The Blog

 Introduction UFC 54: Boiling Point. August 20, 2005. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada. Chuck Liddell made the first successful defence of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship he had won at UFC 52, stopping Jeremy Horn by TKO in round four. Randy Couture, in his first fight since losing the title to Liddell at UFC 52, submitted Mike Van Arsdale with an anaconda choke in round three. Georges St-Pierre defeated Frank Trigg by rear-naked choke in round one. James Irvin ended Terry Martin

 Introduction UFC Fight Night 1. August 6, 2005. Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas. Free on Spike TV. The first-ever UFC Fight Night — a format born from the TUF 1 Finale’s success. Eight fights, all featuring TUF Season 1 alumni. Nate Marquardt made his UFC debut in the main event. Kenny Florian opened a deep gash across Alex Karalexis’ nose with a forearm. Nate Quarry stopped Pete Sell in 42 seconds in a controversial finish. Stephan Bonnar, in his second post-TUF fight, beat Sam Hoger. Chris Leben spli

 Introduction UFC 53: Heavy Hitters. June 4, 2005. Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sold-out crowd. Rich Franklin defeated Evan Tanner by TKO in round four to win the UFC Middleweight Championship — his path from Cincinnati schoolteacher to champion complete. Andrei Arlovski retained the Interim Heavyweight Championship by knocking out Justin Eilers in round one. Forrest Griffin, seven weeks after the TUF 1 Finale, returned to the Octagon and submitted Bill Mahood at 2:18. The sold-out

 Introduction UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2. April 16, 2005. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada. One week after Griffin and Bonnar made the TUF finale the most-watched free UFC broadcast in history, the two TUF Season 1 coaches settled their rivalry in the Octagon. Chuck Liddell knocked Randy Couture out in round one at 2:06 to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. It was Couture’s first career knockout loss. The card drew 280,000 PPV buys — from 105,000 at UFC 51. The TUF effect ha

 Introduction TUF 1 Finale. April 9, 2005. Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas. Free on Spike TV. The event that made MMA mainstream. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar went fifteen minutes, threw everything they had, and produced the fight Dana White later called the most important in UFC history. Both men were given contracts on the spot. The sport was never the same again. The scheduled main event was Rich Franklin stopping Ken Shamrock by TKO in round one. Diego Sanchez won the TUF middleweight tourname

 Introduction UFC 51: Super Saturday. February 5, 2005. Super Bowl weekend. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Two championship fights, two upsets. Andrei Arlovski submitted Tim Sylvia with an Achilles lock in 47 seconds to win the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship — the interim designation existing because Frank Mir, who had won the belt at UFC 48, was unable to defend after a severe motorcycle accident in September 2004. Evan Tanner knocked out David Terrell in round one to win

 Introduction UFC 50: The War of ’04. October 22, 2004. Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Matt Hughes submitted Georges St-Pierre with an armbar at 4:59 of the first round to win the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship for the second time. St-Pierre’s first career loss. The main event featured Tito Ortiz defeating late-replacement Patrick Côté by unanimous decision after original opponent Guy Mezger was taken to hospital with stroke-like symptoms days before the event. The most consequent

 Introduction UFC 49: Unfinished Business. August 21, 2004. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada. The third fight between Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort. Their first meeting at UFC 15 in 1997 saw Couture win by TKO. Their second, at UFC 46, saw Belfort win the Light Heavyweight Championship when a cut above Couture’s eye was stopped by the doctor in 49 seconds. The trilogy decider gave Couture his answer — he ground Belfort down over three rounds, opened a cut above Belfort’s eye, and the

 Introduction UFC 48: Payback. June 19, 2004. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Two of the evening’s most memorable moments involved bones. Frank Mir applied an armbar to Tim Sylvia’s right arm in the first round and both bones snapped. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight when he saw the break at 0:50. Mir won the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship. And Ken Shamrock ended a rematch eight years in the making by kneeing Kimo Leopoldo in the head at 1:26 of round one. The card drew mo

 Introduction UFC 47: It’s On! April 2, 2004. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight that took two years to make. Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz had been friends, former training partners, mutual clients of Dana White before Zuffa was formed. Liddell had been the number one light heavyweight contender while Ortiz was champion. Negotiations had stalled for reasons that each man described differently. By the time UFC 47 took place, neither held the Light Heavyweight Championship —

 Introduction UFC 46: Supernatural. January 31, 2004. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Two championship fights were scheduled. Both produced upsets. Vitor Belfort won the Light Heavyweight Championship by opening a cut above Randy Couture’s eye in 49 seconds; the doctor stopped it before a minute had elapsed. Then B.J. Penn moved up from lightweight to welterweight and submitted Matt Hughes with a rear-naked choke in the first round. Two champions lost their titles in the same nigh

 Introduction UFC 45: Revolution. November 21, 2003. Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut. The 10th anniversary of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — a decade after eight fighters competed in a no-holds-barred tournament in Denver, Colorado, and a sport was accidentally born. To mark the occasion, the UFC established its Hall of Fame and inducted the two men most responsible for making those early events watchable: Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock. The Heavyweight Championship fight was pul