Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [99]
In true Shamrock form, Frank had saved the best for last. To most everyone’s surprise, he told commentator Jeff Blatnick he’d be retiring his belt in the cage that night. Then he laid his middleweight belt on the canvas and walked out the Octagon door.
I’d known ahead of time that this would be Shamrock’s last fight in the UFC. He’d told me beforehand, but of course I didn’t know for sure if he’d go through with it. You never know how a fighter might react after a victory or defeat. Shamrock said he’d run out of challenges in the cage, but the truth was that he felt the UFC didn’t pay enough to make the training and time away from his family worthwhile. Retiring allowed him a loophole to get out of his UFC contract.
Tank Abbott also made an appearance at UFC 22, scaling the cage’s wall for an impromptu prance around the Octagon that sent the crowd reeling. Abbott, in the best shape of his career, had recently signed a contract with the WCW. SEG hadn’t been able to afford even their most popular fighter, so he’d gone off to pro wrestling.
UFC 23
“Ultimate Japan 2”
November 19, 1999
Tokyo Bay NK Hall
Tokyo, Japan
Bouts I Reffed:
Eugene Jackson vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
Joe Slick vs. Jason DeLucia
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Katsuhisa Fujii
Pedro Rizzo vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Kevin Randleman vs. Pete Williams
The final UFC to hold a tournament, this was a much smaller show than the first UFC Japan, as the venue held about 7,000 people. In their middleweight bout, Jackson hit Yamamiya so hard it knocked out his bridge. There it was with protruding teeth on the Octagon canvas, which was kind of funny if you had a warped sense of humor.
In the heavyweight headliner, Randleman got reversed by Williams and seemed to have hurt his ribs near the end of the round. Randleman lay on the mat about forty-five seconds of the one-minute break between rounds. I thought the fight would be over, but Randleman came back out for four more rounds and eventually won. Stacked up against most of the classics, it wasn’t a great fight, but Randleman’s resilience was impressive.
For UFC 23 and 25, SEG brought the show back to Japan, yet neither event was nearly as commercially successful as the first had been. By then, Pride Fighting Championships, which boasted elaborate fight entrances using high-tech lights, music, and video, had become king in Japan. The UFC was just an afterthought. It really hit me as I saw former UFC stars like Vitor Belfort, Mark Coleman, and Mark Kerr, all now fighting for Pride, backstage and in the audience. Pride shows were starting to attract crowds of 20,000 to 30,000 people. Meanwhile, through the fight community stories spread of American fighters bringing home wads of cash stuffed in their underwear and socks. The UFC couldn’t compete with this at all.
It seemed like the ship was sinking when a ray of hope broke through. In February of 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board dipped its toe into MMA regulation by approving an MMA-style bout at a regional kickboxing show held at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was called a freestyle grappling exhibition, and the fighters could take bouts to the ground and hit with open-handed strikes. New Jersey was viewed as another leading regulatory body because of the number of boxing events it oversaw in Atlantic City, while New York was also a couple hours away. This was a big break for the sport.
UFC 24
“First Defense”
March 10, 2000
Lake Charles Civic Center
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Bouts I Reffed:
Jens Pulver vs. David Velasquez
Bob Cook vs. Tiki Ghosn
Dave Menne vs. Fabiano Iha
Lance Gibson vs. Jermaine Andre
Tedd Williams vs. Steve Judson
You know things are bad when the heavyweight championship fight is cancelled during the show because the champion gets knocked out backstage. Yes, Randleman was warming up in the