| UFC 15: Collision Course | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 15: Collision Course | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 17, 1997 | |||
| Venue | Casino Magic Bay St. Louis | |||
| City | Bay St. Louis,Mississippi | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 15: Collision Course was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on October 17, 1997, inBay St. Louis,Mississippi. The event was seen live onpay-per-view in theUnited States, and later released onhome video.
UFC 15 was headlined by aUFC Heavyweight Championship bout betweenMaurice Smith andTank Abbott. Abbott was brought in as a last-minute replacement forDan Severn, who couldn't fight because of an injured hand.
UFC 15 featured a Superfight betweenRandy Couture andVitor Belfort, a Heavyweight Tournament, and two alternate bouts. The Superfight was billed as a Heavyweight Title Elimination bout, which can be described as a #1 Contender's match, meaning the winner would advance to compete for theUFC Heavyweight Championship at the next event,UFC Japan.
The show also marked the last event to featureBruce Beck, who had been the mainplay-by-play announcer starting withUFC 4. He was replaced byMike Goldberg inUFC Japan.
Collision Course marked a major change in theUFC's rules, with limitations set on permissible striking areas.Headbutts,groin strikes,strikes to the back of the neck and head,knees to a downed opponent,head stomps,kicks to a downed opponent,small joint manipulation, and hair pulling all became officially illegal.
| Heavyweight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Maurice Smith (c) | def. | Tank Abbott | TKO (leg kicks) | 8:08 | [a] | |
| Heavyweight Superfight | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Randy Couture | def. | Vitor Belfort | TKO (punches) | 8:16 | ||
| Finals | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Mark Kerr | def. | Dwayne Cason | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 0:53 | [b] | |
| Semifinals | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Mark Kerr | def. | Greg Stott | KO (knee) | 0:17 | ||
| Heavyweight | Dave Beneteau | def. | Carlos Barreto | Decision (unanimous) | 15:00 | [c] | |
| Alternate bouts | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Alex Hunter | def. | Harry Moskowitz | Decision (split) | 12:00 | ||
| Heavyweight | Dwayne Cason | def. | Houston Dorr | TKO (punches) | 3:43 | ||
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
 Mark Kerr | KO | ||||||||
| Greg Stott | 0:17 | ||||||||
| Mark Kerr | SUB | ||||||||
| Dwayne Cason1 | 0:53 | ||||||||
 Dave Beneteau | DEC | ||||||||
 Carlos Barreto | 15:00 | ||||||||
1 Dwayne Cason replacedDave Beneteau who withdrew due to fatigue.
