- Sunday 12.21.1997
- U.S. Broadcast: Pay Per View
- Promotion: Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Ownership: Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG)
- Venue: Yokohama Arena
- Location: Yokohama, Japan
- Enclosure: Octagon
- TV Announcers: Mike Goldberg, Jeff Blatnick
- Ring Announcer: Bruce Buffer
- Post-Fight Interviews: Jeff Blatnick
- Attendance: 5,000
- MMA Bouts: 7
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Promotion Links:
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Event Links:
Fight Card
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UFC Heavyweight Championship
Decision, Majority
1 Round, 21:00 Total7Main Event
265
21 min one round | Pro -
Tournament Championship
Submission, Armbar
3:44 Round 1 of 16Co-Main Event
265
15 min one round | Pro -
UFC Middleweight Championship
Submission, Armbar
0:16 Round 1 of 14Main Card
199
21 min one round | Pro -
Tournament Championship
Ends in a No Contest, Armbar
1:51 Round 1 of 13Main Card
265
15 min one round | Pro
Cancelled & Fizzled Bouts
Referees
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John McCarthy
Couture vs. Smith (7), Sakuraba vs. Silveira II (6), Belfort vs. Charles (5), Shamrock vs. Jackson (4), Sakuraba vs. Silveira I (3), Abbott vs. Anjo (2), Telligman vs. Kohler (1)
Wiki
UFC 15.5 Wiki
Continuing the tradition of ending the year with an "Ultimate" tournament in which it presented all of its best champions and company stars, the UFC came to Yokohama, Japan in December 1997 with the most stacked card in its four-year history.
Along with featuring the promotional debuts of MMA legends Frank Shamrock and Kazushi Sakuraba, UFC 15.5 featured the first Heavyweight Championship win by Randy Couture, as well as yet another Superfight win by Brazilian phenom Vitor Belfort. Mike Goldberg replaced longtime UFC play-by-play announcer Bruce Beck at this event.