UFC 15: Collision Course was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 17, 1997, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video.
| UFC 15: Collision Course | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 15: Collision Course | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 17, 1997 | |||
| Venue | Casino Magic Bay St. Louis | |||
| City | Bay St. Louis, Mississippi | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
History
editUFC 15 was headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between Maurice Smith and Tank Abbott. Abbott was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Dan Severn, who couldn't fight because of an injured hand.
UFC 15 featured a Superfight between Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort, a Heavyweight Tournament, and two alternate bouts. The Superfight was billed as a Heavyweight Title Elimination bout, which can be described as a #1 Contender's match, meaning the winner would advance to compete for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at the next event, UFC Japan.
The show also marked the last event to feature Bruce Beck, who had been the main play-by-play announcer starting with UFC 4. He was replaced by Mike Goldberg in UFC Japan.
Collision Course marked a major change in the UFC's rules, with limitations set on permissible striking areas. Headbutts, groin strikes, strikes to the back of the neck and head, knees to a downed opponent, head stomps, kicks to a downed opponent, small joint manipulation, and hair pulling all became officially illegal.
Results
edit| Heavyweight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Maurice Smith (c) | def. | Tank Abbott | TKO (leg kicks) | 8:08 | [a] | |
| Heavyweight Superfight | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Randy Couture | def. | Vitor Belfort | TKO (punches) | 8:16 | ||
| Finals | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Mark Kerr | def. | Dwayne Cason | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 0:53 | [b] | |
| Semifinals | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Mark Kerr | def. | Greg Stott | KO (knee) | 0:17 | ||
| Heavyweight | Dave Beneteau | def. | Carlos Barreto | Decision (unanimous) | 15:00 | [c] | |
| Alternate bouts | |||||||
| Heavyweight | Alex Hunter | def. | Harry Moskowitz | Decision (split) | 12:00 | ||
| Heavyweight | Dwayne Cason | def. | Houston Dorr | TKO (punches) | 3:43 | ||
- ^ For the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
- ^ Cason replaced Dave Beneteau who could not continue due to fatigue.
- ^ Due to fatigue, Beneteau was unable to continue in the tournament.
UFC 15 Heavyweight Tournament Bracket
edit| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
 Mark Kerr
| KO | ||||||||
| Greg Stott
| 0:17 | ||||||||
| Mark Kerr
| SUB | ||||||||
| Dwayne Cason1
| 0:53 | ||||||||
 Dave Beneteau
| DEC | ||||||||
 Carlos Barreto
| 15:00 | ||||||||
1 Dwayne Cason replaced Dave Beneteau who withdrew due to fatigue.