UFC 17

UFC 17: Redemption
Information
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	May 15, 1998
Venue	Mobile Civic Center
City	Mobile, Alabama, USA
Event chronology
UFC 16: Battle in the Bayou UFC 17: Redemption UFC Brazil: Ultimate Brazil

UFC 17: Redemption was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 15th, 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.

History

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 Middleweight Championship bout between 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.

UFC 17 featured the first UFC appearance of both Dan Henderson and Carlos Newton, as well as the first MMA fight for Chuck Liddell as an alternate in the middleweight tournament, though the fight was not televised. UFC 17 marked the first card where the letters "U.F.C." replaced "The Ultimate Fighting Championship" in all the logos and when referred to by the announcers/commentators. The new logo used the similar character from the old logo (with hands on his hips instead of punching the globe) combined with the letters UFC on the bottom.

The title Redemption refers to Mark Coleman's return after losing the UFC Heavyweight Title 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 roundhouse kick Williams delivered to the face. The Coleman/Couture matchup would finally take place 12 years later at UFC 109, with Couture winning by submission.

Results

• Middleweight Tournament Alternate bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Noe Hernandez

Liddell defeated Hernandez via unanimous decision at 12:00.

• Heavyweight bout: Andre Roberts vs. Harry Moskowitz

Roberts defeated Moskowitz via KO (elbow) at 3:15.

• Middleweight Tournament Semifinals: Dan Henderson vs. Allan Goes

Henderson defeated Goes via unanimous decision at 15:00.

• Middleweight Tournament Semifinals: Carlos Newton vs. Bob Gilstrap

Newton defeated Gilstrap via submission (triangle choke) at 0:52.

• Heavyweight Superfight: Mike Van Arsdale vs. Joe Pardo

Van Arsdale defeated Pardo via submission (kimura) at 11:01.

• Heavyweight Superfight: Tank Abbott vs. Hugo Duarte

Abbott defeated Duarte via TKO (punches) at 0:44.

• Middleweight Tournament Finals: Dan Henderson vs. Carlos Newton

Henderson defeated Newton via split decision at 15:00 to win the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament.

• Heavyweight Superfight: Pete Williams vs. Mark Coleman

Williams defeated Coleman via KO (kick) at 12:38.

• Middleweight Championship bout: Frank Shamrock (c) vs. Jeremy Horn

Shamrock defeated Horn via submission (kneebar) at 16:28 to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship.

UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Bracket

	Semifinals					Finals
		Dan Henderson	DEC
		Allan Goes	15:00
							Dan Henderson	DEC
							Carlos Newton	15:00
		Carlos Newton	SUB
		Bob Gilstrap	0:52

External links

• UFC17 results at Sherdog.com
• UFC17 fights reviews