Tim Sylvia To Meet Andrei Arlovski

for UFC Interim Heavyweight Title

Tickets Now On Sale for UFC 51: Super Saturday

]\

February 5, 2005

Mandalay Bay

Las Vegas, Nevada

Tito Ortiz to Fight Vitor Belfort in Light Heavyweight Bout

in Ultimate Fighting Championship Main Event at Mandalay Bay

LAS VEGAS – Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia returns to the Octagon Feb. 5, 2005 at the

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Events Center to fight Andrei Arlovski for the Interim Heavyweight

Championship at UFC® 51: Super Saturday.

Tickets for the all-star fight card are now on sale at the Mandalay Bay Box Office (877-632-7400) in Las

Vegas, at all Ticketmaster locations, and on the internet at www.ticketmaster.com and

www.mandalaybay.com.

Tickets for this event are priced at $350, $250, $150, $75 and $35. To order tickets by telephone call 877-

880-0880 or 702-891-7777. Ticket purchases are subject to transaction fees. UFC® 51: Super Saturday will

be available LIVE on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST on iNDemand, DirecTV, Dish Network, TVN, Bell

ExpressVu and Viewers Choice Canada. The suggested retail price is $29.95.

Sylvia (19-1-0 in mixed martial arts) from Davenport, Iowa is determined to defeat Arlovski (8-3-0) from Minsk,

Belarus, to recapture the championship he lost to Frank Mir his last time in the Octagon at UFC 48:

Payback! The title fight was stopped due to an injury only 50 seconds into the first round.

Mir subsequently suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle accident in September 2004 and will not be able to

defend his title for several more months. Mir says he is recovering well and believes his doctors will allow him

to start training again soon.

Meanwhile, Sylvia and Arlovski are ready to fight for the “interim” title, with the winner eager for an

opportunity to face a healthy Mir.

The Sylvia-Arlovski bout is on the card with a Main Event fight that many Ultimate Fighting Championship®

fans have waiting more than three years to see. Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz will square off

with Brazilian star Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort. The remaining bouts will be announced in January.

Ortiz (12-4-0) from Huntington Beach, Ca., meets Belfort (12-4-0) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a bout that

should have taken place on Sept. 28, 2001 as the main event of UFC 33: Victory in Vegas. But that bout had

to be canceled two weeks prior to fight night when Belfort sustained a serious right elbow injury while

training. Vladimir Matyushenko, a tough competitor, stepped in on short notice to replace Belfort, but Ortiz

was too strong and retained the UFC World Light Heavyweight Championship by unanimous decision.

The Ultimate Fighter™ airs on Spike TV in January

On TV this Jan. 17 watch for the premiere of UFC’s reality show The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. The 15-

episode series, which airs Monday nights at 11 p.m., is hosted by top recording artist Willa Ford. The show

will follow 16 athletes as they train, workout and live together. The final four fighters will meet in

championship matches in a middleweight division and a light-heavyweight division to determine who will win

UFC contracts – LIVE on Spike TV.

- News release from the UFC website with some editing from us (color, highlights, etc...)

(12/17/04)