UFC: Ultimate Japan

Description

This event, which took place on December 21st, 1997 in Yokohama, Japan, featured a four man heavyweight tournament. The event also featured the first ever UFC Middleweight Championship bout along with a Heavyweight Championship bout, a Superfight and an alternate bout. Ultimate Japan 1 featured the first UFC televised appearance of MMA legends Kazushi Sakuraba and Frank Shamrock to the American audience.

The event was the first appearance of longtime UFC announcer Mike Goldberg, who replaced Bruce Beck as the play by play announcer. Another notable first was the use of unique entry music for each fighter such as the "Speed TK Remix" which would become Kazushi Sakuraba's trademark entance theme throughout his career. The use of unique entrance themes for the fighters was not repeated in UFC 16. UFC: Ultimate Japan one would be the first of the awesome three-part UFC: Ultimate Japan series.

Sakuraba Incident -

In an attempt to gain attention for the Japanese Kingdom Pro Wrestling, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Yoji Anjo signed on to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Ultimate Japan tournament. As fate would have it, Kanehara was injured in his training for the tournament, and Kazushi Sakuraba wound up as his late hour substitute. The tournament was intended for heavyweights, and Sakuraba, at 183 pounds, was nearly twenty pounds beneath the UFC's 200 pound designation for the weight class. Reporting himself as 203 pounds in order to gain entry, Sakuraba was paired off against the 243 pound Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blackbelt and former Extreme Fighting champion, Marcus Silveira.

Following a barrage of blows by Silveira, Sakuraba dropped for a low-single, only for the fight to be prematurely ended on a KO. Referee John McCarthy had mistakenly thought Sakuraba to have been knocked out. A loud protest followed from the crowd and an angry Sakuraba attempted unsuccessfully to take the microphone and address the Japanese audience. However, after reviewing tape, McCarthy changed his decision to a no-contest. Tank Abbott, who had earlier defeated Yoji Anjo, dropped from the tournament due to an injured hand, leaving Sakuraba and Silveira to face off once more that night in what would be the championship bout of the tournament. This time, Sakuraba claimed the victory, submitting Silveira with an armbar. Afterwards, Sakuraba famously stated, "In fact, professional wrestling is strong".

Results

Heavyweight Alternate bout: Tra Telligman vs. Brad Kohler
Telligman wins via submission (armbar) at 10:10. This match was not featured on the home video edition for undisclosed reasons.

Heavyweight Tournament Semifinals: Tank Abbott vs. Yoji Anjo
Abbott wins via unanimous decision at 15:00. Abbott is unable to continue in the tournament due to a broken hand.

Heavyweight Tournament Semifinals: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Marcus Silveira
Ruled a No Contest (referee stopped the bout early at 1:51)

Middleweight Championship bout: Frank Shamrock vs. Kevin Jackson
Shamrock wins via submission (armbar) at 0:16.

Heavyweight Superfight: Vitor Belfort vs. Joe Charles
Belfort wins via submission (armbar) at 4:04.

Heavyweight Tournament Finals:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Marcus Silveira
Sakuraba wins via submission (armbar) at 3:45. Due to the NC, and Tank Abbott bowing out of the tournament, UFC officials ruled that a rematch between Sakuraba and Silveira would serve as the Heavyweight Tournament final.

Heavyweight Championship bout: Maurice Smith (c) vs. Randy Couture
Couture wins via majority decision at 21:00 to become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion.

UFC Japan Heavyweight Tournament Bracket Semifinals/ Finals

Semifinals -
Tank Abbott DEC
Yoji Anjo 15:00
(Tank Abbott wins by decision but had to drop out of the tournament due to a broken hand)

Semifinals -
Kazushi Sakuraba NC
Marcus Silveira 1:51
(bout was later ruled a "no contest" due to a premature stoppage)

Finals -
Kazushi Sakuraba1 SUB
Marcus Silveira 3:44
(Kazushi Sakuraba wins by submission "armbar")

Due to the NC, and Tank Abbott bowing out of the tournament, UFC officials ruled that a rematch between Sakuraba and Silveira would serve as the Heavyweight Tournament final.