| UFC 10: The Tournament | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 10: The Tournament | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | July 12, 1996 | |||
| Venue | Fair Park Arena | |||
| City | Birmingham,Alabama | |||
| Attendance | 4,300 | |||
| Buyrate | 96,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 10: The Tournament was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on July 12, 1996, at theFair Park Arena inBirmingham,Alabama. The event was seen live on pay per view in theUnited States, and later released onhome video. A fictional UFC 10, staged at theGrand Olympic Auditorium, is featured during one scene in the filmVirtuosity, including an appearance from fighterKen Shamrock.
UFC 10 marked the UFC's return to thetournament format (which was removed in favor of single bouts atUFC 9). The card featured an eight man tournament, as well as two alternate bouts in case of an injury, and to fill time for the pay-per-view broadcast.
UFC was originally supposed to air this event from theProvidence Civic Center inProvidence,Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (DBR) challenged the UFC's licence to host the event in court. Judge Richard J. Israel agreed that the tournament could go ahead there but only if they followed the rules ofprofessional wrestling. When the UFC's lawyer stated that theWWF wasn't real, the judge retorted: "I’ve been watching it for 20 years, it certainly is."[1] Due to wrestling needing a licence in Rhode Island, the UFC were obliged to apply for a wrestling licence from the DBR, which they refused to grant and the refusal was upheld on appeal.[2] As a result, this led to UFC 10 being forced to move the event to Alabama.[2]
UFC 10 featured the first appearance ofMark Coleman, who beat fan favoriteDon Frye to win the tournament. It was also the first time thatBruce Buffer announced the fights inside the Octagon, replacing Rich Goins. (Bruce's brotherMichael Buffer had announced atUFC 6 andUFC 7.[3]) However, Rich Goins came back forUFC 8,UFC 9, andUFC 11.
| Finals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| N/A | Mark Coleman | def. | Don Frye | TKO (punches) | 11:34 | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||
| N/A | Don Frye | def. | Brian Johnston | TKO (submission to elbow) | 4:37 | ||
| N/A | Mark Coleman | def. | Gary Goodridge | Submission (exhaustion) | 7:00 | ||
| Quarterfinals | |||||||
| N/A | Don Frye | def. | Mark Hall | TKO (punches) | 10:21 | ||
| N/A | Brian Johnston | def. | Scott Fiedler | TKO (submission to punches) | 2:25 | ||
| N/A | Mark Coleman | def. | Moti Horenstein | TKO (submission to punches) | 2:43 | ||
| N/A | Gary Goodridge | def. | John Campetella | TKO (punches) | 1:28 | ||
| Alternate bouts | |||||||
| N/A | Geza Kalman | def. | Dieuseul Berto | TKO (punches) | 5:57 | ||
| N/A | Sam Adkins | def. | Felix Mitchell | Decision (unanimous) | |||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
 Don Frye | TKO | |||||||||||||
| Mark Hall | 10:21 | |||||||||||||
| Don Frye | TKO | |||||||||||||
| Brian Johnston | 4:37 | |||||||||||||
| Brian Johnston | TKO | |||||||||||||
| Scott Fiedler | 2:25 | |||||||||||||
| Don Frye | 11:34 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Coleman | TKO | |||||||||||||
| Mark Coleman | SUB | |||||||||||||
 Moti Horenstein | 2:43 | |||||||||||||
| Mark Coleman | SUB | |||||||||||||
 Gary Goodridge | 7:00 | |||||||||||||
| Gary Goodridge | KO | |||||||||||||
| John Campetella | 1:28 | |||||||||||||
The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titledUFC Encyclopedia.[4]
