WRESTLING 20 YEARS AGO PODCAST

Listen to our podcasting reviewing the Tyson/Holyfield fight and backstory in full. 

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For the November 1996 edition of the show, Bob Bamber, Dan Welling and I travelled back in the time machine to bring you the first ever ‘Boxing 20 Years Ago Podcast’ to cover the first encounter between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, which took place on the 9th of November 1996.

The fight, billed as ‘Finally!’ was held at MGM Grand in front of a sell-out crowd of 16,103, producing a gate of $14,150,700. The fight was televised live on pay-per-view by Showtime. It generated 1.59 million buys, generating over $79 million. It was Tyson’s first defence of the WBA heavyweight championship he had won earlier in the year, and seen by, pretty much everybody, to be somewhat of a foregone conclusion.

Considering this is the first time this website has traversed the world of boxing, we went back in great detail, covering the careers of both guys leading into this first meeting, with full coverage of the build, round-by-round coverage of the fight itself and the aftermath.  

Iron Mike
The defending champion, Mike Tyson, to this day holds the record as the youngest fighter to win and unify the WBA, WBC and IBF Heavyweight titles at just 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old.

From humble beginnings, Tyson was raised by his mother in and around high crime areas. By the age of 13, he had been arrested 38 times. Tyson’s boxing potential was discovered by Bobby Stewart, a juvenile detention centre councillor and former boxer. Stewart introduced Tyson to Cus D’Amato, who became Tyson’s legal guardian when Tyson’s mother passed away when he was 16. D’Amato is credited by Tyson as building his confidence to a level which allowed him to turn his life around from juvenile delinquent to becoming the youngest world heavyweight champion in history just two years into his professional boxing career.

Tyson had his first professional fight on the 6th of March 1985 as an 18 year old. He had a total of 15 fights in his first year as a professional, winning them all by knockout. He won 26 of his first 28 professional fights via KO or TKO, with 16 of them coming in the first round. This winning streak eventually saw Tyson pummel Trevor Burbick on the 22nd of November 1986 to win WBC heavyweight championship. By the following August, Tyson had added the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles to his collection, amassing a professional record of 31-0. In 1988, Tyson dispatched lineal champion Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds to become the universally recognised undisputed heavyweight champion.

His rise to the absolute pinnacle of the sport was followed by controversy. Tyson, while battling a drug problem, endured a very messy public divorce and fired long-time trainer Kevin Rooney, the man who had taken over training Tyson after Cus D’Amato’s death. D’Amato’s death is attributed by many as the main reason for Tyson losing sight of his career and responsibilities.

Despite these mounting issues outside of the ring, Tyson was able to remain undefeated throughout 1989. But in 1990, the undisputed champion’s 37-0 streak was about to come crashing down.

On the 11th of February 1990, Mike Tyson lost the first fight of his professional career in what is to this day viewed as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. He was defeated via 10th round KO by Buster Douglas. Tyson had opened as a 1/42 favourite for the fight. Many had expected Tyson to win comfortably in the first round.

Tyson bounced back, winning his next four fights before he would once again find himself at the centre of controversy. He was arrested in July 1991 for rape, leading to a conviction on the 10th of February 1992. He was sentenced to six years in prison but would only serve three, being released in March 1995 and resuming his boxing career. His first comeback fight would smash both PPV viewership and revenue records, grossing of $96 million.

In March ‘96, Tyson defeated Frank Bruno by way of third round TKO to regain the WBC heavyweight title at the first opportunity, and added the WBA belt by defeating Bruce Seldon in September. This set up the long anticipated first fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, dubbed, ‘Finally’.

The Real Deal
Evander Holyfield began boxing at the age of seven. Holyfield won silver at the 1983 Pan America Games and bronze at the 1984 Olympic Games before turning professional.

Holyfield started out as a light heavyweight, building a 4-0 record before moving up to cruiserweight in July 1985. Within a year, he was the WBA world champion. By the early 1988, Holyfield would become the first universally recognised Cruiserweight champion, adding the IBF, WBC and lineal titles to his resume with a professional record of 18-0. Holyfield then announced he would be moving up to heavyweight, with a clash with undisputed champion Mike Tyson in his sights.

At heavyweight, his record improved to 23-0 before the turn of the decade. He was gearing up for a long awaited showdown with Tyson until those plans were thrown out due to Tyson’s shock loss to Buster Douglas. Holyfield would go on to defeat Buster Douglas for the WBA, WBC and IBF Heavyweight titles in Douglas’ first defence. In his own first defence, Holyfield would defeat George Foreman by unanimous decision.

Holyfield’s next scheduled defence was meant to be against Mike Tyson in November 1991, but the fight fell through due to injury to Tyson and eventually, his rape conviction. Holyfield would instead go on to successfully defend his titles against Bert Cooper and Larry Holmes. Holyfield would lose his championships, and suffer the first defeat of his professional career in a loss to Riddick Bowe. Holyfield then bounced back with a win other Alex Stewart, before defeating Riddick Bowe in a rematch to regain his heavyweight titles in November 1993. He would lose the titles in his first defence against Michael Moorer. In the aftermath of the fight he was diagnosed with a heart condition and had to announce his retirement from boxing.

Within a year, Holyfield had passed the requisite medical exams required for him to return to the sport, stating he had been misdiagnosed due to morphine in his system. He made his comeback with victory over Olympic Gold medallist Ray Mercer. He would then go on to lose the rubber match to Riddick Bowe via 8th round knockout. In May 1996, Holyfield would defeat Bobby Czyz, which set up the long awaited clash with Mike Tyson for November 1996.

Third Time Lucky
The first time Tyson and Holyfield were originally scheduled to fight was on the 18th of June 1990, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tyson, the undisputed world heavyweight champion, was guaranteed $22 million, and Holyfield $11 million. These plans were derailed when Tyson lost the title to Buster Douglas. Eight months later, on October 25th, Douglas lost the title to Holyfield by a third-round knockout.

Holyfield wasn't afraid of facing Mike Tyson. Despite their initial encounter falling through, the two had famously been in the ring together before; back in 1984 when both were Golden Gloves champions. The story goes that both men were so vicious that trainers had to jump in the ring to separate them before a three-minute round ended. Tyson, then 18, already had the aura of an assassin. But Holyfield wouldn’t allow himself to be intimidated in the same way many of Tyson’s opponents would.

After Holyfield dethroned Douglas, he knew he needed to fight Tyson legitimise the title to himself. “Make the match,'' he famously told Lou Duva, his co-trainer. ''I know Mike. I'll beat him. I know I will beat him.'' Holyfield pushed hard to defend his new titles against the former champion.

This led to the second time Tyson and Holyfield were scheduled to fight, on November 8th, 1991, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It was to be Holyfield's second title defence. Holyfield was guaranteed $30 million, and Tyson $15 million. On September 9th, Tyson was indicted on charges of raping a beauty-pageant contestant. Although some argued that the fight should have been cancelled, it was still set to happen. However, on October 19th, it was announced that Tyson had suffered a rib injury and the fight was cancelled. With Tyson's trial set to begin on January 27th, 1992, no new date was scheduled for the fight. On February 10th, Tyson was convicted of rape and sent to prison for six years.

During Tyson’s incarceration, Holyfield's three losses (two to Riddick Bowe, one to Michael Moorer) cast doubt on if the fight would ever take place. When it was ‘finally’ scheduled for November 1996, Holyfield appeared to be just another dead rubber in Tyson's comeback, having lost three of his last seven fights before the encounter.

Build to ‘Finally’
The long-awaited encounter between the two men was considered to be a forgone conclusion. Don King, Tyson’s promoter, specifically made the fight as he viewed Holyfield as a washed up fighter. This view was shared by the oddsmakers, with Tyson opening up as a 1/25 favourite for the fight. Tyson was guaranteed $30 million, and Holyfield $12 million.

Billed as the youngest heavyweight world champion vs. the only cruiserweight to win the heavyweight title, the promotion of the fight was built around the concept of ‘good vs. evil’. Tyson encouraged this, stating, ‘It’s definitely good vs. evil. He’s the good little church boy. I’m the bad, villainous black man turned muslim. I’m rotten. I’m mean. I’m a bully. I want to hurt him; my only objective is to hurt him’.

John Horne, Tyson’s trainer, took a slightly different view: ‘If it’s good vs. evil, I know the good is Mike Tyson. Evander does not respect Mike Tyson as a person.’
Horne accused Holyfield of saying that he would ‘never fight a rapist’, before Mike Tyson had been tried, regarding their initially scheduled encounter back in 1991. Holyfield outright denied saying this. The controversy stems from a Chicago Sun-Times article which paraphrased Holyfield as saying that he ‘wouldn’t defend his title against a convicted rapist’ but contained no actual quote saying anything resembling this.

Holyfield took a far more spiritual approach in the lead to the fight, his only quote from the weigh-ins as follows: ‘I will do what the Holy Spirit leads me to do’.
Tyson weighed in at 222lbs, the heaviest he has ever been for a fight. Holyfield weighed in at 215lbs.

The Fight
Round 1
Tyson comes out fast and hurt Holyfield with a big right cross almost immediately. The announcer says ‘it looks like Holyfield is going to stand toe-to-toe and he is going to get knocked out if he does that’. Tyson continually closes the distance but is unable to land effectively, with Holyfield lander the better blows counterpunching. Holyfield continues to tie Tyson up and shove him backwards throughout the remainder of the round. Tyson lands a punch after the bell, and un-intimidated, Holyfield retaliates and lands one of his own.

Scoring: 10-10: The best punch of the round was the right cross Tyson rocked Holyfield with in the opening seconds, and it seemed like we may be in for classic early Tyson KO. Holyfield immediately regained his composure and controlled the remainder of the round, manhandling Tyson in the clinch and scoring with good left hooks to the body.

Round 2
The opening followed the pattern of the first round, with Tyson moving forward but unable to land anything significant before Holyfield tied him up in the clinch. Holyfield lands an excellent counter jab going and Tyson looks for the clinch. The commentators note that Tyson seems unable to bully Holyfield in the way he has always done to lessor opponents. Holyfield then does what no opponent had been able to do to Mike Tyson since Buster Douglas did it almost seven years earlier, drives him back, forces him against the ropes and lands flush punches, most notably a powerful left hook which snapped Tyson’s head back. Holyfield continues to slip Tyson’s punches for the rest of the round. This was most certainly not in the script.

Scoring: 10-9 Holyfield: An excellent round for Holyfield. He forced Tyson back against the ropes and stung him with a hard combination. He was firmly in control and took this round with ease. He used his height, reach and seeming strength advantages perfectly here.

Round 3
Holyfield presses forward, his confidence clearly growing as the fight progresses. In the clinch, Holyfield lands two flush right uppercuts in quick succession. The ref calls him halfway through the round for the persistent clinching by both men. Tyson lands a cheap shot and the referee tries to force a break and is warned. Tyson wins a few small exchanges following this, but Holyfield largely controls the remainder of the round, following the dominant pattern of pushing Tyson back in the clinches and ‘bullying the bully’.

Scoring: 10-9 Holyfield: Holyfield landed the most effective punches of the round early and proceeded to control the majority of the remainder. This has been fairly one-sided thus far as Holyfield continuously timed Tyson throughout the round.

Round 4
Tyson hasn’t adapted his game plan at all. Holyfield’s unrelenting dominance in the clinch was evident yet again but the rate of his counterpunching slowed down here. Tyson probably had more success landing individual punches throughout this round than in the three prior, but did no real damage. Neither fighter took control in a particularly notable way.

Scoring: 10-9 Tyson: This round was really close, but Tyson definitely landed with more frequency than he had done previously in the fight, which was just enough for him to edge this round on my scorecard.

Round 5
They clinch from the off, with regular breaks, but Tyson begins to take control as he starts to throw, and land some combinations. He forces Holyfield back with a hard combination to the body. He then lands a succession of uppercuts to back Holyfield off. Holyfield is barely throwing, let alone landing, as Tyson is able to consistently overcome the reach disadvantage to land punches regularly for really the first time in the fight. Holyfield does grow into the round and begins to land counterpunches as Tyson pushes forward towards the end, but this was Tyson’s best round of the fight so far.

Scoring: 10-9 Tyson: Tyson began throwing fierce combinations to both the head and body here and had his best round as a result.

Round 6
Tyson presses forward early but Holyfield uses Tyson’s momentum against him and turns him into the ropes. Mitch Halpern judges a headbutt from Holyfield to be accidental but calls time as it has opened a cut above Tyson’s left eye. Back underway, Tyson recklessly presses forward as caught flush by a flurry of punches by Holyfield. Tyson lands an excellent right cross but Holyfield answers with a hard right of his own. The crowd erupts, chanting ‘Holyfield’. Tyson begins to look a little wobbly and walks forward without purpose into a left hook from Holyfield. Tyson tries a left hook, but Holyfield lands a counter left uppercut and drops Tyson! Tyson is knocked down for just the second time in his career. He takes a standing eight count and the fight continues with less than 30 seconds remaining in the round. They tie up, before Holyfield unleashes a barrage of punches, with a few stiff left hooks connecting, backing a stunned Tyson against the ropes. The round ends.

Scoring: 10-8 Holyfield: Wow. Holyfield is in complete control and if he had a little more time would have probably ended the fight in that round. Tyson was saved by the bell there, in a real dangerous spot taking hard shots up against the ropes, on already staggering legs.

Round 7
Both men clinch in the early going and the ref calls for the break. Tyson is certainly more passive than he has been in every round up until this point. Whenever Tyson does try to close the distance, Holyfield is able to hold him off with his jab, or successfully tie things up if Tyson does get inside. Tyson lunges forward and Holyfield ducks his head, resulting in a hard clash of heads towards the end of the round. Tyson cries out in pain, his knees buckle and the referee calls time.

The referee adjudges the headbutt to be accidental, and the doctor gives Tyson the okay to continue. According to the rules, if the fight has be to stopped as a result of an accidental headbutt after the end of four rounds, the outcome is determined by the judges’ scorecards. Luckily for Tyson at this point, the action continues as Holyfield would have certainly been winning on the scorecards at this point.

Scoring: 10-9 Holyfield: I have to say, I think Holyfield is exceptionally lucky that the headbutt was deemed accidental. Tyson pressed forward with intent, and Holyfield just leant his head down towards Tyson and caught him exactly where the cut over his left eye was. I’m not sure dropping your head forwards towards a shorter opponent is a particularly natural movement if looking to avoid punches. That being said, and with the headbutt deemed accidental, this was clearly Holyfield’s round again. He controlled Tyson with his jab throughout fairly comfortably.

Round 8
Holyfield continued to control Tyson with his jab on the outside and uses his strength to control the clinch on the inside. Even when Tyson does land, Holyfield lands right back, and probably has more power behind his punches at this stage. Tyson looks for a powerful right hook but Holyfield slips it and lands one of his own. Holyfield comfortably sees out the rest of the round in the same manner.

Scoring: Holyfield 10-9: Another comfortable round for Holyfield, perfectly exploiting his reach advantage to control Mike Tyson, who looks like he has no idea how to turn this fight around.

Round 9
Holyfield is in full control as Tyson continues to miss wildly. Whenever Tyson does land, Holyfield digs in and never looks hurt. The crowd again begin chanting ‘Holyfield’. Holyfield backs Tyson against the ropes but eats an uppercut, and both men begin to throw wild punches before they clinch.

Scoring: Holyfield 10-9: This was Tyson’s best round since the 5th – but he still lost it. Holyfield again controlled the fight following the same pattern that’s worked so well for him throughout.

Round 10
Tyson started this round positively, landing a few combinations as Holyfield looks to tie him up. Holyfield gets caught with hard straight right by Tyson, which sends him back, and that’s the first time since Tyson’s very first punch that Holyfield has seemed like something has hurt him. Tyson follows it up with a crisp left hook and Holyfield grabs on. After the break, Tyson looks to hurt Holyfield again but is unable to do so, with Holyfield having regained his composure and once again assert control of the contest. Tyson was far too passive in the immediate aftermath of those punches, but I’m not sure he had much else in him. With less than 20 seconds remaining in the round, Holyfield lands a perfectly placed counter right to the head and rocks the champion. Tyson, instead of forcing a clinch, tries to continue to trade shots despite being dazed. Holyfield lands another huge right which buckles Tyson’s legs and sends him stumbling across the ring, barely managing able to stand. Holyfield lands a huge flurry of at least eight more punches before the end of the round but Tyson, somehow, manages to survive. Tyson is completely out on his feet.

Scoring: 10-9 Holyfield: What a round. Tyson landed two of his best punches of the entire fight and Holyfield came back and nearly finished the contest. I have no idea how Tyson didn’t go down in the last few seconds of that fight. He was completely out of it as he staggered back to his corner.

Round 11
Tyson still doesn’t look right at the beginning of this round; I wonder whether his corner shouldn’t have sent him back out there. Holyfield quickly begins landing brutal combinations almost at will, and sends Tyson flying back into the ropes. Mitch Halpern has seen enough, and steps in to rightly call the fight after 37 seconds of the 11th round, and we have a new Heavyweight Champion of the World. The crowd goes absolutely ballistic. Tyson wasn’t all there as he came out and Holyfield made short work of finishing him off here. That was awesome.

Aftermath
Holyfield not only wasn't afraid of Mike Tyson, he was tougher and stronger. In the immediate aftermath of the fight, the New York Times wrote;

‘It was as if Evander Holyfield were an evangelist missionary beating up a tribal executioner, a teacher's pet battering the schoolyard bully, a friendly sheriff gunning down the notorious gunslinger, and with his 11th-round knockout on Saturday night, he's now the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion.’

In the build to the fight, Tyson had only interacted with Holyfield through sharp glares and snarls, but at the press conference, as Holyfield walked in, Tyson turned and smiled. ''I just want to shake your hand, man,'' Tyson said. He acknowledged he couldn’t remember being knocked down in the sixth round, being battered in the final seconds of the 10th, or remembering the referee, Mitch Halpern, rescuing him after 37 seconds of the 11th.

Since his release from prison, Tyson fought a total of 18 minutes 20 seconds across four fights. By the seventh round on Saturday night, he had surpassed that.
''I was tired. He just kept fighting. I got caught in some exchanges. In the last round, I didn't know where I was at.” Then he smiled and offered his right hand to Holyfield, sitting nearby. ''Thank you very much. I have the greatest respect for you.''

The late Cus D'Amato taught Tyson that boxing wasn't so much a clash of power and strategy as it was of wills. And because Holyfield hadn't been afraid of Tyson, he was able to impose his own will while breaking Tyson's.

The Future
This shocking upset set the stage for an immediate rematch between the two, scheduled for June 1997. You may well have heard about that one, and recall something about an ear bite. We will be covering that fight in the June 1997 edition of the podcast!

Chris White

Listen to our September 1996 UFC podcast, reviewing UFC 11. 

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September 20th, 1996 –Live from Augusta, Georgia: it’s UFC 11: The Proving Ground! (By Chris White)

The card consists of an eight man tournament, two alternate bouts with no Superfight. UFC 10 champion Mark Coleman looks to become only the second man in UFC history to win back-to-back tournaments, following Royce Gracie. We open with a video package highlighting the fighters competing, with much of the hype around the event focused on the potential Mark Coleman vs. Tank Abbott showdown in the finals.

We have a 15 minute time limit in the quarter-finals, a 15 minute time limit with a 3 minute overtime in the semi-finals & 20 minute time limit in the final. The two alternate bouts saw Scott Ferrozzo, who we had previously seen back at UFC 8, defeat Sam Fulton in 1 minute and 45 seconds via submission and Roberto Traven, making his MMA debut, defeated Dave Berry, also by submission.

Quarter Finals

Mark Coleman vs. Julian Sanchez
Mark Coleman is enter this opening contest with a 3-0 recording, coming off a victory over Don Frye in the final of UFC 10. The 31 year old weighs in at 250lbs, which the commentators note is actually bigger than he was at UFC 10! His opponent, Julian Sanchez, seen here appearing in his only MMA fight, is 23 years old, with his discipline listed as ‘Asax’ – which both the commentary team & Google don’t seem to know anything about. He weighs in at 300lbs.

Read More: UFC 10 Review

After his debut at UFC 10, we have no Bruce Buffer, as Rich Goins returns to give us our ring introductions. Big John McCarthy gets us under way. Coleman gets a quick takedown, gets into side mount & lands some heavy right hands. Sanchez is in trouble and tries to cover up, but Coleman gets a side neck crank in and Sanchez taps after just 45 seconds.

Well, we were told this was a bit of a mismatch and that proved to be the case. Easy work for Coleman here, as close to a squash match as you are ever going to get in MMA.

Reza Nasri vs. Brian Johnston
This is Reza Nasri’s only MMA fight. He specialises in Greco-Roman Wrestling and the 27 year old becomes the first person from Iran to compete in the UFC. He weighs in at 205lbs.  His opponent, Brian Johnston, wearing his signature American flag shorts, is a more familiar face having competed at UFC 10, losing to Don Frye in the semi Finals. The 6”4 kickboxer enters the octagon with a 1-1 record and weighs in at 235lbs.

Big John gets things started and Nasri shoots in right away, but Johnston blocks and lands a knee to the head. They clinch and both men scramble to get into a dominant position. Johnston lands a knee to the body, and suddenly hits a huge slam and quickly mounts, landing multiple headbutts and some hard right hands. Big John comes flying in to stop the fight after just 28 seconds. McCarthy launched himself at Johnston there in a panic to stop the fight, and actually busted up Johnston’s nose in the process. He begins bleeding from the nose, and understandably, is PISSED.

I’ve never seen anything like the chaotic end to this fight before. McCarthy launched himself and hit Johnston hard, who immediately started bleeding a lot. He was understandably furious. Post-fight, you can here Big John apologising to Nasri for not stopping it sooner, which gives a little insight into his mind-set at the end there, but I wouldn’t say it seemed like a particularly late stoppage from McCarthy.

Tank Abbott vs. Sam Adkins
Tank Abbott enters the octagon with a 3-2 record in the UFC, coming off a loss to Dan Severn at the 1995 Ultimate Ultimate tournament. The UFC 6 runner up weighs in at 298lbs. His opponent, Sam Adkins, enters with a 2-1 UFC record, with both his victories coming in alternate bouts, most recently at UFC 10. The former professional boxer weighs in at 260lbs.

Tank is probably the most over UFC fighter we’ve seen up until this point. During his walk to the cage, you can spot a young Tito Ortiz in his entourage!
The fight gets going and Adkins throws a big right, but Tank avoids it and gets a quick takedown. He lands some short left hands from side control which drives Adkins back into the fence. Adkins grabs Tanks head to try and keep him close, but Tank is able to work and create distance, landing a few more strikes.  Tank then forces Adkins head into the fence and pushes his forearm down into his throat. Adkins taps pretty quickly after 2 minutes at 6 seconds.

The announcers discuss how Tank looks slightly more controlled than usual and that was evident here. He definitely took a more considered approach here in order to preserve his energy. He still made short work of Adkins, who was never really in this fight. The finish was so vicious: driving his forearm across the throat and Adkins’ head into the cage looked brutal.

Fabio Gurgel vs. Jerry Bohlander
Fabio Gurgel is making his UFC debut as the 1994 & 1995 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu National Champion, having been awarded his BJJ black belt in 1989. The 26 year old weighs in at 200lbs. His opponent, Jerry Bohlander, enters with a 1-1 record in the UFC coming off a loss to Gary Goodridge at UFC 8. The 21 year old ‘submission fighter’ is training out of Ken Shamrocks Lion’s Den and weighs in at 200lbs.

They clinch from the beginning, with Gurgel driving the action back into the fence. Bohlander has to grab the cage to avoid being taken down. Neither man really has control of their opponent for any amount of time with the momentum in the clinch changing constantly.

Bohlander gets a trip at around the 90 second mark, finds himself in Gurgel’s guard and begins landing some hard but short left hands to the body.  Gurgel kicks him away, but the distance this creates allows Bohlander to stand and spring back down dropping a huge right hand. He then stands and kicks at Gurgel’s legs, but this earns him a warning because he is wearing shoes. Big John steps in and they stand to reset the fight.

Gurgel lands a stiff right, which draws blood from Bohlander’s forehead. They clinch again, with Bohlander landing short punches and knees to the body. Gurgel drives the clinch towards the fence and is able to get the takedown. He manoeuvres into half-guard, and eventually takes full mount.

As he gets into full mount, Bohlander rolls him over and gets into top position in Gurgels guard. He lands some headbutts and works the body with short punches as the crowd begin to chant ‘USA’. Gurgel is keeping Bohlander close, but isn’t looking for any submissions. The announcers discuss how Gurgel was very upset about the 15 minute time limit being so short, as it is not the way a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner would operate, preferring to lay there and wait for a chance to arrive, taking as much time as necessary.

Bohlander drives Gurgel back into the cage, landing the occasional headbutt and punch to the body. Gurgel begins to drop his elbow down to block the body shots. Bohlander then lands a brutal knee to the tailbone, which just looked so horrible. The action is at a bit of a stalemate here, but Bohlander is working enough to stop Big John from standing the fight up.

Gurgel eventually manages to push kick Bohlander off, who stands before diving back into the guard. Gurgel tries a triangle but Bohlander pulls right out of it, and we settle back into Bohlander in the guard. Bohlander continues to land short punches to the body and we reach the 15:00 minute time limit.
We go the judges, with all three scoring in favour of Bohlander.

Regardless of Gurgel’s thoughts one 15:00 time limit, they were the rules and Bohlander was the clear winner of this fight, landing far more strikes while taking dominant offensive positions on the ground for most of the fight. This wasn’t the superb submission showcase I hoped it would be going in, but the fight didn’t drag at all. There was always a sense that something special could happen at any point, and that tension made the fight exciting, even if nothing ever did happen!

Semi Finals

Mark Coleman vs. Brian Johnston
Mark Coleman enters this contest with a 4-0 record, weighing in at 250lbs. His opponent, Brian Johnston, enters with a 2-1 record, with his only loss coming against Don Frye at UFC 10, the man Mark Coleman would go on to defeat in the UFC 10 final. He weighs in at 235lbs, and for what it is worth, is showing no sign of damage to his nose after his collision with Big John earlier in the night.

Both men circle tentatively to begin with. Johnston is keeping a low base to reduce the target Coleman has for takedowns. Johnston lands a few good leg kicks which Coleman seems hurt by. I don’t know if Coleman was just selling the kick to entice Johnston to throw another, but the next time Johnston tries one, Coleman has it scouted, catches it and immediately gets the takedown to half-guard.

Johnston holds on tight to minimize the distance between the fighters, so Coleman lands some short right hands. Coleman drives Johnston back towards the cage, creates some distance and begins unleashing those trademark powerful right hands on the ground. Johnston turns his back, and Big John has seen enough, stopping the fight after 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Coleman is such an animal on the ground; he has so much size and power. As soon as he got Johnston down he made easy work of yet another fight. I just can’t see how anyone could beat him at this stage. He is comfortably the best fighter we have seen in the UFC by this point; it’s going to be fascinating to see how things develop for him.

The announcers spend a lot longer talking about that fight than they would normally do. Finally, it is explained that Bohlander is having some problems ahead of his semi-final and may need to be replaced by an alternate but it hasn’t been decided yet. I have to say, a tired, and potentially injured Jerry Bohlander has no placed going out there against a fresh Tank Abbott considering the 100lb weight difference. It is eventually officially announced that Scott Ferrozzo will be replacing Bohlander in the semi-finals.

We are shown highlights from his 1 minute 45 second victory over Sam Fulton in one of the alternate bouts earlier.  We are also shown replays from Bohlander’s quarter final fight, highlighting his cut which is likely the reason for his inability to continue in the tournament.

Stalling; the announcers discuss what chance Mike Tyson would have if he were to enter the UFC. Blatnick says he would be destroyed as he is far too one-dimensional, but Wilson points out that as we haven’t seen a legitimate world class striker in the UFC yet, it isn’t really fair to write Tyson off. You can hear me and Bob discuss the prospect of Mike Tyson in the UFC on the September 1996 MMA 20 Years Ago Podcast.

Tank Abbott vs. Scott Ferrozo
Tank Abbott enters the fight with a 4-2 record after his quarter final victory earlier in the night. He weighs in at 298lbs. Scott Ferrozo has a 1-1 record in the UFC, losing to Jerry Bohlander at UFC 8 but winning his alternate bout earlier in the evening. His discipline is listed as ‘pitfighting’, which Tank called out in his promo at the start of the night as being made up. He weighs in for this at a mammoth 350lbs.

Tank Abbott can’t have been at a 52lbs weight disadvantage too many times in his career. Ferrozo is booed on his way to the Octagon with the crowd firmly pro-Tank Abbott.

Big John gets us going and they exchange some big shots in the centre before Tank muscles Ferrozo back to the fence. Ferrozo lands a flurry of overhand rights to the back of Abbotts head and muscles his way off the fence, and both men begin swinging wildly again. The slugfest results in another clinch, Ferrozo tosses Tank down but Tank pops up and grabs a waistlock. Tank drives Ferrozo to the fence again. Only 47 seconds have passed!

Tank lands a few right hands to the head and busts Ferrozo open above the right eye. Don Frye is screaming advice to Ferrozo, who then turns to face Tank and lands a succession of hard knees to the body which seem to wind Tank. They break off and exchange wild punches again. Ferrozo lands a huge uppercut followed by a right hook and drives Tank Abbott back against the cage.

Back in the clinch, Ferrozo lands another uppercut followed by more knees to the body. Big John then steps in to have Ferrozo’s cut checked. The doctor says he is good to continue and the action resumes. Immediately, they begin to exchange wild punches. Ferrozo eats a right hand and backs off but begins dancing. Tank grabs the clinch and drives it against the cage again, with Ferrozo landing a few more knees.

Tank looks really tired here; he isn’t throwing anything and is just pushing into Ferrozo driving him back against the cage. The action follows this pattern for a while, until Big John eventually breaks them up and restarts the fight after around 12 and a half minutes. They exchange wild punches yet again, and Ferrozo lands another huge uppercut that snaps Tanks head back. Tank stands strong and forces the clinch against the fence again, where the action stays until the 15 minute time limit.

We head into the 3 minute overtime period, and the crowd have completely switched their pre-fight allegiances and are firmly behind Ferrozo. After a tentative opening, the overtime follows the exact same pattern, with an exchange of punches to open the action, before Tank shoves him into the fence where he holds on as Ferrozo lands knees to the body and rabbit punches. As Tank takes the clinch to the fence, the crowd boo him loudly.

With less than 25 seconds to go, Big John resets the action and the finish by trading wild punches, with the fight having come full circle from its opening. With that, the fight is over and we are headed to the judges, who unanimously award the contest to Ferrozo.

This was such a strange fight. I expect so much more from Tank Abbott here; he just didn’t seem to have a game plan. He just held on to the clinch, absorbed knees and looked knackered. It was evident why it eventually became illegal for fighters to hold onto the cage. The parts of this fight where the two just swung wildly at each other were so much fun, but so much of this fight was just spent in a clinch against the cage. Ferrozo was absolutely the right winner here, so fair play to him for stepping in and being able to defeat Tank Abbott.

A long delay follows, featuring interviews with Don Frye and Ken Shamrock. For some reason, both of these were cut from Fight Pass, so to find out what was said, you’ll have to listen to the September 1996 edition of the MMA 20 Years Ago Podcast!

It is eventually announced that due to dehydration, Scott Ferrozo has pulled out of the final, and Robert Traven, the winner of the 2nd alternate bout earlier in the evening is in.

We get highlights of Traven’s victory in his earlier bout, which he won via submission is just 1 minute and 33 seconds. He had a back mount and rained down with strikes to the back of his opponents head. They follow this with highlights of Mark Coleman’s route to the final. We cut backstage to see Coleman preparing for the final. They seem to be stalling as they now cut to Tank Abbott interacting with fans and begin assessing his performance again. They announce that Roberto Traven has a broken hand and cannot compete and the officials are deciding what to do for the final.

Mark Coleman comes to the Octagon, where he is declared the winner of the tournament by default. Blatnick interviews him, asking him about his progress and the Ultimate Ultimate in December. Coleman says he is going to keep getting better, and wants to be the best ever in this sport.

So yep, that’s it; Mark Coleman is declared the UFC 11 Champion. It seems like Coleman has an exhibition fight against someone who, on fight pass, goes unnamed, but this isn’t shown and we go off the air.

This was a very frustrating show which highlighted the potential pitfalls of the tournament format. The delays between fights really took a lot away from the show, and the ending was a bit of a farce. It isn’t really anybody’s fault; they had alternate bouts but on this night there were just too many injuries so it’s hard to be too damning on the show, but it still didn’t make for great viewing. I wouldn’t say there were any fights on this show particularly worth going out of your way to watch; nothing terrible but nothing great either. I did enjoy parts of Abbott & Ferrozo but so much of that fight was spent in a clinch against the cage. Coleman put on another great performance but it was somewhat overshadowed by an unfortunate ending to the show. He finishes the show 5-0 having dominated both UFC events he had featured in. I said it earlier, but it’s hard to envisage how anyone could beat him.

Listen to our podcast review UFC 10: The Tournament.

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July 12th, 1996 – Live from Birmingham, Alabama: it’s UFC 10: The Tournament!

UFC 10 marks the return to the tournament format, with a show consisting of an eight man tournament and featuring no Superfight.

Three of the participants are guys we have seen before: Don Frye, Gary Goodridge and Mark Hall. Making their respective UFC debuts on this show: the man who would become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion, Mark Coleman, and the now-synonymous voice of the Octagon: Bruce Buffer!

Mark Hall vs. Don Frye
Our first quarter-final sees two of the veterans in the tournament facing off. Mark Hall entered the Octagon with at 3-1 record, coming off the 40 TKO victory over the 400lbs Koji Kitao at UFC 9. His only loss was at the hands of ECW shoot-fighter Paul Varelans at UFC 7. He weighed in at 189lbs. Don Frye entered as the tournament favourite, with a 4-0 record, having been victorious in the last tournament held by the UFC. He had a 25lbs weight advantage over Hall, weighing in at 214lbs.

Bruce Buffer introduces his first ever UFC fight, certainly not up to his own modern day standards, but an improvement on Rich Goins, and Big John McCarthy gets us underway. Hall tries a spinning back kick, but Frye just grabs him and slams him down. Frye begins to land crisp, had punches to Hall’s body. Hall holds Frye in the guard valiantly, and throws a few punches off his back, but absorbs a lot of body shots.

Frye continues to land punches to Hall’s ribs, not really looking to pass Hall’s guard but is landing consistently to the body. Hall is unbelievably bruised; the entire left hand side of his body is purple and blackening. There is some interesting dialogue between the fighters, as Frye tells Hall, “you need to quit”, and Hall replies “I can’t”. Frye insists; “you can”, but Hall proclaims, “I want to lose with honour”. Frye then shouts, “you need to stop this fight John,” and a few short moments later, Big John steps in and stops the fight at 10:21.

I felt sorry for Hall. He showed a lot of heart but was overwhelmed by Frye’s size and power. Hall is definitely someone who could have thrived if the UFC had weight classes at this point. Frye is the best fighter we have seen so far and never looked in any danger of losing his undefeated record here.

Scott Fiedler vs. Brian Johnston
Both of these guys are 6”4 kickboxers making their MMA debuts. Fiedler has one of the most interesting haircuts I have ever seen in my life, completely shaved all over except for a platted mullet on the back. Immediately, I find myself rooting for Johnston.

Fiedler charges into the centre and tries to clinch, but Johnston executes a Judo throw, only for Fiedler to pop back up into the clinch. Johnston gets another takedown, but Fielder gets his back. He looks for a rear naked choke but can’t get it. Johnston manages to shake Fiedler off his back and gets on top in a back mount. He lands a few punches to the back of Fielder’s head and Big John stops the fight at 2:25.

This was a short, frantic fight between two kickboxers who failed to throw a solitary kick. The stoppage was absolutely correct, especially by 2016 standards, but certainly seemed quick when compared to others we have seen in 1996.

Mark Coleman vs. Moti Horenstein
Again we have two MMA debutants. Horenstein is a 3 time Israeli Karate Champion and weighed in at 230lbs. Coleman weighed in at 245lbs, and looked a lot larger than that. He was a 1988 NCAA champion and part of the 1992 Olympic wrestling team. He would go on to become the first ever UFC Heavyweight Champion, and is generally considered to be the ‘Godfather of ground and pound,’ so it’s interesting to see his first ever MMA fight.

Coleman immediately shoots for the double leg, gets full mount and begins pounding away as Horenstein desperately holds on. Coleman moves into side control and lands some knees and a big headbutt. Horenstein pulls guard, but Coleman unleashes some bombs directly to the head and Big John rightly steps in at 2:43.
Easy win for Coleman in his MMA debut. We saw how effective a top level wrestler could be in the early years of the UFC with Mark Schultz at UFC 9, and while Coleman may not be quite the same calibre wrestler as Schultz, he certainly threw strikes on the ground a lot more effectively.  

Gary Goodridge vs. John Campetella
Podcast favourite Big Daddy Goodridge entered this tournament with a 2-2 record, on a 2 fight losing streak, but against top level competition in Don Frye at UFC 8 and Mark Schultz at UFC 9. He weighed in at 263lbs. Campetella made his one and only MMA appearance here. He held a 2nd degree black belt in Kempo Karate but by day was a high-school biology teacher. He weighed in at 235lbs.

Both these guys are huge, and immediately charge at each other exchanging blows and tumble around the Octagon in the clinch. Campatella gets Goodridge in a waistlock pressed against the cage and lands a couple of hard punches to the back off his head. Goodridge looks like he might be in trouble.

Goodridge pulls guard and rolls Campatella into mount, before landing four hard left hands to Campatella’s head and Big John steps in at 1:27 to stop the fight.
This may have been a slightly early stoppage by 1996 standards, but again was absolutely correct by today’s. Campatella absorbed those strikes clean to the head without intelligently defending them. He actually looked quite good here, but ultimately Big Daddy Goodridge was too much for him.
 
Now, if you are watching this show on UFC Fight Pass, you are about to miss out on one of the highlights of the entire thing as Tank Abbott joins us for a quick interview. This entire segment is cut on Fight Pass, and is both hilarious and offensive in equal measure. Tank also joins the commentary team for the next fight. This isn’t cut completely on Fight Pass, with certain quips left in but he is never given any kind of introduction. You can hear Tom, Bob and I discuss this entire segment on this month’s MMA 20 Years Ago Podcast.

Onto the Semi-Finals!

Don Frye vs. Brian Johnston
These two are well matched; Johnston compares his own style to that of Don Frye.

Frantic start with both guys coming out swinging, locking up and trading punches and knees before breaking off.  Back into the clinch Johnston takes control landing some more knees and a big right hand before they break off again. Frye gets a takedown and lands some elbows to the body. Johnston tries to escape but Frye manoeuvres into side control. Frye lands some brutal looking elbows to the head, busting Johnston open, and Johnston swiftly taps at 4:37.

Frye looks exhausted after that. He used a lot of energy in his quarter-final and was really tested here. One of the few Tank Abbott lines from commentary that was left in was that he felt this was Don Frye’s first real fight.


Gary Goodridge vs. Mark Coleman
Goodridge is listed as having an 18lbs weight advantage here, but if anything it looks like it might well be the other way round. Granted, Goodridge is wearing a gi, but Coleman just looks massive.

Goodridge presses forward but Coleman takes the supposedly larger man down with ease. He drops a brutal looking headbutt, and pounds away, moving Goodridge to the fence. Coleman gets a back mount but Goodridge is able to stand.  Coleman pushes him against the cage, grabbing a rear waistlock and landing a few hard uppercuts.

One of the most unique sequences I have ever seen in MMA follows. As Coleman is holding Goodridge against the cage, Goodridge scales, horizontally, around the Octagon in an attempt to move the action in front of his own corner for advice.  It’s a truly remarkable visual. Coleman lets it happen, but once they get there lands some more uppercuts.

They eventually break off and Goodridge presses forward, but Coleman is able to get the takedown at the first attempt. Goodridge tries to escape but Coleman has too much power and keeps him in side control. He lands some elbows and knees before taking a back mount, at which point Goodridge taps at 7:00.
This was even more impressive from Coleman than his quarter-final.  He was able to out-power the bigger man. Once he secures a takedown, which he can do at will, he is so proactive in looking for a finish on the ground.
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Don Frye vs. Mark Coleman
It’s time for the final! With no Superfight on this show, we are headed into this without much of a break for either guy. Frye has a 31lbs weight disadvantage here, but if there is one guy who could cope with that, you have got to imagine it would be Frye considering he was, as a David, the victor of the David vs. Goliath tournament back at UFC 8.

Coleman shoots in, Frye sprawls and blocks excellently, but Coleman spins and is able to take Frye’s back. Frye rolls through into guard, but takes some big right hands to the face, and is busted open early. Coleman pins Frye against the cage and continues to land hard punches consistently. We are at the 2:25 mark, and I have to say that Big John stopped at least two fights earlier in the evening for less than we are seeing here.

Coleman is in side control, and attempts a neck crank, but Frye uses the fence to push off and is able to get back to his feet. Frye backs him up and lands a right hand, but Coleman gets a takedown and takes Frye’s back. Rather than looking for the choke, he lands some punches but Frye is able to get back to guard.
McCarthy calls time to beck Frye’s bloody face. While the doctor takes a look, Coleman can barely stand, leaning against the cage for support. When the action restarts, Frye presses forward and shoots in for his own takedown, which Coleman reverses and gets another back mount. Coleman tries for a choke, but Frye blocks it, reverses and ends up on top for the first time in the fight!

Coleman manages to reverse position, and then lifts Frye’s entirely body weight, almost over his own head. This is an absolutely stunning moment; he could hardly stand just minutes prior. Frye desperately clings to the top of the cage, or he would have probably ended up being thrown over it, or slammed down with incredible power. Coleman lets Frye go, lands some huge punches and swiftly gets another takedown. On the ground, he drops some hard headbutts onto a bloodied Frye and Big John steps in to stop the punishment at 11:34.

What. A. Fight. This might be my favourite fight I have watched as part of the MMA 20 Years Ago project. Both guys were absolutely exhausted, but showed so much heart and determination to pull through and produce an excellent fight. What a performance from Coleman. He is the easily the most impressive guy we have seen so far. He had exceptional wrestling, power and on the ground he was proactive with powerful strikes. He dominated Don Frye here.

UFC 10 was a great show. There was nothing resembling a boring fight on the card, and one hell of a main event. It is historically significant in that in featuring the debuts of both Mark Coleman and Bruce Buffer, as well as hosting Don Frye’s first ever MMA loss. They don’t call Coleman the innovator of ground and pound for nothing. He became a star at UFC 10. I would absolutely recommend going back and watching this show.