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"Ultimate Fighter" Final Complete Card |
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Written by Press Release
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Wednesday, 06 April 2005 |
LAS VEGAS, NEV., April 5, 2005…Light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and
Forrest Griffin along with middleweights Diego Sanchez and Kenny
Florian will determine who will become The Ultimate Fighter™ when the
final episode of one network TV’s hottest new reality shows is
televised LIVE at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT, this Saturday, April 9, on
Spike TV from Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Also on the LIVE card, Ultimate Fighting Championship® legend and Hall
of Fame member Ken Shamrock will battle rising UFC star Rich Franklin
in the light heavyweight main event. Preliminary bouts will match the
12 fighters who also appeared in The Ultimate Fighter™. As a bonus,
T.U.F. fans can view the first 12 episodes of the show starting at 9
a.m. EDT/6 a.m. PDT this Saturday as Spike TV televises the All Day
Marathon leading up to the LIVE final episode.
The public also can attend the live show and tickets, priced at $350,
$250 and $150, are on sale at the Cox Pavilion box office on the campus
of UNLV, all UNLV ticket outlets and at www.unlvtickets.com. Tickets
also may be ordered by telephone at 1-866-388-3267 toll free, or in Las
Vegas at (702) 739-3267. Ticket purchases are subject to transaction
fees.
Bonnar (9-1-0 in mixed martial arts) from Chicago, Ill., and a member
of Team Couture, reached the final with a split decision victory after
two rounds over Bobby Southworth in episode seven and with an arm bar
submission of teammate Mike Swick in the first round in episode 12 last
night. Griffin (9-2-0) from Athens, Ga., a member of Team Liddell,
defeated Alex Schoenauer by tap out due to strikes on the ground in the
first round of their fight in episode nine and defeated teammate Sam
Hoger last night in episode 12 due to referee stoppage from strikes on
the ground in the second round.
Florian (4-1-0) from Boston, Ma., a Brazilian jiu jitsu and muay thai
fighter and a member of Team Couture, reached the final by defeating
teammate Chris Leben with a well-placed elbow strike in round two of
their match in episode 10. The strike opened a cut above Leben’s eye
and referee John McCarthy stopped the fight due to the severity of the
cut.
Sanchez (12-0-0) from Albuquerque, N.M., is a submission wrestler
and boxer for Team Liddell. He defeated Alex Karalexis in episode four
with a submission by choke in the first round; choked out Josh Rafferty
in the first round in episode eight, and won a tough, three-round split
decision over Josh Koscheck in episode 11.
Shamrock (26-8-2) from San Diego, Calif., is recognized as one of the
world’s top mixed martial arts fighters. He is coming off a first-round
knockout of Kimo last June 19 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. “The
World’s Most Dangerous Man” was selected one of the two charter
members, along with Royce Gracie, of the UFC Hall of Fame in December
2003. Franklin (18-1-0) from Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the UFC’s most
well rounded fighters. In his last UFC fight, the unassuming math
teacher defeated highly regarded Jorge Rivera with a powerful arm bar
last October in Atlantic City, N.J.
In the preliminary bouts, Southworth (8-3-0) from Santa Cruz, Calif.,
Team Liddell, will take on Hoger (4-0-0) from Davenport, Iowa, Team
Liddell, in a light heavyweight match; Nate Quarry (11-1-0) from
Gresham, Ore., and Team Couture, will fight Lodune Sincaid (15-2-0)
from North Hollywood, Calif, Team Couture, in light heavyweight action;
Leben (16-1-0) from Portland, Ore. and Team Couture will duel with
Jason Thacker (4-1-0) from Whonnock, British Columbia, Canada in a
middleweight fight; Koscheck (4-0-0) from Buffalo, N.Y. and Team
Liddell will fight Chris Sanford (5-0-0) from San Francisco, Calif.,
and Team Couture in the middleweight division; Swick (6-1-0) from San
Jose, Calif., Team Couture, will battle Schoenauer (10-0-0) from Las
Vegas, Nev., Team Couture, in a middleweight bout, and Karalexis
(4-0-0) from Las Vegas, Nev., Team Couture, will fight Rafferty (7-3-0)
from Cincinnati, Ohio, Team Couture, in welterweight action.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship® brand is the world’s leading
professional mixed martial arts sports association and offers the
premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC
and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® fight programs feature six
live pay-per-view events annually through cable and satellite
providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution, UFC fight programs are
distributed internationally throughout the world, including
broadcast on WOWOW, Inc. in Japan and Globosat in Brazil. Zuffa, LLC
licenses the distribution of UFC video games through Crave
Entertainment and Take Two TDK Mediactive and its fight show DVDs
through Studioworks Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company.
“Ultimate Fighting Championship,” “Ultimate Fighting,” “UFC,”
“Submission,” “As Real As It Gets,” and the Octagon cage design are
registered trademarks or trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in
the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions. All other marks that may be
referenced herein belong to their respective holders.
The UFC’s next pay-per-view telecast will be UFC 52: Couture vs.
Liddell 2 at 10 p.m. EDT, Saturday, April 16, LIVE from the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., when the two T.U.F. coaches meet for
Couture’s light heavyweight title. |
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