Review of UFC: 13 & 14

Introduction

In another of their dips into the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) archives, FightDVD have released UFC 13: Ultimate Force, along with UFC 14: Showdown, in a new 2-disc DVD set.

UFC 13 was held on 30th May 1997 at the Civic Centre in Augusta, Georgia, with the main event of Tank Abbott vs Vitor Belfort.

UFC 14 was held on 27th July 1997 at the State Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama, and had a main event of Maurice Smith against Mark Coleman.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is good for a DVD of this genre. After several low-key events in previous years, the UFC was now beginning to take a grip on how it wanted its show to be presented. As such, the television graphics improved, and the event looked much less amateurish than it had in the past.

This looks like any mid-level boxing card from the 1990s. That may not seem like a great accolade, but frankly these shows have never looked better.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is also good for a DVD of this genre. On both events, commentary is provided ably by Bruce Beck and Jeff Blatnick, although they are certainly a step down from today`s experts such as Joe Rogan, who here conducts interviews with the fighters. There are no audio sync issues and everything going on is clear at all times.

Features

There are no extras present on this DVD set.

Conclusion

As happy as I am to see these archive UFC shows now available on DVD, they suffer from one continuous problem: they aren`t as good as the latest ones. That could be down to a number of things, such as the evolution of the actual sport (which was in its infancy as late as 1997), the money available for an aesthetically-pleasing production etc., but the fact of the matter is the fights just weren`t as good in the "old days".

Both UFC 13 and 14 suffer from this problem, which is a testament to the brilliance of today`s UFC. On UFC 13, for example, I found there to be two entertaining bouts. One was the match between Vitor Belfort and the debuting Tito Ortiz, and the other was the fist-fight main event between Tank Abbott and Vitor Belfort. The rest of the matches were not satisfying contests, and the winners of the Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight tournaments were clearly too skilled to ever be in danger of not winning.

UFC 14 was actually worse, with two average bouts between Mark Kerr and Moti Horenstein and Daniel Bobish and Brian Johnston being the best on the card. The main event, between Maurice Smith and Mark Coleman, was a lacklustre affair which went 21 minutes, and 13 of those were spent on the ground, grappling for position.

Such an extraordinary period of time spent on the ground would simply not be tolerated these days, and within 30 seconds or so of non-decisive ground-action, the match would be brought back up to standing positions before it resumed. That may slightly favour the non-wrestlers of the UFC, but that is the reality of trying to also have an exciting fight.

Overall, this 2-disc set is for the UFC historian or completist. Please do not approach it as a first viewing of mixed martial arts.