| UFC 17: Redemption | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 17: Redemption | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | May 15, 1998 | |||
| Venue | Mobile Civic Center | |||
| City | Mobile,Alabama | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 17: Redemption was amixed martial arts event held by theUltimate Fighting Championship on May 15, 1998, at theMobile Civic Center, inMobile, Alabama. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in theUnited States, and later released onhome video.
The event featured a four-manMiddleweight Tournament, threeHeavyweight Superfights, an alternate bout in case of tournament injury, and aHeavyweight "exhibition" bout. AUFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between current championFrank Shamrock andJeremy Horn was also taped for broadcast on a later pay-per-view.
UFC 17 was the lastUFC event (aside fromUFC 23), to feature the "tournament" style format.
Several hours prior to the event, Olympic Gold medalist andUFC commentatorJeff Blatnick was introduced as the promotion's commissioner in a meeting with the fighters to discuss the fight rules for the event. Blatnick asked at the meeting that the fighters refer to the sport, which at the time had many different names including the misnomer "No Holds Barred", asMixed Martial Arts, with the intention of improving the sport's image. He then repeated the request to the media covering the event later that night. This is generally considered the first time the termMixed Martial Arts was used to refer to the modern sport, and Blatnick is widely credited with coining the term in relation to it.[1]
UFC 17 featured the firstUFC appearance of bothDan Henderson andCarlos Newton, as well as the firstMMA fight forChuck Liddell.
The titleRedemption refers toMark Coleman's return after losing theUFC Heavyweight Championship toMaurice Smith atUFC 14. Coleman was originally slated to face thenUFC Heavyweight ChampionRandy Couture, who had to withdraw due to an injury.Lion's Den fighterPete 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 head kick Williams delivered to the face. The Coleman/Couture matchup would finally take place 12 years later atUFC 109.
| Light Heavyweight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Light Heavyweight | Frank Shamrock (c) | def. | Jeremy Horn | Submission (kneebar) | 16:28 | [a] | |
| Heavyweight bouts | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Pete Williams | def. | Mark Coleman | KO (head kick) | 12:38 | ||
| Heavyweight | Tank Abbott | def. | Hugo Duarte | TKO (punches) | 0:43 | ||
| Heavyweight | Mike van Arsdale | def. | Joe Pardo | Submission (americana) | 11:01 | ||
| Heavyweight | Andre Roberts | def. | Harry Moskowitz | KO (elbow) | 3:15 | ||
| Light Heavyweight bout | |||||||
| Middleweight | Chuck Liddell | def. | Noe Hernandez | Decision (unanimous) | 12:00 | ||
| Middleweight Tournament Finals | |||||||
| Middleweight | Dan Henderson | def. | Carlos Newton | Decision (split) | 15:00 | ||
| Middleweight Tournament Semifinals | |||||||
| Middleweight | Dan Henderson | def. | Allan Góes | Decision (unanimous) | 15:00 | ||
| Middleweight | Carlos Newton | def. | Bob Gilstrap | Submission (triangle choke) | 0:54 | ||
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| Dan Henderson | DEC | ||||||||
| Allan Góes | 15:00 | ||||||||
| Dan Henderson | DEC | ||||||||
| Carlos Newton | 15:00 | ||||||||
| Carlos Newton | SUB | ||||||||
| Bob Gilstrap | 0:52 | ||||||||
The following fighters were honored in the October 2011 book titledUFC Encyclopedia.[2]
| Pioneer Wing | |
|---|---|
| Modern-Era Wing | |
| Contributors | |
| Fights | |
| Community Award | |
