UFC 61

Last updated
UFC 61: Bitter Rivals
Ufc61.jpg
The poster for UFC 61: Bitter Rivals
Information
Promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship
DateJuly 8, 2006
Venue Mandalay Bay Events Center
City Paradise, 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: Sanchez vs. Parisyan

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 the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada and was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States.

Contents

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 classMethodRoundTimeNotes
Heavyweight Tim Sylvia (c)def. Andrei Arlovski Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 49–46, 48–47)55:00 [lower-alpha 1]
Welterweight Josh Burkman def. Josh Neer Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 29–28)35:00
Light Heavyweight Tito Ortiz def. Ken Shamrock TKO (elbows)11:18
Heavyweight Frank Mir def. Dan Christison Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)35:00
Lightweight Joe Stevenson def. Yves Edwards TKO (doctor stoppage)25:00
Preliminary Card
Catchweight (165 lb) Hermes França def.Joe JordanSubmission (triangle choke)30:47 [lower-alpha 2]
Heavyweight Jeff Monson def. Anthony Perosh TKO (punches)12:42
Heavyweight Cheick Kongo def.Gilbert AldanaTKO (doctor stoppage)14:13
Welterweight Drew Fickett def. Kurt Pellegrino Submission (rear-naked choke)31:20
  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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tito Ortiz</span> American mixed martial arts fighter, politician and wordsmith

Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz is a retired American mixed martial artist and a former politician. Ortiz is best known for his stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Light Heavyweight Champion, having held the title from April 14, 2000, to September 26, 2003. Along with fighters like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, he was one of the sport's early stars. Ortiz ultimately became the biggest pay-per-view draw of 2006 for his fights with Liddell, Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck Liddell</span> American mixed martial arts fighter (born 1969)

Charles David Liddell is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1998 to 2018, Liddell is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and is widely credited, along with fellow UFC fighter Randy Couture, with helping bring MMA into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. Known as "The Iceman", Liddell achieved a 16–7 UFC record, and an overall record of 21–9, with 13 of his wins coming by way of knockout. He retired in late 2010, then came out of retirement for one bout in 2018, in a loss to rival Tito Ortiz. On July 10, 2009, Liddell was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrei Arlovski</span> Belarusian mixed martial arts fighter

Andrei Arlovski is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist, actor and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and holds the record for most wins (23) in UFC heavyweight history. Arlovski has also competed for Strikeforce, WSOF, Affliction, EliteXC, ONE FC and M-1 Challenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forrest Griffin</span> American mixed martial artist

Forrest Griffin is an American retired mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2013 and is the Vice President of Athlete Development at the UFC Performance Institute. Griffin, a former Georgia police officer, first rose to prominence after winning the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. In the tournament finals, he defeated Stephan Bonnar, which is widely credited as sparking the success of the UFC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 57</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3 was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on February 4, 2006. It was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, and broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 59</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC 59: Reality Check was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 15, 2006 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, and broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 62</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC 62: Liddell vs. Sobral was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 26, 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 and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 47</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2004

UFC 47: It’s On! was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on April 2, 2004, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view, and later released on DVD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermes França</span> Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter

Hermes França Barros is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He has competed for the UFC, WEC, MFC, and Israel FC. He is a former WEC Lightweight Champion, and former UFC Lightweight Championship contender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 48</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2004

UFC 48: Payback was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 19, 2004, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States, and was later released on DVD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 65</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC 65: Bad Intentions was a mixed martial arts competition held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 18, 2006, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California – the UFC's first show at this venue. It was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States and Canada, and was later released on DVD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lion's Den (mixed martial arts)</span> American mixed martial arts team

The Lion's Den is an American mixed martial arts team and training facility that was based out of Lodi, California and San Diego, California. The team was founded in the early 1990s by UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, and was the most dominant fight camp in the early UFC. It featured fighters such as Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger, Vernon "Tiger" White, Jerry Bohlander, Tra Telligman, Pete Williams, and Mikey Burnett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC: Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 10, 2006. The event took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida and was broadcast live on Spike TV in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 66</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2006

UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 30, 2006 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Boy Promotions</span> American boxing promoter

Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is an American boxing promotional firm based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established in 2002 by eight-time world champion Oscar De La Hoya, borrowing his nickname "Golden Boy."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFC 73</span> UFC mixed martial arts event in 2007

UFC 73: Stacked was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It took place on July 7, 2007, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California and featured a total of nine bouts: four on the preliminary card and five on the main card.

<i>EliteXC: Heat</i> Elite Xtreme Combat MMA event in 2008

EliteXC: Heat was a mixed martial arts event held by Elite Xtreme Combat on October 4, 2008, in Sunrise, Florida, at the BankAtlantic Center. The event was scheduled to be headlined with a heavyweight fight between Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice, but Shamrock had to pull out due to an injury and Seth Petruzelli was called up to replace him. Petruzelli delivered a shock win by knocking out Slice, but the fight was overshadowed by accusations that Petruzelli had been offered a payment by EliteXC's promoters to not fight Slice on the ground. The event also featured a heavyweight match between Andrei Arlovski and Roy Nelson in a cross-promotional event, and drew an estimated 4,560,000 viewers on CBS.

Affliction Entertainment was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company created by Affliction Clothing in 2008. The UFC prohibited its fighters from wearing Affliction clothing after learning Affliction was applying to become an MMA fight promoter. Although the promotion company bore the Affliction name, it was run independently of Affliction Clothing.

"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz vs. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock is a mixed martial arts trilogy and rivalry. It is regarded as one of the biggest feuds in MMA history. All three fights took place under Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States. All three fights have ended in technical knockout with one of them having been for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell vs. "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz is a trilogy of mixed martial arts fights between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz; two that took place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and one in the Golden Boy Promotions MMA promotion. All three fights have ended in a knockout in the Light Heavyweight Division.

References

  1. "Archived copy". www.mmaweekly.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  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