UFC 23

UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2
UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2
	The poster for UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2.
Information
Promotion	Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date	November 19, 1999
Venue	Tokyo Bay NK Hall
City	Tokyo, Japan
Event chronology

UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 19, 1999 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

History[]

UFC 23 was the second UFC event to take place in Tokyo, Japan, where the newly formed PRIDE Fighting Championships were enjoying massive success. UFC 23 was headlined by a Heavyweight Championship Title bout between Kevin Randleman and Pete Williams (mixed martial artist), held to determine the champion after Bas Rutten's retirement.

The event also featured a four-man "Japanese" tournament, held to crown the first ever UFC Japan Champion. The tournament was the first in the UFC since UFC 17, and the last one-night tournament held by the UFC (subsequent multiple-night tournaments have since taken place in 2003 at UFC 39 and UFC 41, and in 2012 at UFC on FX 2, UFC on FX 3, and UFC 152). SEG originally intended UFC Japan to be a separate company, run by local promoters, but due to mounting financial problems, a lack of cooperation from Japanese promoters, and the rise of the popular PRIDE and K-1 organizations, the idea was scrapped following UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3.

UFC 23 was the first UFC event to not see a home video release, as SEG was nearing bankruptcy and struggling to keep the UFC alive through extremely limited pay per view in the US, as well as minor coverage in Brazil and Japan. UFC 23 has now been released as part of a DVD collection (UFC 21–30). It was also the first to feature James Werme who handled backstage interviews.

Bas Rutten announced on UFC 23 that he dropped his heavyweight championship title so he could drop down to middleweight to bring Frank Shamrock out of retirement to fight for the middleweight championship.

Results[]

Main Card
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Heavyweight	Kevin Randleman	def.	Pete Williams	Decision (unanimous)	5	5:00	^[a]
Heavyweight	Pedro Rizzo	def.	Tsuyoshi Kosaka	TKO (referee stoppage due to strikes)	3	1:17
Middleweight	Joe Slick	def.	Jason DeLucia	TKO (verbal submission due to knee injury)	1	1:28
Middleweight	Eugene Jackson	def.	Keiichiro Yamamiya	KO (punch)	3	3:12
UFC Japan Middleweight Tournament Finals
Middleweight	Kenichi Yamamoto	def.	Katsuhisa Fujii	Submission (kneebar)	2	4:15
UFC Japan Middleweight Tournament Semifinals
Middleweight	Katsuhisa Fujii	def.	Masutatsu Yano	TKO (referee stoppage due to strikes)	2	3:14
Middleweight	Kenichi Yamamoto	def.	Daiju Takase	Decision (unanimous)	3	5:00

^ For the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship.

UFC Japan Tournament[]

Semifinals		Finals

Katsuhisa Fujii	TKO

Masutatsu Yano	2
		Katsuhisa Fujii	1

		Kenichi Yamamoto	SUB
Kenichi Yamamoto	DEC

Daiju Takase	3

External links[]

Official UFC website

[1] For the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship.

[a]

v t Ultimate Fighting Championship events
List of UFC events
Upcoming events are in italics
Flagship events	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UU 8 9 10 11 UU 2 12 13 14 15 Japan 16 17 Brazil 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 37.5 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273
Fight Nights (on Spike TV)	UFN 1 UFN 2 UFN 3 UFN 4 UFN 5 UFN 6 Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3 Sanchez vs. Riggs Evans vs. Salmon Stevenson vs. Guillard Stout vs. Fisher Thomas vs. Florian Swick vs. Burkman Florian vs. Lauzon Silva vs. Irvin Diaz vs. Neer Fight for the Troops Lauzon vs. Stephens Condit vs. Kampmann Diaz vs. Guillard Maynard vs. Diaz Florian vs. Gomi Marquardt vs. Palhares Fight for the Troops 2 Nogueira vs. Davis Shields vs. Ellenberger
UFC on Versus/UFC Live	Vera vs. Jones Jones vs. Matyushenko Sanchez vs. Kampmann Kongo vs. Barry Hardy vs. Lytle Cruz vs. Johnson
UFC on Fox	Velasquez vs. dos Santos Evans vs. Davis Diaz vs. Miller Shogun vs. Vera Henderson vs. Diaz Johnson vs. Dodson Henderson vs. Melendez Johnson vs. Moraga Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 Henderson vs. Thomson Werdum vs. Browne Lawler vs. Brown dos Santos vs. Miocic Gustafsson vs. Johnson Machida vs. Rockhold Dillashaw vs. Barão 2 dos Anjos vs. Cowboy 2 Johnson vs. Bader Teixeira vs. Evans Holm vs. Shevchenko Maia vs. Condit VanZant vs. Waterson Shevchenko vs. Peña Johnson vs. Reis Weidman vs. Gastelum Lawler vs. dos Anjos Jacaré vs. Brunson 2 Emmett vs. Stephens Poirier vs. Gaethje Alvarez vs. Poirier 2 Lee vs. Iaquinta 2
UFC on FX	Guillard vs. Miller Alves vs. Kampmann Johnson vs. McCall Maynard vs. Guida Browne vs. Bigfoot Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson Belfort vs. Bisping Belfort vs. Rockhold
UFC on Fuel TV	Sanchez vs. Ellenberger Gustafsson vs. Silva The Korean Zombie vs. Poirier Muñoz vs. Weidman Struve vs. Miocic Franklin vs. Le Barão vs. McDonald Silva vs. Stann Mousasi vs. Latifi Nogueira vs. Werdum
Fight Nights (on FS1, FS2, FXX, or UFC Fight Pass)	Shogun vs. Sonnen Condit vs. Kampmann 2 Teixeira vs. Bader Maia vs. Shields Machida vs. Muñoz Fight for the Troops 3 Belfort vs. Henderson 2 Hunt vs. Bigfoot Saffiedine vs. Lim Rockhold vs. Philippou Machida vs. Mousasi Kim vs. Hathaway Gustafsson vs. Manuwa Shogun vs. Henderson 2 Nogueira vs. Nelson Bisping vs. Kennedy Brown vs. Silva Muñoz vs. Mousasi Miocic vs. Maldonado Henderson vs. Khabilov Te Huna vs. Marquardt Swanson vs. Stephens Cowboy vs. Miller McGregor vs. Brandao Bader vs. Saint Preux Bisping vs. Le Henderson vs. dos Anjos Jacaré vs. Mousasi Bigfoot vs. Arlovski Hunt vs. Nelson Nelson vs. Story MacDonald vs. Saffiedine Rockhold vs. Bisping Shogun vs. Saint Preux Edgar vs. Swanson Machida vs. Dollaway McGregor vs. Siver Henderson vs. Thatch Bigfoot vs. Mir Maia vs. LaFlare Mendes vs. Lamas Gonzaga vs. Cro Cop 2 Miocic vs. Hunt Edgar vs. Faber Condit vs. Alves Boetsch vs. Henderson Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne Machida vs. Romero Mir vs. Duffee Bisping vs. Leites Teixeira vs. Saint Preux Holloway vs. Oliveira Barnett vs. Nelson Holohan vs. Smolka Belfort vs. Henderson 3 Magny vs. Gastelum Henderson vs. Masvidal Namajunas vs. VanZant Dillashaw vs. Cruz Hendricks vs. Thompson Cowboy vs. Cowboy Silva vs. Bisping Hunt vs. Mir Rothwell vs. dos Santos Overeem vs. Arlovski Almeida vs. Garbrandt MacDonald vs. Thompson dos Anjos vs. Alvarez McDonald vs. Lineker Rodríguez vs. Caceres Arlovski vs. Barnett Poirier vs. Johnson Cyborg vs. Länsberg Lineker vs. Dodson Lamas vs. Penn dos Anjos vs. Ferguson Mousasi vs. Hall 2 Bader vs. Nogueira 2 Whittaker vs. Brunson Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov Rodríguez vs. Penn Bermudez vs. The Korean Zombie Lewis vs. Browne Belfort vs. Gastelum Manuwa vs. Anderson Swanson vs. Lobov Gustafsson vs. Teixeira Lewis vs. Hunt Holm vs. Correia Chiesa vs. Lee Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio Pettis vs. Moreno Volkov vs. Struve Rockhold vs. Branch Saint Preux vs. Okami Cowboy vs. Till Brunson vs. Machida Poirier vs. Pettis Werdum vs. Tybura Bisping vs. Gastelum Swanson vs. Ortega Stephens vs. Choi Machida vs. Anders Cowboy vs. Medeiros Werdum vs. Volkov Barboza vs. Lee Maia vs. Usman Thompson vs. Till Rivera vs. Moraes Cowboy vs. Edwards dos Santos vs. Ivanov Shogun vs. Smith Gaethje vs. Vick Hunt vs. Oleinik Santos vs. Anders Volkan vs. Smith The Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez Magny vs. Ponzinibbio Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2 dos Santos vs. Tuivasa
UFC on ESPN (or ESPN2)	Ngannou vs. Velasquez Barboza vs. Gaethje Ngannou vs. dos Santos dos Anjos vs. Edwards Covington vs. Lawler Reyes vs. Weidman Overeem vs. Rozenstruik Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik Overeem vs. Harris Woodley vs. Burns Eye vs. Calvillo Blaydes vs. Volkov Poirier vs. Hooker Kattar vs. Ige Whittaker vs. Till Munhoz vs. Edgar Holm vs. Aldana Santos vs. Teixeira Smith vs. Clark Hermansson vs. Vettori Chiesa vs. Magny Brunson vs. Holland Whittaker vs. Gastelum Reyes vs. Procházka Rodriguez vs. Waterson The Korean Zombie vs. Ige Makhachev vs. Moisés Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw Hall vs. Strickland Cannonier vs. Gastelum Barboza vs. Chikadze Font vs. Aldo
Fight Nights (on ESPN+)	Cejudo vs. Dillashaw Assunção vs. Moraes 2 Błachowicz vs. Santos Lewis vs. dos Santos Till vs. Masvidal Thompson vs. Pettis Overeem vs. Oleinik Jacaré vs. Hermansson Iaquinta vs. Cowboy dos Anjos vs. Lee Gustafsson vs. Smith Moicano vs. The Korean Zombie de Randamie vs. Ladd Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 Andrade vs. Zhang Cowboy vs. Gaethje Rodríguez vs. Stephens Hermansson vs. Cannonier Joanna vs. Waterson Maia vs. Askren Magomedsharipov vs. Kattar Błachowicz vs. Jacaré Edgar vs. The Korean Zombie Blaydes vs. dos Santos Anderson vs. Błachowicz 2 Felder vs. Hooker Benavidez vs. Figueiredo Lee vs. Oliveira Woodley vs. Edwards Overeem vs. Harris Smith vs. Teixeira Hermansson vs. Weidman Smith vs. Teixeira Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 Brunson vs. Shahbazyan Lewis vs. Oleinik Smith vs. Rakić Overeem vs. Sakai Waterson vs. Hill Covington vs. Woodley Moraes vs. Sandhagen Ortega vs. The Korean Zombie Hall vs. Silva Felder vs. dos Anjos Thompson vs. Neal Overeem vs. Volkov Blaydes vs. Lewis Rozenstruik vs. Gane Edwards vs. Muhammad Font vs. Garbrandt Rozenstruik vs. Sakai Gane vs. Volkov Brunson vs. Till Smith vs. Spann Santos vs. Walker Dern vs. Rodriguez Ladd vs. Dumont Costa vs. Vettori Holloway vs. Rodríguez Vieira vs. Tate Lewis vs. Daukaus Kattar vs. Chikadze Hermansson vs. Strickland 202 203 204 205 Błachowicz vs. Rakić
UFC on ABC	Holloway vs. Kattar Vettori vs. Holland
The Ultimate Fighter Finales	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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UFC 23

Contents

History[]

Results[]

UFC Japan Tournament[]

See also[]

External links[]