8 Brutal Fights From The Anything Goes Era Of The UFC

By using his unmatched strength and impressive wrestling pedigree to physically dominate opponents, Mark Coleman established himself as one of the early stars of the UFC. An innovator in the art of striking his opponents once he had established a dominant position, Coleman racked up an impressive undefeated record across his first six fights and became the inaugural UFC Heavyweight Champion.

So when Coleman came up against the 5-7 Maurice Smith at UFC, few people thought the American kickboxer had any chance at dethroning the king.

From the outset of the bout, Smith embarked on a tactic of frustrating the hulking Coleman on the ground and hoped to tire the wrestler as the fight wore on. Coleman enjoyed a lot of success in the early portion of the contest, regularly landing his trademark headbutts, and looked close to finishing the fight when he mounted Smith around the five-minute mark. Smith continued to defend intelligently, however, and the fatigue was beginning to show on Coleman's face.

After ten minutes of action with Coleman in an ever-worsening state of exhaustion, Smith started to pile on the pressure and landed several heavy blows on his opponent. After two overtime rounds, it was clear who had done more damage over the course of the fight and Smith was awarded the decision and the UFC Heavyweight Championship.

By emphatically defeating Coleman, Smith had laid the blueprint on how a striker could defeat a wrestler in MMA, and the sport hasn't been the same since.