UFC 61

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UFC 61: Bitter Rivals
Details
Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship
Date July 8, 2006
Venue Mandalay Bay Events Center
City Las Vegas, Nevada
Attendance 11,167 (9,999 paid)
Total Gate $3,350,775.15
Buyrate 775,000 [1]
Event chronology
UFC 60: Hughes vs Gracie UFC 61: Bitter Rivals UFC 62: Liddell vs Sobral

UFC 61: Bitter Rivals was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, July 8, 2006. The event took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada and was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States. With a live gate at $3,350,775, it nearly eclipsed the all-time mark for UFC events set at UFC 57.[2]

The main event was a Heavyweight Championship match between champion, Tim Sylvia and former champion, Andrei Arlovski. This was the third time these fighters had met, they had split the first two meetings. The co-main event was the highly anticipated re-match of TUF 3 coaches Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.

Contents

[edit] Results

[edit] Preliminary card

Fickett defeated Pellegrino by submission (rear naked choke) at 1:20 of round three. Pellegrino made his UFC debut with this bout. This bout was not aired on the broadcast.
Kongo defeated Aldana by technical knockout (doctor stoppage) at 4:13 of round one. Kongo made his UFC debut with this bout. This was a preliminary bout, and was not aired on the broadcast.
Monson defeated Perosh by technical knockout (strikes) at 2:22 of round one. Perosh made his UFC debut with this bout. The announcers on the UFC broadcast suggested that Monson would be the next heavyweight title challenger against Tim Sylvia, and that he was the original slated challenger for the title until the rematch with Arlovski was signed. This bout was not aired on the broadcast, although highlights were shown at the end.
Franca defeated Jordan by submission (triangle choke) at :47 of round three. Franca, lightweight champion of WEC and AFC, was originally matched with Roger Huerta. However, Huerta withdrew from the card due to injury and was replaced by Joe Jordan. [3] The fight took place at a catchweight of 165 lb, instead of lightweight, as allowances were made for Jordan as a late replacement.[4] This bout was not aired on the broadcast, but it was highlighted as the submission of the night

[edit] Main Card

Stevenson defeated Edwards by technical knockout (doctor stoppage due to cuts) at the end of round two. The referee, John McCarthy, allowed a significant amount of blood loss from Edwards before stopping the bout.
Mir defeated Christison by unanimous decision. The judges each scored the bout 29-28. Eddie Bravo had it 29-28 for Christison on his scorecard.
In the anticipated rematch, and the second out of three fights between them, Ortiz defeated Shamrock by technical knockout (referee stoppage, due to strikes) at 1:18 of round one. Disappointment surrounded the bout, however, as fans in attendance booed the stoppage by referee Herb Dean when Shamrock stood right up immediately after the stoppage. Shamrock also angrily protested the stoppage and charged toward Ortiz during his "grave digging" celebration before he was restrained. During the post-fight interview, Ortiz mentioned the possibility of having a second rematch, which would later materialize after The Ultimate Fighter 3.
This co-main event, scheduled since the production of The Ultimate Fighter 3, was for a time placed on hold due to Ortiz's knee injury during his last bout, and Ortiz's replacement for a time was Forrest Griffin. [5] It was later discovered that Ortiz had a fractured fibula and not an ACL tear as originally feared, and the fight was back on.[6]
In the evening's swing bout, Burkman defeated Neer by unanimous decision. The judges scored the bout 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28.
In the main event of the evening, Tim Sylvia successfully defended his championship title and defeated Andrei Arlovski by unanimous decision. Arlovski apparently had been hit by a leg kick sometime in the second round which left him unable to kick or make any takedown attempts. After the fight, the injury caused his ankle and knee on his left leg to swell up to about four times its normal size.[7] Sylvia also had injuries after the fight, Sylvia fainted at his hotel room, and upon hospital examination, doctors discovered a concussion undetected after the match.[8] The judges scored the bout 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47. The rematch was reportedly made at the request of Sylvia to prove his victory against Arlovski at UFC 59 was not a fluke. [9]

[edit] Purses

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Tito Ortiz: $210,000

Tim Sylvia: $120,000

Ken Shamrock: $100,000

Andrei Arlovski: $90,000

Frank Mir: $56,000

Joe Stevenson: $24,000

Jeff Monson: $20,000

Drew Fickett: $12,000

Josh Burkman: $10,000

Hermes Franca: $8,000

Yves Edwards: $8,000

Josh Neer: $6,000

Cheick Kongo: $6,000

Dan Christison: $5,000

Joe Jordan: $4,000

Anthony Perosh: $3,000

Gilbert Aldana: $2,000

Kurt Pellegrino: $2,000

Total Fighter Payouts: $676,000

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • It was announced during the event that Chuck Liddell would fight PRIDE star Wanderlei Silva in November if Liddell won his upcoming match against Renato "Babalu" Sobral at UFC 62. Negotiations between the UFC and PRIDE failed however and the Liddell-Silva fight never occurred in November 2006. The two would eventually meet in December 2007 at UFC 79.
  • The number of pay-per-view buys for UFC 61 in the United States was approximately 775,000, which generated gross PPV revenue of approximately $30,960,000. [10]
  • The disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $676,000. [11]
  • The show was named the worst pay-per-view of the year at the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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