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UFC 52 Recap Couture vs. Liddell
April 16, 2005 MGM Grand Garden Arena Las Vegas, Nevada
Liddell Knocks Out Couture To Win UFC Light Heavyweight Belt;
Hughes Defends Welterweight
Crown Against Trigg
LAS VEGAS - Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell scored a first-round knockout of Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship, while welterweight champ Matt Hughes defended his belt with a first-round rear-naked choke submission of Frank Trigg as 14,562 saw UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday (April 16).
It was the largest crowd to witness a Mixed Martial Arts event in North American history. Liddell, now 15-3-0 in his career, avenged an earlier loss to Couture (13-7-0) by taking the former champ down with a right to the chin at the 2:06 mark of round one.
“He came out striking a little better than usual,” said Liddell, who hails from San Luis Obispo, Calif. “I was able to catch him on his chin. There aren’t too many people who can stand up after that.
“I’ve been waiting for this (winning the title) my whole career. Randy is a great champion and a great guy.”
Couture, a 2-1 favorite coming in, suffered the first knockout of his career.
“If you fight in this sport
long enough, that’s bound to happen,” said Couture. appeared to have the early upper hand after landing some punches to Hughes’ face, but the champ responded with a body slam that culminated in a rear-naked choke submission of his opponent.
“I want to thank all the people who trained me,” said Hughes, who is from Hillsboro, Ill. “Without them and all the people who came out to see us, we wouldn’t be here.”
Other fights at UFC 52: In light heavyweight action, Renato “Babalu” Sobral (25-5-0) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won a jiu jitsu battle with Travis Wiuff (22-4-0) of Owatonna, Minn. Both fighters traded strikes, kicks and submission attempts in the first round before Sobral twisted in an arm bar in just 24 seconds of the second round forcing Wiuff to submit.
Randy Couture teammate Middleweight Matt Lindland (14-3-0) from Eagle Creek, Ore., and Travis Lutter (7-2-0) from Ft. Worth, Tex., hooked up in a ground and pound war before Lindland set a rear naked choke at the 2:35 mark of the third round, forcing Lutter to tap out. Lindland now remains in the middleweight title picture.
Las Vegas welterweight Jason Miller (22-5-0) fought a gutty three rounds against tough Georges St. Pierre (8-1-0) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but St. Pierre won a unanimous decision by dominating the fight from start to finish. Miller escaped chokes and arm bars and sustained a cut over his nose, but hung in for all three rounds.
Middleweight Ivan Salaverry (11-3-1) from Seattle, Wash., made fast work of Joe Riggs (24-5-0) from Phoenix, Ariz., with a tap out victory by triangle choke at 2:42 of the first round. Riggs attempted to strike Salaverry when the fight went to the ground and Salaverry landed two powerful kicks as Riggs dove in. He followed with the leg triangle and Riggs had to tap out.
In middleweight action, Joe Doerksen (30-6-0) from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, won by tap out from a rear naked choke over fellow countryman Patrick Cote (5-2-0) from Rimouski, Quebec, at the 2:35 mark of the third round. Doerksen won the first two rounds on judges’ cards and Cote came out fast in the third looking for a KO. He landed a hard right and knocked Doersksen down. But Doerksen reversed Cote on the ground and set the choke.
Heavyweight Mike Van Arsdale (10-1-0) from San Jose, Ca., won a unanimous decision after three rounds over big John Marsh (12-5-0) from Redondo Beach, Ca.. Van Arsdale opened a cut over Marsh’s left eye in the first round with a side-mount ground and pound attack and continued to work on the eye with right hands and elbows.
Encore replays of UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 will air immediately after the live telecast on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV and the Dish Network. Additional replays on iN DEMAND will be telecast at 8 p.m. EDT, April 17, channel iN1; April 18, 1 a.m. EDT, iN1; April 19, 11 p.m. EDT, iN1; April 20, 6 p.m. EDT, iN1; April 21, All Day Ticket, iN2; April 23, 8 p.m. EDT, iN1 and April 24, 10 a.m. EDT, iN1. DIRECTV will replay the show on its All Day Ticket on April 17, 18, 21,22,24,26,29, 30 and May 2,6. Dish Network encores will be telecast on April 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, and 30 at 5 a.m. EDT on its All Day Ticket, channel 456.
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. In addition, UFC programs are distributed on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, Dish Network, TVN, Fox Sports Net, Bell ExpressVu and internationally through Viewers Choice Canada, WOWOW, Inc. in Japan and Globosat in Brazil. Zuffa, LLC, licenses the distribution of UFC video games through Crave Entertainment and Take Two TDK Mediactive, its fight show DVDs through Studioworks Entertainment, a Ventura Disribution company and its music CDs are published by Nitrus Records/DRT Entertainment, the official publisher of UFC music. “Ultimate Fighting Championship,” “Ultimate Fighting,” “UFC,” “Submission,” “As Real As It Gets” and the Octagon cage design are registered trademarks or trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC, in the U.S., Japan and other jurisdictions. All other marks that
may be referenced herein
belong to their respective holders. Locate the UFC on the internet at
www.ufc.tv.
Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.
- News release from the UFC website with some editing from us (color, highlights, etc...)
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