Scott Ferrozzo vs. Tank Abbott (Photo: thegarv.com)
UFC 11: The Proving
Ground – Augusta (Ga.) Civic Center – Sept. 20, 1996
Tank Abbott and Mark Coleman are hyped as the favorites for
tonight’s eight-man tournament. Abbott is back from a disciplinary suspension,
while Coleman beat Gary Goodridge and Don Frye to win UFC 10.
Bruce Beck, Jeff Blatnick and Don “The Dragon” Wilson will
call the action, and Rich Goins is the ring announcer. Here we go!
1. Mark Coleman
(Wrestling) vs. Julian Sanchez (Asax)
Coleman is from Columbus ,
Ohio , and he comes in at 250 pounds.
Sanchez is from San Antonio ,
Texas , and weighs 300 pounds.
What is Asax? The announcers don’t know, and neither does Google, Wikipedia or
Dictionary.com as they are invented over the years.
Coleman takes the big man down, lands some punches and taps
out Sanchez in 44 seconds with a choke. Nice and efficient when Coleman has two
more fights to go.
2. Reza Nasri (Greco
Roman Wrestling) vs. Brian Johnston (Kickboxing/Judo)
Nasri is a world-class wrestler from Iran , and he
has some kung fu experience. Johnston is from San Jose , Calif.
He beat Scott Fiedler at UFC 10, but he lost later that night to Don Frye.
3. Tank Abbott
(streetfighting) vs. Sam Adkins (boxing)
Adkins is a Golden Gloves silver medalist. He has won a pair of
alternate fights, but he lost to Don Frye in his only bout in a UFC tournament.
Abbott was the runner-up at UFC 6. Beck calls Abbott “the UFC’s first bona fide bad guy.”
Abbott takes Adkins down and uses his 300 pounds to establish
side control against the cage. Don Wilson notes that Abbott has won a fight by
driving his opponent against the fence. Blatnick says that won’t happen
again…but it does! Abbott wins at 2:06. Tito Ortiz was in Abbott’s corner; both
men are from Huntington Beach ,
Calif.
4. Fabio Gurgel
(Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) vs. Jerry Bohlander (Submission fighting)
Gurgel, a Gracie
Academy student, comes
out behind the Brazilian flag. He says he’s going to take the fight to the
ground and go for the submission. Bohlander is a student of Ken Shamrock. He beat Scott Ferrozzo at UFC 8 before losing
to Gary Goodridge.
They battle over a takedown and finally end up with Gurgel
comfortably on his back, pulling guard. Bohlander lands a strong
punch and then kicks the grounded Gurgel, which gets him a warning because he’s
wearing shoes. I check the DVD cover. “There Are No Rules!,” it shouts.
Gurgel blasts Bohlander with a right to the forehead,
drawing blood. Gurgel gets top position on Bohlander and tries to pass his
guard. Bohlander breaks free and now he’s on top, throwing punches and
headbutts.
The fans start a “USA ” chant for Bohlander. The
announcers talk about how Gurgel and other BJJ fighters don’t like the
15-minute time limit, which runs out. “You can’t win a fight laying on the
ground, holding onto the man,” Wilson
said. He’s right. Bohlander gets the
nod from all three judges.
5. SEMIFINAL 1: Mark
Coleman (Wrestling) vs. Brian Johnston (Kickboxing/Judo)
Bohlander got hurt during his grueling slugfest with Gurgel,
so he can’t continue. Scott Ferrozzo, who won an alternate bout, will take his place.
6. SEMIFINAL 2: Tank
Abbott (street fighting) vs. Scott “The Pitbull” Ferrozzo (Pit Fighting)
Abbott, who used to be billed as a pit fighter, says that
was something “they just made up.” I'm so disappointed. But not for long, as Ferrozzo carries the banner for the
elusive art of “pit fighting.” Abbott weighs 298, and Ferrozzo, whose father played
for the Minnesota Vikings, weighs 350.
Abbott claims to have more assault arrests than everyone
else in the UFC combined. His lawyer, watching at home on pay-per-view, shushes
the TV.
After a bar-fight slugfest, Ferrozzo tries a takedown, but
Abbott slips behind him and we get lots of battling against the fence and
trash-talking. Don Frye is in Ferrozzo’s corner, shouting advice.
Ferrozzo lands some knees and uppercuts, and he is holding
his own against Abbott. McCarthy temporarily stops the fight so the doctor can
check a cut on Ferrozzo’s forehead.
They slug it out again and wind up against the cage, where
Ferrozzo lands a strong series of knees to the stomach. Abbott has Ferrozzo
against the fence but isn’t doing anything. McCarthy finally separates the
fighters with 2:30 to go.
After a punch exchange, they go right back to the fence. The
fans boo. These guys are gassed, and Blatnick correctly says Coleman is in
great shape to face the winner. Time expires, and since we’re in the
semifinals, we go to a three-minute overtime.
Both men throw leather, have a spell of inactivity on the
fence, then fire more bombs at the end. Ferrozzo clearly won this one. Let’s see if
the judges agree.
Yes, they do. The judges misspell his name “Ferrozo,” but he’s
used to it because his own cornermen have it spelled “Ferrazo” on their shirts. Shoot, I called him "Sam" in this article until I just went back and corrected it.
Ferrozzo credits Don Frye’s training for the biggest victory
of his career. Abbott says he wasn’t prepared to fight a bigger guy.
After that gut-wrenching performance, Ferrozzo can’t
continue. This means Roberto Traven, who won the other alternate fight, goes
all the way to the finals to face Coleman.
Traven beat David Berry Jr. in the other alternate bout at
1:33 with a tapout to punches from the back. But he broke his hand, so there’s
nobody left for Coleman to fight.
No final match. Mark Coleman wins his second straight UFC.
Good night, folks!
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