UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan

UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan
UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan
	The poster for UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	December 21, 1997
Venue	Yokohama Arena
City	Yokohama, Japan
Attendance	5,000
Event chronology

UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan (also known as UFC Ultimate Japan or UFC 15.5) was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 21, 1997, in Yokohama, Japan. The event was seen on pay per view in the United States, on cable TV in Japan, and was later released on home video.

History

The event featured a four-man heavyweight tournament, the first ever UFC Middleweight Championship bout, a Heavyweight Championship bout, a Superfight and an alternate bout. Ultimate Japan 1 featured the first UFC appearance of MMA legends Kazushi Sakuraba and Frank Shamrock.

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, though this was not repeated in UFC 16. Also, this UFC event was the first to be located in a country other than the United States or its territories.^[1]

Sakuraba's Tale

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

UFC Heavyweight Championship
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Randy Couture	def.	Maurice Smith (c)	Decision (majority)	1	21:00	^[a]
Heavyweight Tournament Final
Heavyweight	Kazushi Sakuraba	def.	Marcus Silveira	Submission (armbar)	1	3:44	^[b]
Heavyweight bout
Heavyweight	Vitor Belfort	def.	Joe Charles	Submission (armbar)	1	4:03
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Middleweight	Frank Shamrock	def.	Kevin Jackson	Submission (armbar)	1	0:22	^[c]
Heavyweight Tournament Semifinals
Heavyweight	Kazushi Sakuraba	vs.	Marcus Silveira	No Contest (premature stoppage)	1	1:51	^[d]
Heavyweight	Tank Abbott	def.	Yoji Anjo	Decision (unanimous)	1	15:00	^[e]
Heavyweight Alternate bout
Heavyweight	Tra Telligman	def.	Brad Kohler	Submission (armbar)	1	10:05

^ For the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
^ Due to the earlier no-contest, and Tank Abbott bowing out of the tournament, UFC officials ruled that a rematch between Sakuraba and Silveira would serve as the Heavyweight Tournament Finals.
^ For the inaugural UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
^ Originally Silveira was thought to have knocked out Sakuraba at 1:51, but referee John McCarthy mistakenly stopped the bout early, with Sakuraba in good fighting condition. After a protest, the decision was changed to a no-contest.
^ Abbott was unable to continue in the tournament due to a broken hand.

UFC Japan Heavyweight Tournament bracket

Semifinals		Finals

Tank Abbott	DEC

Yoji Anjo	15:00
		Kazushi Sakuraba¹	SUB

		Marcus Silveira	3:44
Kazushi Sakuraba	NC

Marcus Silveira	1:51

¹ 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 Finals.

References

^ "FNA - Fight Night Australasia" (PNG). May 2002.

External links

UFC Japan results at Sherdog.com

[2] For the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

[3] Due to the earlier no-contest, and Tank Abbott bowing out of the tournament, UFC officials ruled that a rematch between Sakuraba and Silveira would serve as the Heavyweight Tournament Finals.

[4] For the inaugural UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

[5] Originally Silveira was thought to have knocked out Sakuraba at 1:51, but referee John McCarthy mistakenly stopped the bout early, with Sakuraba in good fighting condition. After a protest, the decision was changed to a no-contest.

[6] Abbott was unable to continue in the tournament due to a broken hand.

[1] "FNA - Fight Night Australasia" (PNG). May 2002.

[1]

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

v t e Ultimate Fighting Championship events
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Flagship events	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UU 8 9 10 11 UU 2 12 13 14 15 Japan 16 17 Brazil 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 37.5 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312
Fight Nights (on Spike TV)	UFN 1 UFN 2 UFN 3 UFN 4 UFN 5 UFN 6 Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3 Sanchez vs. Riggs Evans vs. Salmon Stevenson vs. Guillard Stout vs. Fisher Thomas vs. Florian Swick vs. Burkman Florian vs. Lauzon Silva vs. Irvin Diaz vs. Neer Fight for the Troops Lauzon vs. Stephens Condit vs. Kampmann Diaz vs. Guillard Maynard vs. Diaz Florian vs. Gomi Marquardt vs. Palhares Fight for the Troops 2 Nogueira vs. Davis Shields vs. Ellenberger
UFC on Versus/UFC Live	Vera vs. Jones Jones vs. Matyushenko Sanchez vs. Kampmann Kongo vs. Barry Hardy vs. Lytle Cruz vs. Johnson
UFC on Fox	Velasquez vs. dos Santos Evans vs. Davis Diaz vs. Miller Shogun vs. Vera Henderson vs. Diaz Johnson vs. Dodson Henderson vs. Melendez Johnson vs. Moraga Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 Henderson vs. Thomson Werdum vs. Browne Lawler vs. Brown dos Santos vs. Miocic Gustafsson vs. Johnson Machida vs. Rockhold Dillashaw vs. Barão 2 dos Anjos vs. Cowboy 2 Johnson vs. Bader Teixeira vs. Evans Holm vs. Shevchenko Maia vs. Condit VanZant vs. Waterson Shevchenko vs. Peña Johnson vs. Reis Weidman vs. Gastelum Lawler vs. dos Anjos Jacaré vs. Brunson 2 Emmett vs. Stephens Poirier vs. Gaethje Alvarez vs. Poirier 2 Lee vs. Iaquinta 2
UFC on FX	Guillard vs. Miller Alves vs. Kampmann Johnson vs. McCall Maynard vs. Guida Browne vs. Bigfoot Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson Belfort vs. Bisping Belfort vs. Rockhold
UFC on Fuel TV	Sanchez vs. Ellenberger Gustafsson vs. Silva The Korean Zombie vs. Poirier Muñoz vs. Weidman Struve vs. Miocic Franklin vs. Le Barão vs. McDonald Silva vs. Stann Mousasi vs. Latifi Nogueira vs. Werdum
Fight Nights (on FS1, FS2, FXX, or UFC Fight Pass)	Shogun vs. Sonnen Condit vs. Kampmann 2 Teixeira vs. Bader Maia vs. Shields Machida vs. Muñoz Fight for the Troops 3 Belfort vs. Henderson 2 Hunt vs. Bigfoot Saffiedine vs. Lim Rockhold vs. Philippou Machida vs. Mousasi Kim vs. Hathaway Gustafsson vs. Manuwa Shogun vs. Henderson 2 Nogueira vs. Nelson Bisping vs. Kennedy Brown vs. Silva Muñoz vs. Mousasi Miocic vs. Maldonado Henderson vs. Khabilov Te Huna vs. Marquardt Swanson vs. Stephens Cowboy vs. Miller McGregor vs. Brandão Bader vs. Saint Preux Bisping vs. Le Henderson vs. dos Anjos Jacaré vs. Mousasi Bigfoot vs. Arlovski Hunt vs. Nelson Nelson vs. Story MacDonald vs. Saffiedine Rockhold vs. Bisping Shogun vs. Saint Preux Edgar vs. Swanson Machida vs. Dollaway McGregor vs. Siver Henderson vs. Thatch Bigfoot vs. Mir Maia vs. LaFlare Mendes vs. Lamas Gonzaga vs. Cro Cop 2 Miocic vs. Hunt Edgar vs. Faber Condit vs. Alves Boetsch vs. Henderson Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne Machida vs. Romero Mir vs. Duffee Bisping vs. Leites Teixeira vs. Saint Preux Holloway vs. Oliveira Barnett vs. Nelson Holohan vs. Smolka Belfort vs. Henderson 3 Magny vs. Gastelum Henderson vs. Masvidal Namajunas vs. VanZant Dillashaw vs. Cruz Hendricks vs. Thompson Cowboy vs. Cowboy Silva vs. Bisping Hunt vs. Mir Rothwell vs. dos Santos Overeem vs. Arlovski Almeida vs. Garbrandt MacDonald vs. Thompson dos Anjos vs. Alvarez McDonald vs. Lineker Rodríguez vs. Caceres Arlovski vs. Barnett Poirier vs. Johnson Cyborg vs. Länsberg Lineker vs. Dodson Lamas vs. Penn dos Anjos vs. Ferguson Mousasi vs. Hall 2 Bader vs. Nogueira 2 Whittaker vs. Brunson Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov Rodríguez vs. Penn Bermudez vs. The Korean Zombie Lewis vs. Browne Belfort vs. Gastelum Manuwa vs. Anderson Swanson vs. Lobov Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Lewis vs. Hunt Holm vs. Correia Chiesa vs. Lee Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio Pettis vs. Moreno Volkov vs. Struve Rockhold vs. Branch Saint Preux vs. Okami Cowboy vs. Till Brunson vs. Machida Poirier vs. Pettis Werdum vs. Tybura Bisping vs. Gastelum Swanson vs. Ortega Stephens vs. Choi Machida vs. Anders Cowboy vs. Medeiros Werdum vs. Volkov Barboza vs. Lee Maia vs. Usman Thompson vs. Till Rivera vs. Moraes Cowboy vs. Edwards dos Santos vs. Ivanov Shogun vs. Smith Gaethje vs. Vick Hunt vs. Oleinik Santos vs. Anders Volkan vs. Smith The Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez Magny vs. Ponzinibbio Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2 dos Santos vs. Tuivasa
UFC on ESPN (or ESPN2)	Ngannou vs. Velasquez Barboza vs. Gaethje Ngannou vs. dos Santos dos Anjos vs. Edwards Covington vs. Lawler Reyes vs. Weidman Overeem vs. Rozenstruik Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik Overeem vs. Harris Woodley vs. Burns Eye vs. Calvillo Blaydes vs. Volkov Poirier vs. Hooker Kattar vs. Ige Whittaker vs. Till Munhoz vs. Edgar Holm vs. Aldana Santos vs. Teixeira Smith vs. Clark Hermansson vs. Vettori Chiesa vs. Magny Brunson vs. Holland Whittaker vs. Gastelum Reyes vs. Procházka Rodriguez vs. Waterson The Korean Zombie vs. Ige Makhachev vs. Moisés Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw Hall vs. Strickland Cannonier vs. Gastelum Barboza vs. Chikadze Font vs. Aldo Kattar vs. Chikadze Blaydes vs. Daukaus Luque vs. Muhammad 2 Font vs. Vera Błachowicz vs. Rakić Kattar vs. Emmett Tsarukyan vs. Gamrot dos Anjos vs. Fiziev Santos vs. Hill Vera vs. Cruz Thompson vs. Holland Vera vs. Sandhagen Holloway vs. Allen Song vs. Simón Kara-France vs. Albazi Vettori vs. Cannonier Strickland vs. Magomedov Holm vs. Bueno Silva Sandhagen vs. Font Luque vs. dos Anjos Dariush vs. Tsarukyan Ribas vs. Namajunas Blanchfield vs. Fiorot Nicolau vs. Perez Lewis vs. Nascimento Cannonier vs. Imavov Perez vs. Taira Namajunas vs. Cortez Lemos vs. Jandiroba Tybura vs. Spivac 2 Cannonier vs. Borralho Covington vs. Buckley
Fight Nights (on ESPN+)	Cejudo vs. Dillashaw Assunção vs. Moraes 2 Błachowicz vs. Santos Lewis vs. dos Santos Till vs. Masvidal Thompson vs. Pettis Overeem vs. Oleinik Jacaré vs. Hermansson Iaquinta vs. Cowboy dos Anjos vs. Lee Gustafsson vs. Smith Moicano vs. The Korean Zombie de Randamie vs. Ladd Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 Andrade vs. Zhang Cowboy vs. Gaethje Rodríguez vs. Stephens Hermansson vs. Cannonier Joanna vs. Waterson Maia vs. Askren Magomedsharipov vs. Kattar Błachowicz vs. Jacaré Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie Blaydes vs. dos Santos Anderson vs. Błachowicz 2 Felder vs. Hooker Benavidez vs. Figueiredo Lee vs. Oliveira Woodley vs. Edwards Overeem vs. Harris Smith vs. Teixeira Hermansson vs. Weidman Smith vs. Teixeira Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 Brunson vs. Shahbazyan Lewis vs. Oleinik Smith vs. Rakić Overeem vs. Sakai Waterson vs. Hill Covington vs. Woodley Moraes vs. Sandhagen Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie Hall vs. Silva Felder vs. dos Anjos Thompson vs. Neal Overeem vs. Volkov Blaydes vs. Lewis Rozenstruik vs. Gane Edwards vs. Muhammad Font vs. Garbrandt Rozenstruik vs. Sakai Gane vs. Volkov Brunson vs. Till Smith vs. Spann Santos vs. Walker Dern vs. Rodriguez Ladd vs. Dumont Costa vs. Vettori Holloway vs. Rodríguez Vieira vs. Tate Lewis vs. Daukaus Hermansson vs. Strickland Walker vs. Hill Makhachev vs. Green Santos vs. Ankalaev Volkov vs. Aspinall Lemos vs. Andrade Holm vs. Vieira Volkov vs. Rozenstruik Blaydes vs. Aspinall Gane vs. Tuivasa Sandhagen vs. Song Dern vs. Yan Grasso vs. Araújo Kattar vs. Allen Rodriguez vs. Lemos Nzechukwu vs. Cuțelaba Cannonier vs. Strickland Strickland vs. Imavov Lewis vs. Spivak Andrade vs. Blanchfield Muniz vs. Allen Yan vs. Dvalishvili Holloway vs. Allen Pavlovich vs. Blaydes Dern vs. Hill Aspinall vs. Tybura Holloway vs. The Korean Zombie Gane vs. Spivak Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2 Fiziev vs. Gamrot Dawson vs. Green Yusuff vs. Barboza Almeida vs. Lewis Allen vs. Craig Song vs. Gutiérrez Ankalaev vs. Walker 2 Dolidze vs. Imavov Hermansson vs. Pyfer Moreno vs. Royval 2 Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev Tuivasa vs. Tybura Allen vs. Curtis 2 Barboza vs. Murphy Burns vs. Brady Moicano vs. Saint Denis Royval vs. Taira Hernandez vs. Pereira Moreno vs. Albazi Magny vs. Prates Yan vs. Figueiredo 249 250 251 252
UFC on ABC	Holloway vs. Kattar Vettori vs. Holland Ortega vs. Rodríguez Rozenstruik vs. Almeida Emmett vs. Topuria Whittaker vs. Aliskerov Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov
The Ultimate Fighter Finales	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
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