UFC® ANNOUNCES LESNAR VS. HERRING FOR UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY

Courtesy of the Ultimate Fighting Championship:

For Immediate Release:
May 29, 2008

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9
LIVE FROM TARGET CENTER

Tickets on Sale Now

Las Vegas, NV (USA) -- On Saturday, August 9th, heavyweight sensation Brock Lesnar returns to his home state of Minnesota to show his fans the explosive MMA game that has the entire fight world buzzing as he competes in a featured bout on the UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY card at Target Center.

But his opponent that night, Heath Herring, doesn’t plan on making this a happy homecoming for the former NCAA wrestling champion, and with his resume, “The Texas Crazy Horse” has got the tools to determine whether Lesnar, the former WWE superstar, has got what it takes to compete at the UFC’s elite level.

Herring (28-13, 1 no contest) replaces UFC® hall of famer Mark Coleman, who was forced to withdraw from the UFC 87 bout due to a knee injury.

Some pundits believe that Herring may be an even more dangerous matchup for Lesnar (1-1), who followed up his debut win in mixed martial arts last June with an exciting battle against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 81 in February. In that fight, Lesnar – showing his stellar wrestling skills – took Mir to the canvas immediately and appeared to be moments away from victory before the jiu-jitsu wizard submitted the Minneapolis-St. Paul resident. Disappointed but not deterred, Lesnar went right back into the gym to prepare for August’s bout, and he promises to be better than ever for his hometown fans.

Despite only being 30 years old, Herring is an 11-year veteran of the sport who has made the transition from PRIDE® superstar in Japan to UFC heavyweight contender. A well-rounded battler who has been in with the best in the game, including Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (three times), Mirko Cro Cop, Vitor Belfort, and Igor Vovchanchyn, Herring is coming off his biggest UFC win to date, a three round victory over Cheick Kongo in March, and he knows that a win over Lesnar will move him closer to a world title shot.

UFC 87 is headlined by the UFC Welterweight Championship bout between Georges “Rush” St-Pierre and Jon Fitch, and the highly-anticipated lightweight showdown between Kenny “Ken-Flo” Florian and Minnesota’s own Roger “El Matador” Huerta.

Tickets for UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY are on sale now priced at $600, $400, $250, $125, $75 and $50 and are available at Target Center's Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 651.989.5151.

UFC 87: SEEK AND DESTROY 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 $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).

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, Viewers Choice, SaskTel Max™ and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. 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 ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.

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