Couture and Liddell compete against each other weekly as the coaches of Team Couture and Team Liddell in the new, exciting The Ultimate Fighter™ reality show on Spike TV. But they will clash for Couture’s light heavyweight belt in the main event.
It’s the re-match everyone has wanted since Couture (13-6-0) from Portland, Ore., made a dramatic impact on the light heavyweight division with a third-round TKO of Liddell (14-3-0) from San Luis Obispo, Calif., to win the interim light heavyweight title June 6, 2003 in Las Vegas. Couture, the former two-time heavyweight champion, then defeated Tito Ortiz September 26, 2003 for the undisputed title; lost the belt to Vitor Belfort on January 31, 2004 when a glancing left hook sliced his left eye only 48 seconds into the fight forcing its stoppage, then won it back from Belfort on August 21 with a dominating ground and pound performance.
Liddell didn’t allow the loss to Couture affect his game. He rebounded April 2 with a second round knockout of Ortiz, then followed in August with a first-round KO of Vernon “Tiger” White on the same Couture-Belfort card.
“It’s going to be different this time,” Liddell predicts. “I’m going to win by a knockout and be the light heavyweight champ.”
But Couture is just as adamant.
“This fight will end just like the last one. At the end of the night, I’m still going home with the belt.”
Three middleweight fights, a heavyweight bout, a light heavyweight match and a welterweight bout will complete the card.
In middleweight action, Couture’s fellow Team Quest mate Matt Lindland will fight Travis Lutter; Ivan Salaverry will meet Joe Riggs and England’s Lee Murray returns to face Canadian Patrick Cote. In the heavyweight fight, Mike Van Arsdale will take on John Marsh; thelight heavyweight match will have Brazilian Renato “Babalu” Sobral fighting Travis Wiuff and in the welterweight battle, Cote’s teammate Georges St. Pierre will meet Jason Miller.
Lindland (11-3-0) from Eagle Creek, Ore., is looking to get back in the middleweight title hunt against Lutter (7-1-0) from Ft. Worth, Tex. An Olympic Silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, Lindland says his career won’t be complete until he adds UFC gold to his list of credentials. Meanwhile, Lutter made an impressive UFC debut in the light heavyweight division at UFC 50: War Of ’04 with a knockout of Marvin Eastman at the 33-second mark of the second round. Lindland’s forte is a patented Team Quest ground and pound attack while Lutter is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter with good striking skills, who is dropping down a weight division.
Salaverry (9-3-1) from Seattle, Wash., and Riggs (24-4-0), from Phoenix, Ariz., are both recent UFC winners. Salaverry, one of MMA’s most well-rounded fighters made quick work of Tony Fryklund at UFC 50 in Atlantic City, N.J., with a tap out victory in just 1:36 in the first round. A right hand strike followed by a left kick left Fryklund reeling and Salaverry applied a body lock. Riggs, a heavy-handed striker, made an impressive debut at UFC 49 in Las Vegas when he defeated Joe Doerksen by submission due to strikes at 2:39 of the second round.
Murray (8-2-1) from London, England, is one of the U.K.’s top-ranked middleweights and is known as a powerful striker, but in his debut at UFC 46, he quickly defeated highly rated Jorge Rivera with a triangle arm bar in just 1:46 of the first round. Cote (6-1-0) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is also a knockout puncher with a great chin. At UFC 50, Cote switched opponents when Guy Mezger sustained a late training injury and fought as a light heavyweight against former champion Tito Ortiz. Although he lost a unanimous decision, Cote said he “got a lot of experience from the fight” and proved he will not back down from anyone.
In heavyweight action, Marsh (12-4-0) from Redondo Beach, Calif., will match his submission and striking skills against Van Arsdale (9-1-0) from San Jose, Calif., whose well-known wrestling prowess includes powerful takedowns. Marsh will make his debut after scratching from the UFC 50 card when he sustained a hip injury in training and could not fight Tra Telligman. In his last UFC fight, Van Arsdale defeated Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighter Joe Pardo with an arm lock at UFC 17.
The light heavyweight fight matches Sobral (24-5-0) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a Gracie Jiu Jitsu specialist, against Wiuff (34-3-0) from Rochester, Minn., who is a strong wrestler with improved submission and Jiu Jitsu weapons. Sobral has won his last seven consecutive fights and Wiuff has won 18 fights in a row.
St. Pierre (8-1-0) from Montreal will pit his takedown and ground and pound skills against Miller’s (24-4-0) from Las Vegas, Nev., Jiu Jitsu and Thai kickboxing. Miller will make his UFC debut while St. Pierre is coming off a welterweight title loss to Hughes at UFC 50. St. Pierre is one of MMA’s most well-rounded athletes. “I know he is very skilled,” Miller said. “But, I don’t think his chin has been tested.”
The Ultimate Fighter Continues On Spike TV
The Ultimate Fighter, which premiered last month continues to wow audiences each Monday at 11 p.m. EST/PST on Spike TV. Viewers can follow the remaining fighters each Monday night for nine more episodes as they train, work out and live together before the final show on Saturday, April 9. At the end of each week, one fighter from each of the two teams must fight in the Octagon to avoid being kicked out of the UFC training center until only two remain in each of two weight divisions. In the end, The Ultimate Fighter will be determined by a live competition match – a head-to-head fight to the finish in the Octagon.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, based in Las Vegas, Nev., is the world’s premier mixed martial arts sports association. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, the UFC programs six live pay-per-view events yearly through cable and satellite providers.
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