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Saturday, January 19, 2008

UFC® FIGHT NIGHT™ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 BEANTOWN BRAWL IN THE MILE-HIGH CITY

Courtesy of the Ultimate Fighting Championship:

New Englanders Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon to Battle LIVE on Spike TV

Fellow The Ultimate Fighter® Alums and Light Heavyweights Stephan Bonnar and Matt Hamill Will Clash in Feature Fight LIVE from Broomfield Event Center, Broomfield, Colorado.

Tickets Go on Sale Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 10am MST

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – January 19, 2008 – Fellow New Englanders and rising stars in the UFC® lightweight division, The Ultimate Fighter® alumni Kenny “Ken Flo” Florian and Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon will meet each other where the Ultimate Fighting Championship® all began, and headline the first UFC fight in the state of Colorado in 14 years live on Spike TV Wednesday, April 2 at 8:00 PM ET/PT.

“We are excited to have a fight where the UFC first started, and also that UFC fans will be able to watch it on Spike TV,” said UFC President Dana White. “Lauzon and Florian will be a great comeback fight - these are two young guys who show improvement every time they get in the Octagon. Lauzon fought Jens Pulver as a huge underdog and he knocked him out, and then had a great run on The Ultimate Fighter 5. Kenny Florian got his UFC start in the original The Ultimate Fighter at 185 pounds, and since then dropped to 155 and has shown he is a guy to watch out for in this division. Both of these guys want to be the best young lightweight in the sport, and have the chance to prove it in a fight for the title.”

"We are thrilled that this great, nationally televised event will be at the Broomfield Event Center," said Gene Felling, Executive Vice President of Broomfield Sports and Entertainment and General Manager of Broomfield Event Center. "We expect it to be a popular event in the Denver-Boulder area."

UFC Fight Night will also feature a light heavyweight bout between light heavyweight contenders and fellow alumni of The Ultimate Fighter, Stephan “The American Psycho” Bonnar and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. The live fight card will take place at the Broomfield Event Center just outside the mile-high city of Denver in Broomfield, Colorado.

Tickets for UFC Fight Night go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 10am MST will be priced at $250, $150, $75 and $40, plus any additional box office or service fees. The fastest and most convenient way to purchase tickets is through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 303.830.TIXS or 719.520.9090. Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster locations including select Macy’s Stores, select FYE stores, Cherry Creek Shopping Center Guest Services Desk, Official Visitor’s Center at 1600 California Street, Ste. 6, Angelo’s CDs & More, and Twist & Shout. Ticket center hours may vary; contact retailer to confirm hours of operation.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the first opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Sunday, Jan. 20 at 10am MST via www.tickemaster.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers starting Monday, Jan. 21 at 10am MST. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through www.ufc.com.

Boston native Kenny Florian (9-3) made his UFC debut on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter making it to the finals before losing to Diego Sanchez. The 31-year old Florian used the sting of defeat as ample motivation to take his mixed martial arts training to another level, and he has dropped just one fight since, an epic five-round battle against Sean Sherk for the vacant UFC lightweight title at UFC 64 in October of 2006. Florian has rebounded by posting impressive victories over Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Alvin Robinson, and Din Thomas since then, and is hoping to continue his string of dominance in the division and earn another shot at the lightweight championship.

Standing in Florian’s way is fellow New Englander Joe Lauzon (14-3), a 23 year old who burst onto the scene with a thrilling TKO upset of Jens Pulver in his UFC debut at UFC 63. Lauzon gained national recognition as a member of Team Penn on Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter last year, and the East Bridgewater native has kept training with Penn since the show’s end, notching impressive submission wins against Brandon Melendez at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale and the previously undefeated Jason Reinhardt at UFC 78. In Florian, Lauzon will face his toughest task to date, and a win would further cement his place in the upper echelon of the extremely competitive lightweight division.

In the night’s feature fight, The Ultimate Fighter alumni and rising light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar (Season 1) and Matt Hamill (Season 3) will square off in a classic match-up of striker vs. grappler. Bonnar (11-4), a native of Munster, Indiana now training in Las Vegas, has won his last two fights at UFC 73 and UFC 77, exhibiting a lethal jiu jitsu game to go along with his renown striking ability. His improved ground game will be put to the test against Hamill, a world class wrestling talent whose ground and pound style resulted in three straight wins upon entering the UFC before dropping a controversial decision against Michael Bisping at UFC 75. The bout is a pivotal matchup for both men in a loaded light heavyweight division.

The remaining bouts for UFC Fight Night April 2 will be announced in the near future.

For more information about UFC 81, UFC 82 or UFC Fight Night 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® 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., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Bell ExpressVU, and Viewers Choice, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit www.ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or www.ufcespanol.com.