When Maurice Smith Shocked the MMA World

Almost 20 years ago, 35-year-old kickboxer Maurice Smith set out to do what some considered impossible. Smith, who earned the opportunity by having been the Extreme Fighting heavyweight champion when that promotion closed its doors, was saddled with the task of taming a beast named Mark Coleman.

In an era dominated by high-level wrestlers with thick muscles, Coleman was the final boss of the group. A silver medalist at the world championships in 1991, Coleman entered the nascent world of MMA – then known by various different names, but most commonly NHB (for “no-holds-barred”) – following a failed bid at the 1996 Olympics. He made an immediate impact, battering three opponents to win the UFC 10 tournament, followed by a victory in the UFC 11 tournament, and then he captured the UFC heavyweight title in his sixth bout.

Coleman was a monster; regarded as the best heavyweight in the world, there was little question he would stomp Smith. Smith was a kickboxer – a very good one, with a decade-long world championship reign – but his best days as a kickboxer were behind him. Anyhow, kickboxers weren’t finding success in MMA. The sport was a grappler’s paradise, and strikers drowned on the mat. That is, until Maurice Smith swam with the biggest shark and survived on the sport’s biggest platform in what was the most shocking outcome in the sport’s young history.

On Saturday, the UFC announced that Maurice Smith will be inducted into its hall of fame in July, 20 years to the month of his historic upset over Coleman. Smith’s overall résumé does not put him among the stronger hall of fame candidates. Rather, his entire candidacy is largely based on one result from one night in front of 4,800 fans in Birmingham, Alabama, that resonated throughout the entire sport. On that night, it was widely praised as the best fight in NHB history, and has since become regarded as a seminal moment in the sport’s history. The second heavyweight champion in UFC history, Maurice Smith may be the most low-profile fighter to hold the title, but ironically, he is also among the most important.

Maurice Smith was not supposed to be the first fighter to challenge for Mark Coleman’s newly won UFC heavyweight championship. The plan all along had been for Don Frye, who fell to Coleman in the UFC 10 tournament but went on to win the stacked Ultimate Ultimate 96 competition, to challenge for the heavyweight title at UFC 13. However, Frye ultimately turned down the fight due to the purse UFC had offered. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, UFC considered Marco Ruas as a replacement, but Coleman wanted more money to fight Ruas, which UFC balked at. When Battlecade Extreme Fighting folded in May 1997, UFC immediately scooped up Smith and booked him for what the promotion pushed as a title unification bout against Coleman for UFC 14.

Although he was thought to be little more than a stepping stone building to an eventual Coleman vs. Vitor Belfort clash, Smith was outwardly confident leading into the fight. He dismissed Coleman’s vaunted ground and pound, saying he hit like a girl, and indicated his experience would make a difference.

While Smith had a solid 17 years of ring experience, he had less experience than Coleman in UFC style fights. Smith had experience in Pancrase in Japan, but he was handicapped by the rules. Punching with a closed fist was illegal, and he wore shin pads. Only his two bouts in Extreme Fighting were under a UFC style ruleset, both of which Smith won in impressive fashion. First, he upset BJJ black belt Conan Silveira to win the Extreme Fighting championship, a win over a grappler that was a prelude to his ultimate victory. Then, on the final Extreme Fighting show, he defeated Kazunari Murakami with a scary knockout. Heading into UFC 14, the Fighting Sports Newsletter, one of the sport’s earliest outlets that provided fighter rankings, had Smith in the #8 spot. Coleman, of course, topped the rankings.

Smith’s objective was to survive Coleman’s early onslaught and tire the big wrestler out. It was inevitable that Coleman would take him down, and although he’d learned some grappling in Japan, he needed to take it to another level to stop Coleman. Since prior to the Silveira fight, Smith had worked with Frank Shamrock, who helped progress the kickboxer into a very competent defensive grappler. With Shamrock in his corner, Smith aimed to defend Coleman’s big blows and crushing submissions, while making him work from the top, a strategy virtually identical to the one Shamrock himself would employ two years later against another larger wrestler, Tito Ortiz.

As expected, Coleman took Smith down as quickly as possible. Angered by Smith’s insults regarding his striking power, Coleman was particularly aggressive early, unleashing a series of (then-legal) head-butts and right hands. Soon after, Smith regained his composure and tied Coleman up, doing an excellent job of blocking Coleman’s right hand and leaving head-butts as Coleman’s only real offensive option. At the same time, Smith attacked Coleman from the bottom with punches and elbows, making Coleman’s comfort zone a bit less comfortable.

About five minutes in, Smith found himself in his most dangerous position of the fight. Coleman passed guard and Smith turned his back to escape up to his feet, but Coleman jumped on his back and was soon in full mount. However, even at this early stage Coleman’s fatigue was apparent. The champion gathered his energy for a minute, only throwing occasional blows while maintaining the dominant position. At the six minute mark, Coleman exploded looking for a finish, but Smith blocked most blows and soon after gave up his back in a failed bid to roll for a knee-bar. After nine minutes, Coleman passed to side control angling for a neck crank, but Smith exploded out and onto his feet, changing the complexion of the fight.

Coleman placed his hands on his knees in exhaustion. Smith attacked with quick low kicks, and an attempt to go high was caught by Coleman, who somehow managed to bring the fight back to the floor. He kept Smith grounded until the final minute of the 15-minute regulation period, when the striker escaped back to his feet to continue pounding on his plodding foe until the end of the round.

After 15 minutes, Coleman was hunched over sucking wind, while Smith was tired, but still had something left in the other corner. This was not a contest with much furious action, but had the gripping drama brought forth by two tired competitors vying to best the other, compounded with the fact that fans were witnessing the toughest fight in the career of the sport’s most feared fighter.

Smith had everything going in his favor heading into the overtime periods. He played it safe, never overextending himself to give Coleman another chance to take him down, but at the same time systematically picking Coleman apart. Only by means of pride and force of will did Coleman remain standing, even shooting for the occasional takedown. However, by the first overtime period, even Coleman’s reserves had been exhausted. When the second overtime period began, Coleman stood in place, hands on his knees, waiting for Smith to come beat him up.

Smith and Coleman fought through a loss in the portion of the overhead lighting, completing the fight in only partial light. The crowd stood as they witnessed history, with Smith stalking Coleman until the final horn.

All three judges gave the nod to Smith, who did far more damage, even though he was on his back for half of the fight. It was the biggest upset in the roughly four-year history of the sport, and many called it the best fight in the history of the sport. It won “Fight of the Year” in both the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and the Fighting Sports Newsletter. Smith also earned “Fighter of the Year” honors in both publications, and in the immediate aftermath of the fight jumped to #1 in Fighting Sports’ rankings. “It was the beginning of a wave of successful strikers to enter the UFC,” John McCarthy, who officiated the contest, reflected in his autobiography.

Smith proved that strikers could adapt to take out even the most dangerous grapplers, marking a pivotal moment in the history of the sport as a textbook example of the benefits of cross training in different disciplines. Smith would not escape 1997 with the heavyweight championship, but his victory over Coleman cemented his place in MMA history. The two essential texts on the sport, No Holds Barred by Clyde Gentry III and Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting by Jonathan Snowden both describe the bout in depth. One night in Birmingham, Alabama, with fewer than 5,000 live onlookers and on a show seen in only 75,000 homes, Maurice Smith changed the sport of mixed martial arts.

The UFC, Smith, and Coleman all looked toward an immediate rematch. It was scheduled for UFC 15 that October, but Coleman tore his ACL and was forced to withdraw from the fight. Smith successfully defended his title once against Tank Abbott, before losing his belt in a close contest that December to another wrestler, Randy Couture.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.