JUDGEMENT DAY: The Story of the UFC Getting Run Out of Town
- Thread starter Hong Kong Phooey
- Start date
In 1997, UFC 12 was to take place in Buffalo, but a day prior, New York state changed its laws to effectively ban MMA. UFC 12 needed a new home, in a new state, on 24 hours notice. UFC 25 Years in Short is a 25-part documentary series celebrating the UFC silver anniversary. This compilation of short films presents 25 captivating UFC stories, one for each year of existence, and every piece stands alone as an independent feature. Viewed as a whole, these films form a larger, mosaic narrative of the UFC’s amazing evolution, fascinating characters and lasting influence.
These have made for great viewing. I always wonder how much that UFC made in PPV $. It was the beginning of the transition to the UFC being good again after 9, 10, and 11 had been largely underwhelming. In hindsight they're all fun to rewatch, but after the excitement of 1-8, 9-11 were a lull. Ultimate Ultimate 2, which directly preceded it, was also a really fun show with Frye's comeback, but they basically spent all their chips on the old favorites and needed new blood. UFC 12 lived up to that in every way. UU2 and 12-15 were all solid, maybe the best five in a row in history.
16 was good and 17 was awesome.
Overall things seemed to slow after that.
But yeah, after 12, UU2 probably through 17 were great.
And Pride had just started up.
I'd say about 96-06 was the golden age of NHB/MMA.
(Newton should've won)
run it back
Agree about 17, which may be the GOAT UFC tournament, but 16 wasn't great. Burnett didn't advance and got replaced by an off Brennan, Miletich's fight with Saunders was a dud, and Frank's fight with Zinoviev, while a cool highlight, was a major disappointment live. Bohlander/Jackson was probably the high point.
But if you throw UFC Japan in there (despite the awful main event), which happened before 16, you get maybe the best set of UFCs. If I was going to tell the story of the UFC though, I'd say UFC 12-22 is the second great phase of the sport in the US where it transitioned from style vs. style to a kind of proto-mixed martial arts.
I don't think 16 was great, but definitely good.
I wanted Igor to at least put up a good fight (especially after dispatching 30000000000-0 Ze Mario Sperry), but DAMN what a WOW moment!
Made Frank look virtuosic, particularly after dispatching Jackson in UFC Japan at lightspeed.
2 "holy shit, what??!!" fights in a row?
I'll never forget that feeling.
I don't think that's ever been reproduced in back-to-back fights with such brevity.
It's too bad about Burnett not moving on, but that Tadeu fight was, at that time, a fight for the ages, and for a decade at least unforgettable.
And then as you mention Bohlander/Jackson.
I definitely thought the show earned it's stripes in that string.
And agree about through 22 as well.
I had such high hopes for Val Ignatov, Darrel Gholar, Jason Godsey & John Lewis.
Alas, the sport became a sport & history had to be written one way or the other.
Funny, by that time I was competing briefly with Matt Hume, Josh Barnett, Maurice Smith and the big boys, but didn't have a mentor. I was good enough that I might've squeezed in a show and had a little more exciting history to look back on.
But because of that time at AMC, I saw my first LIVE event with the gym rats which didn't happen until UFC 20.
Until then, it was this little-known VHS Japanese-owned local store that got them bootlegged way before Blockbuster.
Yep, didn't see it live until 20 UFC's in.
