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FLASHBACK - KELLER'S UFC 15 PPV REPORT: Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture
Sep 22, 2012 - 10:41:36 PM FLASHBACK - KELLER'S UFC 15 PPV REPORT: Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture

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(This report by MMATorch founder and current supervising editor was originally published in the Torch Newsletter cover-dated October 25, 1997.)

UFC 15
When: October 17, 1997
Where: Bay St. Louis, Miss. -- Casino
What: Quarterly pay-per-view
By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor

Bruce Beck announced at the start of the event that Dan Severn was out with a hand injury and that Tank Abbott would replace him in the title match. Not once throughout the show did they talk about how Severn suffered an injury, nor did they hype him at all since they are upset with his scheduling a fight in Japan against Kimo less than a week before his UFC match. Jeff Blatnick handled color commentary, Joe Rogan did interviews, and Bruce Buffer did ring announcing.

The event consisted of two alternate bouts (which were televised live for the first time in UFC), the four man heavyweight tournament, and two SuperFights. Joe Hamilton refereed the alternate bouts and, it's unimportant to note, he says, "Get busy" instead of "Let's get it on" at the start of the bouts.

(1) "Chief" Alex Hunter (24, 5-9, 210, Jiujitsu) defeated "Dirty" Harry Moskowitz (30, 6-5, 293, freestyle/pitfighting) via judge's decision after a 12:00 draw. Both began in a traditional fighting stance. At 0:30 Hunter threw a round kick and then shot in, but Moskowitz applied a guillotine choke. Moskowitz teased lifting Hunter by the neck into a vertical suplex of sorts. At 1:40 they separated and faced off near mid-ring again. Hunter threw a quick side kick to the thigh and then shot in again on Moskowitz, driving him across the Octagon. They struggled against the fence for several minutes. They exchanged blows against the fence at 5:45. They finally went to the mat at 6:45 with Hunter on top. At 10:50 the ref separated the fighters due to lack of action. Both fighters looked tired and, in Beck's words, "disinterested." Blatnick said, "Fatigue changes everyone." Hunter shot in and took Moskowitz down at 11:50 and the time limit expired. When Hunter was announced as the winner via split decision (2-1), Moskowitz shook his head in disbelief.

(2) Duane Cason (20, 5-190, 215, extension/wrestling) defeated Houston Dorr (39, 6-0, 200, kickboxing). They squared off at the start. Dorr threw a roundkick to the ankle at 0:20. Then, as has been standard fare for wrestlers against strikers, Cason shot in quickly as Dorr's leg was setting back down and took him to the mat. Blatnick incorrectly observed that Dorr was kicking at Cason's kidney. As Cason dominated action on the mat, Blatnick said this is where wrestlers without finishing ability tend to get frustrated and open themselves up. However, seconds later Cason began throwing punches that Dorr was unable to block and the ref stepped in to stop the fight. Dorr stood up immediately and hugged Cason for a good fight.

(3) Mark Kerr (29, 6-1, 253, wrestler) beat Greg Scott (34, 5-7, 222, hand-to-hand combat) at 0:19. Scott entered with good credentials including tough man competition victories and army full-contact experience. His M.O. is knocking out his opponents. Well, the burly Scott locked up with Kerr in mid-ring and lowered his head. Kerr lifted one knee and knocked him out. Kerr didn't take another shot at Scott, knowing he just landed a winning blow. The ref stepped in. Scott stood a minute later and smiled and shook hands with Kerr after the official decision was announced. During a post-match interview Kerr came across as nice and articulate.

Beck announced a return date on PPV as Dec. 21 in Japan titled "Ultimate Japan." They announced the title match (the winners of that night's SuperFights face off), plus middleweight Kevin Jackson (who may face Frank Shamrock, whose stock went up after the Pride One event).

(4) Dave Beneteau (30, 6-2, 260, wrestling) defeated Carlos Barreto (29, 6-4, 253, Jiujistu). Barreto was the heavy favorite to the point that everyone, including Maurice Smith in an interview earlier in the week, was talking about the inevitable Kerr vs. Barreto finals. Barreto wore an intimidating gameface. Beneteau walked toward Barreto early in the match and clenched in mid-ring. Barreto shoved Beneteau against the fence at 0:20, then headbutted him. He was called for a foul (three fouls are a DQ). At 1:40 the ref separated the fighters. Beneteau threw a kick and Barreto caught the leg and took Beneteau down. Beneteau gave Barreto his back, which was surprising given his UFC experience. Barreto was unable to finish off Beneteau, surprisingly, so he threw some punches to the back of Beneteau's head, but Beneteau simply stood up and slid away from Barreto. The fans got behind underdog Beneteau at that point. At 3:35 Beneteau ended up on top and began landing some punches onto Barreto that seemed for a moment to be nearing a stoppage. Barreto managed, though, to climb to his feet with help of the fence. They separated on their own and squared off in mid-ring again. Some fans chanted "Beneteau." Both fighters looked a bit winded. Barreto threw two back roundhouse kicks, the second of which came close to Beneteau's chin, but didn't appear to have anywhere near the power of a Maurice Smith kick. When Barreto followed with a lazy front kick, Beneteau shot in on him while avoiding two follow-up punches. Beneteau ended up on top of Barreto, who went into his guard. Beneteau, knowing how much training Barreto does on his back, backed off, avoiding a heel Barreto threw toward his face from the ground (a move Oleg Taktarov knows well). Beneteau kept his distance to avoid Barreto's punches. At 6:00 Beneteau almost scored a KO with a huge uppercut, but it just grazed Barreto. Barreto threw a front kick when Beneteau leaned on his knees, but again it seemed to be a half-hearted kick. Those half-hearted kicks came back to haunt Barreto as he threw another lazy roundhouse kick toward the thigh and Beneteau caught it and dropped him to the mat, scoring more points in the eyes of the judges. On his back Barreto made his best contact of the fight with a heel to Beneteau's chin. Beneteau stayed on top and in control. They returned to their feet at 9:40, but at 10:20 the ref separated them due to a clench against the fence. They met at center-ring at 10:30. Beneteau took Barreto to the mat again to end regulation at 12:00. At 1:30 of overtime Barreto ended up on top of Beneteau. Beneteau remained in the guard until the end of overtime, but incurred a foul for "kicking" at Barreto's kidney, which is illegal. While the judges' decision was being announced, Barreto raised his hand in anticipation of victory, but Beneteau was the winner. He looked into the camera and screamed in celebration. Beneteau deserved the win, but it was a close fight. Afterward Beneteau said he thought he entered the fight underrated because of his tough losses to Oleg Taktarov. He admitted he probably would go on since he fought a tough 15 minute match and his opponent, Mark Kerr, only fought 19 seconds. He said the jiujitsu myth has again been broken.

(5) Randy Couture (34, 6-1, 226) beat Vitor Belfort (20, 6-0, 224) in the first SuperFight. After Couture entered the ring, Belfort stalled three minutes before coming out. Couture smiled confidently during the wait, laughing with his trainers. Couture was the 1997 National Greco Roman Champion and he won UFC13's heavyweight tournament. Belfort, of course, was UFC's "future star," having won his three previous matches with an amazingly quick flurry of punching power. In the opening 45 seconds Belfort went for some punching flurries, but Couture avoided them in part by circling away from Belfort's back hand. When Belfort moved in the third time with punches, Couture clenched with him and tried to take him down. He applied a front overhead headlock, but Belfort grabbed Couture's leg. Neither man would go down. At 1:20 they broke and circled at center ring again. Couture walked toward Belfort rather than backing off and giving Belfort a chance to gain momentum through forward motion. Both men stopped each other's fort?. Couture avoided taking Belfort's powerful blows and Belfort refused to be taken down by a world class wrestler. That changed at 2:40 when Couture ducked a Belfort left backpunch and gave him a double leg takedown. Couture stayed on top until 6:40 when they returned to their feet. Couture went right after Belfort again, keeping the distance too close for Belfort to get in his punches. Belfort threw punches, but few landed. Couture actually began landing a series of punches and got the better of Belfort, including a series of uppercuts. At 7:45 Belfort dropped to the ground to avoid punches, but Couture continued to punch away. Belfort gave Couture his back. Couture continued to throw punches until 8:16 when the ref stepped in to stop the match -- clearly when it was time, neither too soon nor too late considering the quality of fighters in the ring. Fans chanted, "USA, USA." Vitor remained conscious, but didn't rise to his feet until two minutes later. The fighters hugged, but Vitor seemed out of it, tired, and dejected.

(6) Mark Kerr (28, 6-1, 253) defeated Duane Cason (20, 5-10, 215) at 0:54 with a chokeout to win the Heavyweight Tournament. A mismatch with the bigger, more experienced wrestlers winning quickly. It didn't appear Cason had any misconception that he had a chance.

(7) Maurice Smith (35, 6-2, 223) defeated Tank Abbott (32, 6-0, 277) at 8:09. Blatnick said Smith's strategy was to go four minutes with Tank so fatigue became an issue, whereas Tank entered with no strategy and wanted to fight on instinct. Smith threw some early roundkicks to Tank's front leg while Tank went for some early lunging flurries, but no one scored much early on. By 2:00 Tank had Smith against the fence and he landed a hook in tight and Smith chose to drop to the mat. Tank threw a flurry of punches, but didn't make much solid contact and Smith remained very calm on his back. Smith did to Tank what he did to Coleman -- he remained calm on his back while Tank grew frustrated and tired trying to maneuver into a winning position. Smith even came close to applying armbar submissions twice, but wasn't in position to lock it on. The ref stood them at 7:30. Tank came close to quitting from fatigue. He came back out, though. Smith threw two hard back roundkicks to Tank's leg. Tank looked to the ref and said he had enough. Tank collapsed to his back to rest afterward. After the fight Tank said he didn't have enough time to train, but otherwise would have won. "No one else has balls enough to be here (on short notice)," Tank said. "If I was in shape, I don't think it would have been a fight at all. I'd like a lot of rematches."

Overall, perhaps the best UFC to date.