Marco Ruas (Photo: flickr.com)
UFC 7 - The Brawl in Buffalo – Sept. 8, 1995 - Memorial Auditorium
The Rock vs. The Russian Bear is touted as the main event,
but it’s not Dwayne Johnson vs. Ivan Koloff. Instead, it’s Ken Shamrock vs.
Oleg Taktarov in the superfight main event.
Shamrock is coming off a win over Dan Severn in the UFC 6
superfight, while Taktarov won the UFC 6 tournament. That seems to be the new
plan: make a new star in the tournament and then put him up against the
superfight winner on the next show.
We’re at the Aud, aka the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, home
of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, and this show is taking place just seven
weeks after UFC 6.
Bruce Beck is on play-by-play, with Jeff Blatnick on color.
Sadly, Jim Brown, our last announcing holdover from UFC 1, is gone, so
legendary kickboxer Don “The Dragon” Wilson
takes his place. He worked on the "Batman Forever" movie. Michael Buffer is the ring announcer.
Before we get started, we get highlights of the alternate
fights. Joel Sutton beat Geza Kalman by TKO in 48 seconds; Onassis Parungao
defeated Francesco Maturi by tapout to strikes in 5:26; and Scott Bessac made David
Hood tap out to a guillotine choke in 31 seconds.
John McCarthy is referee for all of our fights for the third
show in a row. Here we go!
1. Big Gerry Harris (Kyokushin-Kai
Karate) vs. Paul “The Polar Bear” Varelans (Trap fighting)
Harris, a 260-pounder from Eureka ,
Calif. , is a
former security guard for the Milwaukee Brewers. Varelans hails from Alaska and is 300
pounds. He appeared at UFC 6, beating Cal Worsham before losing to Tank Abbott.
Both men are 6-foot-8.
2. Mark Hall (Moo Yae
Do) vs. Harold Howard (Jiu-Jitsu)
Hall is a 190-pounder making his UFC debut and hails from Murietta , Calif. Howard,
the 240-pound runner-up from UFC 3, gets a giant cheer when he is announced
from nearby Niagara Falls .
Howard bullies Hall around and takes him down, but Hall
winds up on top and busts Howard’s nose with a punch. Hall actually grabbs Howard by the mullet to keep his head in place for more punches. Howard has had
enough and taps out at 1:41.
3. Remco Pardoel (Jiu-Jitsu)
vs. Ryan Parker (Onikawa karate)
Pardoel weighs 265 pounds. He’s 2-1 in the Octagon and is a
former Dutch, German, Danish, Belgian and World jiu-jitsu champ. Parker is a
235-pound full-time student at Moorehead
State University
in Minnesota .
Both men are wearing the gi.
Pardoel gets going with a judo trip, headlock and armlock, and then he starts walloping Parker in the head. Parker seems to have no way out. He somehow survives, but Pardoel
is just smothering him while trying to think of a submission idea. The action
is really slowing down and the fans don’t like it. Finally, Pardoel sinks in
the choke for the tap out at 3:05.
4. “The King of the
Streets” Marco Ruas (Vale Tudo) vs. Larry “Thunderfoot” Cureton (American
kickboxing)
Ruas has such a cool nickname that I’m amazed no current
fighter has stolen it. He’s a 210-pound, four-time Brazilian Vale Tudo champion.
Cureton is a 248-pound super-heavyweight kickboxing champion from Jersey City . He appeared
at UFC 5 and lost to Todd Medina.
Cureton tries for a guillotine choke, but Ruas slams him and
is in control. Cureton reverses to the top, so Ruas pulls guard. After a while,
Cureton stands up, but Ruas is working on a leglock and BLASTS Cureton with an
upkick; he’s the King of Multi-Tasking!
Ruas turns over into a heel hook for the tap-out at 3:23. So
all four quarterfinal fights ended in tap-outs.
5. Semifinal 1: Paul Varelans (Trap fighting)
vs. Mark Hall (Moo Yae Do)
Hall starts the fight by landing a nice right, but Varelans
takes control with a headlock takeover. Varelans lands an elbow to the head and
finishes with a keylock at 1:04. The Polar Bear is in the finals!
6. Semifinal 2: Remco
Pardoel (Jiu- Jitsu) vs. “The King of the Streets” Marco Ruas (Vale Tudo)
After an exchange of leg kicks, Pardoel controls Ruas
against the fence. This turns into a
long stalemate in which Pardoel wants a guillotine but Ruas is blocking it with his hand. After five minutes, they crash to the canvas and Ruas scrambles
to the top.
Ruas tries for an anklelock for a long time, but Pardoel
finally escapes. Ruas gets side control and drops some knees. Pardoel suddenly taps at 12:27 and nobody
knows why. The announcers speculate that he was about to take a lot of
punishment and thought better of it. That makes
sense.
Tank Abbott talks to Blatnick, saying the only reason Abbott
didn’t win UFC 6 was that he was unprepared for the altitude. Looks like
someone needs a topographical map for his next birthday present. Abbott said he will be at the upcoming "Ultimate Ultimate" show.
7. Superfight! Ken
Shamrock (Shootfighting) vs. Oleg Taktarov (Sambo)
Taktarov won UFC 6; he is 4-1 in the Octagon. Shamrock won the
Superfight at UFC 6 over Dan Severn. He is 3-2 in the UFC. Both men are 6-foot
and 215 pounds.
Bare-knuckle brawl for these former sparring partners to
start, but the action goes to the mat with Shamrock on top. Oleg delivers rabbit
punches to the back of the head, while Shamrock counters with headbutts. This
goes on for five minutes. Shamrock gets some separation and tags Oleg with a
couple of rights.
Oleg starts whacking Shamrock repeatedly in the back of the
head, but Shamrock has been on top of him the entire fight at the 11-minute
mark. Shamrock notices that Oleg is bleeding from the left eye and starts going
after it with headbutts.
Finally, McCarthy stands them up near the 15-minute mark,
but after a couple of punches, Shamrock takes Taktarov down and we’re back to
where we started. Shamrock is putting rights and headbutts together as we near the
20-minute mark. McCarthy stands them up again!
Nothing happens on the feet, and after a minute, Shamrock
gets another takedown. Fans are really getting tired of this as we near 25
minutes. Stand up once more at 27:30.
Taktarov lands a couple of punches and Shamrock is bleeding from the
nose. Time expires and we go to a three-minute overtime.
In the extra session, Shamrock hits a home-run uppercut, but
Taktarov’s head is a block of cement and he won’t go down. Taktarov pulls guard
for the final minute, rides out the clock and it’s a 33-minute draw in the
superfight.
8. UFC 7 final: Paul
Varelans (trap fighting) vs. Marco Ruas (Vale Tudo)
Winner goes to the “Ultimate Ultimate” supershow on Dec. 16,
1995, with other UFC stars and champions.
Ruas throws some leg kicks, but the Polar Bear squashes him
up against the cage. More stand-up, but Ruas walks right into a guillotine
choke. It looks good, but Ruas escapes.
Ruas has Varelans in a bodylock from behind. Foot stomp
battle, and Ruas is winning it. After a long time in this position, McCarthy
restarts it. Ruas has really worn Varelans down with kicks to the left leg.
Ruas finally chops Varelans down and dives on top for a
barrage of punches. McCarthy stops the fight at 13:17, and the “King of the
Streets” Marco Ruas is the King of UFC 7.
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