because Smith beat Coleman or because it changed how we, as fans, looked at the sport? I say the latter. We saw wrestlers coming in and dominating and assumed that that style was the best. Smith made us aware that strikers could win if they sprawled, had a decent guard and picked their shots. I really think that the upset came from conventional wisdom regarding MMA at the time getting derailed.
That said, I think Serra's win over GSP was a huge win because of the fighter that beat the other fighter.
I figured he had a small shot, but at the time Coleman was thought to be the guy to go 500-0 and retire unbeaten.
Even John Peretti said that he thought it was a horrible match for Smith and that he stood almost no chance outside of a lucky punch.
VERY few people picked Smith. 95% of people on these boards and any other discussion forum at the time were all over Coleman. Until about 5 minutes into the fight I really thought Coleman was going to win.
Headbutts were legal, Coleman was a monster. It was at a time when world class wrestlers like Jackson, Monday, Coleman, were just getting into MMA and were dominating. Coleman at the time was the most dominant. He just walked through a few tournaments, beat Don Frye pretty brutally, and Frye at the time was considered the top dog in the UFC.
Royce brought the jiu-jitsu, Coleman brought dominant wrestling (a level beyond Severn), and Smith was the first to introduce the dominance of cardio training. His world class kickboxing skills helped, but without the gas and defense to withstand the initial storm, he never would've made it to a point where he could throw punches.
The fight wasn't do much a constantly moving exciting match, it just brought another main aspect of MMA to the forefront.
I was going to disagree w/ you originally but I think I see your point.
If the fight was to take place today, without the wrestling mystique, it would be no more suprising than CroCop beating Fujita.
At that time, I never considered Coleman to be an invinceable fighter... Belfort was beginning to come out of the woodworks and the Gracie reputation was still relatively strong. The stigma surrounding Coleman was more of a... This is the guy that will finally beat a Gracie.
It wasn't an upset because Coleman lost... It was because he lost to a kickboxer.
Williams KOed Coleman where Mo only decisioned him but Williams did it atfer Mo. Coleman and the big, powerful wrestler invincility air was already diminished by then.
lol, mo smith was torturing him. You really and honestly believe that when coleman was standing there, exhausted, that mo couldnt of just kick fucked his head into ko land? He was picking him apart, he wanted to teach coleman a lesson. I dont remember why mo smith hated coleman so much, but I remember him saying that coleman punched like a bitch.
Shit I swear to god I remember smith puting his fist in colemans face, like he was resting it there, talk a little shit, then kick him. And he did this more than a few times.
Mo didn't tee off because he did not want Coleman to score a takedown in the last 5 minutes and ride out the clock. He has stated that a few times afterwards.
He also stated that Coleman's girl punches were harder than hell, and was only being a smart ass when he made the comment.
Mo wasn't talking shit to Coleman in that fight. Pete Williams did a little talking before he got the knee and the KO kick, but Smith was not an ass at any point in that fight that I can remember.
It was an unbelievably huge upset...and it changed the way we looked at the sport as well.
1 year before Smith beat Coleman, he shocked everybody by beating Conan. Pretty big upset too, but the difference is that Conan (and to a degree, BJJ as well) was exposed for one of it's biggest weaknesses. Conan got the fight to the ground, but Mo got up and was able to put him away.
Coleman was a wrestler and was expected to run through Smith because taking him down was not going to be an issue. It wasn't, but putting him away was.
Even though his record is only 9-9, Smith really did revolutionize MMA. At the time of these wins, it was generally thought that stand up wasn't really necessary to excel at MMA. A lot of people thought you just needed to get that "one" takedown and it would be over because the fight was in your range.
This is about when BJJ, wrestling and Muay Thai were forced to accept that none of them could really be the best and stay the best without each other.
That fight was so great. Hardly anyone knew who Mo Smith was at the time. He was talking all kinds of shit about a wrestler that was crushing everyone at a time when strikers were doing nothing in the sport. He even said Coleman hit like a girl and made little girly hammer fist motions LOL. Classic
When he then came in and beat him it was stunning.
"because Smith beat Coleman or because it changed how we, as fans, looked at the sport? I say the latter."
It was both. Coleman was truly a dominating force back then.
"We saw wrestlers coming in and dominating and assumed that that style was the best."
I don't think that particular fight shattered that belief. Coleman was really taking it to Smith in that fight until he gassed. I think the fight was more a testament that you could beat someone much larger and stronger if you had good defensive technique and conditioning.
"Smith made us aware that strikers could win if they sprawled, had a decent guard and picked their shots."
Smith didn't sprawl at all, he accepted the fact that he would get taken down early on (and said that much before the fight). Frank had taught him how to use the guard to minimize the damage on the ground, and they were hoping that Coleman would run out of gas. Which he did. Coleman admitted afterwards that he didn't take Smith serious and hadn't trained hard. If he had been in the shape of UFC 10, the whole fight would have looked a lot pretty much like the first 6 minutes, and Coleman would have won a comfortable decision.
"mo smith was torturing him. You really and honestly believe that when coleman was standing there, exhausted, that mo couldnt of just kick fucked his head into ko land? He was picking him apart, he wanted to teach coleman a lesson. I dont remember why mo smith hated coleman so much, but I remember him saying that coleman punched like a bitch."
That's laughable, if he hated him so much, it would have been a far more impressive statement to finish him off Williams-style and not leaving it in the hands of the judges. The truth is, Smith was never a knockout artist, and scared that he might get taken down again and lose the decision.