| UFC 9: Shamrock vs. Severn 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 9: Shamrock vs. Severn 2 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 17, 1996 | |||
| Venue | Cobo Arena | |||
| City | Detroit, Michigan | |||
| Attendance | 10,000 | |||
| Buyrate | 141,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 9: Motor City Madness was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 17, 1996, at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video.
UFC 9 was the first UFC production not to feature the tournament format (which was brought back by popular demand at UFC 10 ). Instead, it featured an entire card of regular bouts. The card featured seven bouts and an alternate bout to fill time for the pay-per-view broadcast.
The main event was the highly anticipated rematch between reigning UFC Superfight Champion Ken Shamrock and number one contender Dan Severn, who had fought one year earlier at UFC 6 for the UFC Superfight Championship, with Shamrock reigning victorious.
The UFC drew national criticism leading up to the event, due in large part to Arizona Senator John McCain's letter writing campaign against the "brutal spectacle" of no holds barred fighting. [1] After a legal battle in the Detroit courts up until 4:30 p.m. on the day of the show, the UFC was allowed to continue, but with modified rules.
The special rules included no closed fisted strikes to the head and no headbutts – a rule that referee John McCarthy attempted to enforce, but with little success. Before the show, fighters were warned not to use closed fisted strikes under penalty of arrest. Although many fights that night included closed fisted striking, no fighters were arrested.
Due in part to this special rule, the Superfight between Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock is widely considered one of the worst MMA fights of all time, with the fighters circling each other for nearly 20 minutes with little or no contact. [2] [3]
Following the legal battle over UFC 9, Senator John McCain was successful in pulling UFC pay-per-view broadcasts from numerous cable systems, including TCI cable, which greatly hurt pay-per-view buy rates. [1]
| Superfight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| N/A | Dan Severn | def. | Ken Shamrock (c) | Split decision | 30:00 | [lower-alpha 1] | |
| Main Card | |||||||
| N/A | Steve Nelmark | def. | Tai Bowden | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 7:25 | ||
| N/A | Cal Worsham | def. | Zane Frazier | TKO (punches) | 3:14 | ||
| N/A | Rafael Carino | def. | Matt Andersen | TKO (punches) | 5:32 | ||
| N/A | Mark Schultz | def. | Gary Goodridge | TKO (cut) | 12:00 | ||
| N/A | Mark Hall | def. | Koji Kitao | TKO (doctor stoppage - broken nose) | 0:40 | ||
| N/A | Don Frye | def. | Amaury Bitetti | TKO (punches) | 9:22 | ||
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA promotion in the world as of 2023. It produces events worldwide that showcase 11 weight divisions and abides by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. As of 2022, it had held over 600 events. Dana White has been its president since 2001 and CEO since 2023. Under White's stewardship, it has grown into a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise.
Ken Shamrock is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and other combat sports. An inaugural inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame, Shamrock is widely regarded as an icon and pioneer of the sport. He has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the UFC and Pride FC and set numerous MMA pay-per-view records. In the early part of his UFC career, Shamrock was named "The World's Most Dangerous Man" by ABC News in a special called "The World's Most Dangerous Things". The moniker has stuck as his nickname.
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