UFC 7: What happened when the "Russian Bear" met the "World's Most Dangerous Man?"

UFC 7 is infamous for its dull as ditchwater main event which pitted reigning "Superfight" Champion, Ken Shamrock versus the UFC 6 tournament winner, Oleg Taktarov.

A mouthwatering proposition on paper was an exercise in feebleness in reality. The problem was that Shamrock and Taktarov were friends and Shamrock had arranged for his buddy to fight in the promotion he co-owned, Pancrase following the show and thus had a reason not to hurt or beat his buddy as it would affect his drawing power and ability to compete.

If ever there was a time UFC booked itself into a corner it was with this fight. With the better fighter, Shamrock not willing to injure his opponent and Taktarov being unable to escape Shamrock's ground and pound, this bout was 33 minutes of non-action.

The crowd rightly booed the fight for most of its duration. You would think UFC would have learned from the debacle at UFC 5 with the Shamrock/Gracie fight. It didn't. UFC would not learn from this disaster either as anyone who has watched the UFC 9 "Superfight" will tell you.

This 33-minute snore fest resulted in a draw and Shamrock retained the belt.

Happily, the rest of the UFC 7 card did provide worthwhile entertainment. The giant, Paul Varelans returned and defeated fellow big man, Gerry Harris, as he elbowed his foe into oblivion.

Mark Hall bested UFC 3 finalist, Harold Howard. Hall violently tugged at Howard's mullet and smashed him repeatedly in the face as Howard quickly submitted as blood poured out of his forehead.

Another Quarter-Final bout and another submission. Remco Pardoel, who had competed and lost to Royce Gracie at UFC 2, took a leaf out of the Brazilian's playbook with a choke, seeing him through to the next round.

Finally, the perma-tanned Marco Ruas debuted in UFC and quickly dispatched Larry Cureton with a heel hook to make the Semi-Final.

The first Semi-Final bout saw Varelans win in impressive style, using his much larger frame to overpower Hall with a keylock submission in double quick time.

Ruas continued to look the part but his fight with Pardoel was not pretty. Finally, after over 10 minutes of largely uninspired action, Ruas mounted his opponent who curiously tapped out. Presumably, this was due to exhaustion as Ruas was not applying a submission at the time.

Marco Ruas attempts to chop down the tree-like Paul Varelans in the UFC 7 tournament final

Ruas's victory set up an intriguing David vs Goliath battle in the UFC 7 tournament final. The Brazilian met the near 7-foot colossus, Varelans in a gruelling war of attrition.

With such a large reach, Ruas astutely recognised that if he got too close to Varelans, he would fall victim to a pasting or submission, given his opponent's far greater girth.

Ruas's game-plan, therefore, was simple. He had to knock the giant off of his feet. For 13 minutes, Ruas calmly and strategically fired away leg kick after leg kick to Varelans' own legs. So much so, that visible welts and marks appeared on the giant's massive legs.

Varelans, looking for an opening that never came, neglected to attempt to block this onslaught until it was too late. Varelans' legs finally buckled underneath him and an opportunistic Ruas quickly jumped on the big man and unleashed a flurry of punches to win the bout and the UFC 7 tournament.

Ruas was the new star of the UFC. Both he and Varelans would return for the year ending supercard, Ultimate Ultimate 1995 in December 1995.