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The following is the Torch Newsletter's coverage of UFC 9 which took place 15 years ago, on May 17, 1996. This includes my match report, Torch Staff Roundtable Reviews, and some reader comments on the show. (One of the reader reviews, by the way, is from Scott Colton, who is now professional wrestler Colt Cabana.)
When: May 17, 1996
Where: Detroit, Mich. - Cobo Hall
What: UFC9 pay-per-view
Live Attendance: 11,000-plus sellout
(1) Cal Worsham (Tae Kwon Do, 32, 5-10, 200, Fulsom, Calif.) beat Zane Frazier (American Kempo Karate, 32, 6-5, 325, North Hollywood, Calif.) at 3:17. They circled each other at the start. At 1:10 Worsham managed to take down the much bigger Frazier and pummel him with punches and headbutts. Frazier tapped out just as ref Joe McCarthy appeared to be stepping in to stop it. Worsham said afterward that he wants a shot at the SuperFight Title saying Kimo got one and he was 0-1. Worsham is 2-0.
(2) Rafael Carino (Jiu Jitsu, 22, 6-8, 250, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) beat Matt Anderson (Nin Jitsu, 24, 6-2, 240) at 5:33. Carino, unlike his fellow Brazilians, was aggressive at the start. He took Anderson down who appeared stunned. Anderson went into the guard. Carino went for some strikes, but didn't seem to know how to finish Anderson. The ref was close to stopping it a few times. After a palm to the head, Anderson began bleeding and the ref stopped it. Bruce Beck said Carino's camp wants a match against Paul Varelans next because Varelans has had success against some smaller Brazilians in recent matches and they want revenge. Sounds like a worked angle.
(3) Mark Schultz (Wrestling, 33, 5-10, 203, Michigan) beat Gary Goodridge (Kuk Sool Won, 30, 6-3, 258, Barrie Ontario) at 12:00. Schultz agreed to fight less than 24 hours before the event, replacing Dave Beneteau who suffered a hand injury while training. Shultz had trained with Beneteau. Schultz didn't seem to know what to think of the Octagon at first, but by the end was confident and just playing with Goodridge. After Schultz took Goodridge down and held him down for the opening six minutes, the ref stood them up. Then Schultz shot in right away again, not giving Goodridge a chance to use his stand up skills. After regulation ended, rather than go to overtime the ref stopped the match. Goodridge didn't protest.
(4) Mark Hall (Moo Yea Do, 35, 6-0, 190, Murrieta, Calif.) beat Koji Kitao (Sumo, 29, 6-8, 340, Tokyo) at 0:47. Kitao moved in on Hall at the start, backing him to the fence. The crowd chanted "USA." Hall scored with a right hook and badly broke Kitao's nose. Blood flowed fast and the ref stopped the fight. Afterward, Hall asked his girlfriend to marry him.
To fill time, they aired Ken Shamrock vs. Pat Smith from the first UFC.
(5) Don Frye (Wrestling/Boxing, 30, 6-0, 210, Sierra Vista, Ariz.) beat Amuary Bitteti (Jiu Jitsu, 28, 6-1, 210, Brazil) at 9:30. This was the match of the show by far. They started with stand-up fighting. Frye stunned Bitteti with a punch at 2:20. Bitteti went for a takedown, but Frye wouldn't stay down. Frye hit a series of punches and elbows and the ref would have been justified ending it right there. They went to the mat with Frye on top finishing Bitteti. At 6:00 the ref stood them up to check on Bitteti's cut. Frye continued to dominate with more blows on the mat. The ref checked Bitteti for blood again. Bitteti shot in for a last ditch attempt at gaining an advantage, but Frye ended up with the advantage, guillotine choking Bitteti with his feet on the cage (a la Ric Flair) for leverage. He hit a series of a knees which oohed the crowd. The ref finally stopped the match at 9:30. After the match Frye said he underestimated Bitteti, having originally assumed he'd win in 30-45 seconds. He said he wants to fight Royce Gracie.
(6) Dan Severn (Greco-Roman wrestling, 37, 6-2, 250, Coldwater, Mich.) beat Ken Shamrock (Shootfighting, 32, 6-0, 220, Lockford, Calif.) via 2-1 judges decision after a 30 minute draw. For the opening 16 minutes Severn circled Shamrock as fans chanted "refund" and "boring" and "Let's Go Red Wings." At 16:00 Severn shot in on Shamrock and went for a leglock, but Shamrock slipped out. The crowd came alive, but then became disappointed when both fighters returned to a standing position. A minute later Severn shot in again, but Shamrock ended up on top when Severn turned the wrong way on the takedown. Severn, though, surprisingly did well defending himself on his back. Shamrock stayed on top, throwing blows to the ribs and head. At 23:30 Severn somehow ended up on top of Shamrock, who went into the guard. Shamrock began bleeding badly from the head. Severn continued to punish Shamrock until McCarthy stopped to check Shamrock's cut. The first overtime saw a repeat of early uneventful circling. After more of the same in the second overtime, with 15 seconds left Shamrock shot in on Severn and didn't have a chance to do much before the time limit expired. Severn played to the crowd for support and got a mixed reaction. The judges voted Shamrock, Severn, Severn. After the match Shamrock said both fighters had the same strategy, both were overly patient, and that Severn deserved to win because he did more damage when on offense.
COLUMNIST COMMENTS
Chris Zavisa:
UFC9 seems to be into their third wave of a metamorphosis. This one will be known as "Ref Stops Bout." I never thought we'd see a UFC without a submission, but here it was. From a financial point of view, this had to be a big success as Cobo Hall was packed to the rafters with 11,000 plus in the building. Artistically I don't know if UFC can afford any more successes like this one. Will people pay $20 on pay-per-view to watch two of the so-called best fighters in the world waltz around each other for 80 percent of the bout? Especially so for those paying $300 for ringside seats. Probably not if this becomes the trend. Dan Severn wrestled with his head as much as his body and his plan worked ending in victory. Shamrock must have thought he was in an old Marx Brothers routine as Groucho and Harpo do the mirror bit, one mimicking the other. It was not good entertainment, or even good sports for that matter, but it was very, very good for Dan Severn. The bout I, and I imagine most others, enjoyed the most was Don Frye taking it to Armoury Bitetti. For the days preceding the event everyone at the hotel kept describing Bitetti as the real deal and a future star while the real deal was right in front of them the whole time - Don Frye.
I've never liked Koji Kitao even one little bit and it was more than satisfying to see him get his clock cleaned in under 50 seconds and go whimpering back to his corner like the big Baby Huey he so resembled.
STAFF ROUNDTABLE
Bruce Mitchell, Torch columnist
Even with the most disappointing SuperFight in UFC history, UFC9 was an entertaining event. It was also the first one where brutality was a genuine issue, not just a trumped up charge.
Don Frye vs. Amori Bitetti was the most exciting match UFC has had since the Tank Abbott vs. Oleg Taktarov bout. Frye made a quantum leap in fighting effectiveness and proved once and for all that the Brazilian Jiu Jitsui fighters are no longer necessarily the best. Frye and one-day wonder Mark Schultz were the breakout stars this time.
Schultz can write his own contract since SEG absolutely has to have the mainstream credibility an Olympic Gold Medalist brings to the political fight for survival. It will be very interesting to see how Schultz does against a Severn or a Shamrock.
Less interesting will be the UFC future of "Hard Luck" Koji Kitao who either lost to a lucky punch or because of his own clumsiness. All this match did was provide opponents of hybrid fighting with yet another gross clip to take out of context.
On the downside, Dan Severn vs. Ken Shamrock was a fiasco, the result of two fighters too cautious to win or to lose. If the judges had any sense of justice they would have thrown out the entire bout. Severn could hardly be called a winner when he had an advantage of all of a minute and a half of a 30 minute match. It reminded me of nothing more than the thing that almost killed college basketball 15 years ago - Dean Smith's Carolina Four Corners. When his team would get a small lead early in the game, then hold the ball and stall for the rest of the game cheating both spectators and participants alike of settling the issue of who was actually better. Both Severn and Shamrock alike deserve the blame for this particular non-event.
UFC remains the most consistently exciting event in the pro wrestling world. Gee, I wonder what element makes it that way.
John Williams, Torch contributor
UFC continues to educate the fans of today on exactly why pro wrestling became a work. Never has there been a better example of it than the Shamrock vs. Severn match. After their overly cautious standoff, they had an excellent period on the mat. Then, they each decided they didn't want any more of that, which led to more dancing. None of this was surprising considering where UFC is headed.
The bout highlights the two primary risks involved when promoting something that's real - you can neither control the outcome nor can you guarantee it will be entertaining. If the major matches are not entertaining, it brings up whether fans will continue to pay for it. The history of pro wrestling seems to indicate the answer to that is no. This led to a mutating of pro wrestling into a form of entertainment to have a better shot at providing entertainment to its fans. It remains to be seen how UFC will handle these issues.
The bout also shows the risks of a champion wrestler versus what he has to gain when entering a shoot in which he cannot control the outcome. His potential gain is the short term monetary benefit of taking the winner's purse, along with more money matches down the road, and the right to say you are the best. His risks are losing and getting beat up, which doesn't help him make money, hurts his claim to being the best, and damages his drawing ability. Shamrock lost here, and got a little beating in the process. Were it a work, he could have avoided one or both of those consequences. This is why pro wrestling champions, by and large, have avoided putting their titles on the line in a straight shoot. The risks far outweigh the potential benefits. When you have the golden goose, which is what the title historically was, why risk it at all. The answer down through time has been that you don't.
Severn does deserve some credit for fighting his fight. Granted it was boring but it achieved the desired outcome. He also was more willing than Shamrock to let it all hang out during the brief period he had the advantage. He took the risk and rained down a flurry of blows that put a beating on Shamrock. That and the blood probably were the difference to the judges that saw it Severn's way. My own preference would have been a no contest with the belt held up. It sounds like a pro wrestling finish, but neither deserved a win for the 24 minutes of dancing, nor did Shamrock deserve to retain the title in the event of a draw. When facing each other, the top flight grapplers in this event like Severn, Shamrock, and Taktarov need to be pushed in the direction of taking chances on offense rather than sitting back and endlessly waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. The skill level among the top guys is getting to such a level that the mistakes are fewer and further between. It will lead to more matches like this unless the promotion figures out a way to push them into a more offensive mindset.
UFC has now established Frye as a marketable figure and needs to get him a SuperFight with Severn or Shamrock before he stubs his toe.
READER REVIEWS
Pat McNeill (8.5): The best match was obviously Don Frye vs. Amoury Bitetti. Worst match was Severn vs. Shamrock because there was so much time spent with nothing happening, including the entire first overtime. All in all though it was probably UFC's best card. They should probably consider doing the fight style card more often as opposed to the tournament. It surprised me because I thought it'd be a weak point. They created three or four stars that people are going to want to see. I'm looking forward to the next one. While the room full of people I watched it with are enthused about the next UFC, none of them are going to watch Pancrase again. It wasn't their speed. It was boring. And I have to agree.
Randy Lantz (8.5): The best match was Shultz vs. Goodridge and worst was Severn vs. Shamrock. It was a really good card. The only negative in my opinion was the defensive style by both Severn and Shamrock. More offense was needed.
Jim Thompson (7.5): Best match was Don Frye vs. Bitetti. It was kind of a disgrace fans were booing during the Shamrock vs. Severn match. I mean, those guys are not there to entertain, they are there to win. If they felt they had to feel each other out for 17 minutes, then so be it.
Kevin Hancer (8.0): Best was clearly Frye vs. Bitetti. Worst was Kitao vs. Hall. No fault of Hall; Kitao has no place in these events. For an upcoming match wouldn't you love to see Frye vs. Shultz. Someone needs to tell John McCarthy he is not the star of UFC. Except for in the main event he is far too quick to yell "keep working" which is especially annoying when it's obvious the fighters are working. A great event with a lot of good stars.
Scott Colton: It's a shame they couldn't do the tournament. Without the tournament the wins meant nothing to the audience except seeing some good fighting. The superfight put me to sleep; it should have kept me up all night.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Torch_Flashbacks_32/article_9438.shtml
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