UFC 61

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.

UFC 61: Bitter Rivals
The poster for UFC 61: Bitter Rivals.
Information
PromotionUltimate Fighting Championship
DateJuly 8, 2006
VenueMandalay Bay Events Center
CityLas Vegas, Nevada
Attendance11,167 (9,999 paid)
Total gate$3,350,775.15
Buyrate775,000 [1]
Event chronology
Ultimate Fight Night 5 UFC 61: Bitter Rivals UFC Fight Night 6

Background

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 rematch of TUF 3 coaches Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock.

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 set a new UFC buyrate record and generated gross PPV revenue of approximately $30,960,000. The disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $686,000. With a live gate at $3,350,775, it nearly eclipsed the all-time mark for UFC events set at UFC 57.

Results
Main Card
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Heavyweight Tim Sylvia (c) def. Andrei Arlovski Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 49–46, 48–47) 5 5:00 [lower-alpha 1]
Welterweight Josh Burkman def. Josh Neer Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 29–28) 3 5:00
Light Heavyweight Tito Ortiz def. Ken Shamrock TKO (elbows) 1 1:18
Heavyweight Frank Mir def. Dan Christison Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) 3 5:00
Lightweight Joe Stevenson def. Yves Edwards TKO (doctor stoppage) 2 5:00
Preliminary Card
Catchweight (165 lb) Hermes França def. Joe Jordan Submission (triangle choke) 3 0:47 [lower-alpha 2]
Heavyweight Jeff Monson def. Anthony Perosh TKO (punches) 1 2:42
Heavyweight Cheick Kongo def. Gilbert Aldana TKO (doctor stoppage) 1 4:13
Welterweight Drew Fickett def. Kurt Pellegrino Submission (rear-naked choke) 3 1:20
  1. For the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
  2. França was originally matched with Roger Huerta. However, Huerta withdrew from the card due to injury and was replaced by Joe Jordan. [2] The fight took place at a catchweight of 165 lb, instead of lightweight, as allowances were made for Jordan as a late replacement.[3]

Bonus awards

Reported Payouts

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

Yves Edwards: $8,000

Hermes Franca: $8,000

Cheick Kongo: $6,000

Josh Neer: $6,000

Dan Christison: $5,000

Joe Jordan: $4,000

Anthony Perosh: $3,000

Kurt Pellegrino: $2,000

Gilbert Aldana: $2,000

Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $686,000

See also

References
  2. Venga, Gleidson (2006-07-05). "França's Return to the UFC Caps Solid 2006". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  3. "MMA Radio, Podcast, UFC, Beatdown, MMA Sunday School". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.

Sources
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