Mixed Martial Arts
The following is a list of major noteworthy MMA events during 1997 in chronological order.
| Date | Event | Alternate Name/s | Location | Attendance | PPV Buyrate | Notes |
| February 7 | UFC 12: Judgement Day | Dothan, Alabama, US | 3,100 | UFC rule change, split main tournament into heavyweight (200lbs+) and lightweight (Under 200lbs) divisions. Eight-man tournament ceases. Introduction of titles. Superfights cease. | ||
| May 30 | UFC 13: Ultimate Force | Augusta, Georgia, US | 5,100 | Closed fisted strikes to the head were banned for this event only. | ||
| July 27 | UFC 14: Showdown | Birmingham, Alabama, US | 5,000 | UFC rule change, requires fighters to use 4-6 oz gloves. | ||
| October 11 | Pride 1 | Tokyo, Japan | 47,860 | Pride FC's first event.
The event featured one kickboxing bout between Branko Cikatić and Ralph White. |
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| October 17 | UFC 15: Collision Course | Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, US | UFC rule change, redefined permissible striking areas. | |||
| December 21 | UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan | UFC 15.5 | Yokohama, Japan | 5,000 | This event featured the first appearance of longtime UFC announcer Mike Goldberg. |
Read more about this topic: 1997 In Sports
Famous quotes containing the words mixed, martial and/or arts:
“Memory is a wonderfully useful tool, and without it judgement does its work with difficulty; it is entirely lacking in me.... Now, the more I distrust my memory, the more confused it becomes. It serves me better by chance encounter; I have to solicit it nonchalantly. For if I press it, it is stunned; and once it has begun to totter, the more I probe it, the more it gets mixed up and embarrassed. It serves me at its own time, not at mine.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“As yet her conduct has been great both as a free and as a martial nation. We hope it will continue so, and finally baffle all her enemies, who are in fact the enemies of human nature.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“In a very ugly and sensible age, the arts borrow, not from life, but from each other.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)