Ortiz Defeats Belfort; Arlovski Wins Interim Heavyweight Title; Tanner New Middleweight Champ at UFC 51

Ortiz Defeats Belfort; Arlovski Wins Interim Heavyweight Title; Tanner New Middleweight Champ at UFC 51

Ortiz Gets Back In Lt. Heavyweight Title Chase Before Sellout Crowd of 11,218 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Tito Ortiz got back in the Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) light heavyweight title picture, Andrei Arlovski won the interim heavyweight championship and Evan Tanner captured the vacant middle crown before a sellout crowd of 11,218 mixed martial arts fight fans tonight at UFC 51: Super Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nev.

Both Ortiz(13-4-0 in mixed martial arts) from Huntington Beach, Calif., and his opponent, top contender Vitor Belfort (12-5-0) from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, needed a win in the main event to get a leg up in the light heavyweight division. Ortiz used his vaunted ground and pound offense to win the third round and a split decision.

"Vitor brought out the best in me. He has the heart of a champion," Ortiz said after the victory.

Ortiz, who has predicted he will re-gain the light heavyweight title, will now await the outcome of the Randy Couture - Chuck Liddell title fight April 16 at Couture vs. Liddell 2 in Las Vegas.

Everyone, including both fighters, predicted a quick finish between Arlovski and former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia for the interim heavyweight title. It was Arlovski (8-3-0) from Minsk, Belarus, who got the upper hand knocking down Sylvia (19-2-0) from Davenport, Iowa, with a hard right, then applying a heel hook that forced Sylvia to tap out at the 47-second mark of the fight.

"He's tough and he stung me," Sylvia said. "He surprised me with the heel hook and since I didn't want another broken bone, I tapped out."

The reference was to Sylvia's last fight when Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir broke his right arm in three places last June to win the heavyweight crown. Now, the stage is set for Arlovski to meet Mir when Mir recovers from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in December in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas odds makers had the younger Terrell (9-2-0) from Santa Rosa, Calif., the favorite over the veteran Tanner (33-4-0) from Portland, Ore., for the vacant middleweight belt. Terrell came out fast with powerful kicks, rushing Tanner against the Octagon fence and taking him down. But Tanner recovered and used his ground and pound experience to keep Terrell on his back. When Terrell could no longer defend himself at the 4:35 mark of the first round, referee Herb Dean stopped it and Tanner was the new middleweight champ.

"It took me a long time to get here. Everyone wants to be at the point I'm now at. It feels real good," Tanner said.

In other action:

Middleweight newcomer Pete Sell (6-0-0) from Bayshore, N.Y. took on fellow Long Island native Phil Baroni (6-5-0) now fighting out of Las Vegas and defeated him by tap out with a guillotine choke at the 4:19 mark of the third

round. Both fighters exchanged hard punches and ground and pound elbows throughout until Sell outlasted Baroni near the end of the fight.

Heavyweight Paul Buentello (17-7-0) from San Jose, Calif., made an impressive UFC debut by knocking out Justin Eilers (9-3-1) from Davenport, Iowa with a powerful right at the 2:34 mark of the first round. Buentello drew first blood and stayed on the attack as both fighters traded punches. A flurry followed and the right ended it.

Heavyweight Mike Kyle (11-2-0) from San Jose, Calif., knocked out James Irvin (7-1-0) from Sacramento, Calif., with a hard right at the 1:55 mark of the first round. Both fighters threw heavy punches from the outset and Kyle took Irvin to the ground. When they made no progress, referee Dean stood them up and Kyle attacked.

Middleweight Gideon Ray couldn't answer the bell for the second round and lost a first-round TKO to Canadian David Loiseau. Ray (8-2-1) from Chicago, Ill., was making his UFC debut, but Loiseau (10-2-0) from Montreal, Quebec, hit him with a hard left elbow on the ground to open a cut over Ray's left eye. Nevada State Athletic Commission doctors stopped it between rounds.

In welterweight action, Karo Parisyan (21-3-0) from N. Hollywood, Calif., dominated veteran Chris Lytle (27-11-4) from Indianapolis, Ind., in all three rounds with his judo and ground and pound skills to win a unanimous decision. Lytle attempted to strike and stand at the start of each round, but Parisyan quickly took him down each time.

In the curtain raiser, veteran welterweight Nick Diaz (10-1-0) from Stockton, Calif., welcomed UFC newcomer Drew Fickett (0-1-0) from Tucson, Ariz., to the Octagon with a TKO at the 4:40 mark of the first round. Fickett escaped an arm bar that almost ended the fight, but Diaz pounced with strikes and when Fickett could not defend himself, referee John McCarthy stopped it.

Encore pay-per-view replays of UFC 51: Super Saturday will begin immediately after the live telecast on iNDemand, DirecTV and Dish Network. Additional replays on iNDemand channel iN1 will be at 4 p.m. EST, Feb. 7; 12 a.m. EST, Feb. 8; 6 p.m. EST, Feb. 9; 3:30 p.m. EST, Feb. 12; 11 p.m. EST, Feb. 14; 6 p.m. EST, Feb. 16; Noon EST, Feb. 19 and 11 p.m. EST, Feb. 24. It will also air Feb. 10 on iNDemand's All Day Ticket service.

Dish Network replays will air on its All Day Ticket service at 5 a.m. EST Feb. 8 and Feb. 12 on channel 458 and Feb. 15 on channel 460.

DirecTV replays will be available on its All Day Ticket on Feb. 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 28 and March 23.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) brand is the world's leading professional mixed martial arts sport association and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC(R) fight programs feature six live pay- pay-view events annually through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its U.S. distribution, UFC(R) fight programs are distributed internationally throughout the world, including broadcast on 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 and its fight show DVDs through Studioworks Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company. "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.

The UFC's next pay-per-view telecast will be UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 at 10 p.m. EDT, Saturday, April 16, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.


Source: Ultimate Fighting Championship

CONTACT: Jack Taylor of Ultimate Fighting Championship, +1-702-632-6031,
or jtaylor@lundandmanasse.com

Web site: http://www.ufc.tv/


-------
Profile: intent