to the PPV broadcast - or at least edited off the 2 hour version I'm watching - were the two alternate lightweight bouts. Chris Brennan (0-0) defeated Courtney Turner (0-0) by submission to an armbar 1:20 into the fight, while Laverne Clark (0-0) made the referee stop his fight with Josh Stuart 1:15 due to strikes.
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Finals
Mikey Burnett (0-0) vs Eugenio Tadeu (0-0)
Burnett, in a strange quirk of timing, becomes the first Ultimate Fighter cast member to step into the Octagon, some seven years before the show debuts. He is fighting out of the Lion's Den here, and is very muscled for this weight class.
For his part, Tadeu is a freestyle fighter out of Brazil who they say has legendary status in his homeland after fighting Renzo Gracie to a draw. He is giving up 10lbs to the 170lbs Burnett here though, and I would guess that it will be a big factor in this fight.
They box a little bit to start, and Tadeu really doesn't seem to enjoy that as Burnett is able to walk through his punches. He tries to take the American down, but Burnett is just too strong for him. Burnett ends up trying for a guillotine, but Tadeu pulls his head free and proceeds to hold Burnett in his guard for the next seven loooooooooong minutes. Not a lot going in the guard though, making for a boring section of the fight.
So, with three and a half minutes left, we get a restart. They box again and Burnett starts landing big bombs. Tadeu - despite looking stunned - is able to weather the storm, and a tired Burnett clinches against the fence. He comes off the fence eventually though, and forces referee Joe Hamilton to step in after landing a few more big punches.
This was a good fight when they were on their feet, but not much going on the ground. Since the fight was about 10 minutes long, and 7 of those were on the ground, not the most exciting overall.
After the fight, they announce that Burnett has a broken hand, and is out of the tournament, to be replaced by alternate winner Chris Brennan.
Pat Militech (0-0) vs Townsend Saunders (0-0)
The 30 year old Militech, who had been fighting on smaller cards over the past 3 years and had 20 pro fights, steps into the Octagon for the first time and starts building his legend on a national scale.
His opponent here is former Olympic silver medalist Townsend Saunders. Given his credentials, he should be able to hold his own with Militech on the ground, but will be out of his league otherwise.
An important factor here is that the 5'10 Militech was cutting weight to get down to the 170lbs limit, while the 5'5 Saunders won his medal fighting at about 146lbs. So, who do you think is the bigger guy here?
They start with a slow feeling out process, as both guys seem hesitant to commit too soon. Militech connects first, as he lands a good punch, clinches, and gets caught trying to land a knee. He pulls guard as opposed to getting taken down out of control, so Saunders has to work out of Militech's guard. Militech starts looking for a triangle quickly, but Saunders has the strength to push him up against the fence. From this point, the fight is essentially attempts at submissions and counters from both men. Near the end of the the 12 minute regulation, Militech is able to reverse and mount Saunders, but can't accomplish much. Saunders is actually able to muscle a reversal and land a good punch or two as the time expires.
The OT period starts with Militech trying to clinch and land knees. The first two minutes go like this, until Saunders gets a takedown and lands a flurry of punches as the time expires. This was a really, really close fight that could really go either way. I'd almost lean towards giving it to Saunders as he had the takedowns and controlled a lot of the fight from the top position.
In the end though, it is a split decision victory for Militech, as he advances to the finals to meet Chris Brennan, who he had faced twice in the previous year.
Middleweight SuperFight
Kevin Jackson (2-1) vs Jerry Bohlander (4-1)
Bohlander comes into this fight after losing to Murillo Bustamante outside of the UFC, while Jackson is of course coming off his 20 second title loss to Shamrock.
Bohlander comes out swinging, but the wrestler Johnson is able to put him off balance with an overhand right. He takes Bohlander down and holds him against the fence. Bohlander tries for an armbar, but Jackson avoids. They scramble from her, and Bohlander ends up on top for a second, but Jackson is able to reverse and hold Bohlander down in a sprawling position. Bohlander is able to power out of that though, and they are back on their feet.
Bohlander tries to shoot, but Jackson catches him easily and takes his back for a second, but ends up in 1/2 guard. Not much doing from there other than an armbar attempt or two by Bohlander for a while, and we get a restart at the seven minute mark.
Back on their feet, Johnson gets another quick takedown, this time holding Bohlander down with a side headlock. Bohlander is able to roll out of that though, and tries for yet another armbar. Johnson avoids, and Bohlander tries his luck with a kimura, but can't quite get it on totally. Bohlander rolls for an armbar again, and this time is able to get and fully extend it. Jackson doesn't tap, but McCarthy stops the fight, telling him he couldn't let his arm be broken.
OK fight here, with good patience shown by Bohlander as he really waited on that armbar. Another fight that was almost exclusively worked out of the guard though, making us three for three on that front.
Lightweight Tournament Final
Chris Brennan (1-0) vs Pat Militech (1-0)
Blatnick mentions that these two have fought twice before, once going to a thirty minute draw and another time with Militech winning a decision. That could mean a good finals here in spite of the presence of an alternate here.
Brennan is aggressive to start, and actually gets a quick takedown. They scramble on the ground a lot and Militech gets caught in a guillotine, but is able to pull his head free. Working out of Brennan's guard, Militech throws a lot of rabbit punches to his ribs. Militech works him up against the fence at about the eight minute mark or so. After being in that position for about a minute, Brennan taps out. Surprising finish, as there didn't look to be any submission attempt or anything. On the replay though, you can see that Militech's arm worked over Brennan's throat, leading to an inadvertent choke out. Take them any way you can get them I guess.
Now, this was a nine minute fight, and since I managed to sum it up in a few lines, not too much in the way of excitement here. Yet another fight contested almost exclusively in the guard.
Heavyweight SuperFight
Kimo (1-2) vs Tsuyoshi Kosaka (0-0)
Maurice Smith hypes up "TK" as they train together. Says that if Kimo doesn't get the KO quick, then he will get submitted. We also get to hear Goldberg talk about the "TK Guard" for the first time. Much like kicks that feel like baseball bats, the "TK Guard" - which is just a butterfly guard - will become one of Goldberg's favorite comments from now until....well, for a while.
Kimo has roided back up to a muscled 250lbs here, outweighing TK by a solid 20lbs.
Tank Abbott graces us with his color commentary knowledge, and promptly rambles about pitbulls and Chihuahua.
Kimo rushes at TK to start the fight, but gets taken down quickly. They roll on the ground, and Kimo ends up ni TK's 1/2 guard. Is 1/2 a TK guard just a T guard? Kimo is pretty active early here, as he gets a deep heel hook, but TK is able to roll out of danger and actually stand against the fence.
TK goes for a leg this time, which results in more scrambling, and they end up back on their feet. They are not there for long though, as Kimo quickly brings it back to the mat, and actually get full guard for a bit. He does not land a single punch in the mount. That's just bad. TK rolls for a leg lock again, but they end up back on their feet once again, where TK gets the best of a rapidly tiring Kimo until regulation expires. Did I mention that I left out a lot of Kimo laying on top of TK in the guard? It's been happening so much on this card I think I blocked it out.
OT begins with Kimo shooting again, but TK avoids and hits two bigs knees as they rise out of the sprawl. Kimo eventually gets the takedown on his third attempt. He tries for an armbar but TK avoids and gets the top position for the last minute of the fight, where he proceeds to land punches.
Somewhat close fight, but I would say that TK pulled out with the last 3 minutes of regulation and OT where he landed a lot of strikes. OK fight....more active than the others on the card but still had a HUGE portion of regulation spent in the guard without much happening at all.
TK wins a unanimous decision in his debut.
Middleweight Championship
Igor Zinoviev (0-0) vs Frank Shamrock (1-0)
Zinoviev was the undefeated Extreme Fighting middleweight champion, a position Maurice Smith was able to translate into some Octagon success. They mention that he has a huge right hand which Shamrock will have to avoid if he wants to retain his title.
They dance around each other for the first 15 seconds of the fight, neither wanting to engage first. Zinoviev blinks first, throwing a big right which Shamrock ducks under. He lifts the Russian challenger and slams him down on his head for the KO victory in 22 seconds. GOD DAMN! Nothing better than a slam KO. That was sweetly brutal.
Zinoviev's career was over with this fight, due to a neck injury suffered in this fight. He now coaches the Chicago Red Bears of the IFL.
So, just to review Shamrock's UFC career so far - two fights, 45 seconds in the Octagon, two victories. Nice start. I can almost see where the cockiness came from......
The 411: Much like Ultimate Japan, this is essentially a bunch of grappling contests. The difference, though, is that unlike Ultimate Japan, these grappling contests are more of a how to guide for the lay and pray style. Large portions of most fights aren't that exciting, but then some portions are. Anyone who doesn't like the stand up rule now in place needs to watch this show - they'll either love this show or know why the rule is there. Overall though, no really bad fights, and the Shamrock KO is one of the best I've ever seen.
