Issue 001
March 2005
ULTIMATE FIGHTING Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and number one contender Chuck Liddell will clash for the UFC World Light Heavyweight Championship in the main event of UFC 52: Couture vs Liddell 2, which is to be held on Saturday, April 16, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. They already compete against each other as coaches every week for Team Couture and Team Liddell on the reality show on Spike TV.
Tickets priced at $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50, for the all-star, eight-fight card are already on sale at the MGM Grand Garden Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations, at www.ticketmaster.com or www.mgmgrand.com.
Team coaching aside, the Couture-Liddell rematch has been brewing for almost two years since the then 40-year-old Couture, ‘The Natural’ from Portland, Oregon, made a dramatic impact on the light heavyweight division with a third-round technical knockout of ‘The Iceman’ Liddell to win the UFC interim light heavyweight title at UFC 43: Meltdown.
Couture, the former two-time UFC heavyweight champ (13-6-0 in mixed martial arts), followed with a rampage through the light heavyweight division, defeating Tito Ortiz for the undisputed title with a dominating, five-round unanimous decision on September 26, 2003; losing the belt to Vitor Belfort on January 31, 2004 due to a glancing left hook that opened a cut over his left eye only 48 seconds into the fight, then winning it back from Belfort with another dominating ground ‘n’ pound performance on August 21, 2004. Couture is the only fighter in UFC history to win titles twice in two different weight divisions.
Liddell (14-3-0) from San Luis Obispo, California, didn’t allow the loss to Couture affect his game. He rebounded on April 2, 2004, with a powerful second-round knockout of Ortiz to get back into the light heavyweight title picture and followed it with a first-round knockout of Vernon ‘Tiger’ White on the same Couture-Belfort card in August.
“It’s going to be very different this time,” Liddell predicts. “I’m going to win by a knockout and be the light heavyweight champ.”
But Couture is just as adamant. “This fight will end just like the last one. At the end of the night, I’m still going home with the belt,” he said.
Both fighters now have the opportunity to claim the light heavyweight belt just one week after the conclusion of Team Liddell vs Team Couture on Saturday, April 9 on The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. The remaining all-star bouts on the UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2 card will be announced in the near future.
