UFC Heads To Cincinnati For UFC 77 Hostile Territory

Courtesy of the Ultimate Fighting Championship:

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP®
HEADS TO CINCINNATI FOR UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY

UFC® MIDDLEWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ANDERSON “THE SPIDER” SILVA vs. RICH “ACE” FRANKLIN

HEAVYWEIGHT FEATURE
TIM “THE MAINE-IAC” SYLVIA vs. BRANDON “THE TRUTH” VERA

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 LIVE FROM U.S. BANK ARENA

Tickets Go on Sale Sunday, Aug. 26 at 10am ET

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – 08/21/2007 – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization today announced that UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva will travel to the hometown of the man he took the title from, Rich “Ace” Franklin, to defend his crown against the popular former titlist in a highly anticipated rematch entitled UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY. This event will take place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday, October 20. UFC 77 marks the UFC’s second fight in Ohio this year, and its first fight ever in Cincinnati.

“Anderson Silva has shown he is probably one of the most deadly 185 pounders we’ve ever seen,” said Dana White, UFC President, “and he has shown no signs of slowing down in his two fights since beating Rich Franklin last year. But Rich told me that he has never trained harder for a fight than he is for this one, and he is determined to not only win his title back, but to do so in front of his hometown fans on October 20th.”

Tickets for UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY go on sale Sunday, August 26 at 10am ET with prices starting at $50. The fastest and most convenient way to purchase tickets is by visiting the Ticketmaster Web site at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets including select Kroger stores, or by calling Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone at 513-562-4949. Tickets are also available at the U.S. Bank Arena Arena Box Office, and online through www.usbankarena.com and www.ufc.com.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wed., Aug. 22 at 10am ET via the website www.ufc.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, August 24 starting at 10:00am ET. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through www.ufc.com.

UFC 77: HOSTILE TERRITORY is available live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $39.95 ($39.99 CAD) and $49.95 for HD where available.

After a devastating first round loss to Silva in their Middleweight title bout in October of 2006, Franklin has spent the last year training, fighting hard, and winning in order to get back to the number one contender’s spot. Meanwhile, Silva, the reigning and defending champion, has fought and won twice since taking the belt from Franklin, and his plans for UFC 77 involve defending his title and spoiling his challenger’s homecoming.

Silva (19-4), fighting out of Curitiba, Brazil, is an extremely well-rounded fighter with phenomenal striking skills as well as a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. After defeating Chris Leben and Franklin in the first round in his first two UFC fights, “The Spider” took on Travis Lutter in February in what was supposed to be his first title defense, but Lutter fell short of making weight by a half-pound. As a result, their fight was altered to a three-round non-championship bout, but Silva still finished Lutter by submission at 2:11 of the second round. Silva then took on Nathan Marquardt at UFC 73 in July and finally got his first successful title defense under his belt with an impressive first round TKO win.

Franklin (24-2) fought a good portion of his career as a light heavyweight before moving to the middleweight division. At UFC 53, he stopped UFC champion Evan Tanner to capture the middleweight crown. He made his first title defense against Nate Quarry at UFC 56, winning by first round KO, and his second defense against Canadian David Loiseau at UFC 58 showed his championship heart as he won a five round decision despite fighting much of the fight with a broken hand. Franklin faced Anderson Silva in his third UFC title defense, but was stopped by the Brazilian in the first round. At UFC 68 in March, he returned to the Octagon™, and in front of his home state crowd, stopped Jason MacDonald at the start of the second round. At UFC 72, Franklin defeated Yushin Okami by unanimous decision to earn a rematch with Silva and a shot at redemption.

Also on the UFC 77 card will be a heavyweight matchup between former UFC Champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia and unbeaten Brandon “The Truth” Vera. This fight will mark the first fight for Vera since a contract dispute with former management sidelined him for almost a year. The dynamic Vera (8-0) is excited to get back in the Octagon, and he expects to pick up where he left off last year by defeating Sylvia and every opponent afterward until he becomes the UFC heavyweight champion. The 6 foot 8 Sylvia (25-3), only the second man in UFC history to win the heavyweight title twice, would like to eventually join the man he lost the crown to in March, Randy Couture, as the only fighters in history to win the title three times. A win over Vera will push him firmly in that positive direction.

For more information about UFC 77 or any upcoming UFC event, visit www.ufc.com or uk.ufc.com. All bouts are live and subject to change.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® brand is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., the UFC® organization produces approximately twelve to fourteen live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution, UFC fight programs are distributed throughout the world including broadcast on MAIN EVENT in Australia, Globosat in Brazil and Bravo and Setanta PPV in the United Kingdom. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit www.ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or www.ufcespanol.com.

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