''UFC 21: Return of the Champions'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event held by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

on July 16, 1999 at the

Five Seasons Events Center Alliant Energy PowerHouse (formerly Five Seasons Center and later U.S. Cellular Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in the downtown area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was financed by the approval of a voter referendum to allocate special muni ...

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

. The event was seen live on pay per view in the United States, and later released on

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

History

UFC 21 marked significant rule changes due to the Council of the Mixed Martial Arts Commission: preliminary bouts now consisted of two five minute-rounds, main card bouts were three five-minute rounds and championship bouts were five five-minute rounds (similar to the

Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very dif ...

used today in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

). UFC 21 was the first

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

event to adopt the 10-point must system, commonly used in

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, to judge fights instead of each judge merely stating their choice of fighter. 10 points are awarded for fighters who win the round, 6-9 points for the fighter that loses the round. Points are awarded for Octagon control, effective striking, grappling/near submissions, and aggressiveness.UFC 21: Hawkeye homecoming

Yahoo! News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...

(April 23, 2009) During the event, it was announced that UFC Middleweight Champion

Frank Shamrock Frank Shamrock (born Frank Alisio Juarez III; December 8, 1972) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship (later renamed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship) and ...

would defend his title at

UFC 22 ''UFC 22: Only One Can be Champion'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 24, 1999 at the Lake Charles Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana. History The event was headlined by a Light Heavy ...

against rising star

Tito Ortiz Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz (; born January 23, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist and politician. He is currently signed to the Combate Americas promotion. Ortiz is best known for his stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UF ...

Results

External links

Official UFC 21 Page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufc 021 Ultimate Fighting Championship events 1999 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Iowa Sports in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 1999 in sports in Iowa

History

Results

See also

External links

References