Review of UFC: 17 & 18

Introduction

Subtitled "Redemption" and "The Road to the Heavyweight Title" respectively, UFC 17 & 18 were held either side of the company`s first foray into South America for UFC Brazil.

UFC 17 was held on 15th May 1998 at the Mobile Civic Centre in Mobile, Alabama, and was headlined by the return of Mark Coleman, as he took on Pete Williams in the Heavyweight Superfight. Randy Couture was originally scheduled to defend his Heavyweight championship against Coleman, but fell foul of injury prior to the show.

UFC 18 was held on 8th January 1999 at Pontchartrain Centre in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was main-evented by Bas Rutten`s debut in the UFC, taking on Tsuyoshi Kosaka.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is very good for a DVD of this genre. By this time, the production values of the UFC were very high indeed, and as such the source material used for this transfer is of very good quality, as is the transfer itself. Live-to-tape events do not get much better.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is also good for a DVD of this genre.
Commentary on both shows is provided by Mike Goldberg and 1984 Olympic wrestling champion Jeff Blatnick, and is quite informative, even if today`s UFC combination of Goldberg and Joe Rogan (here doing backstage interviews) is better.

Features

There is one extra bonus fight, taken from UFC 18, as Laverne Clark faced Frank Caracci in a relatively good match, which featured some good striking even though it was fought primarily on the ground.

Conclusion

UFC 17 played host to a Middleweight tournament, and it was with that that the event began, as Dan Henderson faced Allan Goes. This was an odd bout, as both the wrestler (Henderson) and ju-jitsu practitioner (Goes) opted to exchange strikes with each other. Neither were successful and this was not a good way to start the show.

Bob Gilstrap and 21-year-old Carlos Newton followed, in what appeared somewhat of a mis-match, before Mike Van Arsdale and Joe Pardo fought an attacking contest which suffered slightly because of Pardo`s apparently poor stamina.

Three excellent bouts rounded off this DVD, as David "Tank" Abbott rumbled with Hugo Duarte in a short, hard-hitting contest, Dan Henderson faced Carlos Newton in another zestful bout (both on the ground and standing), and Mark Coleman went up against Pete Williams in a bout which was highlighted by its oft-replayed finish.

UFC 17 was a very good card indeed, with the Henderson vs Newton tournament match worthy of particular note. However, this version of UFC 17 is incomplete, as on the original telecast, the main event featured Frank Shamrock versus Jeremy Horn. It is not known why this bout was removed from the commercial release, but it was also not present on the VHS version.

UFC 18 started much more positively than 17 had done, as Evan Tanner and Darrel Gholar had a very attack-minded match, before Mikey Burnett and Townsend Saunders dragged things down slightly in a match which had some good striking, but way too much stalling.

Perennial UFC favourite Tito Ortiz then collided with Jerry Bohlander in a long but rather good match which surprised the commentators in its conclusion. Mark Coleman and Pedro Rizzo then squared off in a poor bout with showcased how boring Coleman`s ground style can sometimes be. Pat Miletich`s UFC Lightweight title defence against Jorge Patino was a step down even from that, as there was not enough action for such a long contest.

Thankfully, the main event proved to be the best match on the card, as Bas Rutten faced Tsuyoshi Kosaka in a bout which contained some excellent striking, although much of it was fought on the ground. It also ended the show on a high note, as the bout had an excellent conclusion.

Overall, despite the surprising omission from UFC 17, this two disc set is a rather good peek back into the UFC archives, with several matches very good, and only a couple particularly bad. This is one of the better UFC 2-disc releases, and is worth checking out.