On Sept. 8, 1995, UFC 7: The Brawl in Buffalo took place on U.S. pay-per-view. The event had an eight-man tournament take place but was headlined by a superfight championship bout between Ken Shamrock and Oleg Taktarov.
The second round witnessed Varelans submit Hall and Ruas tap Pardoel. In the end, it was Ruas who won the tournament as he knocked out Varelans.
The fight everyone was looking forward to was Shamrock vs. Taktarov. However, the fight did not go as many expected as it ended in a draw after 33 minutes. There were no judges, but Shamrock retained the Ultimate Fighting Championship superfight title because of the draw. To make matters worse, the event ran over the three-hour time limit and some viewers did not see the final match as PPV outlets cut the feed at the top of the hour.
UFC 7 was also the first UFC event to be held in the state of New York. After the event took place, the sport was declared illegal in the region, and no mixed martial arts events were allowed to take place. Two decades later, the state finally passed legislation allowing MMA’s return. At UFC 205, the promotion went to New York City, where Conor McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez to become the first ever simultaneous UFC champion in two weight classes. The Las Vegas-based promotion did not return to Buffalo until UFC 210 in April 2017.