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Watch the event in all of it’s glory.

The early Ultimate Fighting Championship events were such a success, especially on Pay-Per-View, that there were bound to imitators. Promoters, looking to cash in off the UFC’s popularity, set up a cage or ring, picked a three or four word name, and tried to steal away a part of the UFC’s market share. The vast majority of these imitators ended up being miserable failures, both financially and aesthetically, and yet for some reason these type of events kept popping up, and to some extent still do today. The first of these events was the World Combat Championship.  

Background

Christopher Peters, son of movie producer Jon Peters, had previously approached Rorion Gracie and Art Davie, the men behind the first UFC, in 1994 about putting together a promotion to rival the Ultimate Fighting Championship that would be more based in sport, rather than spectacle; Gracie and Davie passed. Undeterred, Peters partnered with Bob Wall, a martial artist with connections to kickboxing juggernaut K-1, and started planning what would be the first, and only, World Combat Championship. The event was scheduled to take place on October 17, 1995 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The idea behind the event was fairly simple. Two brackets, one composed of four strikers, the other, four grapplers, with the winner of each bracket fighting in the main event.

Enchanted by the grappling majesty of Royce Gracie’s UFC outings, Peters wanted to get a Gracie to build his show around. Initially, he reached out to Rickson, thought to be the best off all the Gracie’s, and even in 1995 was already somewhat of a mythic figure both for his fighting ability and hardball negotiating tactics. Ultimately, Peters was unable to agree to terms with Rickson. Determined to have a Gracie compete in his event, Peters reached out to Renzo Gracie through an ad Renzo had placed in the back of Black Belt magazine.  Intrigued by the $120,000 up for grabs in the tournament, Renzo jumped at the opportunity.

Rounding out the rest of the grappler’s bracket were: Ben Spijkers, a Dutch Judoka who won an Olympic bronze medal in 1988 and had fought Erik Paulson a few months prior in the Japanese MMA progenitor Shooto. Mike Bitonio a practitioner of Kapu Kuialua, a Hawaiian martial art characterized by its joint locks, throws, and  emphasis on bone breaking. The final grappler, and perhaps the most famous competitor in the tournament was Kenpo Karate stylist and acclaimed Shoot Fighter Bart Vale. Vale was most well known for competing in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, a Shoot Style pro wrestling organization that presented itself as a legitimate fighting promotion, despite having predetermined outcomes.

When assembling the striker’s bracket, Bob Wall’s K-1 connections seemed to pay off in spades when both Peter Aerts and Sam Greco agreed to fight in the event. Once K-1 got wind of the tournament, and what exactly a No Holds Barred tournament entailed in 1995, they pulled both of their fighters. Without the marquee names of Greco and Aerts, Peters and Wall had to scramble to fill out their tournament with fighters with less sterling resumes.

James Waring had perhaps the best resume of anyone in the tournament. He had previously held the IBF Cruiserweight title, various kickboxing titles, and had an amateur kickboxing victory over future Heavyweight boxing king, Vitali Klitschko. Though in 1995, Klitschoko had yet to make his pro boxing debut and was almost entirely anonymous to most fight fans.

Erik Paulson’s inclusion in the striker’s bracket was somewhat dubious. Paulson was a Taekwondo black belt, but had been training with the Gracies for nearly a decade and already had already immersed himself in catch wrestling, a style that would become his trademark and calling card in future years. By the time of the WCC event, Paulson had already had 5 fights in Shooto, including a win over the aforementioned Ben Spijkers. 

The final two fighters in the striker’s bracket were Justin McCully, an undefeated Muay Thai fighter, and Jerome Turcan, a French Savate world champion.

The Event

The show opens with the above graphic. Showtime, the premium cable channel and boxing mainstay, produced the event. It says something about this event that it took Showtime another decade to try MMA again. Peters later claimed the event was a financial success, but based on Showtime’s ten year sabbatical from promoting MMA and a sparse crowd, it seems unlikely that there is any truth in Peters’ statement. 

The show opens with a video package that is as ostentatious as it is hamfisted. Men are seen practicing their martial arts while an unseen narrator rattles off the show’s opening salvo. With lines like “All people are his family, all places are his home ... he is alone, he is a legend, he is a warrior,” and claims that the winner of this 8-man tournament will be crowned “the greatest warrior on the planet.” It is clear that we are in for quite a show.

Our lead announcer, Todd Christensen, a man who looks like a cross between Dan Severn and Dick Butkus but with a hint of Kyle Kinane’s stage presence, opens the show by flubbing the name of the venue. He then introduces the rest of the commentary team. Bob Wall, a karate world champion and one of the events organizers, who can only be described as a better coiffed Councilman Jeremy Jamm, and Tom Murray, who eerily resembles Heaven’s Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite. Murray procedes to predict/read of an obviously pre-prepared note card that the tournament will come down to Renzo Gracie and Jerome Turcan while blinking an inordinate amount of times.

Christensen then throws to  Richard Norton, an Australian actor known for being in over 40 martial arts films, I guess. Norton introduces former WBA lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, the only person on this broadcast who is notable in anyway. Mancini offers some tropes about fighting being mostly a mental game, and how fights are often lost on the way down the ramp. Norton stumbles over his words and throws it back to Christensen.

Todd runs down the brackets, and then has Bob Wall explain the bracket system and the rules. All strikes are legal except eye gouges and groin shots. The grapplers’ bracket matches will be one 22 minute endurance round with a ten minute time limit on the ground. The strikers’ bracket has identical rules, except with a two minute limit on the ground and submissions will result in a disqualification. 

  Opening Round Fights

Cecil Peoples is the referee for the entire event, and is dressed for the occasion, wearing the classically stylish look of a t-shirt tucked into sweatpants. However, much to my displeasure, in 1995 Cecil had not yet seemed to have developed his signature knee-lift/arm cross dance to start a round.

Renzo Gracie vs. Ben Spijkers

Both men circle until Spijkers takes Gracie down to the mat. Renzo briefly works a guillotine variation before he begins working for a sweep from the bottom. Renzo uses a butterfly to sweep and brings the fight back standing momentarily before Renzo returns the favor and takes Spijkers down. The two grapple for a bit, much to the chagrin of the crowd, who in 1995 were most definitely shouting out a whole slew of homophobic slurs, until Renzo takes Spijkers back and hits three pretty rough looking elbows to the back of the judo player’s head. Renzo locks in a rear naked choke rather quickly and the fight is over. Ever the sportsman, Renzo disgustedly shrugs off Spijkers semi-conscious body and as an added show of chivalry steps on the back his opponent's neck on the way to his corner. Cecil Peoples grabs Gracie like he’s about to Irish whip him into oblivion, but decides to just give Renzo a stern talking to. Inspired by Cecil’s words, Renzo goes to shake Spijkers’ hand, but Spijkers is still lying dazed on mat, so Gracie’s handshake just looks like he’s half-heartedly trying to drag Spijkers around the mat. 

A side note on the whole stepping on the neck deal: apparently Spijkers had been repeatedly calling Renzo’s hotel room in an order to psych him out or something like that, so in the future if somebody calls you a couple times feel free to step on their neck, it’s cool. 

Sean McCully vs Erik Paulson

Before the fight, we are treated to a “funny,” and believe me those quotation marks have never been more necessary, vignette that features Sean McCully training and eating food, in order to illustrate the point that he is both trying to build muscle and that he is undersized for this tournament. It is not good. 

A corresponding vignette airs for Erik Paulson, who looks like he could be the rhythm guitarist for seminal Florida death metal band Atheist, that outlines his background, it does not feature any of the “comedy” that was expertly showcased in McCully’s video. The commentary team remarks on Paulson’s long hair, which in this tournament is fair game and in the background Anton Chekhov is placing a firearm on the wall.  

The men start the fight exchanging strikes, with Paulson using his range to get the better of his opponent. McCully takes Paulson to the mat, and Paulson begins to work for a triangle from the bottom, which in this bracket is illegal. McCully shrugs off Paulson’s weak triangle attempt, grabs his hair, and rains down a headbutt and some punches. McCully moves to side mount and lands some more punches before the 2 minute limit expires and both fighters have to stand up. Paulson again has the advantage on the feet, getting the better of McCully at range and on the clinch. Paulson lands some effective knees while holding McCully’s trunks. McCully decides to flop to the mat and finds himself mounted. Paulson lands some punches before his opponent gives up his back. Paulson lands a combination of punches and elbows mostly to the back of McCully’s head leading him to tap out.

Bart Vale vs. Mike Bitonio

A vignette introduces San Pedro, California’s Mike Bitonio, claiming that San Pedro has a reputation for being a tough place, although the video seems to contradict this statement by showing Bitonio roller skating down the street a few seconds later. Later, the vignette goes onto show Mike training with his instructor, a man simply known as Kaja who looks a lot like Scott Norton’s burnout cousin. After a clip of Bitonio agonizingly riding a mountain bike, he ends the segment by informing the audience that if he wins the tournament he plans on paying some bills.

The focus of the broadcast then shifts to Bart Vale, a supposed veteran of this type of event, you know in the same way my obsession with NHL video games has made me a veteran defenseman.  The narrator attempts to make an analogy between Bart Vale and a hurricane, but I was distracted by what seemed to be a very young Chuck Liddell, or some lookalike, being put is some strange submission.

The two men begin the fight with a short flurry of punches before Bitonio drags the much bigger Vale to the ground. Bitonio struggles to maintain half-guard, and Vale uses the opportunity to reverse the position. Vale fights off an armbar from the bottom, and delivers a few headbutts to his opponent. Bitonio’s defense from this positions seems to be running his fingers through Bart Vale’s luxurious period-appropriate hair. Somewhere along the line, Vale has opened up a cut on his opponent, and is now using his chin to exacerbate the cut. Mark Kerr is at home taking notes, thinking of ways to top Vale’s cleft-based offense. Bitonio scrambles and Vale transitions into a standing neck crank. Back standing, Bitonio goes for a headlock takeover, but Vale ends up on top and takes mount. From there he lands some more headbutts and a few elbows and begins to work for a kimura, which he quickly abandons. Vale lands the most meaningful strikes of the fight at this point, throwing some heavy punches from the mount, until Bitonio comes close to bucking Vale off. Vale, not wanting to lose position, goes back to working for a kimura. Bitonio defends by using his free hand to push on Vale’s nose in what looks to be a very unpleasant way, and uses this small distraction to reverse position and end up on top. However, it is all for naught, as Bitonio doesn’t have enough energy to mount much offense and Vale grabs an arm triangle from the bottom to force the submission at 7:10 of the first round. 

Jerome Turcan vs James Waring

A rather standard hype video for James Waring airs here. It recounts his Kickboxing and Boxing exploits, and shows him being a dedicated father. He seems like a good dude. 

Jerome Turcan’s introduction claims that he is a connoisseur of baroque architecture, savate, and fine art. This is kind of dumb, because we all know that Mixed Martial Arts is the finest of the arts, so the narrator is just being redundant. We see clips of Turcan obliterating people in the Savate World Championships. Following the video, our commentary team breaks down the fight; all of them see it going for Turcan.

The opening section of the bout is fairly uneventful, both fighters stand at range with Turcan getting the better of Waring with some low kicks. Waring clinches his opponent and lands some punches in close before his opponents spins out and both fighter are back at range. The fighters return to trading strikes at a distance, this time Waring is getting the better of the exchanges, pressuring his opponent up against the fence and landing a few jabs followed by  a right hook. Feeling the pressure Turcan goes to circle out, Waring follows. Turcan throws two leg kicks, the second one Waring counters with a short right hand to the temple and drops Turcan. Waring swarms, lands a few hammerfists and Turcan taps at 2:35.

Semifinals

Renzo Gracie vs Phil Benedict

Bart Vale had to pull out of the event due to a laceration on the top of is head. His manager, looking like every single wrestling coach in 1995, is out here to explain the situation. Richard Norton, star of over 40 films that surely have been seen by less than 40 people total, calls Vale’s manager Max, despite the graphic reading Matt. Matt/Max is here to tell us that the doctor won’t allow Vale to compete. I don’t mean to comment on Bart Vale’s finances, but if the guy you pay 10% of your money to walks around in a sweatsuit, you may have to find someone else to manage your money. Replacing him is alternate Phil Benedict, who the broadcast tells us very little about, aside from the fact that he is a wrestler. Actually they don’t even tell us that, it just pops up on a pre-fight graphic, but they do tell us he can bench 400 pounds, which I suppose is not irrelevant. 

Benedict, in gray spandex shorts, resembles, in some ways, the Incredible Hulk -- in other ways he looks like that weird greaser guy who was on an episode of American Pickers. The announcers basically tell us that Benedict has no shot against Gracie, and at this point in 1995 they are probably right.

The fight starts with both fighters missing with nearly every strike they throw. Benedict gets a bit antsy and throws a wild flurry of punches. Gracie reacts with a single leg attempt and wrestles Benedict to the ground. From there Gracie quickly gets to the mount and starts throwing some stiff punches to his opponent’s skull.Benedict can’t offer much off of his back and eventually taps to Gracie’s strikes.

Instead of stepping on his opponent’s semi-conscious head, Gracie decided to help Benedict up to his feet, which I suppose is better, but when you step on one guys neck you might as well step on everybody’s neck.

We cut back to the announce desk, where the commentary quartet of Christensen, Wall, Mancini, and Murray marvel at Gracie’s technique. Here in 2017, I am marveling at Renzo’s Dorian Grey-esque ability to not age. Christensen then shifts focus to our next fight.

Erik Paulson vs James Waring

As Paulson makes his way to the cage, the announcers again mention his long hair and his decision not to cut it. Chekov, having already placed a gun on the wall, takes it down, loads it, and pulls back the hammer.

Waring runs to the cage, and we get a quick cut to Paulson in his corner. He looks every bit of a person who has been recently headbutted. Waring on the other hand looks fresh. Ray Mancini adds on commentary that while he is rooting for Waring, he thinks Paulson’s ground game will give him an advantage. Mere seconds later, referee Cecil Peoples tells us that grappling is illegal in this bout.

The first minute or so of the fight in fairly uneventful, Warring paws with a jab irregularly and lands two inside low kicks. Paulson seems tentative for the most part, but eventually rushes Waring and pushes him against the fence. Clinched against the fence, the two exchange strikes, Waring mostly punching to the body, Paulson to the head. This goes on for a while, until Waring lands some solid knees in the clinch that cause Paulson to circle out, but not before Waring clips him with a solid right hook to the head.

At range the fight returns to it’s fairly slow pace, with Paulson being a bit more active, throwing more kicks to both the legs and body of Waring, even attempting a head kick at one point. Paulson then tries to take Waring down to the mat, but settles for pressing his opponent against the cage again. Against the fence, both fighters fight for an advantage, until Waring finally seizes on one, in the form of Paulson’s blonde ponytail. Chekov fires his gun and all is right in the world.

Apparently, Paulson had some stunt work scheduled and felt cutting his hair would lose him that gig, instead he just lost some brain cells. Good trade in my book.

With a fistful of hair, Waring lands solid punches and a few elbows which cause Paulson to break the clinch, The two trade sparing strikes for the next few minutes, the highlight of which is Waring landing a solid left hand and Paulson quickly shouting back that it didn’t hurt him. Shortly after, Paulson throws a strong leg kick that Waring checks, and from this point on it is all Waring. He lands with a pair of solid side kicks and then pressures Paulson toward the cage. From this position he again grabs a fistful of Paulson’s hair and begins to unload with strikes. Paulson tries to circle out, but Waring yanks him back by his hair. Waring lands a series of brutal knees, that drop Paulson,but Waring still maintains his grip of hair and drags Paulson back up in much the same way you would pick up a troll doll. Waring lands a few more stiff shots, but then decides to take a bit of a rest. Still holding Paulson’s mane, Waring chooses just to lean up against the cage and regain some of his stamina. Despite Waring’s lack of action, Paulson doesn’t mount much offense. Near the 16 minute mark, Waring finally decides to unload with a pair of knees to the body, and then drags Paulson down to the ground by the hair and lands a series of stomps. Paulson taps after Waring lands a few follow up punches, and the fight is over at 16:07

John Higginson, the ring announcer who looks a lot like Brad Maddox and has a lisp reminiscent of Al Stewart, declares Waring the winner, while his corner, a cross between Guile from Street fighter and a thing Ruben Villarreal politely claps. 

Bonus Prelim

Jerry Flynn vs Fred Floyd

Yes, this is WCW megastar Jerry Flynn, trained by Boris Malenko and Karl Gotch, which some people will tell you is impressive, but so was Bobby Blaze and I don’t think he was much of a shooter. Flynn has a mullet that would knock Billy Ray Cyrus’ dick in the dirt. We see Flynn shadowboxing in front of a mirror wearing Zubaz and the narrator tells us some people call Jerry the “Flynn Slam Man.” Who are these people? Who made them this way?

Flynn walks to the cage, and then we are introduced to Fred Floyd. Floyd is a bodyguard, exponent of Budokan Kung-Fu, and all around large man. Floyd claims you have to be a thinker to succeed in an event like this. I am skeptical.

To start the fight both fighters rush to the center of the cage and exchange strikes. Flynn throws a low kick, loses his balance, and Floyd lands on top. From the guard, Floyd lands a flurry of punches to the head and body as well as a few well-placed elbows. Flynn, using a body lock, is able to reverse position and end up in side control. He works for a wristlock from here, but nothing materializes. The two jockey for position of the ground, neither throwing many strikes.  In a scramble, Flynn tries to stand up and Floyd lands a nice knee to the body that hurts Flynn. Floyd follows his to the ground, but is tired and sort of just lays there for a bit. I get it man. I want to lay down all the time.

Flynn has a hold of Floyd’s ankle. He’s working for what looks like an achilles lock. PRO WRESTLING. Floyd sorta just turns and is out, somewhere I’m sure Karl Gotch is talking about how tough he is and how he would have killed every fighter ever if only he had the chance. Floyd ends up in North-South position and is sort of just laying on Flynn with his hands in the general vicinity of his neck. Flynn taps proving that while Pro Wrestling is indeed the strongest, it is no match for a fat man laying on you. 

Finals

Renzo Gracie vs. James Waring

It is time for the tournament final. Bob Wall calls Renzo the most aggressive Gracie, which at the time is true, but little did he know the aggressiveness with which Ralek Gracie would refuse to pay people who grappled for Metamoris.  

The fight starts with both men tentative. Waring paws out with a jab, but only to create separation. Eventually Gracie shoots for a takedown that looks a lot like what would happen if you tried to hit an ankle pick while falling down a flight of stairs. Nevertheless, he gets Waring down. Renzo grapples his way to mount, and gets a neck crank/smother/Arm Triangle. Waring taps at 2:47.

Richard Norton, star of over 40 films, interviews both fighters. They spout cliches, paving the way for many fighter in the future to say nothing of interest following a fight. Richard Norton, star of over 40 films, then introduces Christopher Peters, who looks like the adjunct English professor from you local community college, to present Renzo with a championship belt. 

And thus ends the inaugural and final World Combat Championship. It happened and nobody can take that away from them.