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It was December 16th, 1995. Over a two year period the Ultimate Fighting Championship had held seven events, events featuring some of the most brutal and the most impressive performances in the fledgling sport of mixed martial arts.

Then they wanted to find out who was the best by putting together former champions and runners-up in a one night tournament for the first Ultimate Ultimate.

The show began with the quarter-finals, with Tank Abbott taking on UFC 3 Champion Steve Jennum.

Abbott scored the early take down in this one, and showed some good skill by moving Jennum up against the fence. Jennum managed to get the big guy out of his guard, but it wasn’t long before Abbott was soon back in.

Seconds later, and with his neck looking cranked against the cage Jennum, his head squeezed up against the fence and realising there was nothing he could do, tapped out, giving Abbott the victory.

Quarter-final #2 saw Paul Varelans facing UFC 5 Champion Dan Severn.

Like Abbott before him Severn took his man early, dominating the fight by tying Varelans up like a pretzel before locking in an arm choke for the submission win.

Quarter-final #3 saw Dave Beneteau taking on UFC 6 Champion Oleg Taktarov.

Another fight that barely lasted past the minute mark saw both men grappling for position early on, but when Beneteau looked like he was getting the upper hand Taktarov countered by taking the Canadian’s leg and taking the fight to the ground, synching in an Achilles lock for the submission win.

Quarter-final #4 saw Keith Hackney going up against UFC 7 Champion Marco Ruas.

The longest fight of the round saw a lengthy feeling out period at the beginning, with both men testing the waters with kicks, but when Ruas took the fight to the ground it was all over bar the shouting. Ruas quickly took Hackney’s back and flattened him out before synching in the rear naked choke for the submission win.

Semi-final #1 saw Tank Abbott taking on Dan Severn.

Abbott began by defending Severn’s take down attempt, but from that moment on it was all Severn as the Beast dominated the fight on the ground. Severn overwhelmed Abbott on the ground, taking his back and delivering forearms, elbows, knees and punches while looking for that elusive finishing move.

With Abbott all but failing to defend himself this fight would have been stopped early under today’s unified rules, but with Severn failing to get that finisher and Abbott’s only other great moment being when he managed to get to his feet late on the fight went to the 18 minute time limit.

Which meant that for the first time in UFC history the newly-installed judges came into play, with all three giving the fight to Severn.

Semi-final #2 saw Oleg Taktarov facing Marco Ruas.

This looked a mouth watering prospect on paper, and was certainly a more even fight than the first semi-final.

Both men put in some good work on the ground, especially Taktarov, who went for a guillotine choke and had the hold on for what seemed like an age, with Ruas content just to stay in position.

But when referee John McCarthy stood the fighters up for inactivity the action kind of stalled as they spent the remainder of the fight circling each other and delivering the odd blow. It didn’t make for exciting viewing as both men seemed unwilling to commit to anything, and as the clock ran down to the 18 minute time limit the crowd began to chant “fight, fight”.

So the judges came into play again, with Taktarov taking the unanimous decision.

Then it was on to the final between Dan Severn and Oleg Taktarov.

This proved to be an intriguing battle. Severn began by slapping Taktarov’s forehead, hoping to open up the cuts and scar tissue before the fight went to the ground, and when it got there the Beast did a good job of controlling the fight in the guard, using the head butt to good effect and opening Taktarov up and swelling his forehead and cheek bones.

But it wasn’t all Severn here. Taktarov did a good job in the defensive department, holding onto Severn and stopping him from going for any sort of finishing move.

The only problem that both fighters had though was that they were both exhausted, and this came into play big time, with neither man able to put the other away before the 27 minute time limit or in the 3 minute overtime period.

So once again the judges came into play as all three gave their decision to Severn, and rightfully so, crowning him the first Ultimate Ultimate Champion.

In conclusion – this was a really enjoyable show. All the fights were pretty good, and it was interesting to watch the drama unfold as the show went on as the better fighters basically negated each other.

However, although this was a good tournament I couldn’t help but wonder how things would have played out if the UFC’s best tournament champion, Royce Gracie, had been a part of this event. But then again that’s something we as armchair fans can only speculate on.

So in all the first Ultimate Ultimate tournament gets the thumbs up from me as another interesting slice of mixed martial arts history.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.

It was the event that introduced Brazilian Vale Tudo to the world as Marco Ruas made his bow in the 7th Ultimate Fighting Championship, The Brawl in Buffalo.

The show began with the tournament quarter-finals, beginning with karate fighter Gerry Harris facing trap fighter Paul Varelans.

This battle of the big men saw Varelans scored with the quick take down. From there he overwhelmed Harris, whose lack of ground fighting experience showed as Varelans took his back. Harris tapped after a series of elbows to the top of his head.

The next fight saw multi-black belt holder Mark Hall taking on the mullet man himself, Harold Howard.

These two were like statues at the beginning before Howard took the fight to the ground while he was trying a one handed choke.

But as Howard fell to his back Hall took control and bloodied Howard’s nose, and as Hall continued his assault Howard gave up, making a cross sign with his hands before tapping.

The third quarter saw jiu-jitsu fighter Remco Pardoel taking on karate man Ryan Parker.

These two gi-wearing fighters put on an interesting contest. Parker had no ground fighting experience and looked lost when Pardoel took the fight down.

Pardoel locked in a head lock, delivering a few punches before taking the mount and getting the tap out with a lapel choke.

The final quarter final saw the aforementioned Marco Ruas taking on kickboxer Larry Cureton.

This was the one I really wanted to see, mainly because I’d seen Ruas in action before when I reviewed his instructional DVD a few years ago.

This was by far the best fight of the round. Cureton went for a guillotine straight away, with Ruas countering with a big slam.

Then, surprisingly, Cureton reversed positions so he could take the guard. From there he went to work with the ground and pound, dominating for a couple of minutes.

Ruas then regained control, locking up Cureton’s leg and getting the submission win with a knee bar.

Then it was on to the semi-finals, beginning with Paul Varelans against Mark Hall.

Varelans had a massive size advantage in this one, using it to good effect as he took Hall down with a headlock before taking the mount and synching in a key lock for the submission win in just 61 seconds.

The second semi saw Remco Pardoel against Marco Ruas.

This was a war of attrition. Pardoel went for a guillotine attempt early on, keeping the hold applied for several minutes. The only problem was that he also had Rua’s right arm trapped as well, which negated the effect of the choke.

Ruas eventually took the fight to the ground, and the Brazilian soon took control, using Pardoel’s own gi against him as he went for a heel hook.

Then, as the fight neared the 13 minute mark, Ruas took the mount, and just as it looked as if Ruas was about to unload with the ground and pound Pardoel strangely tapped out, even though he still looked in good condition, with the announcers speculating that the Dutchman knew he was in for a beating.

The big title fight followed as UFC 6 tournament winner Oleg Taktarov challenged Ken Shamrock for the Superfight title.

Now this really was a war of attrition. Most of the bout was contested on the ground, with Shamrock in the guard position, controlling Taktarov with blows and head butts.

And that was how the action played out for the majority of the fight. Referee John McCarthy stood them up twice, but they soon returned to the ground, and by the time they were brought back up with three minutes left Taktarov had two cuts by his left eye and a swelling by his right.

Then they engaged in a striking battle, with Taktarov bloodying Shamrock’s nose. But there was still no finish as the 30 minute time limit expired.

So it was on to the three minute (down from the original five) overtime period, where we saw more striking before they went back down to the ground as the fight ended.

After all that the fight was declared a draw, with Shamrock retaining his title. It was a dominating performance from Shamrock, and it was also the fight that prompted the UFC to appoint judges from the next show.

Last up was the tournament final between Paul Varelans and Marco Ruas.

Varelans, as is his custom, came out of the traps immediately, only for Ruas to meet him with a series of right kicks that softened up his left leg.

Ruas then got his man up against the cage, surviving a brief guillotine attempt before taking the big man’s back. Varelans would surely have been taken down had he not held on to the fence.

When the referee broke them up because of inactivity Ruas went back to work with the leg kicks as Varelans began to limp quite badly. Eventually Ruas was able to cut him down, and after the Brazilian followed him down for some ground and pound the referee quickly stepped in to give Ruas the TKO win and the tournament victory.

In conclusion – my trip into the history of MMA was certainly interesting before, but this time I was in for a slight revelation.

Up until this point those entering the tournaments had been either strikers or grapplers, with those returning to the Octagon beginning to learn a little more about other fighting disciplines.

But Marco Ruas seemed to change all that, showing that he was gifted in both departments. He really was an all round fighter, perhaps even more so than Ken Shamrock at the time, and it certainly would have been interesting to see Ruas challenging Shamrock for the Superfight title. Sadly, the first Ultimate Ultimate tournament got in the way.

So in all UFC 7 gets the thumbs up as another great piece of MMA history, and the performance of the King of the Streets.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.