- Friday 10.17.1997
- U.S. Broadcast: Pay Per View
- Promotion: Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Ownership: Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG)
- Venue: Casino Magic Bay St. Louis
- Location: Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, United States
- Enclosure: Octagon
- TV Announcers: Bruce Beck, Jeff Blatnick
- Ring Announcer: Bruce Buffer
- Post-Fight Interviews: Joe Rogan
- MMA Bouts: 7
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Fight Card
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UFC Heavyweight Championship
Submission, Strikes
8:08 Round 1 of 17Main Event
265
30 min one round | Pro -
Tournament Championship
Submission, Rear Naked Choke
0:53 Round 1 of 16Main Card
265
15 min one round | Pro
Cancelled & Fizzled Bouts
Referees
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John McCarthy
Smith vs. Abbott (7), Kerr vs. Cason (6), Couture vs. Belfort I (5), Beneteau vs. Barreto (4), Kerr vs. Stott (3) -
Joseph Hamilton
Cason vs. Dorr (2), Hunter vs. Moskowitz (1)
Wiki
UFC 15 Wiki
UFC 15, held in October of 1997, marked an important turning point for the sport of mixed martial arts in the United States. The tournament saw a variety of new rules enforced, barring a range of striking techniques such as head-butts, groin strikes, strikes to the back of the head and neck, and kicks to the head of a downed opponent, as well as small joint manipulation, pressure point strikes, and hair pulling.
In the fights, collossal newcomer Mark Kerr won his second straight Heavyweight tournament, running through his opposition, while Randy Couture defeated Vitor Belfort in a Superfight upset and Maurice Smith, the newly crowned Heavyweight Champion, defended his title against late replacement opponent Tank Abbott in the main event.
Gary Goodridge was originally supposed to fight in the event but had to be replaced by Ranger Stott. Goodridge had fought in Pride just six days earlier where he knocked out Oleg Taktarov. In that same Pride, Tank Abbott was supposed to fight Kimo and for some reason(not an injury), Dan Severn replaced him. Tank then replaced Severn so there was irony.
This event was also notable for the appearance of the infamous "Just Bleed Guy" in a brief crowd sequence.