UFC 39
| UFC 39: The Warriors Return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | September 27, 2002 | |||
| Venue | Mohegan Sun Arena | |||
| City | Uncasville, Connecticut | |||
| Attendance | 7,800 | |||
| Buyrate | 45,000 | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
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UFC 39: The Warriors Return was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 27, 2002, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event was broadcast live on pay per view in the United States, and was the first UFC event to be released on DVD.
History
Headlining the event was a Heavyweight Title bout between Randy Couture and Ricco Rodriguez for the vacant title, which was stripped from Josh Barnett following a positive test for steroids.
The event marked the octagon debut of future UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. This fight saw Tim's opponent, Correira, take several straight punches, knees and kicks to the head without ever falling before his corner eventually threw in the towel.
The Rodriguez/Couture fight was one of only five fights in UFC history to end in the 5th round. The others were BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez at UFC 107, Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, Demetrious Johnson vs John Moraga at UFC on Fox 8 and Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III at UFC 166.
Results
| Main Card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Heavyweight | Ricco Rodriguez | def. | Randy Couture | Submission (Elbow) | 5 | 3:04 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Heavyweight | Tim Sylvia | def. | Wesley Correira | TKO (Corner Stoppage) | 2 | 1:43 | |
| Lightweight | B.J. Penn | def. | Matt Serra | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| Lightweight | Caol Uno | def. | Din Thomas | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Gan McGee | def. | Pedro Rizzo | TKO (Corner Stoppage) | 1 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 3] |
| Middleweight | Phil Baroni | def. | Dave Menne | KO (Punches) | 1 | 0:18 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Middleweight | Matt Lindland | def. | Ivan Salaverry | Decision (Unanimous) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Sean Sherk | def. | Benji Radach | TKO (Doctor Stoppage) | 1 | 4:16 | |
- ↑ For the UFC Heavyweight Championship. This is the first of only five fights in UFC history to end in the 5th round. The others were BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez at UFC 107, Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, Demetrious Johnson vs. John Moraga at "UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga" and Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III at UFC 166.
- ↑ This bout completes the first round of the lightweight tournament, and Penn advanced to the finals at UFC 41.
- ↑ Rizzo took a straight right hand to the nose with twelve seconds left in the First Round. After examining Rizzo's nose between rounds, his corner decided to throw in the towel.
| Semifinals | Finals (UFC 41) | |||||
| Caol Uno | ||||||
| Din Thomas | ||||||
| Caol Uno | ||||||
| BJ Penn | ||||||
| BJ Penn | ||||||
| Matt Serra | ||||||
