| UFC 17: Redemption | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 17: Redemption | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 15, 1998 | |||
| Venue | Mobile Civic Center | |||
| City | Mobile, Alabama | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
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UFC 17: Redemption was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 15, 1998, at the Mobile Civic Center, in Mobile, Alabama. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video.
The event featured a four-man Middleweight Tournament, three Heavyweight Superfights, an alternate bout in case of tournament injury, and a Heavyweight "exhibition" bout. A UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Frank Shamrock and Jeremy Horn was also taped for broadcast on a later pay-per-view.
UFC 17 was the last UFC event (aside from UFC 23), to feature the "tournament" style format.
Several hours prior to the event, Olympic Gold medalist and UFC commentator Jeff Blatnick was introduced as the promotion's commissioner in a meeting with the fighters to discuss the fight rules for the event. Blatnick asked at the meeting that the fighters refer to the sport, which at the time had many different names including the misnomer "No Holds Barred", as Mixed Martial Arts , with the intention of improving the sport's image. He then repeated the request to the media covering the event later that night. This is generally considered the first time the term Mixed Martial Arts was used to refer to the modern sport, and Blatnick is widely credited with coining the term in relation to it. [1]
UFC 17 featured the first UFC appearance of both Dan Henderson and Carlos Newton, as well as the first MMA fight for Chuck Liddell.
The title Redemption refers to Mark Coleman's return after losing the UFC Heavyweight Championship to Maurice Smith at UFC 14. Coleman was originally slated to face then UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, who had to withdraw due to an injury. Lion's Den fighter Pete Williams would step in as a last-minute replacement to face Coleman. Similar to his fight with Maurice, Coleman looked good early on in the fight, but when the fight went into an overtime round, Coleman appeared to be drained of energy, breathing heavily and keeping his arms low—even turning his back to Williams occasionally while standing. He took several hard shots from Williams, and was eventually knocked out by a devastating head kick Williams delivered to the face. The Coleman/Couture matchup would finally take place 12 years later at UFC 109.
| Light Heavyweight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Frank Shamrock (c) | def. | Jeremy Horn | Submission (kneebar) | 16:28 | [lower-alpha 1] | |
| Heavyweight bouts | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Pete Williams | def. | Mark Coleman | KO (head kick) | 12:38 | ||
| Heavyweight | Tank Abbott | def. | Hugo Duarte | TKO (punches) | 0:43 | ||
| Heavyweight | Mike van Arsdale | def. | Joe Pardo | Submission (americana) | 11:01 | ||
| Heavyweight | Andre Roberts | def. | Harry Moskowitz | KO (elbow) | 3:15 | ||
| Middleweight bout | |||||||
| Middleweight | Chuck Liddell | def. | Noe Hernandez | Decision (unanimous) | 12:00 | ||
| Middleweight Tournament Finals | |||||||
| Middleweight | Dan Henderson | def. | Carlos Newton | Decision (split) | 15:00 | ||
| Middleweight Tournament Semifinals | |||||||
| Middleweight | Dan Henderson | def. | Allan Góes | Decision (unanimous) | 15:00 | ||
| Middleweight | Carlos Newton | def. | Bob Gilstrap | Submission (triangle choke) | 0:54 | ||
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| Dan Henderson | DEC | ||||||||
| Allan Góes | 15:00 | ||||||||
| Dan Henderson | DEC | ||||||||
| Carlos Newton | 15:00 | ||||||||
| Carlos Newton | SUB | ||||||||
| Bob Gilstrap | 0:52 | ||||||||
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is the twin brother of UFC fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Nogueira rose to prominence in Japanese promotions Fighting Network RINGS where he won the 2000 RINGS King of Kings tournament, and later with Pride Fighting Championships, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003, as well as a 2004 PRIDE FC Heavyweight Grand Prix Finalist. He is one of only three men to have held championship titles in both Pride Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Randall Duane Couture is an American mixed martial arts commentator, actor, former United States Army sergeant, former professional mixed martial artist, and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, an interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, making him a six-time UFC Champion and the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner. He is the first of nine fighters to hold two UFC championship titles in two different divisions. He currently serves as a commentator and analyst for the Professional Fighters League.
Mark Coleman is an American retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and amateur wrestler. Coleman was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the Pride Fighting Championships 2000 Open Weight Grand Prix champion. At UFC 82 Coleman was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Frank Shamrock is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship and retired as an undefeated champion. Shamrock was the No. 1 ranked pound for pound UFC fighter in the world during his reign as the UFC Middleweight Champion. Shamrock has won numerous titles in other martial arts organizations, including the interim King of Pancrase title, the WEC Light Heavyweight Championship and the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship. Shamrock is regarded as one of the first complete mixed martial artists, having adapted his game from a ground-focused style of fighting to a more well-rounded and versatile style. He is a seventh degree black belt in submission fighting.
Mark Kerr is an American former wrestler and mixed martial artist. During his MMA career, he was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor. In collegiate wrestling, Kerr was a NCAA Division I champion. In freestyle wrestling, he won gold and silver medals at the World Cup and silver at the Pan American Games. In submission wrestling, Kerr is a four-time ADCC World Champion, winning his weightclass twice along with the absolute division and the Superfight Championship.
Pedro Augusto Rizzo is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed for the UFC, PRIDE, M-1 Global, and Affliction. Although he never captured the UFC Heavyweight Championship, Rizzo competed for it three times and was regarded as a top contender for many years. Coming from a Muay Thai background, Rizzo competed in Vale Tudo before transitioning into mixed martial arts. Often regarded as one of the most dangerous strikers in heavyweight history, Rizzo holds notable victories over former UFC champions Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ricco Rodriguez and Ken Shamrock.
Maurice L. Smith is a retired American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In kickboxing, he held the WKC world light heavyweight championship, the WKA world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA world heavyweight championship. In mixed martial arts, he held the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC, and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017. A professional competitor since 1980, Smith has formerly competed in kickboxing for the companies All Japan Enterprise and K-1, Pancrase, RINGS, PRIDE, Strikeforce, International Fight League and RFA.
Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator. He was born in Niskayuna, New York. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979 and won the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984 after battling back from cancer. During his wrestling days, he and Dan Severn were in the same U.S. National Wrestling Team.
UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 16, 2005, at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States and Canada, and later released on DVD.
UFC 13: The Ultimate Force was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 30, 1997 in Augusta, Georgia. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video.
The Lion's Den is an American mixed martial arts team and training facility that was based out of Lodi, California and San Diego, California. The team was founded in the early 1990s by UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, and was the most dominant fight camp in the early UFC. It featured fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Vernon "Tiger" White, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman, Pete Williams, and Mikey Burnett.
UFC 14: Showdown was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on July 27, 1997 in Birmingham, Alabama. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video.
UFC 28: High Stakes was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 17, 2000 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Team Hammer House is a mixed martial arts team operating out of Columbus, Ohio, made up of mostly former NCAA wrestlers. While Hammer House focuses on amateur wrestling they do have cross training deals with notable fighters and camps such as Matt Serra, Pat Miletich and Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts. Founded by former UFC champion Mark Coleman, Team Hammer House has attracted such mixed martial arts fighters as Kevin Randleman and Phil Baroni.
Pete Williams is an American former mixed martial arts fighter who fought out of Ken Shamrock's fight team the Lion's Den. Williams was ranked as high as the #6 top Heavyweight fighter in the world as of May 2000.
UFC 74: Respect was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 25, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on November 15, 2008, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC 100 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on July 11, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell is a mixed martial arts trilogy. All three fights took place under Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States. All three fights have ended in knockout and have been for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. At the first meeting at UFC 43, Couture won by technical knockout at 2:40 in the third round. By this victory he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The second time, after The Ultimate Fighter 1, at UFC 52, Liddell won by knockout at 2:06 in the very first round. At the third and final match-up Liddell once again won, making it 2–1 for himself, by KO at 1:28 in the second round.
Final Fight Championship (FFC) is an international combat sports promotion company founded in 2003 by the FFC owner and CEO Orsat Zovko. The company has its headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as well as a European office in Zagreb, Croatia.
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| Forrest Griffin Community Award | |
