Maurice Smith and Pete Williams showed the effectiveness of sprawl and brawl against ground and pound by both defeating Coleman who along with Mark Kerr and Kevin Randleman were absolutel beasts.
Maurice is as pioneer as they come.
He came to MMA late in his career. Did very well considering the short amount of time he had to dedicate himself to grappling. That event where he beat Coleman was the first UFC I’d seen and his win was that much more awesome after watching Kerr and other grapplers dominate the event up to that finale. His prefight comments were hilarious. Loved when he mocked Mark’s punching.
Mo KO’ing Coleman was one of my all time favorite UFC moments.
As a striker I was watching every UFC and accepting the reality I really didn’t know how to fight. It was an awakening of sorts and I really felt I was watching a light speed evolution in the martial arts I loved so much. Mo brought it full circle with that win. He demonstrated striking was still relevant and could take you to the top if complimented with the right footwork, sprawl and defensive grappling skills.
Very intelligent fighter, incredible to watch.
Met and got to hang with him a bit in Denver back in 2000. As others have said, very cool, laid back guy. Couldn’t have been any nicer.
i still have never seen mo vs ruas 2 in the ifl
heard its a bad fight, but it doesnt exist on the internet
ons ear -stevosmith - he fought tank too and that says a lotYes he did…Tank fought Mo on short notice actually…I believe Couture got hurt and bowed out.
Tank replaced Severn at UFC 15, not Couture. Couture fought Vitor that night.
ranier wolfcastle -He won that fight too didn't he? Apparently Marco started pretty good. I'd like to find that one also.i still have never seen mo vs ruas 2 in the ifl
heard its a bad fight, but it doesnt exist on the internet
Smith had some great performances and that Extreme Fighting KO was brutal. For some reason though, the first thing that always comes to mind is Bas putting that sweet kneebar on him. Slick as.
ons ear - The guy was a world champion kick boxer..he made his debut in Extreme Fighting against Conan Silveira and did the unthinkable, he survived the big guys BJJ and ended up knocking him out with a head kick..then he later landed a nice right hand KOing Kazunari...I was impressed, he had elite striking and we training with Kohsaka and Fran Shamrock for his grappling..finally Mma had a guy with world class kickboxing..He came to Ufc and fought Coleman…I remember predicting he would beat Coleman and he did…after this fight I believe his training either stagnated or opponents found out how to neutralize his skillset…many fighters over the next few years would just take him down over and over…very boring fights and the world class striking was nowhere to be seen from Mauruce…
What happened? Was his heart not into it anymore?did age creep up on him? Did he stop training with Kohsaka and Frank? What was strange was it seemed like Mayrude never trained wrestling a day in his life as his sprawl or anti-wrestling sucked…
+1 for Mayrude Smith
Aussie Shaun -you lucky guys to see him fight coleman!
this is when he came down under to fight our boy stan the man
I was at that fight!.
Fun fact, That was Ray “Rabs” Warren calling that fight.
Good thread.
Just so people know, Maurice didn’t KO Coleman. That was Pete Williams that did that. Maurice did turn it up on a tired Coleman and ran away with a convincing decision.
IIRC, the main stage lights also went out towards the end of the fight so they were fighting in the “dark”.
the_sandman - Mo KO'ing Coleman was one of my all time favorite UFC moments.As a striker I was watching every UFC and accepting the reality I really didn’t know how to fight. It was an awakening of sorts and I really felt I was watching a light speed evolution in the martial arts I loved so much. Mo brought it full circle with that win. He demonstrated striking was still relevant and could take you to the top if complimented with the right footwork, sprawl and defensive grappling skills.
Very intelligent fighter, incredible to watch.
One of your all time favorite ufc moments never happened broski!!
Mo by decision was the result…
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Mo deserves tons of credit this was the age of world class wrestler. These guys were unstoppable. Coleman was the baddest of them all. Mo came out and beat him. Not by fluke.
He had some great wins but was old before he even started. People give bas so much respect but Mo did so much more.
People who discredit him, simply don’t understand the game. They only remember the end where he wasn’t able to pull the trigger.
Mo beat Coleman, but it was by decision.
ons ear -stevosmith - he fought tank too and that says a lotYes he did…Tank fought Mo on short notice actually…I believe Couture got hurt and bowed out.
Severn hurt his hand in Pride and the UFC wouldn’t let him fight. Couture “shocked the NHB world” by defeating Vitor Belfort that night.
Gave me a real appreciation for the size of the HW when I rolled with Maurice. His upper body looked like Mount everest to me. I can't even imagine how big Coleman must have looked up close.
Liyon - Just so people know, Maurice didn't KO Coleman. That was Pete Williams that did that. Maurice did turn it up on a tired Coleman and ran away with a convincing decision.haha I'll admit I get those.two mixed up plus patrick smith as wellIIRC, the main stage lights also went out towards the end of the fight so they were fighting in the “dark”.
Back in the old Wild West days of the UFC, I managed to wrangle a press pass for the UFC where Mo fought Tank.
After the fight was over, I jumped into the group that was surrounding Mo and asking for his autograph. I was struck by how, less than 5 minutes after a rough ~7 minute fight (that admittedly, he won in brutal fashion with leg kicks and punches), Mo was laughing and joking around with all the guys, and he wasn’t even breathing hard.
There was a guy here (Tim Link, SN Linkage) who used to train with him, and he had lots of great stories about Mo. One was that Mo used to have tapes playing in the gym of all his fights, and he would take special care to direct people’s attention to the fights where he got his ass kicked and he’d say, “See? THAT’S why I’m running you guys ragged with cardio, that guy kicked me in the fucking neck and KO’d me because I was exhausted! Don’t be like me there” LOL - and yet that’s a helluva trainer, to point out how he fucked up and how his students should learn from it rather than presenting himself as God’s gift to fighting.
Vague memory - was it Mo who fought Bobby Hoffman and hit him so hard it split his tongue open, and after the fight Hoffman was puking up blood because he swallowed so much of it during the fight?
AdamBishop -the_sandman - Mo KO'ing Coleman was one of my all time favorite UFC moments.As a striker I was watching every UFC and accepting the reality I really didn’t know how to fight. It was an awakening of sorts and I really felt I was watching a light speed evolution in the martial arts I loved so much. Mo brought it full circle with that win. He demonstrated striking was still relevant and could take you to the top if complimented with the right footwork, sprawl and defensive grappling skills.
Very intelligent fighter, incredible to watch.
One of your all time favorite ufc moments never happened broski!!
Mo by decision was the result…
Haha! You are correct. I just remember Coleman stumbling around gassed and beaten down. My bad.
I was also at UFC 14, where Smith beat Coleman. After the fights, my dad and I went to the hotel bar, to grab a bite to eat. Shortly thereafter, Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock and a bunch of other fighters rolled in and sat at the table next to ours. Tank was roaming around, as well. I was like 16 years old and obsessed with the UFC. t was fucking awesome. Smith and Shamrock were super cool and nice. Tank, less so.
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