Ultimate Ultimate 1996 | ||||
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![]() The poster for Ultimate Ultimate 1996 | ||||
Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
Date | December 7, 1996 | |||
Venue | Fair Park Arena | |||
City | Birmingham,Alabama | |||
Attendance | 6,000 | |||
Buyrate | 120,000 | |||
Event chronology | ||||
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UFC: The Ultimate Ultimate 2 (also known asUltimate Ultimate 1996,UFC 11.5 orUltimate Ultimate '96: The Tournament of Champions) was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on December 7, 1996. The event took place at theFair Park Arena inBirmingham, Alabama, and was broadcast live onpay-per-view in theUnited States, and released onhome video.
The card featured an eight-mantournament with two alternate bouts, and was the UFC's second "Ultimate Ultimate" tournament, held to find the best of the winners and runners up from pastUFC events. This event was the first to introduce the "no grabbing of the fence" rule.
Ken Shamrock appeared as a guest onLate Night with Conan O'Brien on the mainstream networkNBC to promote the event, a groundbreaking moment for the young sport ofmixed martial arts.
UFC 10 andUFC 11 championMark Coleman was originally scheduled to compete in the tournament but was forced to withdraw from the event due to a virus.
The Ultimate Ultimate 1996 also marked the final appearance ofUFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock before leaving theUFC to go to theWorld Wrestling Federation. Shamrock would not return to theUFC until 2002 atUFC 40.
The event would also be the last timeDon Frye fought in theUFC, as he would also transition into pro wrestling, signing withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling.Mark Hall, who Frye defeated in the semifinals, would later claim that Don Frye and manager Robert DePersia came into his dressing room during the tournament and convinced him tothrow the two fighters' upcoming semi-final match. Hall says that sinceTank Abbott had already advanced to the final after two relatively easy wins, Frye – who'd logged eleven minutes of cage time already that night – wanted to save his energy for the championship match. Because he'd already suffered two defeats to Frye earlier in his career (and therefore probably wasn't going to win anyway) and DePersia implied that saying no would have a disastrous impact on his future, Hall says he reluctantly agreed to go along with the plot. Frye won byAchilles lock submission in twenty seconds.[1] RefereeJohn McCarthy later wrote in his autobiographyLet's Get It On!:
"Unfortunately, this night was the second time I felt I was refereeing a fixed bout. In the semifinals, Don Frye and Mark Hall met in a rematch of theirUFC 10 bout. In their first encounter Frye had beaten the piss out of Hall, who'd refused to give up. Here, though, Frye ankle-locked Hall to advance to the finals without breaking a sweat.The fight struck me as odd. Frye, a bread-and-butter wrestler and swing-for-the-fences puncher, had never won a fight by leg lock, and Hall practically fell into the submission. I also knew both fighters were managed by the same guy."[2]
Finals | |||||||
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Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
N/A | Don Frye | def. | Tank Abbott | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1:22 | ||
Semifinals | |||||||
N/A | Tank Abbott | def. | Steve Nelmark | KO (punch) | 1:03 | [a] | |
N/A | Don Frye | def. | Mark Hall | Submission (achilles lock) | 0:20 | [b] | |
Quarterfinals | |||||||
N/A | Ken Shamrock | def. | Brian Johnston | Submission (forearm choke) | 5:48 | [c] | |
N/A | Tank Abbott | def. | Cal Worsham | Submission (punches) | 2:51 | ||
N/A | Don Frye | def. | Gary Goodridge | Submission (fatigue) | 11:19 | ||
N/A | Kimo Leopoldo | def. | Paul Varelans | TKO (corner stoppage) | 9:08 | [d] | |
Alternate bouts | |||||||
N/A | Mark Hall | def. | Felix Mitchell | TKO (punches) | 1:45 | ||
N/A | Steve Nelmark | def. | Marcus Bossett | Submission (choke) | 1:37 | ||
N/A | Tai Bowden | def. | Jack Nilson | Submission (headbutts) | 4:46 |
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
![]() | SUB | |||||||||||||
![]() | 5:48 | |||||||||||||
![]() | KO | |||||||||||||
![]() | 1:03 | |||||||||||||
![]() | SUB | |||||||||||||
![]() | 2:51 | |||||||||||||
![]() | 1:22 | |||||||||||||
![]() | SUB | |||||||||||||
![]() | SUB | |||||||||||||
![]() | 11:19 | |||||||||||||
![]() | SUB | |||||||||||||
![]() | 0:20 | |||||||||||||
![]() | TKO | |||||||||||||
![]() | 9:08 |
1Ken Shamrock withdrew due to injury, and was replaced by alternateSteve Nelmark.
2Kimo Leopoldo withdrew due to fatigue, and was replaced by alternateMark Hall.
The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titledUFC Encyclopedia.[3]